General Call for Papers 

All articles submitted should be original work and must not be under consideration by other publications.

JAWS: Journal of Arts Writing by Students is the first UK journal of academic work by art students, serving as a platform for peer to peer engagement and for research currently taking place within institutions as part of post and undergraduate study. The journal seeks submissions from current students in the arts across the disciplines (including fine art, research, performance, textiles, graphics and illustration) and those within their first year of graduation. Predominately aimed at those studying at postgraduate level, JAWS is the first academic arts journal entirely produced by and dedicated to current students work. It works to open new lines of discourse and collaboration and seeks to promote early career researchers across a wider academic community, demonstrating the ability, dedication and professionalism of its students.

Publication in JAWS: Journal of Arts Writing by Students provides students with valuable experience of writing for an academic journal (an essential component of Ph.D. study or an academic career) as well as circulation and recognition of their research. It is not only an opportunity to take their academic writing to the next level but also to share outcomes and findings across a research network. JAWS strongly believes in research as a living pragmatic entity – it should not languish unread in a file bending bedroom shelves, it is only through sharing and discussion that new ideas can be allowed to develop and grow.

JAWS does not set themes for our submissions, preferring to divine trends and thematics from what students deem current and relevant to them. The journal seeks critical reviews, self contained extracts from research blogs and diaries and reflective essays and papers with arguments and their hearts. JAWS also calls for work that explores the relationship between practice, writing and research including high quality photographs of artworks as part of practice led or based research and artist intervention regarding the image/text relationship.

All submissions must be accompanied by an abstract (maximum 100 words) and a list of keywords (approx. 5) to assist in guiding our peer reviewers.
For all inquiries please email p.e.@jawsjournal.com

Special Issue Call for Papers

For future reference: Art and design activism

Art and Design have been partners for a long time, but how has this partnership been manifesting lately? This issue is calling for enquiries into art-and-design in times when sustainability is not enough, when discussing how to resolve problems is not enough.

We observe that the artists’ and the designers’ mindsets are slowly shifting towards taking hold of the opportunities that come with giving back to what we have been taking from. In a pluralistic environment, this issue wants to foster forward-looking leads on the planetary issues we are experiencing.

While social, political and environmental activism takes place, both art and design have been contributing to the advancement of such proposals for protest and action. On the one hand, design has developed an increasingly experimental approach to problem-solving grounded in speculative thinking. On the other hand, art has developed many performative intervention strategies to engage critically and widely with communities.

The design process and the art experience are changing towards a more active role of ethics over aesthetics. How are these changes manifesting? Our relationship with these discourses is also changing from simply being consumers and viewers, to participants and collaborators.

In addition, we are witnessing a vibrant range of collaborative practices across both art and design, where principals from both disciplines intersect to pose and tackle many contemporary questions. Within this interdisciplinarity, hybrids emerge. JAWS would like to invite articles that detect where these intersections occur in the realm of activism, and especially those arising from practice-based studies.

We want to explore questions about how and where these changes are happening, how they are pursued and what the role of art and design is in effecting the change that is taking place in our (collective) imaginaries. 

We would be interested in receiving writing that explores (but not limited to):

• Is the design process of an artist the same as any other ‘artifact’ designer? 

• How can questions and methods regarding decolonisation, queerness and disability contribute to meaningful intersections of design and art?

• How do art, science and design relate to each other in our post-anthropocentric world? What interdisciplinary boundaries are there? 

• What is the role of art and design in the regenerative movement?

• Is activism art? Isn’t art supposed to be about disruption and destabilizing, so how can ameliorating an issue be art? 

• How have our notions of art changed? Has design influenced these changes? Has this happened conversely? 

• How does an acentric world view reveal the fundamental issues in the anthropogenic nature of art and design?

• What defines collective and collaborative practices? How do participatory art and design practices contribute to a ‘better future’? 

We accept the following formats: 

• Academic and/or Practice-based submissions up to 6000 words

• Interviews up to 4000 words

• Exhibition/book Reviews between 1000 and 3000 words

• Opinion articles between 1000 and 3000 words

We only accept submissions in MS Word -- do not send PDFs.

Please send three files to p.e.jawsjournal@gmail.com until the 12th February 2023: 

• your article (which should include an abstract of 100-200 words, 6-8 keywords or two word phrases that are not in the title, and your references list in Harvard Style)

• a folder with your images at 300 dpi minimum

• a cover document with the following information: 

• Article’s title

• Author’s full name, university affiliation, most recent programme

• ORCID iD

• Bio of up to 200 words

• Email and postal address

We are a volunteer-run journal so we appreciate your patience during the peer-reviewing process. If you want to join our peer-reviewing pool or our editorial team, please contact p.e.jawsjournal@gmail.com.

