Special Issue (July Revolution)

Call for Paper

Special Issue on the July Revolution of Bangladesh: Memory, Resistance, Justice, Reform, and Democratic Transformation

 

Submission Deadline: 5 August, 2026 
Submission Email: submission@ijsmtbd.com

About the Special Issue

The July Revolution of Bangladesh stands as one of the most significant moments in the country’s contemporary political and social history. Emerging from student-led protests and expanding into a wider people’s movement, the events of July–August 2024 opened new debates on citizenship, state power, democratic accountability, human rights, public memory, youth leadership, digital mobilization, and national reform. This special issue invites original, critical, and interdisciplinary research articles that examine the July Revolution of Bangladesh from diverse academic perspectives. We welcome theoretically informed, methodologically rigorous, and socially relevant contributions that help document, analyze, and interpret this historic moment with scholarly depth and ethical responsibility. The purpose of this call is not only to preserve the memory of the movement, but also to create a strong academic platform for understanding its causes, consequences, narratives, contradictions, and future implications for Bangladesh and the wider Global South.

Suggested Research Themes

We invite submissions on, but not limited to, the following areas:

1. Historical and Political Context

  • Political background of the July Revolution

  • Student movements and democratic resistance in Bangladesh

  • State–citizen relations before and after July 2024

  • Comparative analysis with previous mass movements in Bangladesh

  • The role of public anger, collective trauma, and moral shock

2. Youth, Students, and Civic Mobilization

  • Student leadership and organizational strategies

  • Youth agency and political consciousness

  • Campus politics, educational institutions, and protest culture

  • Intergenerational solidarity and people’s participation

  • Leadership, spontaneity, and decentralized mobilization

3. Human Rights, Justice, and Accountability

  • Human rights violations and legal accountability

  • Transitional justice and institutional reform

  • Documentation of violence, casualties, arrests, and repression

  • Victim narratives, survivor testimony, and public memory

  • The role of national and international human rights bodies

4. Media, Digital Platforms, and Information Politics

  • Social media, hashtags, memes, and digital resistance

  • Internet shutdowns, censorship, and information control

  • Citizen journalism and alternative media narratives

  • Disinformation, propaganda, and narrative contestation

  • Visual culture, protest art, graffiti, posters, and slogans

5. Law, Constitution, and Governance Reform

  • Constitutional reform and democratic reconstruction

  • Rule of law, judiciary, police, and administrative accountability

  • Security-sector reform and public trust

  • Electoral reform and institutional legitimacy

  • Civil liberties, freedom of expression, and assembly rights

6. Gender, Class, and Marginalized Voices

  • Women’s participation in the July Revolution

  • Gendered experiences of violence and resistance

  • Class, labor, and rural–urban participation

  • Minority communities and inclusive citizenship

  • Intersectional perspectives on protest and justice

7. Memory, Culture, and National Identity

  • Martyrdom, memory-making, and national symbolism

  • Literature, songs, poetry, murals, and cultural resistance

  • Public mourning and collective remembrance

  • The language of revolution and political imagination

  • Rewriting national narratives after July 2024

8. Economy, Society, and Future Bangladesh

  • Economic consequences of political instability and reform

  • Labor, unemployment, inequality, and social frustration

  • Public expectations from post-revolution governance

  • Education reform and youth futures

  • Policy pathways for democratic transformation

9. Comparative and Global Perspectives

  • July Revolution and global student movements

  • Bangladesh in the context of democratic backsliding

  • Civil resistance in South Asia and the Global South

  • International media framing of the uprising

  • Global human rights discourse and Bangladesh

10. Data, AI, and Computational Approaches

  • Sentiment analysis of social media and news discourse

  • Digital archives of protest materials

  • Network analysis of mobilization

  • AI-based documentation of public narratives

  • Ethical challenges in using digital protest data

Types of Submissions

We welcome the following categories:

Original Research Articles
Full-length scholarly articles based on primary or secondary research.

Review Articles
Critical reviews of literature, reports, media narratives, or policy debates related to the July Revolution.

Case Studies
Focused studies on specific events, institutions, regions, campuses, communities, or media platforms.

Policy Papers
Evidence-based papers proposing reforms in governance, law, education, justice, or public institutions.

Field Notes and Reflective Essays
Ethically written reflections based on observation, documentation, activism, journalism, or community engagement.

Digital Humanities and Visual Analysis Papers
Studies using images, videos, posters, memes, graffiti, slogans, or online archives as research materials.

Submission Guidelines

Authors are requested to follow the guidelines below:

  • Manuscripts must be original and unpublished.

  • Articles should be written in clear academic English.

  • Recommended length for full research articles: 6,000–8,000 words.

  • Review articles and policy papers: 4,000–6,000 words.

  • Abstract: 200–250 words.

  • Keywords: 5–7 keywords.

  • Referencing style: APA 7th 

  • Manuscripts must include a clear title, abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, analysis, conclusion, and references.

  • Empirical papers involving interviews, surveys, testimonies, or sensitive data must include an ethics statement.

  • Authors must ensure informed consent, anonymity, and safety of participants where applicable.

  • Similarity index should remain within acceptable academic standards.

  • AI-assisted writing, if used, must be transparently acknowledged according to editorial policy.

Contact

For submission and queries, please contact:

Editorial Office: Internation Journal of Soicety, Media and Technology 
Email: editor@ijsmtbd.com

Submit Your Manuscript Today
Contribute to the academic documentation of Bangladesh’s July Revolution and help shape a deeper understanding of democracy, justice, and people’s power in the twenty-first century.