Which journal is the best for publishing a general aesthetics essay?

@arzikass – if your paper doesn’t follow normal academic structure, I cannot imagine any scholarly, peer-reviewed journal to accept it.

Scholarly publishing developed these structures and relies on them for consistency and continuity to their readership. What would be the benefit to an academic-level journal to toss cultural norms in order to publish your non-standard work?

I’d be curious to hear if any publisher would do so – frankly, I doubt it.

Try the New Yorker or Harper’s, or maybe Atlantic Monthly.

If those magazine don’t accept it, try medium.com

Calling Earthbound_Misfit…

Here is a list of journals from the American Society for Aesthetics

Here’s a list from Web of Science

Arts and humanities writing does not have to fit in with the conventional form but it does have to be top class to get published in a highbrow publication.

Can you try looking for similar types of articles on humanities databases (try JSTOR)? Look at the journals which publish these types of essays and you might find one that will publish yours.

Or how about asking an academic at your local university to help. Perhaps to read it over first of all?

In addition to the advice @Stinley has provided, I like to use Ulrichsweb: Global Serials Directory to identify journals that might be suitable places to publish my work. You should be able to find this database through your university library. It tells you if the journal is still active, whether it’s peer-reviewed and you can use keywords to identify titles.

Perhaps you could look at literary journals that publish scholarly content but are more fluid in terms of the structure. I agree with @Stinley, that not all journals will demand you follow a conventional format if your work draws on quality evidence and is of a high standard.

Are there scholars you admire who are producing papers similar to yours? Where are they publishing? It’s a case of finding your ‘tribe’. Have scholars who are working in your field and whose work you respect peer review your paper before you submit it to journals. That will give you an opportunity to ensure the paper is of a high standard before you submit it formally. Once you submit a paper to a journal, if the editor sends your paper out for formal peer review, you’ll receive guidance on how you can improve your paper. It’s up to you whether you accept or reject that advice. However, if editors reject your paper without peer review (or after peer review), you can also ask them to suggest alternative publications they feel might be a better fit.

The first step is for you to read papers from potential target journals to try to identify whether your work is going to fit. As @Stinley said, you want to publish in quality journals, but finding the right journal can take a bit of research and time. However, that initial scoping work can save time and disappointment in the long term. The peer review process for some journals can take a year or more.

Good luck!