About the Journal
The Új Szem ("new eye") is an academic journal dedicated to social, cultural, and critical discourse. It represents the second series of szem ("eye"), originally established in Cluj-Napoca. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, reviews, and critiques within a broad spectrum of the humanities and social sciences, with particular emphasis on contributions in art criticism, literary theory, as well as film and visual culture studies.
Manuscript Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo a preliminary evaluation by the editorial board to determine their alignment with the journal’s thematic profile and their relevance to both national and international academic discourse. This initial assessment also considers the scholarly soundness and linguistic quality of the submission, with particular attention to the journal’s formal and substantive requirements. Should the manuscript fail to meet any of these criteria, the editorial board will notify the author of the rejection, in which case the manuscript will not proceed to peer review.
Manuscripts that meet the journal’s standards are then subjected to professional peer review. The journal employs a double-blind review process: editors invite independent experts with proven competence in the manuscript’s subject area—individuals with no conflict of interest or affiliation with the author(s)—to evaluate the submission. Reviewers are required to assess their expertise in the topic, declare any potential conflicts of interest, and confirm their availability within the specified review timeframe. Should they decline the invitation, they are encouraged to recommend alternative reviewers where possible.
Following peer review, the editorial board deliberates collectively on the status of the manuscript. The decision includes whether the manuscript is suitable for publication, the specific issue in which it may appear (depending on the scope of requested revisions), and what modifications—if any—are required.
Upon revision by the author, and once the manuscript complies fully with the journal’s academic and formal criteria, the editorial board gives its final approval. A designated editor then carries out further technical and stylistic adjustments as needed. The professionally reviewed, content- and language-edited version is subsequently returned to the author for final approval. Once confirmed, the manuscript proceeds to the copyeditor, who may request additional corrections. Only after this final stage is the manuscript scheduled for publication.
The Editorial Process
The editors of Új Szem work in thematic and genre-based editorial sections, each responsible for handling submissions within its respective field. These editorial affiliations are indicated in the journal and appear before each published article. (In issues prior to 2025, they were also displayed before reviews and essays.) The sections and their profiles are as follows:
Filmszem
The Filmszem editorial section welcomes left-wing scholarship on film that explores how the history, forms of representation, emancipatory potential, social relevance, and political role of moving-image culture, understood in the broadest sense, can be critically examined. The section publishes film reviews, ideological critiques, essays in film and cultural theory, scholarly articles, translations of academic texts, canon-forming introductory essays, polemics, and reports.
SzEKSz (Texts Encouraging Intellectual Immersion)
The SzEKSz editorial section is devoted to theoretical writing and publishes articles, essays, and reviews in the humanities and social sciences. We are guided by the conviction that theory is practice. Attempts to transform social reality can only succeed if they are grounded in theoretical work capable of interpreting existing structures and mechanisms, subjecting them to critique, and generating new concepts and forms of imagination.
Szemvedéj
The Szemvedéj editorial section is founded on the premise that literature and literary criticism are forms of social practice. It therefore focuses on questions, phenomena, and modes of discourse that often remain hidden from both literary and social perception. One of its central aims is to rethink the genre of criticism itself. Szemvedéj provides a forum for writings that investigate the possibilities, methods, and social functions of criticism while remaining open to new approaches and experimental forms of expression.
Praxis
The editors of this thematic category are seeking texts that explore the question of "what is to be done." They are committed to publishing materials that draw on the narrative, conceptual, and methodological tools of sociology, anthropology, and historical analysis. At the same time, they plan to feature theoretical contributions from activist, system-critical, and more broadly materialist analysis-based related disciplines. Another key priority is to produce and/or share content with readers that discusses public affairs and illustrates the process of putting theoretical inquiries into practice—including various types of reportage, such as socio-reports, field profiles and analyses, interviews, reviews, articles, and essays.
Publication:
Új szem is published by the Autarkeia Association of Cluj Napoca and the Kerényi Károly College for Advanced Studies of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Pécs. Two issues are published every year.
The publisher’s office addresses:
Autarkeia Egyesület
400041 Cluj Napoca, Emil Petrovici 14/1.
PTE BTK Kerényi Károly Szakkollégium
7624 Pécs, Rókus u. 2.
ISSN 3004-1570 (Online)
URL: https://journals.lib.pte.hu/index.php/ujszem
Responsible for publication:
Ónya Balázs, Székely Örs
Archived in:
