Getting Your Foot in the Door of the Journal Of Ufo Studies
I've submitted to more niche academic journals than I care to count, and the Journal Of UFO Studies is one that comes up occasionally when your research lands at the intersection of sociology, psychology, and fringe culture. It's published by the International UFO Researchers Association, and honestly, it's not the easiest place to get into if you're coming from a mainstream academia background. The submission process is straightforward, but the expectations around methodology are where things get messy. The journal accepts original research, essays, book reviews, and case studies. The most common mistake I see people make is treating it like a science fiction fanzine or a pure paranormal discussion forum. That works for some UFO publications, but this journal has a real editorial board that looks for scholarly rigor. Your article needs proper citations, a clear thesis, and at minimum an academic tone even if the subject matter is unconventional. Submission is handled through their editorial office. You email the manuscript directly to the editors with a cover letter explaining your piece. Length expectations run anywhere from 1,500 words for shorter essays to around 8,000 words for full research articles. They prefer Chicago style footnotes, though they'll accept APA if you're coming from a social science angle. My first submission was rejected in two weeks because I used MLA citations and had no abstract. The second time around, I trimmed a 10,000-word draft down to 6,500 and rewrote the introduction to lead with the research question instead of a narrative hook, and it ran six months later.
Peer Review and Reality Checks
The journal uses a peer review process, but the reviewers are often fellow researchers in UFO studies rather than scientists from mainstream disciplines. That means your paper will be judged on how well it fits within the existing scholarship of UFOlogy, not necessarily by standards from physics or astronomy departments. This is both a strength and a limitation depending on what you're trying to do. If you're doing a qualitative study on witness testimony patterns, you'll find the reviewers understand that craft. If you're making hard empirical claims about extraterrestrial origins, expect pushback from reviewers who either dismiss your premise entirely or demand evidence that the journal's scope doesn't really support. I learned this the hard way with a paper on the Rendlesham Forest incident. I'd gathered declassified documents and cross-referenced them with military protocol timelines. The reviewers liked the archival work but flagged my conclusions as overreaching. I revised the discussion section to dial back the speculative edges and resubmit. It came out in two issues.
Working with the Journal of Ufo Studies as a Researcher
Accessing published articles is another thing that catches people off guard. The journal isn't heavily digitized. Most issues exist in print, and while some older volumes are available through university libraries and certain digital archives, you can't just Google any given article and download it instantly. I spent three weeks tracking down a 1989 issue through an interlibrary loan request after a professor recommended a specific piece for my literature review. The journal predates the widespread adoption of JSTOR-style platforms, and the IUAPA has never fully committed to a comprehensive digital archive. If you're building a bibliography, start with the IUAPA website and their published proceedings. They list current and past issue contents. From there, hit your university library's serials database and search by the journal's full title. Some copies surface on academic document delivery services like ILLiad. For anything pre-2000, you may need to contact the editorial office directly to request information about availability.
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Common Pitfalls That Waste Your Time
One thing nobody tells you about submitting to this journal is how much revision gets bounced back for formatting rather than content. They're particular about heading structure, font requirements, and reference placement. I once had a perfectly solid manuscript sent back with a note saying the headings didn't match their template. The fix took ten minutes, but it added a full week to the review cycle because the editors are volunteers working alongside other commitments. Another pitfall is assuming the journal is interested in sighting reports. They occasionally publish firsthand accounts, but only when they serve a broader analytical purpose. A personal UFO sighting story without theoretical framing or connection to existing literature will almost certainly not make it past the editorial screen. The editors want pieces that advance understanding of the phenomenon, not documentation of it. The review timeline is also unpredictable. Some submissions get processed in six weeks, others take nine months. The journal doesn't publish a clear turnaround time because it depends entirely on reviewer availability. If your paper sits in limbo past eight months, a polite inquiry email is appropriate. The editorial staff respond to messages, but they're not going to rush a decision for you.
Is It Worth the Effort?
The journal carries real credibility within UFO studies circles, which matters if you're building a research profile in a field that mainstream academia largely ignores. Being cited in the Journal Of Ufo Studies can open doors to conference presentations, collaborations with serious researchers in the field, and recognition from organizations that take the subject seriously. It's not a high-impact factor publication by conventional standards, but it's one of the few peer-reviewed venues willing to engage with phenomenological and sociological approaches to UFOs without demanding they conform to astrophysics frameworks. The flip side is that if you're looking to use this publication for tenure review at a traditional research university, you'll face skepticism. The journal's niche status works against you in departments that prioritize widely recognized outlets. That's not a fault of the journal itself, but it's something you need to factor into your decision about where to submit. My advice is straightforward. If you have a solid research project on UFO phenomena and you're looking for a venue that treats the subject with academic respect without requiring you to strip away the complexity of what witnesses actually report, this is a reasonable option. Read at least three recent issues before you submit so you understand the tone and scope they're aiming for. Format your manuscript to their specifications exactly. And don't send follow-up emails every two weeks asking about status. The process is slow, but it does move forward if your work is sound.
