Special Issue: Banned Words, Banned Knowledge: Information Literacy in a Censored Society

2025-08-22

Co-Editors: Jess Haigh and Alison Hicks

 

The rise in book bans and censorship attempts forms one of the most “alarming trends” that PEN International (2025) has noted with recent years. Governments across the world are increasingly attacking freedom of expression with the works of women, LGBTQ+ and indigenous authors being particularly targeted. Growing global intolerance came to a head in Spring 2025, when US federal agencies, acting under the orders of the Trump administration, were ordered to scrub particular words and phrases from their communications. Information literacy, with its roots in the operationalisation of situated knowledge structures, is particularly threatened by these chilling attacks. While research and practice has not always centred oppression (Leung & López McKnight, 2020), recent years have seen a growing engagement with intersectionality, privilege, inequities, discrimination, identity and culturally relevant approaches to teaching, all of which are, coincidentally, words flagged by the US government in its most recent purge. The threatened excoriation of information literacy’s core dimensions, coupled with the central role that the US plays in scholarly communication structures, raises concerns about how to progress work in these areas. 

The Journal of Information Literacy (JIL) welcomes submissions related to or exploring information literacy and terms that have been erased or banned by the US government. This includes but is not limited to the list of words published by PEN America in May 2025. Topics of interest may include information literacy research that was already underway when new restrictions came into place or which may now be impossible to publish; work explicitly exploring the impact of this clampdown on how information literacy is shaped or operationalised, as well as research exploring censorship in non-US contexts. As a UK-based journal with a locally hosted OJS publication management system, we are keen to support (and catalyse) the continued publication of vitally important information literacy research. We further recognise that current restrictions may limit who feels able to publish on banned topics. To this end, we are offering the opportunity for authors to publish under a pseudonym if they would prefer. In accordance with JIL’s name change policy, authors may retrospectively update their name at a later date, or choose to remain pseudonymous. We are also happy to offer pseudonymity to authors who would like to submit their work for consideration in an regular issue.

If you would like to discuss whether your proposal meets the scope for this special issue, please contact either of the Editors for this Special issue, Jess Haigh (jessica.haigh[at]leedsbeckett.ac.uk) or Alison Hicks (a.hicks[at]ucl.ac.uk), for an informal chat. We are also happy to receive private DM on this topic at our Bluesky handles (@bookelf.bsky.social or @alisonhicks0.bsky.social)

Deadline for full papers: 1st June 2026 

Special issue publication date: December 2026

  • General guidelines: The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
  • Authorship: Authors may choose to publish under their own name or under a pseudonym. In accordance with JIL’s name change policy, you may retrospectively update your name at a later date, or choose to remain pseudonymous. Authors may either submit with their regular JIL login and choose a pseudonym or create a pseudonymous profile.
  • Submissions: Manuscripts should be submitted via the JIL website: https://journals.cilip.org.uk/jil/index
  • Length: Papers should be between 3,000 and 8,000 words, excluding references
  • References: Referencing should be in APA style
  • Peer Review Process: JIL follows a double-anonymous peer review process, meaning that articles are read by at least two reviewers who have no knowledge of the author’s identity.

Open Access Policy: The Journal of Information Literacy is an open access title and authors retain copyright in their articles and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike Licence