Panoramic & Immersive Media Studies (PIMS) Yearbook
Deadline: 16 November 2026
The Panoramic & Immersive Media Studies (PIMS) Yearbook is the annual yearbook of the International Panorama Council (IPC, Switzerland), published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg (Germany). It surveys the historical and contemporary landscape of panoramic and immersive media. This interdisciplinary field includes—but is not limited to—optical and haptic devices; 360-degree paintings; long-form paintings, photography, and prints; dioramas; museum displays; games; gardens; literature; maps; music; printed matter; still and moving images; virtual and augmented reality; and theatrical productions. Whereas the notion of the panoramic describes extensive, expansive and/or all-embracing vistas, immersion refers to porous interfaces between representation and the real, observer and observed, nature and culture, and past, present, and future. Together, the concepts of panorama and immersion have catalyzed time- and space-bending strategies for creating, experiencing, and transforming culture, ideas, and built and social space across the arc of human history.
This open call invites scholarly, creative, and practical contributions in seven areas including scholarly essays (subject to double-blind peer review); visual and creative essays; restoration, management, and field reports; opinion forum pieces; IPC conference reports & papers (this section is open only to IPC conference presenters; contributions subject to single-blind peer review); reviews; and reprints. Contributions may explore a range of ideas in panoramic and immersive media, such as historical and contemporary uses of immersive technologies; innovative methods in preservation and heritage interpretation; tools for applications in museum interpretation and display, contemporary art practices, or educational settings; exploring contested heritage; and analyzing nationalist and imperialist discourses. View the publisher’s PIMS Yearbook page at De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
We welcome contributions from IPC members and non-members alike. The PIMS Yearbook is managed by three Executive Editors, a team of Section Editors, and the PIMS Yearbook Editorial Advisory Board. Section details appear below.
SECTIONS
Scholarly Essays
This double-blind peer reviewed section invites scholarly essays that explore themes in panoramic and immersive media studies. We welcome consideration of historical and contemporary immersive media, technologies, aesthetics, and cultural practices and their continuing influence today. Contributions to the Scholarly Essays section are first reviewed by section editors and then subject to double-blind peer review coordinated by De Gruyter. If accepted for further consideration, the editors will request an anonymized copy for external double-blind peer review with the publisher.
Section Editors
- Melissa Wolfe, Curator and Head of American Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
- Liz Crooks, Director, University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
Restoration, Management, and Field Reports
We invite papers and reports on the preservation, restoration, management and interpretation of historic panoramas and related immersive media formats. Contributions are subject to editing by section editors.
Section Editors
- Patrick Deicher, President, Bourbaki Panorama Foundation, Lucerne, Switzerland
- Gabriele Koller, Jerusalem Panorama Foundation, Altötting, Germany
Visual and Creative Essays
We invite visual and creative approaches including visual essays, artistic projects, creative writing, and other makerly modes of reflection and material research on immersive media. Contributions are editorially curated and prospective authors for this section are encouraged to contact section editors before submitting full proposals. Direct messages about this section to IRMA360 [at] protonmail [dot] com.
Section Editors
- Ruby Carlson, Director/Co-Curator, Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Sara Velas, Director/Co-Curator, Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles, California, USA
33rd IPC Conference Report & Papers
This single-blind peer reviewed section publishes the IPC conference program, abstracts, keywords, and presenter biographies. It also invites conference presenters to contribute papers of up to 3,000 words that reflect the substance of their presentations. Conference presenters are welcome to contribute to this section or any other section. Contributions to the Conference Reports & Papers section are subject to single-blind peer review.
Section Editors
- Liz Crooks, Director, University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
- Melissa Wolfe, Curator and Head of American Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Forum
The Forum responds to current debates and public conversations surrounding old and new immersive media. It welcomes opinion pieces, interviews, etc. that make an argument, are delivered in the author’s own voice, are based on fact, and are drawn from the author’s research, expertise or experience. For example, contributions may explore the historical and contemporary uses of immersive technologies in preservation and heritage interpretation, as tools for exploring contested heritage, in museum interpretation and display, in educational settings, as entertainment and leisure enhancements, and in the service of promoting nationalist and imperialist discourses.
Reprints
The Reprints section makes space for revisiting articles, documents, other printed media and objects pertinent to the study of multimodal immersive technologies and media. Subject to permissions, this section features previously published, out-of-print and out-of-copyright materials understood to be significant to the production, reception and study of panoramic and immersive media. Contributions may also include historical and unpublished manuscripts, and/or other archival materials, such as illustrated presentations of objects and optical devices. Please include a short editorial/introductory essay (up to 800 words) to contextualize the proposed article, paper, document, translation, or object. If including images, please ensure they are print-ready and supply evidence of permission to publish.
Reviews
We invite reviews of recent books, exhibitions, events, performances, archives, and products of a panoramic and/or immersive nature.
