The final submission date for our Spring 2021 issue is Friday, April 9 at midnight PST! Blog submissions and submissions for our next issue will stay open. Submit here. Please read this entire page for details, and feel free to email us with any questions at thewordjournal@stanford.edu.
Aims & Scope
The Word is continually soliciting research papers and blog content related to hiphop culture for its online-only publication. We are an open-source, open peer-refereed journal (read more about that on our Resources page). We define a research paper as having limited scope and a clear argument that arises from recognizable research methods. On our blog we publish shorter pieces about hiphop and hiphop studies as well as original visual, audio, or visual art. You can also learn more about hiphop studies on the Resources page.
We hope The Word’s journal and blog will contribute to the hiphop community at Stanford and to the growing presence of hiphop studies nationally. To that end, we’re pleased to announce that we’re opening submissions to undergraduates from any college or university. Submitters must be an undergraduate at any school or be within one year of post-graduation.
Submission Details
Research papers can be anywhere from 2500-6000 words (or about 10-20 pages) and should contribute to the interdisciplinary field of hiphop studies through original research and/or analysis. For research articles, please submit your materials to our Open Journal Systems submission page. You will have to create an account in order to submit your work.
Blog content should be short, readable posts of 250-750 words or multimedia content–audio, video, or visual art files. Your article and blog submissions can include original images or charts, and we can embed Youtube videos in blog posts, but we will not reproduce content to which you do not own copyright or have written permission to use. To submit written, visual, or video work to our blog, please email it to us at thewordjournal@stanford.edu. If submitting images or video, please include a few sentences for publication that introduce and contextualize the work for audiences–What is it? Why did you make this piece? What themes from hiphop and hiphop studies does it engage? If it is not obvious, please also indicate the work’s connection to hiphop culture.
Other submissions considerations:
- Research articles and blog articles should be cited using MLA or APA style.
- You must own the copyright for all images, sound, and video used, including samples or excerpts, or have written permission from the creator to use them.
- Research involving human subjects must have Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval.
Upon submission, your paper will be read and discussed by our Editors and our Editorial Board. Papers may be accepted, accepted with revision, or rejected. We may also ask you to adapt an excerpt of your paper into a shorter piece for the “Decoded” section of our journal.
We accept content on a rolling basis and are currently preparing for our second issue, to be released in Spring 2021. For questions, please contact us at thewordjournal@stanford.edu.