Submissions
Peitho publishes both externally peer reviewed traditional length essays and shorter reflective pieces in addition to cluster conversations, special issues, and book reviews.
Articles
The Editorial Team at Peitho sees the field of rhetoric, composition, and communication to be at an interesting and important place. Peitho is poised to address the deep cultural tensions—around race and racialization, gendered violence, white supremacy, and imperialism that exist within the U.S., within the US’s complex transglobal relations, and often throughout the globe. These tensions make it necessary for feminist work to evolve and change. Peitho invites article-length submissions on a wide range of topics related to feminist theories and gendered practices, including but not limited to:
- Feminist approaches to rhetorical, communication, and composition theory
- Rhetorics of racialization
- Feminist methodologies
- Transnational feminist approaches to rhetoric
- Political economic analyses
- Feminist decolonial studies and Indigenous studies
- Institutional critiques
- Feminist mentorship
- Feminist administration
- Emerging pedagogies
- Feminist approaches to embodiment
- LGBTQ+ studies
- Feminism and digital media
- Historiographical research and archival scholarship
Recoveries and Reconsiderations
We also invite shorter submissions for Recoveries and Reconsiderations, a feature of the journal that serves as a forum for sharing innovative perspectives on and application of existing feminist work, as well an incubator for new feminist research projects. Items for Recoveries and Reconsiderations might include, but are not limited to:
- preliminary description and feminist analysis of the work of recently recovered historical groups, figures, and practices
- preliminary description and feminist analysis of current-day groups, figures, and practices
- focused feminist reconsiderations of well-known or established rhetoricians, rhetorical theories, and/or rhetorical practices
- descriptions and contextualizations of archival collections/materials of potential interest to Peitho readers
- examples and discussions of feminist pedagogical practices for re-visioning rhetorical education
Peer Review Process for Articles and Recoveries and Reconsiderations
Manuscripts should not be previously published or under consideration elsewhere. Manuscripts should bear no identifying information (internal or external) about the author(s).
Manuscripts that the editorial team deems to be within the scope and audience of the journal will be submitted for anonymous review by two external readers, who will be asked to complete reviews within four to six weeks of receiving them. Authors then will receive those reviews, along with a letter from the editors about the status of their manuscript. The journal typically aims for reviewers to complete their feedback 6-8 weeks after they receive the manuscript for review. However, delays may occur during the review process.
Conversations and Book Reviews
Cluster Conversations
We publish collections of shorter pieces called Cluster Conversations: a Cluster Conversation is also known in academic journals as a symposium or forum. Those who wish to propose a cluster and serve as editors of the cluster should contact the Editorial Team. Cluster editors are expected to solicit submissions for the cluster and be responsible for the review process (they may do the reviewing themselves or have contributors review each other’s submissions). Clusters do not go through the typical review process used for articles or Recoveries and Reconsiderations essays. Cluster editors are responsible for reviewing, and the Editorial Team may ask for minor revisions at the copyediting stage.
Cluster pieces should be shorter than typical scholarly articles (though word count is the discretion of the cluster editors), and other genres are encouraged: open letters, poems, short narratives, position papers, and more. Generally, clusters have six to eight pieces, with an introduction written by the cluster editors. Cluster editors are responsible for editing and the first stage of copy editing.
Special Issues
Our special issues are usually published in summers, though the Editorial Team may, at their discretion, plan special issues in other seasons. Each year, the Editorial Team posts an open call for proposals for special issue topics. Proposals and the prospective guest editors’ CVs are reviewed by the Editorial Board.
Book Reviews
Peitho publishes reviews of books that relate to the journal’s focus on rhetorical scholarship, pedagogy, and practice, especially as it intersects with feminism, gender, and/or sexuality. In keeping with the journal’s commitment to feminist and anti-racist practices, we encourage reviews of books written by multiply-marginalized and underrepresented authors and we encourage those who are new to academic publishing to write reviews as a way to learn more about the publishing process. We also encourage reviews that highlight how gender and sexuality connect to systems of oppression such as white supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, ableism, global capitalism, and, of course, cisheteropatriarchy.
We encourage potential reviewers to reach out to the associate editor with questions about the process of writing and publishing a review or to propose a specific text for review. This will help ensure that we don’t receive multiple review submissions for the same book. As part of this conversation, we may ask for a brief proposal to help us understand the relevance of the proposed review.
Book review submissions should adhere to the following guidelines:
- Review type and length (length does not include works cited):
- Reviews of a single text should summarize the book’s content and discuss its contribution to the field with a particular focus on Peitho readers’ interest in feminist rhetorics and/or rhetoric’s intersection with gender and sexuality.
- Reviews of single-authored books: no more than 1500 words.
- Reviews of edited collections: no more than 1900 words.
- Review essays that discuss two or three related books should not exceed 3,000 words. Review essays should highlight similar themes, questions, or approaches between the texts while also highlighting what’s unique about each text. Review essays should also draw on the reviewer’s expertise to identify the works’ contributions to the field of rhetorical studies and/or to Peitho readers.
- Reviews of a single text should summarize the book’s content and discuss its contribution to the field with a particular focus on Peitho readers’ interest in feminist rhetorics and/or rhetoric’s intersection with gender and sexuality.
- Reviewers should pay close attention to detailing how they engaged with the text. We ask authors to mention the text’s applicability to their own work in addition to discussing how they imagine other readers engaging with the text.
- As our embodied lived experiences influence the way in which we read, engage, and review a text, reviewers should also acknowledge their own positionality in relation to the text. This move better assists readers in understanding the lens through which you, the reviewer, see the text.
- While reviewers may disclose any disagreements they have regarding the text, we do ask that reviewers are mindful of the tone in which they utilize to present these disagreements.
- Book reviews must include consistent MLA citation practices.
- All book reviewers must submit a 100–150-word biography to accompany the piece.
All book reviews will be reviewed by the Associate Editor. Decisions about reviews will be based on the quality of the review and its relevance to Peitho readers.
Formatting
- Traditional text manuscripts should be submitted as Microsoft Word documents. Most article-length manuscripts are between 6000 and 8000 words, and manuscripts for Recoveries and Reconsiderations should be no longer than 4000 words.
- Please include a running head that includes a shortened version of your title, but does not include your name. Submissions for Recoveries and Reconsiderations should include the words “Recoveries and Reconsiderations” as part of the manuscript title. Please include an abstract and keywords.
- Follow current MLA format (8th edition) for citations. For archival materials, please use the following citation style:
Author last name, first name. Title or description of material. Date. MS or TS [manuscript or typescript]. Name of Collection. Box number, folder number. Name of repository, affiliated university, city.
- We welcome multimedia submissions and digital scholarship. Please contact the Editors if you have questions about sending these types of submissions.
- In your manuscripts, please provide descriptions for all included multimedia files. For images, we prefer contextual information (Figure 1: what it is) as well as description (what can you see). Examples can be found in these articles: Silently Speaking Bodies , Research on the Literate Practices of Field Matrons on the Hopi Reservation, For Lisa: A Patchwork Quilt.
Submitting to Peitho
Peitho manuscript submissions and peer reviews are managed through the WAC Clearinghouse system. You will need to visit the WAC Clearinghouse Submissions page and follow a four-step process:
- Create an account
- You’ll then be directed to a menu that asks you to if you would like to submit to a journal, submit a proposal, submit a manuscript to a book series, or submit a chapter for an edited collection. Please select Submit to a Journal.”
- On the next page, select “Peitho” as the journal for submission.
- Finally, complete the submission form and upload your manuscript.
