Author Guidelines
AIM AND SCOPE OF THE JOURNAL
"Theological Reflections: Euro-Asian Journal of Theology" publishes scholarly articles by authors in the evangelical tradition who are connected to the countries of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) for the purpose of supporting the development of evangelical theology in the FSU republics and acquainting the contemporary Christian world with theological thought in Eurasia. Its target audience is researchers, theologians, religious scholars, teachers, and students of evangelical theological colleges, seminaries, and theological faculties, as well as church leaders.
TYPE OF ARTICLES ACCEPTED
The journal publishes original scholarly articles encompassing various aspects of theological studies and reviews of relevant theological publications. In some very special cases the Editorial Board may consider publishing translated articles if they introduce new aspects of theological studies relevant to the audience of the journal and are of high scholarly value.
LENGTH OF ARTICLES
Articles should be approximately 7,000-9,000 words. Book reviews run approximately 500 words for shorter reviews and 1,000 words for longer reviews.
HOW TO SUBMIT ARTICLES
- Submission should be in one of the working languages of the E-AAA: English or Russian. Articles in other languages should be submitted with an English translation.
- Submissions should be in MS Word, Times New Roman 12 pt. (text) 10 pt. (footnotes)
- Submissions should be sent electronically to reflections@e-aaa.info
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AUTHOR- Authors guarantee that submissions are original, never published elsewhere, and are not plagiarized.
- Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to use material from elsewhere.
- Authors are responsible for proofing their articles. The Editorial Board only corrects the English versions of the articles.
- So far, authors do not receive financial remuneration for published articles and do not have financial obligations towards the journal.
PEER-REVIEW POLICIES- The journal uses a double blind peer review for its articles.
- The review process usually takes not more than 30-40 days when an article is accepted for review.
- Authors may expect three possible answers: approval of submission, approval of submission with minor/major revision, or rejection of submission.
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION- The author holds the copyright for the final text of the article.
- The Editorial Board holds the copyrights for layout of the articles and the whole issue of the journal.
- The author signs the layout of the article and returns it to the Editorial Board within three days.
GUIDANCE ON ETHICSOn ethical issues see “Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement.”
OFFPRINTS, COPY OF JOURNAL
Authors receive one hard copy of the issue after it is published.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Oleksandr Geychenko, reflections@e-aaa.info
EDITORIAL PROCEDURES
What happens to the paper after submission.
Step 1: When an article is submitted, within three days the Issue Editor checks the article against the Editorial Check-List and sends it to the Editorial Board or returns it to the author with recommendations. The author then needs to revise the article and resubmit it within two weeks.
Step 2: Members of the Editorial Board check the article against the philosophy of the journal and the subject matter of the next issue and send their recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief (accept, reject, or suggest minor/major revisions) and suggest potential reviewers. The Editorial Board reaches all decisions by consensus, or in controversial cases by a simple majority.
Step 3: The Editor-in-Chief makes a decision on reviewers and the Issue Editor sends a request. When the answer is positive, the Issue Editor sends materials and sets the deadline. The author receives notice on the decision.
Step 4: Reviewers return their conclusion (approve, reject, or approve with minor/major revisions) and detailed recommendations within 30-40 days.
Step 5: The Editorial Board makes a decision about the article. The Issue Editor informs the author about the decision and sets the dates for revision: minor revision—7-10 days; major revisions—10-30 days. The Issue Editor sends the accepted articles to a translator. The author should approve the translation of the article into English within three days. In case of major revisions, the Editorial Board selects one of its members to guide the author in the process of revision according to recommendations. All correspondence is copied to the Issue Editor.
Step 6: Approved articles are combined into a package and the Issue Editor sends them to the Advisory Board which may then veto any article within 1-14 days. The Editor-in-Chief organises the issue and sends it to the Issue Editor.
Step 7: The Issue Editor sends the package of English versions to the copy-editor and then to layout. Russian/Ukrainian versions are sent to layout and then to the proofreader. The technical assistant corrects the galleys and sends them to the Issue Editor and the Editor-in-Chief.
