Yes, in order to submit a proposal, you must be a current AJS individual member.
Join or renew your membership here.
Please note: As of October 2025, the AJS has a new member website portal that requires a new login. The first time you visit the AJS's new website portal, select the Set Up an Account tab to set up a new login. Do not click "Forgot Password."
If you have any questions about joining or renewing, please email ajs@associationforjewishstudies.org or call 1-917-606-8249.
If you are submitting a session proposal, please confirm that every participant is also a current member of the AJS before submitting.
The AJS welcomes scholars whose primary research is outside the field but whose work has a direct impact on Jewish Studies and whose participation would enhance the conference. The AJS may waive the membership requirement for a limited number of session participants who are not academics (e.g. journalists, authors, filmmakers, etc.), and whose participation is considered essential for the integrity of the session to which they were invited. Requests for a membership fee waiver must be submitted by the session organizer to the AJS by submitting this request form no later than April 21, 2026. Membership dues waiver recipients must still pay the conference registration fee.
Yes, click your proposal type below for step-by-step instructions:
Yes, you can submit to participate in a maximum of two sessions; however, only one of the proposals can be a paper (individual paper, as part of a panel, or as part of a lightning round).;
Serving as a chair, moderator, or respondent “counts” as one of the two proposals.
One cannot be a chair on a session in which one is also presenting; one cannot be a moderator on a roundtable in which one is also presenting as a discussant.
The paper abstracts, written by the individual scholars but submitted by the session organizer, should explain the presentation’s purpose, methodology, sources, argument and specific contribution to scholarship in the field. Sample session abstracts, sample individual paper abstracts, and workshops on how to write abstracts can be found on the AJS website.
Note: Accepted abstracts will be made public on the conference program site.
The AJS has submission criteria that relates to membership, diversity, language, registration, number of times one can submit/number of submissions one can be one, and types of roles one can have on sessions. For more details, see Submission Requirements.
There are three tools you can use: the All Academic Single Paper Listing, the 2026 Conference Form for Organizing Session Submissions and response chart, and the Steering Committee members.
All Academic Single Paper Listing tool: Members logged into All Academic will see an option in the submitter menu called “View Single Paper Listing.” This tool generates a list of papers that might work well with your individual paper.
If there are papers listed in which you are interested, please contact the authors and see if they wish to have their work become part of your panel. All contact information is noted in the listing. Once you have confirmed that the author(s) wish(es) to present on a panel with you, be sure to get from the author(s) their paper ID number(s) as well as the email address associated with their paper(s). You will use this information to submit a panel in the system.
We hope this will encourage AJS members to broaden their research networks and become familiar with their peers who are doing important work around the world.
The listings will continually be updated until the submission deadline.
Alternatively, there is a Google form called “2026 Conference Form for Organizing Session Submissions” Those who need to find papers on complementary topics to complete a session or to find a session to which you wish to be added can fill out the form and view the responses.
*Please note: Sharing an idea for a session or paper through this forum DOES NOT constitute a submitted proposal for the conference program. Only complete proposals submitted through the AJS Conference Submission Site will be considered for inclusion in the conference program.
Finally, you also should contact the division chairs or steering committee members for the divisions related to your proposal topic; they may be able to help connect you with other scholars in your field.
The chair is responsible for starting the session on time, introducing the speakers, keeping them to their allotted time, and moderating the Q and A. Ensuring equal time for all presenters is essential, and chairs must be prepared to end a presentation that exceeds the allotted time. All panel, seminar, and lightning session proposals must include a chairperson; paper presenters may not chair a session in which they are presenting. We’ve provided a tip sheet for more information.
The moderator poses the questions and controls the time given to each discussant to respond during a roundtable. In order to make for an informed and lively dialogue, moderators should email questions to discussants at least two weeks before the conference, and ask discussants to prepare short responses for each. All roundtable proposals must include a moderator.
A respondent addresses wider-ranging reflections of the issues raised in the papers. In 3-person panels with this optional role, respondents will have about ten minutes for their comments.
Divisions reflect various subject areas under which you can submit a proposal to the AJS conference. The current Divisions are listed here.
If your submission also falls under more than one division's purview, consider indicating a "Secondary Division Option'' during submission.
Yes. There is an area in the proposal submission process to indicate the session sponsor (e.g. academic institution, research center/archive, learned society, or AJS caucus or working group).
Click the image for a larger version.
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Division Chairs are subject matter experts who review the submissions that are submitted in a specific subject area and, as part of a team, review submissions in a second area. For example, the Bible, Rabbinics, and Antiquity division is made up of three experts, one from each of the listed subjects. The “Bible expert” will review those submissions as will one of the other experts in the division, so that each submission is reviewed by two experts at the division chair level. The “Bible expert” will also help review Rabbinics or Antiquity topics, alongside those experts.
Division Chairs evaluate paper and session proposals based on criteria including contribution to the field, originality, methodology, and clarity of expression. Division Chairs also confirm that submitted sessions and sessions created from individual papers meet all eligibility criteria.
After evaluating individual paper proposals, Division Chairs will try to place individual papers in sessions with other individual submissions.
Division Chairs then rank the sessions they recommend accepting.
The AJS Program Committee is a multi-disciplinary panel of experts in Jewish Studies that meets in late-June. The Program Committee identifies the acceptance rate, then reviews recommendations from Division Chairs, attempts to place individual papers into cohesive panels from across all divisions, and makes final acceptance decisions for the entire conference program. As a result, by the time the acceptance notifications are released, submissions have been evaluated by between 15 and 18 scholars.
Confirmation of your proposal’s receipt will be emailed to the submitter. This email will come from DO_NOT_REPLY@allacademic.com so please be sure to check your spam folder. If you cannot locate it there, please contact the AJS office (marnstein@associationforjewishstudies.org) before the submission deadline to confirm that your proposal was received. AJS cannot accept proposals submitted after the deadline.
Confirmation of your proposal’s receipt will be emailed to the submitter. This email will come from DO_NOT_REPLY@allacademic.com so please be sure to check your spam folder. If you cannot locate it there, please contact the AJS office (marnstein@associationforjewishstudies.org) before the submission deadline to confirm that your proposal was received. AJS cannot accept proposals submitted after the deadline.
There are eight consolidated divisions that are interdisciplinary and broad in scope. The Divisions are:
• Bible, Rabbinics, Antiquity
• Cross-Divisional and Methodological Approaches
• Medieval and Early Modern Jewries
• Medieval through Modern Thought, Theology, and Philosophy
• Modern and Contemporary Jewish History
• Modern Arts, Cultures, Languages, and Literatures
• Professional Practice: Pedagogy, Professional Development, Public Scholarship, Digital Methods
• Social Sciences
To support the new Division Structure, each Division will have up to four Division Chairs who are subject matter experts. Division Chairs will work with a Steering Committee member. Steering Committee members are individuals who have previously served as Division Chairs who are familiar with the proposal vetting process and can help submitters “steer” proposals to appropriate divisions and provide some guidance to Division Chairs.
We hope to have committee members in place by mid-March 2026. The list of Division Chairs and Steering Committee members is here. Program Committee members’ information will appear in the AJS Committees section on the website.
The new Division titles and descriptions chart also includes a column with the following heading: “For scholars of” You can find keywords to inform your decision.
In addition, individuals can always reach out to Steering Committee Members, Mary Arnstein, or Nick Underwood if they have questions about where to submit.
