2026 PSA Conference – Call for Submissions

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CALL FOR PAPERS AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION NOW OPEN

Our Call For Submissions is currently open The deadline for submissions is October 1, 2025 for graduate students/faculty/etc. and November 15, 2025  for undergraduate students. The conference will be held on April 1-4, 2026 at the Marriott Long Beach in Long Beach, CA.

Please read this page before ENTERING THE SUBMISSION SYSTEM THROUGH THIS LINK. 

You will need to create an account within the submission system the first time you access it. Please know that our Call for Submissions system is separate from our Membership system with separtate login credentials. 

IMPORTANT: If someone has already put your name and email address in the system–like if they added you as an author for a paper–then you will still need to set up your submission system account, BUT you will need to start by clicking the Forgot Your Password link (see image below). You will tell the system to send a password reset link to your email address. Once you receive that (check your junk mail!), just click and follow the screens to provide a password. Once you get into the system, update any other profile information once you get into the system.

This is a picture of the submission system login page:

FAQs about the PSA conference, submissions, etc.

FAQs about Submitting and Presenting at the PSA Annual Conference.pdf

Downloadable instructions for 2026 submission system: 

PSA Submission Instructions

To organize its annual meeting, PSA primarily uses an online system of open submissions to topical areas. 

You may not submit the same paper to more than one place within the online submission system.  You may, however, submit multiple different papers.

Please submit only papers you really intend to present.  At PSA, papers are generally accepted.  Do not submit a lot of papers in hopes that a few will be accepted.   Submit only papers you firmly expect to be ready to present.

Note: General questions about the conference, submission system, or other general information should be directed to the PSA Executive Office, executivedirector@pacificsoc.org. 

Faculty and other professional sociologists as well as graduate students will access the online system, and select to either submit a paper or a complete session.

For a paper submission, indicate if your paper is (or will be at the time of presentation) research in progress or a formal (finished) paper.  Then select the best topical area; you can find the list of topical areas below, as well as the program committee members who will organize submissions into sessions for each of these areas. PSA committees also sponsor some special sessions and seek paper submissions. DO NOT submit the same paper more than once! Faculty, graduate students, and other professional sociologists need to provide an abstract of their proposal, with a maximum 200 words, to include the objective, methods, results, and findings as appropriate.

Faculty, graduate students, and applied sociologists can also submit a proposal for a complete session.  This might be a film or other creative media session, or a panel of scholars who want to present together on a particular topic.  However, submissions of sessions completely composed of presenters from one school are discouraged; these sessions are often not well attended, and space in the program is limited.  Presenters instead should submit their individual papers, where they will be placed appropriately in sessions with other presenters—and thus also have the opportunity to learn from these other presenters.  

Undergraduate students first select either the undergraduate poster or roundtable format, then choose the topical area that best fits their work. 

For a poster, students will prepare a large poster about their research, then stand next to it and explain to any interested viewers.

For a roundtable, students will send their completed paper to the faculty assigned as Discussant for their table prior to the conference. Then, at the conference, they will be seated at a large table with several other students whose research is on related topics; each student will orally present a summary of their work, and then the faculty Discussant will guide discussion.

 At the time of submission, undergraduate students are asked to provide a longer proposal that includes two pages of information on their research question, intended contribution of their research, description of theory and methods, and a third page of source references.  Undergraduates also are required to give name and contact information for a faculty mentor who is familiar with their work. Undergraduate submissions are organized into sessions by Undergraduate Coordinator Robert Kettlitz. 

TOPICAL AREAS

You will choose from these Topical Areas when you submit your paper.  There are also some committee-sponsored and other sponsored that may be added. The Organizers, when listed,  will review submissions and organize them into sessions. Please do not send your paper to an Organizer unless you are asked to do so. You must submit your paper in the online submission system.

Topical Area	Organizer(s)
Anti-racist Pedagogy	Ash Woody
Art, Culture, Politics and Power	Thomas Reifer
Asian/Asian American Sociology	Ethel Nicdao
Black Feminism	Sharon Elise
Black Sociology	Ash Woody
Community-Based Participatory Research	LaShaune Johnson Ethel Nicdao
Critical Criminology, Law, & Justice	Ilā Ravichandran
Critical Disability & Crip Theory	Faye Wachs
Demography	Guadalupe Marquez-Velarde
Digital Sociology	Leslie Kay Jones
Environmental Sociology and Environmental Justice	Patrick Greiner
Families	Lorraine Cordeiro
Global and Transnational Sociology	Enrique Alvear Moreno
Indigenous Sociology	Allison R. Madia
Labor and Labor Movements	Lola Lostaunau
Latinx Sociology	Paloma Villegas
Marxist/Critical Theory	Lola Lostaunau
Medical Sociology, Health, & Reproductive Politics	LaShaune Johnson Ethel Nicdao
Migration, Movement, and Borders	Patrisia Macias-Rojas
Multispecies Justice / Animal Sociology	Jules Bacon Kirsten Vinyeta
Race, Ethnicity, & Gender	Guadalupe Marquez-Velarde
Rural Sociology	Haisu Huang
Sociology of Education	Heidy Sarabia
Sexualities	Jesse Mills
Teaching Sociology	Jeffrey Sacha
Undergraduate Roundtables & Posters	Bob Kettlitz

Open Sponsored Sessions - To be released by 8/1/2025 

Open Sponsored Session are sessions hosted by PSA Committees or partner organizations. These sessions are open and host are seeking submissions for these sessions as part of our Call for Submissions.

About the 2026 PSA Annual Conference

Click here to hear a recording of the pronunciation of our conference theme 

by átway 1 Tuxámshish Dr. Virginia Beavert (Yakama Nation)

Please join us at the 97^th Annual Pacific Sociological Association (PSA 2026) Conference as we gather brilliant minds and work in powerful community to address critical problems of our time and offer generative pathways forward in our shared futures.

For nearly 100-years, the PSA conference has traveled across beautiful Indigenous homelands throughout the Western region of Turtle Island. In this historic moment, we are proud to name the PSA’s conference theme in Indigenous language. The theme of the conference, Shúkwaatnim na iwáyumixa (Yakama Ichishkíin language, English translation of the theme is: Knowledge brings us together), honors the vision of education and learning Yakama Elders have carried and shared Since Time Immemorial.

Following the vision of precious Elders, we view our conference gathering as special because of the love, care, and power in our collective thinking, work, and presence. We bring these gifts for ourselves, each other, and our communities. We share ideas and questions, and in doing so create a collective dreaming space for our shared futures. As we envision and claim our collective futures, we especially invite you to join us in centering Indigenous, environmental, and intersectional sociologies. In doing so, we remember the past to support us in realizing our collective dreams. We make space for and honor Indigenous peoples, lands, languages, and ways of knowing and being. We engage teaching and scholarship that cares for and learns from Tiichám, our Mother, the Earth.

Please join us on beautiful Tongva/Gabrieleño and Acjachemen Homelands for the 97^th gathering of the PSA.