Tab Journal is open to considering a  variety of critical work that explores poetry. We are interested in critical essays that address aesthetics, process, pedagogy, publishing, or other topics related to poetry and poetics. In keeping with some of the scholarly interests of the editorial team, we are currently interested especially in essays focusing on visual poetry, poetry therapy, disability studies, or health humanities. We welcome submissions from writers with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, voices, and aesthetics. Please do not submit critical work that isn't primarily focused on poetry.

Short Essays: We publish short critical pieces of 800-2500 words. A journalistic style with in-sentence acknowledgment of source material may work well for shorter, very focused pieces, but attribution must be clear in the text; otherwise, use scholarly citation using Chicago style is necessary.

Long Essays: We are also looking for longer scholarly essays of 3000-8000 words. Please cite source material in text and with works cited, using Chicago style.

Your name and identifying information should not appear in the file name or inside the file. Word documents are preferred, but RTF and PDF are okay.

To reduce barriers to access, we do not charge a submission fee. In addition, while we cannot guarantee payment, we hope to pay $75 to each contributor for as long as the budget allows. We understand that if we are not able to offer payment for work we accept, an author may withdraw their submission. We consider simultaneous submissions, but if the work is accepted elsewhere, writers must immediately withdraw your submission through Submittable.

Chapman University (the institutional home of Tab Journal) shall have First North American Serial Rights to publish accepted work electronically and/or in print. Publication rights revert to the author upon publication in Tab Journal, but we do retain permission to republish and to submit to other outlets such as the Pushcart Prizes and Best American Essays. In addition, we ask that subsequent publication of the work acknowledge its first publication in Tab Journal.

If you want to submit something other than a scholarly essay related to poetry, please use the appropriate form, not this one. We do not currently accept book reviews by individuals who are not part of the Tab staff.

Please do not submit more than once in a six-month period unless asked to do so.

If you are experiencing problems with this form or require assistance, please contact the staff using the Contact form on the website; if you don't get response within two weeks, you are welcome to contact the Editor. We will be happy to assist.