Victorians

Manuscript Submissions

Victorians:  A Journal of Culture and Literature welcomes interdisciplinary approaches to Victorian literature and culture and continues to respond to developmental shifts in the discipline of Victorian studies. VCL looks forward to continuing its long history of scholarly excellence and professional integrity.

Peer Review Statement: We use desk rejections, single-anonymous and double-anonymous peer review as the scenario requires. This is the most common and best practices in our field. We aim for a three-to-six month decision time from when the article was submitted.

Please direct any questions to: Kristen Pond at victoriansjournal@baylor.edu

Article types

The journal accepts essays and book reviews.

In addition:

Review Section.  Victorians seeks collaborating two-author teams to write single book reviews. Reviews should run up to 1,000 words total, with a 500-word section titled “Scholarly Intervention” and a 500-word section titled “Pedagogical Significance.” Please contact our reviews editor Riya Das at ridas@pvamu.edu with a note of interest or questions. 

From the Classroom.  This section features pedagogical articles describing and critically reflecting on innovative approaches to teaching Victorian studies in the broad sense. Contributions in this section might explore new approaches to teaching Victorian texts, topics, and courses; outline pedagogical strategies aimed at undisciplining and decolonizing the classroom in Victorian literary studies, history, art history, musicology, and other related fields; model pedagogy utilizing diverse bodies of information such as digital and physical archives, nontraditional texts, and multimodal and technological resources; describe and reflect on activities, unit and course designs, reading lists, and theoretical approaches to teaching Victorian studies; reflect on student responses, learning outcomes, and engagement; provide adaptable materials such as assignment prompts, syllabi, and activity outlines that other instructors may implement or modify; and/or integrate pedagogical theory with practical application in accessible prose.

Roundtable Conversations. This section features clusters of short, collaboratively conceived pieces that bring multiple voices into dialogue around a shared question or topic. Contributions in this section might engage a common question or set of questions from different critical, methodological, or theoretical perspectives; respond directly to one another’s arguments, modeling an ongoing conversation; stage productive disagreement, debate, or tension within the field of Victorian studies; reflect on emerging issues, questions, or shifting directions in the discipline; and/or experiment with collaborative, dialogic, or multi-voiced forms of writing. These roundtable conversations may include a concluding piece by a respondent. Please contact us if you’re interested in putting together and editing a roundtable section, and we will work with you.

Digital Humanities Forum. This section features contributions that engage digital tools, methods, and archives in Victorian studies. Contributions in this section might explore how digital methodologies can generate new insights into Victorian texts and contexts; reflect on the use of digital archives, databases, and collections in Victorian research and teaching; introduce or critically assess digital tools, platforms, or projects relevant to Victorian studies; examine the possibilities and limitations of digital approaches, including questions of access, ethics, and representation; and/or describe collaborative or interdisciplinary digital projects at various stages of development.

From the Field.  This section features interviews and short essays that reflect on professional, institutional, and public-facing dimensions of Victorian studies. Contributions in this section might document conversations with scholars, educators, curators, or organizers about their work and experiences in the field; reflect on the development of scholarly communities, organizations, or collaborative initiatives; offer insights into the evolving practices, challenges, and opportunities shaping Victorian studies as a discipline; share knowledge about conferences, publications, exhibitions, public humanities projects, or other field-defining events, spaces, and institutions; explore the intersections between academic work and broader cultural, institutional, or public contexts; and/or reflect on the challenges and transformations shaping higher education and the humanities.

Submission requirements

Manuscript Format

Articles should be submitted via Scholastica. All editorial communication should be sent to victoriansjournal@baylor.edu. Word count: 7,500 to 9,500 inclusive. Our citation style now follows The Chicago Manual of Style (18th edition) notes and bibliography system, which uses short-cite footnotes and a full bibliography.

Originality of the Submitted Work

Submissions should be original work that has neither been published nor simultaneously submitted for publication elsewhere. Contributors of accepted articles will be asked to assign their copyrights to The Ohio State University Press. Authors are also responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any material for which they do not hold copyright and to assure that due acknowledgements are included where required. Permission documents should be sent to the editor with the electronic manuscript.

Victorians expects the research, argument, and writing to be the work of the human author. Any use of generative AI must be disclosed during the submission process, and failure to do so amounts to plagiarism. Any decision about appropriate use of an AI tool, for example, for the processing of large amounts of data, lies with the journal editors.

Images

Images for initial files can be embedded in the Microsoft word file. Please confirm rights and permissions for images for both print and online format. Captions should be included.

For final files, images should be sent individually, in .tiff or .jpg format, at least 300 dpi at page display size.  The files should be numbered consecutively, and captions should be provided along with callouts (where to place images) in the main text of the manuscript, including a permission line where appropriate. Alt text for accessibility should also be included. Authors are responsible for researching and confirming rights and permissions for images for both print and online format.

Editorial Board

• Susan Civale, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK
• Mary Ellis Gibson, Colby College, US
• Linda Hughes, TCU, US
• Mark Knight, Lancaster University, UK
• Charles LaPorte, University of Washington, US
• Timothy Larsen, Wheaton College, US
• Elizabeth Ludlow, Anglia Ruskin University, UK
• Emma Mason, University of Warwick, UK
• Stefanie Markovits, Yale University, US
• Carolyn Oulton, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK
• Aubrey Plourde, University of Lynchburg, US
• Talia Schaffer, Graduate Center, CUNY, US
• Rebecca L. Schneider New Mexico Highlands University, US
• Doreen Thierauf, North Carolina Wesleyan University, US
• Maria Su Wang, Biola University, US
• Winter Jade Werner, Wheaton College
• Mimi Winnick, Virginia Commonwealth University, US

To see the table of contents for the current issue, visit the journal page on ProjectMUSE.

2024 Call for Papers (PDF)   

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