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Please note that The Journal is run by a small volunteer team of graduate student editors. We appreciate your patience with our response time.  Please allow at least eight months for a decision.

Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but we ask that you notify us of this at the time of submission. Please withdraw submissions using the online submission system. For withdrawals of a single poem from a packet, there is no need to withdraw the entire submission; simply leave a comment on your submission via the submission manager.

We do not publish previously published work. Multiple submissions are not accepted and will not be read or responded to; please wait until you receive a response from us before submitting again. Recent contributors, please wait at least one year from when your work appears in The Journal before submitting again. 

AI Statement: The Journal does not accept work generated by AI. Submissions including work generated by AI will be rejected. If accepted work is found to be written by generative AI, the publication contract will be terminated immediately.

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Fiction: We welcome literary fiction submissions of all forms, including those that incorporate experimental or genre elements. Our editors love to be surprised. We’re excited by weird, innovative formal choices and images that work to create something strange and beautiful. We’re looking for fiction that conveys emotion without falling into melodrama; that knows the difference between volume and truth. Stories that speak to the reader like they’re an old and trusted friend. We’re enamored by feminist and weird girl horror, the gothic, literary fiction, dark academia, environmental writing, and writing that invokes intersectionality in new and exciting ways. Though we generally do not publish straight genre fiction, we are always excited to read speculative work and frequently publish non-realist fiction. We strive to publish marginalized voices, including but not limited to people of color, LGBTIA+ and the gender non-conforming, and those with disabilities.

All fiction submissions should be double-spaced, Garamond. We are happy to consider self-contained excerpts of novels and long stories, but please note that historically it is unusual for us to publish submissions longer than 8,000 words. If you are submitting flash fiction, you are welcome to submit up to three 1000-word stories in a single .doc or .pdf document.

Nonfiction: All nonfiction submissions should be double-spaced, Garamond. We’re looking for craft-driven, honest nonfiction that interweaves personal, human narrative with a broader sense of global consciousness. We’re drawn to the sharp, the real, and the uncompromising. We are especially interested in writing that pushes the boundaries of what nonfiction can do. We publish across styles and forms, including lyric essays, experimental work, hybrid forms, personal essays, new journalism, photo essays, and non-academic cultural criticism. Please note that we do not publish academic writing or straight reportage, and we generally don’t publish work over 8,000 words. If you are submitting flash nonfiction, you are welcome to submit up to three 1000-word stories in a single .doc or .pdf document.

Poetry: We are looking for fresh, surprising work with technique and technical control. We want poems with heart (emotional clarity and complication) and brains (theoretical engagement, well-developed logic and metaphor, mastery of syntax and diction). We are committed to publishing underrepresented voices and appreciate work in which the author has a stake: poems that feel both true and necessary. We appreciate the strange, the dynamic and enticing—poems that challenge, move, and conjure. Put simply, poems that we would be happy to read over and over again, poems in which we could appreciate new meanings, details, and connections each time. We love both traditional poetic forms and experimental, hybrid, genre-pushing poetics. Please limit poetry submissions to 3 poems grouped in a single .doc or .pdf document—with 12 pt, Garamond font.

Reviews and Interviews:

In reviews and interviews, we are looking for dynamic critical engagement with artistic works and the literary community. We aim to publish reviews that offer thoughtful and additive analysis of contemporary literary works and interviews that uplift and explore creative voices. All review and interview submissions should be double-spaced, Garamond. Reviews should be no more than 1,200 words. We are particularly interested in reviews of new books that have been published within the last two years. Interviews should be double-spaced, Garamond, and between 6 – 12 pages.

Art: We’re interested in visual art of all media. We are looking for a cohesive suite of work that demonstrates a clear point of view and a unique, eye-catching stylism. Please send 6 – 10 pieces of art and include a short bio with your submission.

The Journal no longer accepts submissions via US mail. Please submit through our online submission manager: Submittable Online Submission System. Before submitting, please make sure you paste your intended piece(s) into a single .doc, .docx, or .pdf document.

Please withdraw submissions using the online submission system. For withdrawals of a single poem from a packet, there is no need to withdraw the entire submission; simply leave a comment on your submission via the submission manager.

For guidelines about submitting to the Wheeler Poetry Prize, please go here.

For guidelines about submitting to the Non/Fiction Collection Prize (formerly The Short Fiction Prize), please go here.

For those that cannot access Submittable due to disability, please email thejournal@osu.edu

 

 

In order to comply with federal, state, and local laws (including the Ohio Public Records Act), as well as Ohio State policies, communications with The Journal may be required to be disclosed publicly.