GLAD! Gender, language, sexualities is an online journal dedicated to scientific, artistic and political research at the crossroads of gender, sexualities, and language. Pluri-, inter- and transdisciplinary, the journal is aimed at opening, mainly in the French-speaking world, a space for discussing these issues. It is designed as a space for translation, and more broadly for exploring linguistic practices in relation to a critical perspective on what commands linguistic and academic legitimacy.

Issues can be thematic or varia, and will welcome contributions from various backgrounds, as well as a plurality of perspectives and formats (text, audio, video). Any proposal, whether it be for an article or a thematic issue, is welcome, as long as it questions language in relation to gender and/or sexualities.

Presentation of the journal

Since gender and sexualities are framed by power relations, their material and ideological dimensions are necessarily intertwined. In this regard, feminist and gender studies have been faced with the question of language for a long time: How does gender signify? What multiple mechanisms (social, discursive, semiotic, linguistic…) are at play in the production of its meaning? How are sexualities de/re-constructed in, through and beyond language?

Through this journal, we wish to create a space for a variety of research, stemming from a whole range of disciplines, but sharing a critical understanding of language and discourse – construed as polysemous, non-transparent elements –, a linguistic approach aware of power relations, a non-essentialist reading of sex, and an acknowledgment of the influence of language on gender categories.

We are also interested in contributions questioning the frame outlined above from another theoretical standpoint. Researchers who don’t work mainly in language, gender and sexualities are warmly encouraged to submit and offer insights on these questions from their own perspective. Finally, we want to reach out as much to academic researchers (with or without institutional affiliation) as to anyone with a practice relevant to the journal’s questions (whether it be a creative practice, a political practice…).

The project’s originality lays not only in its thematic, but also in its editorial line that hinges on four principles: encouraging minority research and research from the margins, valuing inter- and transdisciplinary endeavours, opening the journal to all sorts of Francophonies, and triggering a critical stance upon the means and modes through which contemporary knowledge on gender is produced.

The journal has received the support of the MSH Paris Nord.

Editorial policy

Published twice a year online, the journal is in free access and welcomes both a variety of digital formats and a range of modes of expression (academic, artistic, political), as well as translations. Several types of contributions will thus be published in the journal:

• academic papers;

• research notes (work-in-progress, field notes, literature review…);

• reviews;

• interviews and debates;

• creative writing;

• artistic creations;

• political texts.

This list is not exhaustive and will be adapted along the way.

The journal will welcome contributions in French, in English and in any other language susceptible of being reviewed by the Scientific Committee. It may also publish texts in a bilingual version.

Exploratory written forms are warmly encouraged.

How to submit

1) How to submit a thematic issue

The proposals for a thematic issue (6000 to 9000 signs) should be sent with or without a table of contents to [email protected]. They will be reviewed by the Editorial Committee.

2) How to submit an academic paper

a) Proposal

Is considered an academic paper any analytical, empirical or critical piece that construes its object, makes its methodology explicit and agrees to the peer review process. These criteria define the scientific perimeter of the journal.

Proposals for academic papers (3000 to 6000 signs) should be sent to [email protected].

The proposal should include:

• a provisional title

• the name(s) of the author(s)

• the author’s institutional affiliation

• the author’s email address

• the proposal

• up to 6 bibliographical references

• the length and type of the proposed paper: research note or review (25 000 signs), standard article (50 000 signs), long article (80 000 signs).

The accepted formats are the following: .doc; .docx; .rtf; .odt.

The proposals, as the articles, can be either in French or in English. The authors who would wish to submit in another language should reach out to the Editorial Committee that will respond depending on its linguistic abilities.

The authors can contact the Editorial Committee if they wish to receive help in the writing process in French of their proposal.

The contributors will be informed by email of the outcome of the editorial committee’s review of their proposal. The Editorial Committee’s positive answer does not engage the journal to publish the article, but encourages contributors to submit a full paper.

The authors whose proposals have been accepted will be invited to submit their complete article, following the style sheet of the journal available at the following address: http://gsl.hypotheses.org/517

b) Peer-review

Academic papers will go though a double-bind peer-review process, which means it will be reviewed anonymously by two members of the Scientific Committee who will assess the paper and recommend it be rejected, accepted with minor revisions, accepted with major revisions or accepted without revision. Their decision will be supported by specific remarks and comments, and with propositions of improvement, when necessary. Will be assessed the paper’s originality, the appeal of the approach, and its relevance to the journal’s perspective. The formal dimension of the paper will come under consideration, but to a lesser extent than the criteria listed above. As long as the paper is sound and clear, language is not a discriminating criterion at this stage of the reviewing process: the journal does not expect a “native” proficiency from its contributors.

Reviewers are invited to express their assessment in a benevolent and constructive manner. The Ethical Guidelines to which the reviewers must adhere is available here.

Authors may use their right to reply to comments formulated on their work if they feel the need.

The final decision whether to publish a paper or not falls to the Editorial Committee.

The authors who wish to have the possibility of taking part into an experimental public review process (anonymous or not), may reviewers be involved at that time in the process.

3) How to submit a non-scientific proposal

Proposals for non-scientific contributions (interviews, debates, creative writing, art, political texts, news in gender and language) should be sent to the Editorial Committee ([email protected]) as proposals or as final pieces.

The proposal should include:

• a title;

• an author (individual, collective, alias);

• an email address for correspondence;

• an institutional affiliation (if relevant);

• a description of the contribution specifying its format (from 1 to 2 pages), for any non-written work;

• an indication of the length of the contribution, for written contributions;

• a biographical note, if the author(s) wish to include one.

The Editorial Committee may advise reorientations in relation to the journal’s editorial line. It will be responsible for accepting or rejecting contributions on the basis of the journal’s intellectual, political, scientific and artistic orientations; the Editorial Committee, as academic reviewers, must adhere to the Ethical Guidelines of reviewing, support its decisions with specific evidence and develop its arguments.

Looking forward to reading you!