Sonic Scope aims to provide a platform for current students and recent graduates working within audiovisual cultures.
It is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal founded in 2019 in association with Goldsmiths, University of London and MIT Press.
In addition to written articles, Sonic Scope welcomes practical submissions, such as ethnographic film, practice-as-research, and audiovisual composition. Submissions can engage with any aspect of audiovisual culture. We are particularly interested in submissions which engage with the following:
Online culture, social media and YouTube
Transmedia storytelling
Video game sound and music
Work created by or engaging with AV practices in the LGBTQ+ community
Multimodal and interdisciplinary approaches to opera, theatre and film
Augmented, virtual and hyperrealities
Music video
Theoretical engagements with gender, race, sexuality and disability in audiovisual media
Music and the visual arts
Film music analysis and history
AV creative practice and experimental culture
Global histories and perspectives on AV culture
Video art and expanded cinema
Live audiovisual performance
Sonic Scope also includes a feature entitled Call & Response. In this feature, each issue sees a scholar or practitioner working within audiovisual cultures pose a question to the Sonic Scope community. We then invite contributors to respond in any way they feel inspired to do so. Whether written, visual, sonic, or in any other medium, all responses are welcome. Responses are not subject to peer review.
All submissions should be sent by email to the editors at: [email protected]. Please ensure this email includes the title of the work, and the contributor’s name, level of study and institution.
As Sonic Scope’s primary focus is highlighting student voices, all contributing authors should be currently studying at undergraduate, postgraduate, or doctorate level, or have graduated from their studies within the last two years.
Full submissions: All written submissions must be between 3,000 and 12,000 words. Video or audiovisual works must be no longer than 30 minutes and must be accompanied by a 2,000-8,000 word commentary. This commentary should outline the contributor(s) creative decisions and intentions, provide a critical and theoretical engagement with the work, and contextualise it within the wider landscape of the relevant field of study.
All full submissions should include: the work’s title; a 100-200 word abstract, and 3-7 keywords.
Call & Response: Written submissions must be no longer than 600 words. Sonic and visual submissions must be no longer than 5 minutes.
All written work should be submitted as a Word document and be formatted with double line spacing, page numbers, and continuous line numbering. Practical submissions should be submitted as a downloadable file. If the work is too large to attach to an email, you can use WeTransfer to provide a downloadable link which can be included in the submission email.
All works must include a "bibliography" and "media cited" sections, and all in-text citations must be formatted in accordance with Chicago Manual of Style's "Notes and Bibliography" style.
All submissions are assessed by the Editor-in-Chief and senior editorial team to deem its suitability for the journal. Suitable submissions are sent for double-blind peer review. Reviewers’ comments will then be returned to the author, who will then have the opportunity to revise their submission in accordance with these comments. Following revision, submissions will be assessed again to ensure it meets expectations or whether further amendments are necessary.
Following the peer review stage, any works selected for publication will undergo subediting by the Editors. The work will then be sent back to the author for confirmation of any changes made in this stage.
To maintain the integrity of the review process, all submissions must be fully anonymous, and the name of any contributor(s) should not appear anywhere in the work.
Please note that the above guidelines are subject to change at the Editor’s discretion. As such, please be sure to check the Submission Guide prior to submission to ensure the work follows Sonic Scope’s guidelines.
If you would like any further information on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the Editors at: [email protected].