OnEast

Submissions Page

Last Updated

Click here to read information on our 2026 Summer edition.

OnEast is now accepting new submissions for our 2026 Fall Edition! Submit using the link below. https://forms.gle/ycRHPWwxu4QhjsPk6

OnEast will be peer reviewed. As such, a large time commitment from the part of authors are expected over the Fall semster. Requirements are listed below. 

OnEast is intended to be a humanities journal. Translations of historical literature, essays on historical topics, poems, and creative prose, are welcomed. Submissions should demonstrate a clear connection to East Asian Studies, along with clarity, originality and intellectual ambition.

Eligibility 

  • Authors must be current undergraduate students of any university. 
  • Any author may submit up to two works. 
  • Submissions must relate to at least one of the following countries (and its subregions): China (incl. Hong Kong and Macau), Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan. In the case of translations, the original work must be written in a language of one of these countries. Inter-cultural submissions (between East Asian countries) are encouraged. 
  • Submissions to OnEast should not have been also submitted to a different journal. Submissions that were originally coursework is acceptable.
  • Each individual submission should be contained within a single file. .docx files ONLY (do not submit PDFs).

Essays 

  • 1500–4000 words is the suggested length. Shorter and longer works will also be considered. We discourage submissions that go far above this suggested word count.
  • To be written primarily in English; excerpts or quotations in other languages can be included in contents.
  • Include an abstract of 100-200 words, contained in one paragraph. 
  • Include photos/diagrams if needed.
  • Follow Canadian English writing conventions. If needed, search them up.
  • Follow the Chicago 17th/18th Manual of Style using footnotes and bibliography (not author-date). As guidance, refer to our latest volume.
  • Essays that do not subscribe to these conventions may need much more work in the copyediting stage. Please ensure compliance with these guidelines.

Literary Translations 

  • Submissions must be an English translation of a work of prose or poetry. 
  • Follow Canadian English writing conventions and the Chicago 17th/18th Manual of Style using footnotes and bibliography (not author-date). As guidance, refer to our latest volume.
  • The original work must be in the public domain. 
  • Recommended word limit 4000 words.

Poetry and Creative Prose 

  • Include photos if needed.
  • Recommended limit – 10 pages.
  • Poetry and prose may be written in languages other than English, e.g. East Asian languages including but not limited to Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, Mongolian. If writing in a different language, include English translations as an addendum or besides foreign language text.

Photographs/paintings

  • Submissions must be high resolution in an acceptable file format.
  • Each photo must include ~100 word abstract explaining the image’s background, or its relationship to East Asian Studies.
  • Photography and paintings may be used for purposes including but not limited to serving as journal cover art and use on EASSU websites.

AI Policy –  the peer review team will evaluate harshly submissions that were clearly in part or wholly made with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. Such works will be subject to penalties at the discretion of the peer review committee.

Timeline –

September to October: submissions period.

October to Early November: selections process

November to December: Peer Review

January: ONLINE Publication

April/May – Publication along with Winter Issue.

Peer Review Process:

As with our previous volume, OnEast will be peer reviewed. The peer review process will be led primarily by undergraduate students, supervised by faculty members. Authors will be asked to revise and refine their work through a two stage process over the summer before they are finalized.
If you are an undergraduate or grad student looking to be a part of our editorial team, check out our openings.

For further inquiries, contact uoft.eassu@gmail.com. You can also reach us through our Discord server.

Our brand new volume will be published digitally by September. Check out our events page for information on conferences, presentations, and our general meeting on September 21 at EAS Lounge on the 14th floor of Robarts, where a print copy of our journal will be available for distribution!

Stats for OnEast Summer, 2026 –

  • Submissions received – 34
  • Number of submitters – 27
    • Submissions came from undergrads of 11 different universities, across 5 countries and 3 continents!
  • Essays – 28
    • Geographic representation (does not add up to 28 because of overlap)
    • Taiwan – 1
    • Japan – 15
    • China – 13
    • Korea – 1
    • Time periods represented
    • Contemporary – 11
    • 20th century – 7
    • 19th century – 5
    • Earlier than 19th century – 6
    • Categories (rough categorizations)
    • Culture – 14
    • History – 10
    • Contemporary Politics – 5
    • Linguistics – 1
    • Philosophy – 1
  • Translations – 2
    • Both were Japanese
  • Creative Prose – 3
    • All three related to China
  • Photographs – 1
  • Applications for editorial roles – 14
    • 6 undergrad, 8 postgrad
  • Undergraduate editors recruited – 4
  • Postgraduate editors recruited – 5