Step 8: The Editor-in-Chief reads the issue and makes a decision to send it to print. The technical assistant submits the issue to the printer.
Step 9: When the issue is printed, the technical assistant sends it to authors, member-schools, subscribers, and sellers. Contents and abstracts of the issue are published on the journal’s website. Access to the electronic versions opens after six months.
STYLE GUIDELINES
STRUCTURE OF ARTICLES
The submission should contain the title(s), author’s name, author’s affiliation, key words, abstract (150-200 words), introduction, main text, conclusion, appendices (if applicable), and references. Besides information in the original language, authors should submit a Romanized reference list, key words, abstract, and information about the author and the author’s affiliation in English.
HEADINGS
FIRST LEVEL (Times New Roman, 14pt, Small caps, Bold, center)
SECOND LEVEL (Times New Roman, 14pt, Small caps, Bold, align left)
Third Level (Times New Roman, 12pt, Bold Italics, align left)
CITATIONS AND REFERENCES
Citation and reference style is that of Notes and Bibliography of The Chicago Manual of Style 16th ed. Below are some exmples, more details at http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
Books
One Author
Merriam, Sharan B. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. Rev Exp edition. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2009.
Two and More Authors
Propp, V. ︠I︡A, and V. I. Eremina. Istoricheskie Korni Volshebnoi Skazki. 3–e izd. ed. S.-Peterburg: Izd-vo S.-Peterburgskogo universiteta, 1996.
Swinton, John, and Harriet Mowat. Practical Theology and Qualitative Research. London: SCM, 2005.
Perdue, Leo G., Robert Morgan, and Benjamin D. Sommer. Biblical Theology: Introducing the Conversation. The Library of Biblical Theology. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009.
Fiddes, Paul S, Brian Haymes, Richard Kidd, and Michael J Quicke. Doing Theology in a Baptist Way. Oxford [England]: Whitley Publications, 2000.
Thesis
Owens, L. Roger. “The Shape of Participation: Ecclesial Practices as Participation in the Triune God.” Ph.D. thesis, Duke University, 2006. http://search.proquest.com/dissertations/docview/305326244/abstract/335028B40144C7APQ/1.
Chapter in the Book
Rivera, Mayra, and Stephen D. Moore. "A Tentative Topography of Postcolonial Theology." In Planetary Loves: Spivak, Postcoloniality, and Theology, by Moore, Stephen D., and Mayra Rivera, eds., edited by Stephen D. Moore, and Mayra Rivera. Fordham University Press, 2010. Fordham Scholarship Online, 2011. doi: 10.5422/fso/9780823233250.003.0001.
Journal Article
Gavrilyuk, Paul. “Bulgakov’s Account of Creation: Neglected Aspects, Critics and Contemporary Relevance.” International Journal of Systematic Theology 17, no. 4 (October 2015): 450–63. doi:10.1111/ijst.12119.
TRANSLITERATION
For Russian and Ukrainian items in references the journal uses the Library of Congress Romanization system.
Russian Cyrillic | Latin | | Ukrainian Cyrillic | Latin |
А а | A a | А а | A a |
Б б | B b | Б б | B b |
В в | V v | В в | V v |
Г г | G g | Г г | H h |
Д д | D d | Ґ ґ | G g |
Е е | E e | Д д | D d |
Ё ë | Ë ë | Е е | E e |
Ж ж | z͡h z͡h | Є є | i͡e i͡e * |
З з | Z z | Ж ж | z͡h z͡h ** |
И и | I i | З з | Z z |
Й й | Ĭ ĭ | И и | Y y |
К к | K k | I і | I i |
Л л | L l | Ї ї | Ï ï |
М м | M m | Й й | ĭ ĭ |
Н н | N n | К к | K k |
О о | O o | Л л | L l |
П п | P p | М м | M m |
Р р | R r | Н н | N n |
С с | S s | О о | O o |
Т т | T t | П п | P p |
У у | U u | Р р | R r |
Ф ф | F f | С с | S s |
Х х | KH kh | Т т | T t |
Ц ц | t͡s t͡s | У у | U u |
Ч ч | CH ch | Ф ф | F f |
Ш ш | SH sh | Х х | KH kh |
Щ щ | SHCH shch | Ц ц | t͡s t͡s *** |
Ъ ъ | ʺ | Ч ч | CH ch |
Ы ы | Y y | Ш ш | SH sh |
Ь ь | ʹ | Щ щ | SHCH shch |
Э э | E e | Ь ь | ´ |
Ю ю | i͡u i͡u | Ю ю | i͡u i͡u |
Я я | i͡a i͡a | Я я | i͡a i͡a |
| | ’ | -- |
* When applied strictly, ALA-LC requires the use of two-character combining diacritics, but in practice these are often omitted.
