We are seeking articles for a number of special issues within the framework of the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) Short-term Research Committee on Digital Comparative Literature (DCL)
Comparative Literary Studies and Digital Humanities pose a double, mutually enriching challenge to one another. Distant reading and large-scale digitization have opened new perspectives on literature, yet comparative work remains among the hardest terrains for digital research, not least because of multilingualism and intermediality, since computational tools and corpora are still overwhelmingly English-centric and text-focused. This collection invites contributions that work at this intersection and that speak to a readership of comparative literature scholars.
We welcome proposals addressing any aspect of digital comparative literature, including but not limited to: computational and distant reading methods and their epistemological stakes; the construction, use, and politics of large digital archives; books and reading in a postdigital context (multimodality, digital social reading); data visualization for literary analysis (network analysis, mapping); electronic literature, interactive digital narrative, digital storytelling; and machine translation, language models, and artificial intelligence (AI) for literary analysis. Theoretical reflections, methodological proposals, and concrete case studies are all welcome, provided they are framed for and accessible to comparative literature scholars.
We have confirmed interest from a few comparative literature journals for the publication of special issues. A selection of the proposals received will be made — in consultation with the ICLA-DCL committee — and accepted articles will be assigned to the best-fitting venue, with a concrete proposal then made to each author.
Two article formats
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Short articles: max. 4,000 words -
Long articles: max. 8,000 words
Please indicate your intended format in your submission.
How to express interest Submit an abstract of up to 500 words together with a short biographical note (max. 150 words) to Federico Pianzola (f.pianzola@rug.nl) and Samya Brata Roy (sroy4@gitam.edu).
Deadline: 7 September 2026.
Indicative timeline
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September 2026: review of proposals and assignment to venues, in consultation with the ICLA-DCL committee -
Late September 2026: authors contacted with a proposed venue and timeline -
From Autumn 2027 onwards: first publications, with subsequent articles appearing on a rolling basis depending on each venue's schedule
Selection and timelines will depend on fit with the participating journals; not all expressions of interest can be guaranteed placement.
Preliminary inquiries for the suitability of contributions are welcome, please address them to Federico Pianzola (f.pianzola@rug.nl).
The text of this call is also available at https://icla-dcl.quarto.pub/info/news/2026/ICLA-DCL-journals-cfp.html
Kind regards,
ICLA-DCL committee