ON EAST

Submissions Page

Last Updated

The EASSU team is currently in the process of developing our brand new summer 2026 volume for OnEast. Submissions have been closed. We are planning to launch another volume for the Fall 2026 semester–submissions (and editorial team recruitment) will reopen upon the start of the new Fall 2026 semester, so stay tuned!

Our brand new volume will be published digitally by September. Check out our events page for information on conferences, presentations, and our general meeting, where a print copy of our journal will be (hopefully) be avaliable 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 around the world.
  • 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

OnEast will be peer reviewed. As such, a large time commitment from the part of authors are expected between the months of July and August. 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 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 to July 4 – submissions period.

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 to September – finalization, finishing touches.

September – online publication.

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