Update on Submissions 2023-2024

KB Journal is migrating its website to a new system in Summer 2024, so we have suspended review of new submissions until that process has been completed in September, 2024. You may still submit your work for consideration, but please be aware that the review process will not begin until October, 2024. Thanks for your patience! —The Editor

Mission Statement

KB Journal: The Journal of the Kenneth Burke Society takes as its mission the exploration of what it means to be "Burkean." We publish original scholarship that addresses, applies, extends, repurposes, or challenges the work of Kenneth Burke, which includes his books, articles, reviews, fiction, poetry, and music, as well as the growing body of research about his contributions to the unending conversation of history. KB Journal provides an outlet for integrating and critiquing the gamut of Burkiean studies in communication, composition, English, gender, literature, philosophy, psychology, rhetoric, religion, sociology, and technical writing. In light of this, Burke need not be the sole focus of a submission, but his ideas should be integral to the argument or performance.

 Submission Guidelines

All scholarly approaches—historical, textual, empirical, pedagogical, performative—are welcome and encouraged. Each essay, hypertext, or other project submitted for possible publication will be anonymously reviewed by a minimum of two editors or experts from a particular area. Submissions for possible publication should be submitted through KBJ's submission interface at Submittable (see below for a button, also). Allowable formats include Word, RTF, or HTML. All article submissions should conform to the most recent style guide of the Modern Language Association, which covers all matters related to manuscript preparation not covered by KBJ guidelines. Authors must use in-text citations and provide a reference or Works Cited page at the end of the essay. Authors may also include explanatory endnotes, though such notes should be kept to a minimum and should not be automatically embedded in the text using Word's note function (they will need to be extracted). Hypertext or other projects requiring multiple files may be submitted as a Zip file. All essays may run a maximum of 7,000 words (not including the Works Cited or other endmatter). For projects that lie outside of these parameters, contact the editors.

Each submission should also include the author's or authors’ name(s), title, professional affiliation, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number. No author-identifying information should appear in the corpus of the text itself. Each submission should include a fifty-word abstract. Works submitted for review should not have appeared in any other published form. If any part of the submission has been presented at a colloquy, conference, or convention, the date and form of that presentation should be indicated in the submission notes. It is expected that such submissions will be substantially revised to make them suitable for publication in the journal.

Reviews

KB Journal seeks reviews of recent books focused on Burke and his ideas. Reviews should run a maximum of 2,000 words and include the book title in MLA format at the beginning of the review. The journal also seeks review essays discussing at least three books and/or articles that share a common Burke-related focus. Review essays should discuss how these works forward, enhance, or challenge Burke studies. Reviews essays should run a maximum of 4,000 words and should include the titles in MLA format at the beginning of the review.