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Special 25th Anniversary Issue of Xchanges: Looking Back, Writing Forward: Reflections and Revisitations in Technical Communication, Rhetoric, and Writing Across the Curriculum
As Xchanges: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Technical Communication, Rhetoric, and Writing Across the Curriculum celebrates its 25th anniversary, we invite submissions for a special issue that honors the journal’s legacy while imagining its future. Founded in 2000 as a space for student-led scholarship, Xchanges has become a vibrant venue for undergraduate and graduate research that pushes the boundaries of disciplinary writing, methodological innovation, and pedagogical practice.
To commemorate this milestone, we are curating a special issue that centers reflection, re-engagement, and reimagination. We invite two primary types of contributions:
- Reflections by Previous Xchanges Authors
Former contributors to Xchanges—whether undergraduate or graduate students at the time of publication—are invited to submit reflective essays that trace their intellectual or professional growth since their original piece appeared in the journal. These reflections may focus on how their work in Xchanges shaped their current scholarly or professional identity, how their thinking on the topic has evolved, or what it has meant to participate in a journal uniquely dedicated to emerging voices. We are especially interested in pieces that show how academic research lives beyond the page—how it matures, migrates, or even transforms as authors develop their careers and identities. We welcome collaboration by former authors, too. - Revisitations of the Archive by New Contributors
We also invite new authors—graduate students, early-career scholars, or undergraduate researchers—to engage with the Xchanges archive in a spirit of inquiry and innovation. We encourage contributors to select an article published in the past 25 years and respond to it from a contemporary standpoint. This might include revisiting a topic or methodology with updated tools or data, critiquing its assumptions in light of new developments in the field, or creatively building upon its questions to chart new paths for research or pedagogy. This revisitation option is an invitation for authors to reimagine undergraduate and graduate writing and research.
Together, these two strands—reflection and revisitation—seek to underscore the vitality of Xchanges as a scholarly commons. We envision this anniversary issue as an occasion for thinking critically and generatively about what it means to grow with and through academic publishing: to see research not as a static artifact but as a situated, unfolding practice of inquiry. By inviting both former and new contributors to participate in this scholarly dialogue, we aim to create a unique moment of intergenerational exchange, disciplinary retrospection, and forward-looking imagination.
Suggested Topics & Approaches
We welcome proposals that take up the invitation in multimodal and a variety of styles, with focuses including but not limited to:
- Reflective essays by former authors that document shifts in perspective, career paths, or disciplinary engagement since their original publication.
- Methodological updates that re-approach prior research questions with new methods, tools, or digital platforms.
- Pedagogical reflections on how earlier articles inspired classroom practices, writing assignments, or curriculum design.
- Creative re-interpretations such as multimodal remixes, interviews with past authors, or collaborative dialogues across time.
We especially encourage proposals that engage with themes central to the journal's mission: technical and professional communication, writing across the curriculum, rhetoric, design, digital media, and writing pedagogy.
Submission Guidelines
Please submit a proposal of 300–500 words outlining your proposed contribution.
Include the following:
- For reflection essays: your original article’s title and issue of publication; a brief summary of your proposed reflective focus.
- For archival revisitations: the article from Xchanges you intend to engage; your proposed approach and rationale.
We will follow the publishing timeline below:
- Proposals due: November 15, 2025
- Notifications of acceptance sent: January 25, 2026
- Full submissions due: May 1, 2026
- Review feedback provided: June 15, 2026
- Revisions due: August 1, 2026
- Special issue published: Fall 2026
All manuscripts should follow the journal’s existing general guidelines.
All submissions will be peer reviewed.
About the Journal
As a long-standing open-access journal in writing studies and associated fields, Xchanges has championed emerging undergraduate and graduate-student authors for a quarter century. Learn more about the journal.
Submit Proposals and Questions To:
Dr. Jason Tham (Texas Tech University), jason.tham@ttu.edu
Dr. Sweta Baniya (Virginia Tech), baniya@vt.edu