Website - General Submissions

Theory, Culture & Society has consistently been at the forefront of critical debates in sociology, cultural theory and social theory for over three decades. The TCS website publishes a variety of open access materials that complement and extend the reach of the journal. We publish responses to TCS articles, interviews, think-pieces, video-abstracts, new translations, reflections on events and book reviews. The TCS site is a major resource for those researching and teaching the broad terrain covered by Theory, Culture & Society and its companion journal Body & Society. The site is a vibrant space and hub of activity that explores new conceptual developments and ideas. View recent examples of content here on our website.

If you have any ideas for content or you wish to discuss potential commissioned pieces, then please contact us. All pieces published on the site are editorially screened by at least two members of the editorial team.

Format and Style

Authors are encouraged to make the most of the benefits of open access online publishing. Posts on the site are likely to be short and punchy, usually around 800-1500 words in length, but may be up to 3-4,000 if necessary, and will be aimed at a broad audience. We strongly encourage authors to include visual materials and embedded links where possible, we would also welcome audio content. Content on the site will also usually link directly to related articles that have previously been published in TCS or B&S. Inclusion of copyrighted materials will require permissions secured in the normal fashion prior to publication. We ask that when using references in your piece that you adhere to the same format as the TCS print journal (see the journal’s guidelines for authors). In addition to short think-pieces, interviews, and reviews, we also welcome contributions which work with the back catalogues of Theory, Culture & Society and Body & Society, with the aim to develop a range of freely available e-resources such as glossary entries and e-special issues.

We are open to creative and innovative content, but in general terms there are five broad types of content published on the site:

Think-Pieces

These will make interventions in fields, react to new conceptual developments, open up new ideas or questions and track the trajectories of key ideas, thinkers and concepts. We also encourage authors to provide material commenting on public events, films, video-games, theatrical production, television series, installation art and other types of cultural activities. Think-pieces might provide conceptual accounts of cultural forms, movements or developments. Similarly, they might explore conceptual shifts and new analytical possibilities. They might revitalise old concepts or introduce new concepts to the TCS audience. Think-pieces will set agendas and make bold statements about the issues that are central to the broad scope of TCS and B&S. A list of some of the think-pieces published on the site can be found here.

Responses

A key aspect of the site is that it will allow rapid responses to publications, events and other crucial moments in the field. We will publish responses to articles published in the print journal, but these responses will range more broadly. The site will facilitate dialogue and we will give authors opportunities to reply if they wish. Examples of response pieces can be found here.

Interviews

The interviews we publish on the TCS website are often around 2-3000 words in length. These interviews can be with key thinkers, but we also welcome interviews a wide range of interviewees. We are particularly keen on interviews that focus on recently published books or that discuss articles recently published in either TCS or B&S. The interviews should be fairly concise, but the length can be discussed with the editors. We usually publish text based interviews, but we are equally happy to publish audio or audio/visual interviews. Examples of our interviews can be found here.

Video-Abstracts

Authors of articles in TCS and B&S are strongly encouraged to provide supplementary materials for the website. Authors have options to provide different types of material, but the video-abstract has become a key means on the site for authors to communicate the key issues in their article to a broad audience. Article authors are asked to prepare a short 3-5 minute video that discusses the key issues and ideas that are developed in their articles. We have had a wide range of such pieces on the site, examples can be watched here. Our guidelines can be found here.

Book Reviews: See our separate guidelines for book reviewers here.

(Updated: November 2020)