The North Carolina Folklore Journal (NCFJ) is published twice a year by the North Carolina Folklore Society. NCFJ publishes studies of North Carolina folklore and folklife, analyses of folklore in Southern literature, and articles whose rigorous or innovative approach pertains to local folklife study. NCFJ operates like an academic journal in that there is no budget to pay writers, but stylistically, pieces published in NCFJ may vary from longer academic work to shorter pieces, both personal and research-based. Profiles of tradition bearers in communities with longtime North Carolina connections and ones recently rooted are welcome, as are pieces that update articles previously published in NCFJ.

The North Carolina Folklore Journal first emerged in 1948 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as North Carolina Folklore. The Journal did not immediately establish itself and ceased publication after one issue. A few years later, however, it re-appeared upon North Carolina’s cultural landscape and has enjoyed a continuous run that started in 1954–again at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Journal is currently published at East Carolina University.