SENDING A BOOK TO THE AJS FOR REVIEW
If you wish to have your book considered for review, please send it (or ask your publisher to send it) to the editorial office of the American Journal of Sociology:
Book Review Editor
American Journal of Sociology
1155 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Note that some publishers, rather than sending either physical books or pdfs (reviewers differ by which they prefer) may give an access code and a web address, asking our staff to complete various forms. We are unable to devote editorial time to such activities; authors, if you are not confident that your publisher will actually send a book, you probably should take it upon yourself to make sure one gets here.
Packages are likely to reach the journal most efficiently if they are addressed to the editor rather than to a particular individual. The AJS aspires to review books within two years of the date of publication.
Requests for review should be made as close to the publication date as possible, so there is time for the selection, invitation, and publication process to unfold.
Because the number of book review pages in the journal is limited, not all books received at the AJS will be reviewed. Preference is given to single-authored sociological monographs; conference volumes or edited compilations with a large number of short chapters are rarely reviewed in the AJS. When the AJS does review a book, two tear sheets are sent to the publisher and two to the book review author.
REVIEWING A BOOK FOR THE AJS
The AJS does not publish unsolicited book reviews. If you would like to review books for the journal, please send your curriculum vitae to ajs@press.uchicago.edu or to the address listed above. The AJS book review editor and board rarely accept self-nominations for the review of a particular book, but they will work hard to match scholars with their interests. Of course, the AJS will not knowingly invite persons to review books when they have close personal or professional ties to the book’s author. This policy would exclude an author’s departmental colleagues, coauthors, and Ph.D. cohort members as reviewers.