Dear Higher Education: Letters from the Social Justice Mountain

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

• Copyright of content published in this journal belongs to the author(s). The author agrees that their work will be published with a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. If the author needs an exemption from the open license policy, please submit a request to the editors with your submission.
• You must be the author, or the authorized agent of the author(s) and copyright holder. If different from the author(s): the author(s) must have approved the work for publication; the author(s) must have agreed to submit the article to the Journal; the author(s) must accept full responsibility for the content of the Article.
• The Work must be the Author(s) original work and must not contain any libelous or unlawful statements or infringe on the rights or privacy of others or contain material or instructions that might cause harm or injury
• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
• The submission file is in Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
• Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• The submission includes a short biographical statement
• The submission includes a 250-word abstract that speaks to one of the categories described above and includes the authors’ name(s) and the title of the letter.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

Authors may be anyone deeply engaged with higher education—as educators, students, administrators, community partners, or in other capacities—committed to fostering transformative dialogue on social justice with and within academic institutions. Special Issues may require evidence of experience with the subject.  

Contributions should be made in the epistolary form of a letter to higher education and draw upon lived experiences that reflect and narrate your observations, insights, and perspectives as a subject. Letters should include a salutation and a signature line.

Contributions should not be academic papers; however, you may wish to discuss theoretical perspectives that support your narrative. If you do cite a source in your paper, please follow the Chicago (Author-Date) style. References and citations should be minimal.

Submissions must consist of original, unpublished work prepared specifically for this publication.

Your submission should include the following items:

• A 250-word abstract that speaks to one of the categories described above and includes the authors’ name(s) and the title of the letter.
• Your paper, formatted as a letter to Higher Education, not to exceed 2000 words in length.
• A short, biographical statement.
• A request for open licensing exemption if needed.

Please format your submission in a single document that begins with the title, author name, and abstract, followed by the text of the letter, and concluding with your short, biographical statement.

Editorial Review:

Every submission will be reviewed by at least one editor for appropriate content and clarity, and feedback will be provided directly to the author(s) with questions, corrections, or suggestions for improved readability.

AI Policy: 

Authors are accountable for the originality, validity, and integrity of the content of their submissions. In choosing to use Generative AI tools, journal authors are expected to do so responsibly. This includes reviewing the outputs of any Generative AI tools and confirming content accuracy.  We support the responsible use of Generative AI tools that respect high standards of data security, confidentiality, and copyright protection in cases such as: 

• Idea generation and idea exploration 
• Language improvement 
• Interactive online search with LLM-enhanced search engines
• (This policy is adapted from similar language available at Taylor & Francis publishing.)

Note:
We recognize that the nature of the letters is personal, and some authors may be concerned about professional repercussions. If this is the case, please contact the editors at sparkdhe@sparkacademic.org to discuss it further. 

This journal will be typically published twice a year in spring and fall.

All articles published in the Dear Higher Education are distributed with a Creative Commons Noncommercial Attribution license (CC BY-NC 4.0) unless the author has requested an exception. CC BY-NC 4.0 means that each author holds the copyright to her or his work, and grants users the rights to: share (copy and/or redistribute the material in any medium or format) or adapt (remix, transform, and/or build upon the material) the article, as long as the original author and source are cited, and the use is for noncommercial purposes. Permission is not needed for these noncommercial uses. Read the summary terms, or the full legal license code.

For permission for other uses, or questions about use, please contact the editors at dhe@sparkacademic.org.

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.