Submission Guidelines

About the Journal

The International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education is a peer-reviewed academic journal that focuses on promoting change related to social justice and equity in higher education.

What makes this journal unique is that it welcomes a variety of media set in an academic context including visual art, creative writing, poetry, satire, human, cartoons, podcasts, and videos as well as traditional journal articles. Also, artists and authors are able to be part of learning communities to collaborate on projects, and to receive previews and feedback prior to submission. This is the place to push the boundaries. Don’t be afraid to say what needs to be said.

Browse the submission guideline topics on this page:

See specific details by submission type:

Please review the Transparency page for information on the editorial process and the code of ethics for contributors (authors/artists).

How to Submit

One of the goals of the International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education is to include many voices and perspectives.  Toward this end, we are pleased to offer various ways to become an author/artist contributor to this journal: 

  • Like traditional journals, you may choose to submit a work directly to the journal for peer review.
    • Submit your work to the editorial board by email: andrew.johnson@mnsu.edu; esjh.journal@gmail.com 
    • Submission deadline for Volume 2 is July 1, 2023
  • You may choose to participate in the online learning community

Topics

We welcome submissions addressing issues related to equity and social justice in higher education. 

Publication and Licensing Information 

As an open-access, peer-reviewed journal, we hope to encourage re-mix and/or reuse of published works as knowledges, contexts, and individuals change. We also acknowledge the inherent power dynamics in licensing of original works and offer choice to contributors to license their work as best fits their needs. 

The International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education offers a default Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0) license for all submitted work, which allows re-mix, reuse of the work for non-commercial purpose, requries attribution, and any derivatives must also be licensed as CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0. Contributor/s may select a different Creative Commons license version to license their work. 

Languages 

We currently accept submissions in all dialects of English and Spanish. Submissions in other languages are welcomed and encouraged with a translation to English. It is the intention of this journal to expand the number of languages as our editorial board expands.  

Submission Guidelines: Academic Articles & Research

Examples 

  • Qualitative research
  • Quantitative research
  • Mixed methods
  • Essays 

Format

Text files: 

  • Please submit one of these file types: PDF, DOCX, ODT  
  • No minimum in the word count range
  • Suggested word count in English: 6,000-1000 words (excluding references, notes)
  • Suggested word count in Spanish/Portuguese: 8,000-13,000 words (excluding references, notes)

For written submissions, please include: 

  • Title,  
  • All contributing authors, 
  • Abstract, 
  • Key words, 
  • Please use APA 7th edition format and guidelines. 

Submission Guidelines: Teaching Practices

Examples 

  • Assessments 
  • Pedagogical tools 
  • Lesson plans 
  • Strategies 
  • Applied methods
  • Open educational resources 

Format

Image files: 

  • Please submit image(s) in one of these file types: PNG, JPEG, GIF 
  • 1 – 5 high definition digital photos or digital files per submission.  

Video files: 

  • Please submit one of these file types: MOV, MPG/MPEG 
  • No minimum duration, should not exceed 120 minutes, excluding credits. 

Audio files: 

  • Please submit this file type: MP3  
  • No minimum duration, should not exceed 120 minutes, excluding credits. 

Text files: 

  • Please submit one of these file types: PDF, DOCX, ODT  
  • No minimum in the word count range
  • Suggested word count range in English: 1,500 – 2,000 words (excluding references, notes) 
  • Suggested word count range in Spanish/Portuguese: 2,000 – 4,000 words (excluding references, notes) 

For all Teaching Practice submissions, please include:

  • Title,  
  • All contributing authors,
  • Abstract or introduction, and
  • Key words,  

For image submissions also include:

  • Year the work was created,  
  • Media/medium (acrylic paint, mixed media, clay, digital work, etc…), 
  •  Brief artist statement of meaning/intent about the work (about 1-3 sentences),  
  • Image/video description (this is sometimes called alternative text: this is a written description of a visual work for those that need/could benefit from non-visual support to perceive the art, such as those who are blind or use screen readers/assistive devices). If you like, the journal can assist you generating a description for your work, indicate this with your submission if you’d like this option. 

For video submissions also include:

  • All contributing choreographers, actors, performers, directors, etc. 
  • Year the work was created,  
  • Media/medium (poem, monologue, documentary, dance piece, short film, etc…),
  • Brief artist statement of meaning/intent about the work (about 1-3 sentences),  
  • Video description (this is sometimes called alternative text: this is a written description of a visual work for those that need/could benefit from non-visual support to perceive the art, such as those who are blind or use screen readers/assistive devices). If you like, the journal can assist you generating a description for your work, indicate this with your submission if you’d like this option. 
  • Captions and/or transcript of the audio (this is a text version of the audio for those that need/could benefit from non-audio support to perceive the content of the work, such as those that are part of the Deaf community. If you like, the journal can assist you generating captions or a transcript for your work, indicate this with your submission if you’d like this option.

