Theme: Decolonizing the Outer Circle: World Englishes, Identity, and Postcolonial Cartographies in Literature & Language

Publisher: Global Orients Research Cluster (GORC)

Model: Continuous Article Publishing (CAP) | Open Access

Submission Portal: editorial@gorc-network.org

ISSN & Indexing: Prepared for MLA International Bibliography, Google Scholar, & Zenodo DOI Tracking. ISSN registration is currently in progress (to be finalized upon the release of the inaugural volume). 

• Priority Submission Deadline: October 1, 2026

• Publication Schedule: Continuous Article Publishing (CAP) | Vol. 1, No. 1 (Inaugural Rollout begins Late 2026)

Rationale & Scope

The global expansion of English has transformed it from a colonial tool into a highly localized, appropriated resource. Yet, international educational ecosystems remain heavily constrained by native-speakerism, deficit-oriented pedagogy, and Eurocentric models of linguistic legitimacy.

This inaugural continuous volume seeks to interrogate the intersections of language, geography, and power. We invite critical essays, empirical studies, and conceptual frameworks that explore how localized varieties of English—specifically within Western Asia, the Asia-Pacific, and Euro-Asian entanglements—reshape identities, pedagogies, and narrative landscapes.

Simultaneously, we seek to investigate how these linguistic shifts manifest structurally and thematically within world literature, exploring how contemporary narratives construct, contest, and destabilize postcolonial identities across shifting geographical borders. 

Core Strands & Axes of Inquiry

We encourage original submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following thematic axes:

• Linguistic Ownership & De-centering: Critiquing Kachruvian models, native-speakerism, and linguistic imperialism in the Global South.

• Postcolonial Identities & Language Contact: How multilingual communities draw upon their entire linguistic repertoires to negotiate belonging, agency, and translation.

• Localized Varieties (The Philippine & Regional Context): Empirical or theoretical validations of institutionalized varieties (e.g., Philippine English) against deficit models.

• Equitable & Decolonial Pedagogies: Reimagining English Language Teaching (ELT) to respect linguistic diversity, intercultural intelligibility, and native cultural frameworks.

• Transnational Archives & Mappings: Postcolonial cartographies exploring how language travels, adapts, and resists across historical margins.

• Identity Constructs in World Literature: Critical readings of postcolonial, transnational, or translated texts that map how identity is linguistically and culturally constructed, resisted, or renegotiated within global literary ecosystems. 

Technical Submission Specifications

To pass automated indexing harvesters and manual board reviews, manuscripts must strictly comply with the following structural layout:

• Length: 1,500 to 2,500 words for conceptual/short articles; up to 6,000 words for full-length empirical papers.

• Format: Microsoft Word (.docx), Times New Roman, 12 pt., double-spaced.

• Style Manual: APA 7th Edition citation format and in-text references.

• Metadata Headers: Every submission must feature a clear Title, an Abstract (150–200 words), and 3 to 5 searchable Keywords.

• Review Framework: All papers are subjected to an international double-blind peer-review workflow managed by the editorial board.

Anonymization & Submission Guidelines 

Author Anonymization (For Blind Review): To ensure a rigorous double-blind review process, the body of the manuscript must be fully anonymized. Please remove all author names, institutional affiliations, and identifying acknowledgments from the text and file properties of the submitted Word document. 

Cover Page & Biography: Authors must submit a separate cover page alongside their manuscript containing the title of the paper, full author names, institutional affiliations, contact emails, and a short biographical note (50–100 words per author). 

File Naming Convention: Submissions must consist of two separate files named using the first 3–4 words of the title (omitting articles like A, An, The). Format the files exactly as follows:

• File 1 (Cover Page): ShortTitle_CoverPage.docx (e.g., DecolonizingOuterCircle_CoverPage.docx)

• File 2 (Anonymized Manuscript): ShortTitle_Manuscript.docx (e.g., DecolonizingOuterCircle_Manuscript.docx)

Generative AI & AI-Assisted Technologies: Authors are permitted to use generative AI tools solely to improve the readability, language, or formatting of their manuscripts. AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. Authors must explicitly disclose the use of AI tools in a statement on their submitted Cover Page, detailing which tool was used and for what purpose.