Editorial Policy

The Journal of Black Military Studies is the diamond open access journal of the Society for Black Military Studies, published on a rolling basis in partnership with the University of Vermont Press.

In keeping with the society’s mission, JBMS aims to promote worldwide understanding, appreciation, and greater dialogue about the Black military experience, distinguishing this new discipline as distinct from the field of military history.

The editors of JBMS invite submissions of scholarly articles, essays, interviews, and creative work (such as poetry, short stories, and visual art) that:

  • Are original and innovative in content, scope, and interpretation
  • Make distinctive contributions to historical knowledge
  • Use and/or reflect Africana methods
  • Approach their subject matter in an open, accessible, jargon-free way that resonates with scholars as well as a broader readership.

We cover a wide-ranging field of global Black military studies from its earliest phases to the more recent past. Topics include war, armed conflict, resistance, and military participation.

Submission Types

JBMS is open to submissions according to its call for manuscripts and publishes accepted contributions on a rolling basis.

The journal considers these submission types:

  • Scholarly articles (around 8,000 words): Original research papers and research case studies that may include cultural, social, archeological, geospatial, and memory studies, as well as economic, political, environmental, material, and literary studies, and their intersections with military studies. All scholarly articles are peer reviewed.
  • Essays (maximum 5,000 words): Op-eds, opinion pieces, personal reflections, and contributed biographies. All essay submissions undergo editorial or peer review depending on their content.
  • Interviews (with editor approval): Original transcriptions and/or audio of interviews conducted by the author, to be cataloged in JBMS as primary sources and evidence of Black presence.  These submissions undergo editorial review to ensure their suitability for publishing.
  • Other submissions (with editor approval): Rigorously researched, cited, and sourced letters to the editor, roundtable discussions, archivable ephemera/collections, solicited reviews (including review essays), and solicited subject-area reviews. These submissions undergo editorial review to ensure their suitability for publishing.
  • Creative work (by special call): Photo or art essays, poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama. Creative work undergoes peer review or editorial review depending upon the call.

All submissions undergo screening by the Editor in Chief to determine suitability for the journal. Scholarly manuscripts that advance to peer review are evaluated by at least two independent experts in the subject area. Submissions may not have been previously published, nor may they be before another journal or book for consideration.

Diamond Open Access Publishing Information

JBMS is published in partnership with the University of Vermont Press, a division of the University of Vermont Libraries. All JBMS articles are free to access immediately from the date of publication. There are no article processing fees or submission charges. All content, unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND), which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that it is properly attributed. See the  Copyright Statement for full information.