Guidelines for Contributors
Authors should be guided by the mission of CSR in determining the fit of their manuscript with the journal. While almost all CSR articles are theoretical, select empirical pieces that align with the mission may be considered for review. The Editorial Board strongly encourages authors to review prior articles to gain a sense of appropriate length, subject matter, and scholarly approach.
Criteria for publishable articles
- Length: The ideal length for our standard article is 7,000 to 10,000 words including references and footnotes. Articles with significantly more or less word counts will normally be asked to revise their articles before moving the manuscript forward to peer review.
- Currency: Since CSR is an academic journal, its articles address matters of current importance or “perennial questions” with original theses and conclusions. As a general rule, we publish articles that either break new ground, or sheds new light on existing academic fields and conversations.
- Scholarly Engagement: As a multidisciplinary journal, CSR articles provide a depth of understanding that is still accessible to a broad academic audience. A specialist in the field of the article will be able to tell that the author knows the relevant problems, arguments and literature pertaining to the subject; a non-specialist, on the other hand, should not feel excluded from engaging with a different scholarly domain. CSR accepts interpretive or critical summaries of one or more books, poems, stories, etc., only if in the judgment of the editors the author’s contribution is significantly original. Given our selective standards, CSR rarely publishes articles by first authors who are undergraduate or graduate students.
- Christian perspective: Authors may assume that their readers are generally familiar with, and sympathetic to Christianity. While this assumption does not preclude articles that address topics in apologetics and philosophy of religion, including discussion of the rational justification of Christian belief, it does free the author from an obligation to provide such justification. Most CSR sponsoring institutions are evangelical and Protestant; its editorial policy, however, is ecumenical. Authors need not be a faculty member of a sponsoring institution to submit a manuscript.
- Submissions must not be concurrently under review elsewhere nor should submissions include material that is copyrighted without permission. Authors must provide information on prior dissemination of the manuscript (e.g., if some or all were presented at a conference, posted on a website or blog. This information must be provided as part of the Author’s Note. Contact the CSR editor if you have questions about the feasibility of publishing an article whose ideas have been previously disseminated in whole or in part.
- CSR publishes tables and figures but does not publish color images. However, as all articles are also published on the web, authors may submit a color image for inclusion on the Christianscholars.com website.
Submitting your manuscript
Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal submission portal. Before submitting the manuscript, the corresponding author will need to register to create an account in the portal. Authors can find the register button in the upper right-hand corner of the website.
Manuscripts should be de-identified and uploaded as an MS-Word document formatted in the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS). Manuscripts that do not follow the CMOS closely will not be sent for peer review. Ensure that your manuscript is left justified, double-spaced, written in 12-pt font, and in keeping with CMOS guidelines, one space after a period. For source citation, use CMOS notes and bibliography system. However, you do not need to add a separate bibliography at the end of your manuscript. The portal requires you to upload a separate abstract of approximately 150 words. Once in the portal, the authors should write a brief note to the editor explaining how the manuscript will contribute to the mission of the journal.
Authors are welcome to e-mail editor@christianscholars.com to inquire about the feasibility of a manuscript or book review for future publication before submitting a manuscript for review. However, any manuscript must be submitted through the portal.
Editorial Process
- Manuscripts will be initially screened by the editor with the assistance of associate editors. If the editor decides that the manuscript does not meet the editorial mission of the journal, she will communicate her decision not to move the manuscript to the next phase of review with a brief explanation. Authors of a “desk rejected” manuscript should not expect a full review. If the manuscript meets the editorial guidelines of the journal, the corresponding author will be notified, and the associate editors will send it to two or more external referees for blind review. To help insure this “blind” external referee process, authors should remove their name from the manuscript and identify themselves only in the submission portal. Please ensure that identifying information is removed from the document meta-data.
- The final decision about publication is made by the editor in consultation with associate editors and journal leadership, as needs dictate. Please be aware that CSR is highly selective, publishing only 20% of the manuscripts it receives.
- The editorial team and external reviewers, while committed to the mission of the journal, are primarily full-time educators whose work for the journal is over and above their normal workload. Subsequently, the review process normally takes two to four months. Articles may be published up to another six to eight months after the review process is complete.
- Authors of accepted papers must provide to the editor on final acceptance all necessary permissions to reproduce in print and electronic form any copyrighted work. CSR may decline to publish any part of the article whose copyright status is unknown.
Disclaimer: Editors of Christian Scholar’s Review assume no responsibility for statements and opinions advanced by the authors of its articles.