Information For Authors

General Submission Types and Their Criteria

JAAACS seeks situated explorations of contemporary literature relevant to the U.S. field of curriculum studies. The New York Review of Books serves as a general model in the sense that NYRB essays generally evoke the scholarly context from which a text emerges and discuss the work's relationship to other works in that field. Dynamic juxtapositions between recently released works and other related works are particularly welcome.

Authors generally situate their theoritical discussions historically and politically, and may also draw upon the multidisciplinary lenses integrated into the Reconceptualized curriculum studies field. Such lenses include those of critical and cultural studies and psychoanalytic theory. Critical considerations of the social sciences as these relate to the world of educational practice are also welcome.

The articles published generally correspond to one of the five forms characterized below. All of these can vary in length, but pieces in the first three categories generally fall within the 4,000 to 8,000-word range; pieces written for the final two forms are more likely to fall within the 3,000 to 5,000 range. In addition to these forms, the journal also publishes invited lectures and presentations delivered during the annual AAACP conference, which directly precedes the annual American Educational Research Association conference and meets in the same location.

Critical Review Essays

A critical review essay places one or more new works of North American literature relevant to the study of curriculum into relationship with the existing North American curriculum studies field. These essays are intended to provide readers with a sense of what this work offers to the field and the ways in which it builds upon and contrasts with various established texts.

Theoretical Analyses

Theoretical analyses share most of the attributes of the critical review essay, but do not necessarily focus on literature that is new to the field. While these essays also generally treat North American literature, they may offer new perspective on such works by, for example, considering them in relation to a new conceptual frame or a transnational lens.

International Dialogues

International dialogues decenter the North American field by introducing traditions of educational and cultural criticism from beyond U. S./North American/Anglophone traditions. These essays may be informed by what some now refer to as 'alter-global' understandings and values and, in contrast to the above forms, may be situated in relation to diverse socio-political contexts.

Multi-vocal Response and Discussion

This is a series of shorter response pieces, written by a group of scholars who have positioned themselves into conversation with each other to varying degrees. Often these papers will have been originally written for a conference panel and then are further developed for publication prior to their submission. In such cases, the author of the work discussed may also have responded to the panel papers, which then may be edited in response, creating multiple layers of response. The papers in an MVRD will share the basic attributes of a critical review essay, but will generally be somewhat briefer and may also be more tightly focused on a more immediate and perhaps personal line of response.

Speculative Essays

Speculative essays are relatively brief, interdisciplinary “think pieces” sparked by an author’s philosophical, conceptual, or imaginative interest in some dynamic educational phenomenon or experience. Although it may draw on a rich variety of texts and artistic sources, the speculative essay is motivated by a desire for hermeneutic understanding or illumination rather than analytic engagement with published works in the field, as is the case with critical review essays and theoretical analyses. Thus, the speculative essay may be characterized by a personal, experimental, or conversational style, as well as a method that may be open-ended, interdisciplinary, and exploratory.  See Schubert, W. H. (1991). Philosophical inquiry: The speculative essay (pp. 61-78). In E. C. Short (Ed.). Forms of Curriculum Inquiry. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.