Deadline: August 31, 2024

The Professional Wresting Studies Association invites original scholarly articles and book reviews for upcoming issues of the Professional Wrestling Studies Journal. A peer reviewed and rigorous scholarly publication, we welcome work from any theoretical and methodological lens that expands our audience’s understanding of professional wrestling past or present as a cultural, social, political, and/or economic institution.

Professional Wrestling Studies Journal: Call for Articles, Book Reviews

The Professional Wresting Studies Association invites original scholarly articles and book reviews for the Professional Wrestling Studies Journal. A peer reviewed and rigorous scholarly publication, we welcome work from any theoretical and methodological lens that expands our audience’s understanding of professional wrestling past or present as a cultural, social, political, and/or economic institution.

Article Submission Guidelines

All articles submitted must be original scholarly work and free of identifying information for blind review. Written articles should be submitted as Word documents and no more than 8,000 words, inclusive of a 200-word abstract and a reference list. MLA citation style is required: articles not written in MLA style will be returned. Please do not use the "Insert Citation" function in Word when citing sources. Any images not belonging to the author(s) require copyright clearance. Articles will be converted into PDFs for publication, so hyperlinks should be active. For multimedia productions and experimental scholarship, please contact Chief Journal Editor Dr. Christopher J. Olson (chrstphrolson@gmail.com) to verify length and proper format in which to send the piece. To see the full style guide, please visit this page.

The PWSJ publishes in November to coincide with the annual AEW Full Gear PPV. To be considered for inclusion in the November issue, articles must be received by the editor before the end of May. Blind peer review will take place over the ensuing months, and final revisions will be due by the end of October. Any work not published will be kept in consideration for subsequent issues.

The PWSJ is open to suggestions for special issues on a variety of topics pertaining to professional wrestling. Proposals for special issues should be sent to Chief Journal Editor Christopher J. Olson at chrstphrolson@gmail.com.

Book Review Submission Guidelines

The PWSA invites detailed and insightful book reviews of scholarly and popular texts. Book reviews should be no more than 750 words in length and must be written in MLA style. Please begin all book reviews with the following information: 

LastName, FirstName. Title. Publisher, Date. ## pp. $xx.xx pbk/hdc.”

The PWSJ also seeks reviews of wrestling-related films, games, podcasts, or any other popular works that have been published, released, performed, or posted in the last two years. If you wish to review a popular media text, you must submit a brief rationale for the relevance of the review. A short paragraph outlining why you think the text is worthy of review in the journal will suffice.

Please submit reviews to Reviews Editor David Beard at dbeard@d.umn.edu by August 31 for full consideration. For more information on the Professional Wresting Studies Association and the current and past issues of Professional Wrestling Studies Journal, please visit https://prowrestlingstudies.org.