Journal profile
Bearing Witness Joyce Carol Oates Studies
ISSN 2373-275X · University of San Francisco · United States
Bearing Witness Joyce Carol Oates Studies: diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 5 weeks (community reports); 8 articles in 2025.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Bearing Witness Joyce Carol Oates Studies is published by University of San Francisco. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are American and British Literature Analysis, Contemporary Literature and Criticism and Short Stories in Global Literature, together about 54.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Literature and Literary Theory. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
"One of the little-understood responsibilities of the artist is to bear witness—in almost a religious sense—to certain things ... the experience of suffering, the humiliation of any form of persecution." —Joyce Carol Oates, 1982 "In the best sense, Oates’s fiction bears witness .... she’s the Balzac of the Comédie américaine, anatomizing our corrupt institutions, exposing our cheating hearts, detailing every kind of hurt and suffering, voicing savage indignation. Her work is so overwhelming, so shattering, that I think many readers, even admirers, need to steel themselves before picking up one of her novels or short-story collections." —Michael Dirda, 2014 Bearing Witness: Joyce Carol Oates Studies is a peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal focusing on the writing of Joyce Carol Oates and related subjects, with the goal of advancing knowledge of and deepening the conversation about Oates's massive literary project. We invite submissions on all aspects of Joyce Carol Oates's writing, and are particularly interested in submissions treating those works and genres that have yet to receive much critical attention. Bearing Witness: Joyce Carol Oates Studies is indexed in the MLA International Bibliography and DOAJ (The Directory of Open Access Journals). The journal is published online by the Scholarship Repository at Gleeson Library | Geschke Center, University of San Francisco. ——————————————— "Bearing witness. Most of the world’s population, through history, have not been able to 'bear witness' for themselves. They lack the language, as well as the confidence, to shape the language for their own ends. They lack the education, as well as the power that comes with education. Politically, they may be totally disenfranchised—simply too poor, and devastated by poverty and the bad luck that comes with poverty, like an infected limb turning gangrenous. They may be suppressed, or terrorized into silence. My most intense sympathies tend to be for those individuals who have been left behind by history, as by the economy; they are all around us, but become visible only when something goes terribly wrong, like a natural disaster, or an outburst of madness and violence. Particularly, I have been sympathetic with the plight of women and girls in a patriarchal society; I am struck by the ways in which weakness can be transformed into strength and vulnerability into survival. If the writer has any obligation—and this is a debatable issue, for the writer must remain
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- American and British Literature AnalysisArts and Humanities24.3%
- Contemporary Literature and CriticismArts and Humanities19.8%
- Short Stories in Global LiteratureArts and Humanities9.9%
- American Literature and CultureArts and Humanities9.9%
- Gothic Literature and Media AnalysisSocial Sciences4.5%
- Crime and Detective Fiction StudiesArts and Humanities3.6%
- Literature, Film, and Journalism AnalysisArts and Humanities3.6%
- Gender and Feminist StudiesSocial Sciences2.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
DOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- h-index
- 2OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 0OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 37 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 2022 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 5 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 5 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Editorial reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- MLA
Article types accepted1, with length limits
- book review00 to 15,000 words. Suggested length of book reviews: 750 to 1,500 words. (Book reviews are solicited only) Suggested length of notemain text ≤ 1,500 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteLicense & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- License & copyright Copyright and Open Access
Authors retain copyright and grant to Bearing Witness: Joyce Carol Oates Studies the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Copyright and Open Access
No submission or publication fees. Model summary
Authors retain copyright and grant to Bearing Witness: Joyce Carol Oates Studies the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review
Editor initial review; double-blind peer review by at least two Editorial Board members. Model summary
All submissions are reviewed by the Editor; those accepted for further consideration will undergo a double-blind peer review by at least two members of the Editorial Board.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints
No prior publication, no simultaneous submission, no submission elsewhere until editorial decision complete. Model summary
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, not be currently under review at another journal, and the author will not submit the material to another journal until the completion of the editorial decision process at Bearing Witness: Joyce Carol Oates Studies.
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- University of San Francisco
- Country or region
- United States
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2373-275X
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Bearing Witness Joyce Carol Oates Studies
How long does peer review take at Bearing Witness Joyce Carol Oates Studies?
Authors report an average review time of about 5 weeks. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Which databases index Bearing Witness Joyce Carol Oates Studies?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Bearing Witness Joyce Carol Oates Studies is indexed in DOAJ.
Is Bearing Witness Joyce Carol Oates Studies open access, and what is the APC?
Bearing Witness Joyce Carol Oates Studies is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .