James Gunn’s Ad Astra is an online publication dedicated to the study, advancement, and celebration of speculative fiction in the twenty-first century. From its inception, Ad Astra has included scholarly articles as part of its commitment to the field. Scholarly articles in Ad Astra are peer-reviewed by academics from around the globe specializing in the field of speculative fiction studies. In addition to scholarly articles, each issue will feature an assortment of stories, reviews, and poems about speculative art and literature.

We are looking for scholarly work from a wide variety of disciplines about themes, trends, analysis, or speculation regarding the field of speculative fiction from all over the world. We may occasionally send out special calls for contributions on a specific theme. All submissions should have one eye cast toward the future, or one foot planted firmly in the world of the imagination. Though we welcome works focusing on television, film, song, and popular culture, Ad Astra prioritizes the study of the written form. Note that all scholarly work should include full references and demonstrate a familiarity with the current literature. Ad Astra primarily welcomes submissions from graduate students, independent scholars, and professional writers, but contributions from all scholars at all stages of their career are welcome.

Publication and Presentations

Submitted articles will be peer-reviewed. Anonymous peer review comments will be returned to each contributor via email. If the contribution is found acceptable with revisions, the newly revised paper must be received by the date specified by the editors. The editors will make the final selection from the pool of articles deemed acceptable by peer-review for each issue. Some articles deemed acceptable may be held, with the contributor’s permission, for future editions.

How to Submit

To ensure a careful and timely review of your submission, please carefully review the scholarly articles submission requirements below:

Formatting

  • Only one submission at a time, please.
  • Length should not exceed 7,500 words.
  • All submissions should be anonymized and prepared for blind review.
  • All citations and references should be in Chicago 18th edition (Date-Author) in-text citation format.
  • Include a full Works Cited page.
  • Include a 250-word abstract summarizing the paper.
  • Include six keywords.
  • Documents should be submitted as .DOC or .DOCX files only.
  • Document should be double-spaced with one inch or 2 cm margins, in 12 pt Times New Roman.
  • Paper-size may be 8.5 X 11 or A4.
  • Include title and page number in the upper right corner of each page.
  • Submit a separate cover page with author name(s), title, institutional affiliation(s) and word count.
  • All tables and figures should be submitted on separate sheet(s) and not embedded within the text.
  • All figure captions should be submitted in a list by figure number on a separate sheet.
  • Permission from the rights holders for use of images must be secured in advance by the author(s) prior to publication.
  • All figures must be 300 DPI or higher and in one of the following formats: .jpg, .png or .tiff.

Fine Print

We reserve the right to reject any submission that does not follow the rules and guidelines. Please do not resubmit a rejected work unless the editors have requested you to do so after revisions.

Submissions must be previously unpublished (unless otherwise noted in specific invitations or guidelines). Do not send us links to works on websites, as web publication counts as a copyright/publication.

Please limit your submission to one scholarly work at any given time. If you submit one piece for consideration, please wait until you’ve received a response about it before submitting any additional materials.

Do not contact us to check on the status of your submission. We will make every effort to respond to your submission in a reasonable time, but we cannot guarantee this turnaround time.

We are temporarily closed. We will reopen later in July 2026.

For Short Fiction Guidelines, Go Here

For Poetry Guidelines, Go Here