Launched in December 2024, Inquisitive is a quarterly intellectual magazine published by Heterodox Academy and, as we prepare for our fifth issue (to be published in December 2025), 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.

For inquisitive, we take a “small plate” intellectual approach to topics that implicate the principles for which HxA advocates in higher education: open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement. 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 fifth issue is “Eve.”

We seek pitches for articles and essays in the range of 300-2,000 words (excluding references). We’re interested in the whole range of potential topics on the theme of “Eve” as it relates to open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement in higher education. Examples include:

• Moments just before significant days or events
• Origins
• Originators of long lines of descent
• Femininity
• Dark days before the dawn
• Planetary science as the world turns
• Gestation, birth, reproduction
• Reproducibility
• Evening rituals in academic communities (e.g., how after-hours academic life shapes intellectual culture)
• The curiosity of Eve and/or forbidden fruits

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, please tell us all of the following:

• the topic you intend to explore (be very 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 education, 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);
• given what 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,” in which episodes in the history of open inquiry in higher education are recounted
• “The 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, PhD, at editor@heterodoxacademy.org.

The submission deadline for pitches for issue #5 is July 7, 2025. Decisions will be made by July 15 with full submissions due by September 9 and publication in early December 2025.

Please note that acceptance of a pitch is not a guarantee of publication. For inquisitive, we employ a rigorous editorial process to ensure accuracy, precision, and compelling prose. If your pitch is accepted, we look forward to working with you through that process.