Section Editors for Forum Reprints and Reviews
- Prof. Dr. Molly Briggs, School of Art & Design, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
- Prof. Dr. Thorsten Logge, University of Hamburg, Germany
- Prof. Nicholas C. Lowe, John H. Bryan Chair of Historic Preservation, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA
GENERAL NOTE
Contributions to the Scholarly Essays section are first reviewed by section editors and then subject to double-blind peer review coordinated by De Gruyter. Contributions to the Conference Reports & Papers section are subject to single-blind peer review. All other sections are reviewed by the PIMS Yearbook editorial board. Following the initial review of submitted materials, PIMS Yearbook editors may re-assign a submission for consideration in another section. On occasion, a submission will be recommended for publication in a succeeding volume.
Executive Editors
- Prof. Dr. Molly Briggs, School of Art & Design, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
- Prof. Dr. Thorsten Logge, University of Hamburg, Germany
- Prof. Nicholas C. Lowe, John H. Bryan Chair of Historic Preservation, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA
Section Editors
- Ruby Carlson, Velaslavasay Panorama, Director/Co-Curator, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Liz Crooks, Director, University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
- Patrick Deicher, President of the Bourbaki Panorama Foundation, Lucerne, Switzerland
- Gabriele Koller, Curator, Museum Panorama Altötting, Altötting, Germany
- Sara Velas, Velaslavasay Panorama, Director/Co-Curator, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Dr. Melissa Wolfe, Curator and Head of American Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Editorial Advisory Board
- Prof. Dr. Thiago Leitão de Souza, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Dr. Blagovesta Momchedjikova, Expository Writing Program, New York University, USA
- Robin Skinner, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand.
- Suzanne Wray, Independent Scholar & Researcher, New York City, New York, USA
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
The PIMS Yearbook accepts original and complete illustrated manuscripts written in the English language.
How to Submit
Send your initial submission to pimsyearbookipc [at] gmail [dot] com. Please indicate which section you are submitting to:
- Scholarly Essays (double-blind peer reviewed)
- Restoration, Management, and Field Reports (editeded)
- Visual and Creative Essays (edited)
- International Panorama Council Conference Report 2026 (single-blind peer reviewed)
- Forum (edited)
- Reprints (edited)
- Reviews (edited)
Contributions need not be anonymized at the initial submission stage.
Word limits
- Scholarly Essays: Main text up to 10,000 words including notes, references, image captions, and author bio (in exceptional cases we can accommodate up to 15,000 words); plus abstract up to 300 words and 4 to 7 keywords (do not include title words among keywords)
- Visual & Creative Essays: Contributions to this section may be more image-rich and may be shorter in word count. Main text up to 5,000 words plus works cited and author biography up to 150 words. May include, but does not require, abstract up to 300 words plus 4 to 7 keywords (do not include title words among keywords).
- Forum, Restoration, and Conference sections: Main text up to 5,000 words plus works cited; author biography up to 150 words, abstract up to 300 words, and 4 to 7 keywords (do not include title words among keywords)
- Reviews: Main text up to 3,000 words plus 4 to 7 keywords (do not include title words among keywords). Title your review as “[Book/Exhibition/Event] Review: [Title of Book/Exhibition/Event (by author/maker name if applicable)]”
- Reprints: Accompany the content to be reprinted with an original introduction of up to 1,500 words plus 4 to 7 keywords (do not include title words among keywords)
Manuscript Preparation & Formatting
- Please use MS Word.docx file format if possible; if you don't have access to MS Word, use Google.docs to prepare as a .docx file
- All submissions must be formatted in compliance with the both the PIMS Style Sheet (2027 forthcoming) and the PIMS Manuscript Template.docx
- Download the PIMS Manuscript Template and use it as your starting point, follow instructions and examples provided therein. Again, if you do not have access to MS Word, we recommend composing as a .docx file in Google docs
- Download the PIMS Style Sheet and refer to it as you work
Images
- Only include images that are central and necessary to your argument; do not include images solely for the purposes of illustration
- Contributions to the Visual and Creative Essays and Reviews sections can be more image-rich
- All images must be accompanied by in-text image callouts. Images not referred to in the text, e.g. without callouts, cannot be published
- Contributions to the Visual and Creative Essays and Reviews sections may not require image in-text callouts
- Image files are not required upon initial submission. However, we strongly recommend gathering print-ready image files now, so that if accepted for publication you will be prepared to move forward
- Minimum file size and quality specifications for print:7 in / 17 cm in longest dimension
- 300 dpi (600 dpi preferred)
- If your contribution is accepted for publication, you will be required to provide legal proof of image permissions for each image, even open source images. Now is a good time to begin gathering image permissions
Contributions for v4 2027 are due 16 November 2026
Questions? Email us at pims-yearbook [dot] geschichte [at] uni-hamburg [dot] de
PIMS Yearbook at De Gruyter Oldenbourg
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