Inquisitive is a new quarterly magazine published by Heterodox Academy and, as we prepare for future issues, we invite you to pitch us a contribution, particularly if you are a graduate student or faculty member in a college or university. HxA members are especially encouraged to join us in this endeavor.

As a journal of ideas, inquisitive takes a “small plate” intellectual approach to topics that implicate the principles HxA advocates: open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement in higher education. In addition to regular features (described below), each issue includes 4-7 articles tied to a single theme—although not necessarily tied to each other.

The theme for our third issue is “Power.” 

That’s in part because the publication of this volume will coincide with HxA’s June 2025 conference on the theme of “Truth, Power, and Responsibility.”

We seek pitches for articles and essays in the range of 350-2,000 words (not counting references). We’re interested in the whole range of potential topics on the theme of “power” in higher ed as it relates to open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement. Examples include:

• academic governance
• failures of due process
• power dynamics within higher education
• student-instructor relations
• state or federal government power moves
• literal power – campus electrical infrastructure and its impact on thought and action
• grassroots organizing power directed at change
• the institutional power coalesced within student services divisions

Don’t feel limited by these examples. We value creativity, unexpected ideas, and smart cross-talk that supersedes boundaries.


In your pitch for a theme-related contribution, be prepared to tell us:

• the topic you intend to explore (be specific) and how it relates to the theme
• how your chosen topic implicates open inquiry, academic freedom, viewpoint diversity, and/or constructive disagreement in higher ed, if it isn’t already obvious
• your thesis (argument), if your contribution will have one
• the approach you’ll take (data-science driven, historical, journalistic, autobiographical, employing legal analysis, etc.)
• how many words you expect your contribution would be (excluding references)
• if others have written on this topic, how your take is unique

Pitches that do not address these factors will not be considered.

Please note that inquisitive also seeks pitches for our regular features.

Pitches for regular features need not be tied to an issue’s theme. Our regular features include:

• field guides to academic disciplines
• a books column
• Back in the Day, a regular feature in which episodes in the history of open inquiry in higher education are recounted
• Heterodox Life, featuring first-person essays by academics (or former academics) centering on unique personal experiences that bring to life the importance of HxA’s mission

Want to pitch a theme-related contribution or an idea for one of our regular features, or have questions?

Write to our managing editor Alice Dreger at editor@heterodoxacademy.org.

The submission deadline for pitches for issue #3 is January 10, 2025. Decisions will be made by January 17 with full submissions of polished drafts due by March 18 and publication in early June 2025.