Submit to the Journal of Academic Freedom

The 2026 issue of the AAUP's Journal of Academic Freedom, edited by Karim Mattar of the University of Colorado at Boulder, will focus on "Academic Freedom as a Practice of Democracy."

As a practice, academic freedom is embodied in the free, critical inquiry of students and scholars in their areas of expertise; in syllabi, curricula, and classrooms whose content is determined by experts rather than by administrators, boards of trustees, external special interest groups, or government agencies; and in the extramural speech and action of students and scholars, which are protected by the First Amendment and by AAUP principles. Under such conditions, the practice of academic freedom-resilient, defiant, and unwaveringly committed to the search for knowledge and the common good-itself becomes an instantiation of democracy over and against authoritarianism.

To defend and fight for academic freedom is to defend and fight for democracy. With the explicit objective of contributing to this struggle, the new volume seeks submissions on initiatives that have been pursued, strategies that have been deployed, coalitions that have been built, and work that remains to be done in the fight for academic freedom.

Read the full call for papers and review JAF's editorial and submission policies. All submissions are due by March 9.