Submissions

Open Words: Access and English Studies invites submissions that analyze the relationship between access and a political, professional, or pedagogical issue in English studies, within a classroom or community-based context.

Since 2007, Open Words has been dedicated to publishing peer-reviewed articles focusing on political, professional, and pedagogical issues related to teaching composition, rhetoric, reading, creative writing, ESL, and literature to open-admissions and “nonmainstream” student populations. We seek original scholarship in areas such as instructional strategies, cultural studies, critical theory, classroom materials, technological innovation, institutional critique, student services, program development, etc., that assist educators, administrators, and student support personnel who work with students in pedagogically difficult settings. Articles should consider the particularities of context—issues, for example, surrounding the identifier of “open access,” intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability, regional and cultural differences, and the range of competencies students bring with them to classrooms—in conjunction with the goal of English studies to empower students’ critical and creative endeavors. We value works pertinent to specialists yet accessible to non-specialists, and we encourage submissions that take into account what interactions with students teach us about the broader, democratic goals of open-access education and English studies.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

  • Equity in Writing Instruction
  • Literacy Practices and Identity
  • Linguistic Justice
  • Multimodal Composing
  • Writing Assessment
  • Disability Studies
  • Service-Learning Pedagogy
  • Co-Requisite Education

Call for Submissions: Spring 2026 Issue

We are currently accepting abstracts for the spring 2026 issues. Please submit a 250-300-word abstract of your article as a MS Word file to Open Words editors Kristina Gutierrez, Sue Hum, and Yndalecio Isaac Hinojosa by October 15, 2024.

Notification of Accepted Abstracts:

November 15, 2024

Full Article Manuscripts (5,000-6,000 words, APA style or MLA style) Due:

May 30, 2025

Anticipated Release of Issue:

Spring 2026

About Submissions to Open Words and Other Journals at the WAC Clearinghouse

For more information about submitting to this and other journals and book series available through the WAC Clearinghouse, please see the Clearinghouse's Invitation to Contribute.

Open Words: Access and English Studies is an open-access, peer-review scholarly journal, published on the WAC Clearinghouse and supported by Colorado State University. Articles are published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs). ISSN: 2690-3911 (Print) 2690-392X (Online).