** The ligature is necessary to distinguish ж from the combination зг.
*** The ligature is necessary to distinguish ц from the combination тс.
BOOK REVIEW GUIDELINES
Book review is a critical written response to a published scholarly work. In the world practice book reviews serve as an instrument of scholarly dialogue with colleagues or opponents. In the Eastern European Evangelical scholarly community this dialogue is still at the stage of its initial formation. That is why Editorial Board sees the necessity to initiate a section of book reviews in TR.
Format
Book Information. The book’s title should be at the head of your review and be in italics. Make sure that the full book title as well as the form and spelling of author names is exactly the same as they appear on the published book. Give the complete book information in the following order: the title, the author’s name (first name, middle initial/name, last name; no titles, please), place of publication (city only), publisher, date of publication (year only), number of pages (including introductory pages [in lower case roman numerals] plus [+] the pages in the body and indexes), ISBN (followed by “pbk”, “hbk” or “ebk” in brackets) and price. If no price is given, please attempt to locate it; otherwise, state “n.p.”. Two examples are given below.
Ordinary Theology: Looking, Listening and Learning in Theology. By Jeff Astley. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002, x + 199 pp.; ISBN 0754605841 (pbk.); 30.00 GBP.
Консерватизм, модернизм и новаторство в русской православной мысли XIX – XXI веков. [Conservatism, Modernism and Innovation in Russian Orthodox Thought in XIX-XXI centuries] Лев Евгеньевич Шапошников. 2-е изд., доп. и перераб. СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петерб. ун-та, 2006. 327 с.; ISBN 5288039283 (пер.); 364.00 RUB.
Layout. Please type the review on standard A4 paper, single spaced, margins 2.54 mm. Please use a ragged right margin. Use italics for book titles and emphasis. Use numbers in brackets for references.
Name. Please type your name in italics as you wish it to appear (no titles or degrees) at the end of the review, on one line, flush right. On the second line, type your institution (school, church, organization) and its city and country. For example:
John R. Smyth
International Theological Seminary
Berdychiv, Ukraine
Style and Content
Please observe the following guidelines.
- Keep word limit: shorter reviews should not exceed 500 words, longer – 1000 words. The style of book review should be compact and precise, based upon facts.
- Give the reader an accurate picture of what a book is about, adequately summarising its content.
- If the book is targeted toward a specific audience by subject area, include a reference to that audience in the first paragraph of your review. Comment on the appropriateness of the book for that audience. For a scholarly or scientific work, comment on the credentials of the author or authors.
- Comment on the quality, clarity, accuracy, helpfulness and accessibility of the content in the first few paragraphs of the review. State what is unique about the book.
- A good review should not be a mere summary of a book’s contents, on the one hand, nor a tendentious platform for the reviewer to advance a personal agenda, on the other. Explain your perceptions of the book's strengths and weaknesses. Comment on any topic that the author or authors do a good job writing about and include quotes from the book where applicable (put page numbers in brackets). Comment on any topics that the author or authors omit but which you believe are relevant in the light of stated subject-matter.
- Assess the book’s place in its field (i.e. how it fits in with other books on similar topics, what its potential value and impact will be, or what type of audience would benefit from it).
Theological Reflections: Euro-Asian Journal of Theology
