ON EAST

Call for Submissions

Last Updated

Submission form – forms.gle/K3ZfmbEcMjCWiRRW7

OnEast is accepting new submissions for our 2026 edition, to be published by September. OnEast will be peer reviewed. 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.

Submission deadline – June 25, 2026 

Eligibility 

  • Authors must be undergraduate students of any university. Students graduating this summer may also make submissions.
  • Any author may submit up to three 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, or 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.
  • Each individual submission should be contained within a single file (PDF or .docx).

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 around 200 words. 
  • Include photos/diagrams if needed.
  • Follow the Chicago 17th/18th Manual of Style using footnotes and bibliography (not author-date). As guidance, refer to OnEast Volume I.

Literary Translations 

  • Submissions must be an English translation of a work of prose or poetry. 
  • The original work must be in the public domain. 
  • Recommended limit 4000 words.

Poetry and Creative Prose 

  • Recommended limit – 2 pages.
  • Include photos if needed.
  • Submissions may be in languages other than English, e.g. East Asian languages including but not limited to Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, Mongolian.

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.

Peer Review Process – 

  • OnEast will be peer reviewed by an undergraduate and graduate editorial board, supervised by a committee of 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.

Submissions timeline (tentative and subject to change) –

May 4 to June 25 – submissions period.

May to July – screening and selection. Successful authors are contacted and given constructive feedback.

July to August – authors revise their submissions. There may be multiple rounds of revision.

August – finalization, finishing touches.

Late August/September – online publication.

OnEast will be released in print in the summer of 2027.

For further inquiries, contact uoft.eassu@gmail.com