Call for Portfolio Submissions

The Portfolio Section of MJCSL embraces the presence and efficacy of visual images as language and vehicle for civic engagement and for expanding our own languages of how we represent engaged scholarship and practice with community. We know and value our existing readership, and we continue to explore emerging narrative forms including community voice, the translation of partnership processes to academic discourse and the translation of academic research to community partners, and we are now including engaged practices that primarily use images.

Portfolios are short (5-10 images), to make them accessible for online viewing. We are looking for documentary, experimental, and reflective techniques that evidence community partnership and align with MJCSL’s scope. We are not looking for solo artist projects (i.e., documentary images of a community without dialogue or direct engagement). We are looking for beautiful, compelling, and thought-provoking images that represent, analyze, and expand on the field’s understanding of collaboration, reciprocity, mutual respect, high impact learning and engagement. 

Submission Guidelines

Send your submission materials to our Portfolio Section Editor at mjcslportfolios@umich.edu 

Include the phrase “Portfolio Submission” followed by the title of your project in the subject line with the following attachments:

  • A document that Includes a written description and reflection with your visual work. Tell us, without jargon, who you are, who your partners are, what the project is/was, and how you went about working on it with your partners. Be sure to highlight what is most valuable for you and for the field about the project.  500 words maximum.
  • Send 5-10 images submitted as a single pdf document for viewing (ie, smallest file size). Include brief captions with each image letting us know what we are looking at. Save your file with "YourLastName_Portfolio.pdf"

All submissions will be editor reviewed,

Review Process

We review submissions on a rolling basis. We aim to respond to queries and proposals within 2 to 4 weeks. Please wait until this time has passed before writing to check on the status of your submission. Portfolio projects are critically reviewed for their aims and impact (see review criteria below). Successful projects are accompanied by well-curated media and nuanced reflection that moves the audience to think differently about the practice or scholarship of community engagement in higher education and written reflection by contributors about process and best practices.

Review Criteria

  • Significance to the field: The submission contributes to the public discourse regarding the role of the visual in communities and public life, adding something significant intellectually, aesthetically, and/or practically. The Portfolio, argument, or examples deepen, enrich, or contest current thinking and practices of community engagement in higher education. The submission is of some interdisciplinary value for the reader. At least part of the project has a community/civic engagement component; community members must be treated as co-creators or co-visionaries, rather than merely as subjects.
  • Innovative processes or outcomes that  create new knowledge in the field, especially knowledge that can only be captured in the visual medium.
  • Demonstrated understanding of context and precedent.
  • Accessibility: The language of the accompanying text is accessible to multiple publics regardless of a reader’s disciplinary training.
  • Quality: Submissions in artistic media use the form well as regards elements such as color, form, structure, etc.

Submission Workflow

  1. Proposal Review (2-4 week turnaround) - New submissions are reviewed by the section editor to ensure they fit the scope of the journal and showcase interesting explorations. Submissions to this stage are brief, requiring only a short summary of the project, a statement of relevance, and appropriate links.
  2. Project Review (2-month turnaround) - Projects that progress to the second stage are asked to provide media with alt-text descriptions, and a sketch of how these would appear in MJCSL for their project. This is examined by the full editorial team.
  3. Accepted Portfolio projects will be included in the next published issue of the journal.