About the Journal
Focus and Scope
JASAL is a peer-reviewed journal, published online by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature. JASAL welcomes essays that consider Australian literature in all its forms (fictional, poetic, critical, print, filmic, and so on) and in terms of its socio-political and cultural contexts. We encourage comparative studies with other literatures and are particularly interested in contributions that challenge received critical paradigms and contribute to public debate. JASAL also welcomes review articles (up to 4000 words) and responses to previously published material (up to 2000 words).
Peer Review Process
Essay manuscripts must be between 4500 and 6000 words (excluding endnotes and list of works cited), double-spaced in Times New Roman 12pt. font, with 1.5 line spacing and should conform to MLA style in regard to quotations, citations, endnotes, and lists of works cited. The JASAL Author Guidelines appear under Guidelines. Manuscripts that do not comply with the Style Guide may be rejected by the editors. Authors are responsible for obtaining copyright permission for any illustrations or figures cited in their texts. Allow three months for consideration.
Manuscripts are refereed anonymously by two Reviewers. Reviewers will assess the submission against the criteria of content (originality and thoroughness of research, and understanding of context), structure (well-structured argument and conclusion), and clarity of style.
Publication Frequency
JASAL is published at least three times each year in numbered issues including at least one general issue and other "themed" issues each year.
Open Access Policy
JASAL provides open access to all of its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Such access is associated with increased readership and citation levels. JASAL uses open source software, developed by the Public Knowledge Project <http://pkp.ubc.ca> to help make open access economically viable, and to improve the scholarly and public quality of research.
Articles are made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.
Books for Review
JASAL reviews criticism and scholarly editions of Australian literature, Australian cultural history, and critical/historical works on Australian drama, film and television. JASAL does not review individual creative works, such as novels, books of poems, plays and so on. Anthologies of these works, however, may be considered for review.
Publishers should send appropriate books for review to:
Dr Cheryl Taylor and Lianda Burrows
JASAL
Level 1, Building 4
James Cook University
Douglas, Queensland
4811
Editorial Advisory Committee
Bill Ashcroft, University of New South Wales
Delys Bird, University of Western Australia
Nicholas Birns, The New School for Social Research, New York
Vilashini Cooppan, University of California, Santa Cruz
Robert Dixon, University of Sydney
Carole Ferrier, University of Queensland
Terry Goldie, York University, Toronto, Canada
Sneja Gunew, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Dennis Haskell, University of Western Australia
Ian Henderson, University College, London
Christopher Lee, University of Southern Queensland
Jeanine Leane, Australian National University
Susan Lever, University of Sydney
Elizabeth McMahon, University of New South Wales
Susan K. Martin, La Trobe University
Lyn McCredden, Deakin University
Philip Mead, University of Western Australia
Barbara H. Milech, Curtin University of Technology
Nicole Moore, University of New South Wales - Canberra
Suvendrini Perera, Curtin University of Technology
Brigid Rooney, University of Sydney
Susan Sheridan, Flinders University
Elizabeth Webby, University of Sydney
Lydia Wevers, Wellington University, New Zealand
Management Committee
Robert Clarke (UTas), Tanya Dalziell, (UWA), Jill Jones (Adel), Susan Martin (La Trobe), Fiona Morrison (UNSW), Marguerite Nolan (ACU-Qld), Brigitta Olubas (UNSW), Roger Osborne (UQ), Brigid Rooney (U Syd), Christina Spittel (UNSW-Can), Meg Tasker (Ballarat).
Reader postings
Readers may comment on any article online by opening the article title and posting a comment using the Reading Tools on the right hand column.
A Note to Contributors
JASAL accepts submissions from Authors without qualification, but we encourage Authors to join ASAL.