For audio submissions also include:

  • Title,  
  • All contributing authors, 
  • Abstract or introduction,  
  • Key words,  
  • Transcript of the audio (this is a text version of the audio for those that need/could benefit from non-audio support to perceive the content of the work, such as those that are part of the Deaf community. If you like, the journal can assist you generating a transcript for your work, indicate this with your submission if you’d like this option. 

For written submissions:

  • Please use APA 7th edition format and guidelines. 

Submission Guidelines: Reviews

Examples 

  • Book Review
  • Documentary Review
  • Film, Theatre Review
  • Podcast Review
  • Video Review
  • Websites Review
  • Art Exhibitions Review

Format

Text files: 

  • Please submit one of these file types: PDF, DOCX, ODT  
  • No minimum in the word count range
  • Suggested word count in English: 1,000-1,600 words (excluding references, notes)
  • Suggested word count in Spanish/Portuguese: 1,300-2,000 words (excluding references, notes)

For written submissions, please include: 

  • Title,  
  • All contributing authors, 
  • Abstract, 
  • Key words, 
  • Please use APA 7th edition format and guidelines. 

Submission Guidelines: Creative Writing

Examples

  • Humor/satire 
  • Poetry 
  • Cartoon 
  • Storytelling 
  • Fiction 
  • Creative non-fiction 

Format

Text files: 

  • Please submit one of these file types: PDF, DOCX, ODT  
  • No minimum in the word count range
  • Suggested word count in English: 6,000-1000 words (excluding references, notes)
  • Suggested word count in Spanish/Portuguese: 8,000-13,000 words (excluding references, notes)

For written submissions, please include: 

  • Title,  
  • All contributing authors, 
  • Abstract, 
  • Key words, 
  • If/when appropriate, please use APA 7th edition format and guidelines. 

Submission Guidelines: Visual and Performance Art

Examples 

  • Visual art 
  • Graphic design art 
  • Photography 
  • Theatre, dance, performance art happenings 
  • Graphic novels, comics, animation
  • Poetry reading/performance

Format

Image files: 

  • Please submit image(s) in one of these file types: PNG, JPEG, GIF 
  • 1 – 5 high definition digital photos or digital files per submission.  

Video files: 

  • Please submit one of these file types: MOV, MPG/MPEG 
  • No minimum duration, should not exceed 120 minutes, excluding credits. 

Audio files: 

  • Please submit this file type: MP3  
  • No minimum duration, should not exceed 120 minutes, excluding credits. 

For all Visual and Performing Art submissions, please include:

  • Title,  
  • All contributing authors,
  • Abstract or introduction, and
  • Key words,  

For image submissions also include:

  • Year the work was created,  
  • Media/medium (acrylic paint, mixed media, clay, digital work, etc…), 
  •  Brief artist statement of meaning/intent about the work (about 1-3 sentences),  
  • Image/video description (this is sometimes called alternative text: this is a written description of a visual work for those that need/could benefit from non-visual support to perceive the art, such as those who are blind or use screen readers/assistive devices). If you like, the journal can assist you generating a description for your work, indicate this with your submission if you’d like this option. 

For video submissions also include:

  • All contributing choreographers, actors, performers, directors, etc. 
  • Year the work was created,  
  • Media/medium (poem, monologue, documentary, dance piece, short film, etc…),
  • Brief artist statement of meaning/intent about the work (about 1-3 sentences),  
  • Video description (this is sometimes called alternative text: this is a written description of a visual work for those that need/could benefit from non-visual support to perceive the art, such as those who are blind or use screen readers/assistive devices). If you like, the journal can assist you generating a description for your work, indicate this with your submission if you’d like this option. 
  • Captions and/or transcript of the audio (this is a text version of the audio for those that need/could benefit from non-audio support to perceive the content of the work, such as those that are part of the Deaf community. If you like, the journal can assist you generating captions or a transcript for your work, indicate this with your submission if you’d like this option.

For audio submissions also include:

  • Title,  
  • All contributing authors, 
  • Abstract or introduction,  
  • Key words,  
  • Transcript of the audio (this is a text version of the audio for those that need/could benefit from non-audio support to perceive the content of the work, such as those that are part of the Deaf community. If you like, the journal can assist you generating a transcript for your work, indicate this with your submission if you’d like this option.