Currently, we accept and publish scholarly peer-reviewed articles; interviews; creative nonfiction; poetry; reviews of books, films, music, exhibits; black & white photographs; photographic essays; and images of artwork accompanied by an artist's statement about work's relevance to the Appalachian region. Please see the specifics below for the genre(s) in which you'd like to submit.
We accept submissions year-round and do not charge submission fees. We are unable to pay contributors at this time, but each contributor receives two free contributor copies and a 20% discount on additional issues.
Scholarly articles: As an interdisciplinary journal, we accept manuscripts from a variety of disciplines, as long as the work focuses on the Appalachian region. Major fields of interest include anthropology, art, cultural studies, ecology, economics, education, environmental studies, ethnography, film, folklore, health care, history, gender studies, geography, geology, literature, media, music, political science, sociology, and studies of sustainability. We like well-documented, well-developed articles that feature primary source research. We like photographs and illustrations. We tend not to accept a 10-page conference paper, but much prefer the "long version" that allows a scholar to flesh out ideas, usually in the 5K-12K word range. We are a peer-reviewed journal, so your work will be sent out to scholars for recommendations about acceptance, revisions, etc. In this interdisciplinary publication, we appreciate your willingness to define discipline-specific terminology and work to make your writing accessible to a wide readership. Appalachian Journal seeks genuine contributions toward a scholarly understanding of the Appalachian region and will consider articles from non-scholarly sources if the material is fresh and informative.
Please use the citation or formatting style most common in your discipline. If you are using footnotes or endnotes, use superscript numbers but do not link the numbers to the notes automatically (it's a pain to reformat).
- First, send a query to the editor that includes the proposed title of your article and an abstract.
- If the editor feels your work is a good fit, follow up by sending your anonymized article as a Word doc along with a title page. The title page should contain your working title for the article, author's name and contact information (USPS mailing address, e-mail address, phone number), a brief biographical note, and a paragraph abstract of the article with keywords.
We also are glad to have your recommendations about potential illustrations--with captions and credit lines that identify the images and the sources of photographs or other illustrations. (Illustrations are not at all required for initial submissions. But if you send them, we prefer .JPG or .TIF files, at least 300 dpi.)
Poetry: We prefer to read 3-5 poems at a time, sent as either a Word doc or PDF. Please include a brief biographical note and contact information (name, mailing address, phone, email). We want only unpublished poems for consideration. We do not prefer simultaneous submissions, though we will consider them. (Please let us know when something you've sent us has been accepted elsewhere.)
Book/media reviews: We do not publish unsolicited reviews nor do we review self-published volumes. However, you are welcome to email the editor to suggest books, media, or exhibits for review. Our standard reviews range from 700-1000 words with longer review essays ranging from 1000-1800 words. Reviews should include our standard header of "Review by <reviewer's name>" along with the book/work title, author/creator, publisher, year, price, ISBN (if applicable), and number of pages (again, if applicable). Here is an example:
Burning Bright
By Ron Rash (New York: Ecco/HarperCollins, 2010)
$22.99, cloth. ISBN 9780061804113, 205 pp.
We prefer honest, thorough reviews that focus on what the work is doing rather than what it lacks. We also appreciate the inclusion of quoted material from the work, as long as it's accompanied by page numbers (if a book) and demonstrates the reviewer's claims of the text/media.
Creative nonfiction: These pieces typically range from 800-2500 words and often focus on the relationship between the writer and the region, though we are certainly open to other topics and perspectives. We only publish previously unpublished work. Please send your essay as a Word doc or PDF and make sure to include a brief biographical note and contact information (name, mailing address, phone, email). Because some creative nonfiction requires research, we generally use MLA with endnotes as a house style. If your essay includes endnotes, use superscript numbers but do not link the numbers to the notes automatically (it takes forever to fix).
Photo essays/series features/photographs: With the exception of our Spring 2025 Visual Art special issue, Appalachian Journal is only able to publish in B&W. All images should be TIF files with 300 DPI and 3000 pixels on the long side. Please make sure to include a brief biographical note, contact information (name, mailing address, phone, email), and for the series features or photo essays, an artist's statement and a brief conceptualization of the series or work. Please do not submit more than 10 images at one time; images can be attached to an email or, if too large, shared through Google Drive.
Interviews: We love to include interviews with current movers and shakers in the region, provided the interview covers new ground. Interviews usually range from 4K-8K words. Please send your interview transcript as a Word doc or PDF and include a brief description of it in the body of the email. We will need bios and mailing addresses for both the interviewer and the interviewee as well as full contact information (email, phone) for the interviewer. If citations are needed in the interview, we generally use MLA with endnotes as a house style. If your essay includes endnotes, use superscript numbers but do not link the numbers to the notes automatically (it's a pain for typesetting).
While email submissions are preferred, we can accept snail mail submissions as well. Please make sure to include a contact page with your email address so that we can confirm receipt. If you'd like a response via postal mail rather than email, please also include a SASE.
Submit your work to
Jessica Cory, Editor
Appalachian Journal
Belk Library / Box 32026
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
coryjs@appstate.edu