Call for Peer Reviewers

The journal editors are seeking MA students, Ph.D. students, scholars and post-graduate art practitioners working in the various fields of art to act as peer reviewers for the journal. Our issues are not usually themed, and our network of peers fluctuates as does the body of students every year. We publish articles spanning the entire spectrum of arts research, so your expertise is likely to be valuable for our network. Peer review is a vital part of academic publishing, enriching the field and improving the work of writers and peer reviewers alike. We encourage reviewers from diverse backgrounds and experiences to join the peer review pool.

To sign up for future peer reviews, please contact the Principal Editor, Inês Ferreira-Norman at p.e.jawsjournal@gmail.com. Please provide a CV and a sample of your own writing.

Call for Advisory Board Members

The journal is currently lead by Inês Ferreira-Norman (CCW, University of the Arts London) with Ralph Overill (University of East London, UK), Nina Hanz (Royal College of Art) and Jasmin Jelly (University of Exeter). The new Advisory Board members will be joining the team in expanding our reach and network of contributors, peers and contributing with their own expertise for the publishing of high-quality arts research in our journal.

We are looking for individuals who can take forward the ideals of the journal, and work with the existing editors to bring a variety of experiences and perspectives to the field. As an advisory board member, you will be expected to:

Promote

• Share our Call for Papers on your networks, both via mail and on your social media 

• Publicize the journal: work as an ambassador for the journal in conferences you may attend

• Get in touch with us to let us know of relevant conferences for us to collaborate with and source manuscripts

• Be aware of the articles published by JAWS so far, to be able to encourage usage and subscriptions to the journal

Edit

• Be a guest editor (to be arranged when is suitable for you and the journal), in which you would be expected to: • evaluate if manuscripts are suitable for the journal for peer review

• Liaise with contributors and peers on assigned submissions

• Collate peer feedback and consider their advice to make a final decision about what gets published

• Use our internal digital documents to log your workflow

• Contribute by being a peer reviewer once per issue

• Contribute by finding peers to review our submissions if solicited

• Recommend contributors when/that you see fit

• Assist the editor(s) in decision making about issues such as plagiarism claims and submissions where reviewers can’t agree on a decision

Curate

• Work with the Editorial Board to identify new writers or develop ideas for Special Issues

• Attract new authors and submissions

• Advise on journal policy and scope

Advisory board members are eligible for free personal online access to the journal. We also offer a half price institutional subscription for the first year that your institution subscribes.

For applications or enquiries please email Inês Ferreira-Norman, Principal Editor at p.e.jawsjournal@gmail.com.

If you are interested in joining the Advisory Board, please provide a short cover email outlining your reasons for wanting to join the Journal of Arts Writing by Students. Please also attach a CV.

Call for an Editorial Assistant

JAWS is looking for an editorial assistant to support the administrative duties of a very small team of editors. If you are looking into gaining experience in the ins and outs of how to run an exciting peer-reviewed journal, this is a fantastic opportunity to grow within the industry and to contribute to the development of a project that has been supporting students and emerging authors for the last six years. 

Duties:

• Assist the principal editor in administrative duties

• Have a proactive role in taking the journal forward, following delineated strategies defined by the editorial board and the principal editor

• Participate in meetings, mainly, but not exclusively, with the editorial board; take minutes; send follow-up emails in case JAWS or the principal editor is hosting the meeting

• Contribute to reformulate our current Advisory Board

• Use webs design platform such as Weebly and Tilda to help build and launch our new website

• Help with distribution of open calls

• Improve our network of universities, conferences and peers 

• Increase our visibility by working with the marketing team at Intellect to distribute various materials

• Participate in coordinating events as necessary 

• Be present at conferences as agreed by the boards to promote the journal and source manuscripts

Personal attributes:

• Natural liaison 

• Excellent time keeping

• Some experience in design or in marketing

• Have a background in publishing or administration, preferably in an arts environment/context

Please email p.e.jawsjournal@gmail.com with your CV and a short letter stating why you are interested in contributing to JAWS.

Call for a Content Creator

Are you interested in working with Instagram? Can you create graphics with ease that convey punchy lines? Are you passionate about creating content?

We need you! JAWS is a volunteer-run peer-reviewed journal that is currently in need of starting an Instagram page. We need to reach our audience through this particular social media platform and consequently our team needs a graphic designer who is also interested in publishing dynamics to help us develop our presence on Instagram.

This position does not include running the actual Instagram page.

We need someone who

• Can create content for posting minimum twice a week. This means:
• Source graphics aligned with JAWS’s activities
• Create original graphics as and when needed
• Create text/copy to accompany posting: this could mean corresponding with authors and/or other entities
• Can strategize content creation in the long term
• Schedule a sequence of posts monthly
• Wants to understand the dynamics of publishing a peer reviewed journal
• Wants to engage with emerging artists, authors and MA and Ph.D. students
• Wants to see us grow!

Please visit our website at www.jawsjournal.com and contact p.e.jawsjournal@gmail.com for more information if needed.

If you are interested in growing your portfolio, apply by sending a link to your current portfolio (or send a PDF) and a CV. In the body of the email (no cover letters attached please), please state why do you believe you are a good fit for volunteering with us.

Deadline: 28th February 2023.