About the Journal

Are you interested in being a student editor for a research journal for undergraduates? Do you enjoy collaborating in teams on writing, research, and creative projects?  Backstory is seeking 2-3 student editors.  Interested in joining the team? Fill out THIS FORM form by November 20th, 2025.  

How do we bring our communities, languages and histories to our writing and research? How do we engage in various ways of making meaning and knowledge making across disciplines? Backstory, a student-run, peer-reviewed, and open access undergraduate journal, is devoted to exploring these questions.

Backstory is a journal that not only centers students' own backstories and those of others, but also recognizes the different strategies and methodologies we might draw on to tell them. Building from a cultural rhetorics framework that highlights diverse linguistic, rhetorical and cultural practices in research and writing, Backstory embraces stories told both in essay form and across multimodal platforms and technologies. The journal invites experimental and creative approaches to research-based writing and interdisciplinary projects that challenge mainstream academic narratives –– bringing backstories to the foreground.  

Who can submit? 

Backstory, a Stanford undergraduate journal seeks submissions from undergraduate students from Stanford and nationwide. Authors must be undergraduates.

What are the submission types?  

Backstory welcomes two types of submissions from contributors: 1) Research papers/Essays and 2) Alt-text submissions. 

Research Paper/Essay Submission: Works submitted for class assignments such as research papers or RBA essays. Research topics should connect to Backstory’s commitment to centering diverse narratives and may also creatively and flexibly approach the “Research Paper” genre. 

Format: Typical manuscript length is between 2500-4000 words. Please submit as a word document and include a 150-200 word abstract. The submission should not have been previously published, nor submitted for consideration in another journal. 

Alt-text submission: Works submitted may include original, creative, experimental projects offering an argument in diverse genres and modes. (i.e., art, poetry, video, podcast, technology projects). Alt-text is a form of web accessibility that translates visual information into text, but it is also an emerging artistic practice of creative description that seeks to make multimedia works more inclusive. In that spirit, projects should connect to Backstory’s commitment to centering diverse narratives; we encourage contributors to consider integrating access such as visual descriptions, alt-text, and captions. 

Format: Please upload your audio, text or video file to the google form below.  Please also include a one-paragraph description of the work’s argument/author’s objective. 

All projects should include a proper attribution/reference list and use APA style.

When is the next submission deadline? 

The deadline for the spring 2025 issue just passed. Submissions are being accepted on a rolling basis ahead of the next deadline (Fall 2025).  Accepted authors will work with editors to prepare their manuscript for publication.