Author Guidelines

Article Types

• Research Article — 8,000 to 10,000 words including text, tables, figures, notes, references, and appendices. Abstract of 200 to 300 words. Double-anonymous review by at least two reviewers.

• Review Essay — 5,000 to 7,000 words, discussing two or more recent works around a common problem. Abstract of 150 to 200 words. Editorial review, with one external reader where the subject requires it.

• Book Review — 1,500 to 2,500 words on a single work published within the preceding three years. No abstract. Editorial review.

Language and Presentation

Manuscripts are published in English. Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to have the text edited before submission; manuscripts whose language impedes assessment are returned without review.

Submissions are prepared in Microsoft Word, RTF, or OpenOffice format, single-spaced in a 12-point font, with italics rather than underlining except in URLs. Tables and figures are numbered consecutively, captioned, and placed within the text at the point of first reference rather than collected at the end. Identifying information is removed from the manuscript file and its document properties so that anonymous review can proceed.

Abstract and Keywords

Research article abstracts run 200 to 300 words and appear as a single paragraph without subheadings. Each abstract addresses four elements in order:

• the research problem and the scholarly conversation it enters;

• the sources used and the method of analysis;

• the principal finding, stated specifically rather than promissorily;

• what the article contributes to international scholarship on the subject beyond its immediate case.

Copy-editing checks each abstract against the 200-word minimum and against the fourth element. Manuscripts are returned to authors where the abstract runs short of the minimum, or where the contribution statement is absent or generic. An abstract that describes what an article sets out to do without stating what it found does not meet this requirement.

Authors supply four to six keywords. Terms already appearing in the title are not repeated.

Structure and Transliteration

Research articles carry a title, abstract, keywords, introduction, an account of sources and method, substantive sections with descriptive headings, and a conclusion. Headings run to two levels.

Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish follow the IJMES transliteration system. Indonesian, Malay, and other Muslim-world languages follow the standard convention for the language concerned, applied consistently throughout. Terms that have entered ordinary English usage — Quran, ulama, sharia, fatwa, hadith — appear without diacritics in running text, while technical terms and cited titles retain full diacritics. Quotations, passages, and terms in languages other than English are translated.

Citations and References

The journal follows APA 7th edition. All notes appear in the text as citations. Every reference cited in the text appears in the reference list and every entry in the list is cited in the text. DOIs are supplied wherever available, and URLs are provided for sources consulted online. Archival and manuscript sources are cited in full at first mention, with repository, collection, and shelfmark.

Authorship and Contributor Roles

Authorship is limited to those who made a substantial contribution to the conception of the work, the collection or analysis of evidence, or the drafting of the manuscript, and who approve the submitted version and accept accountability for it. Contributions are recorded using the CRediT taxonomy in a statement placed before the reference list. Persons who assisted without meeting these criteria are named in an acknowledgements section.

Every author supplies an ORCID iD and a current institutional affiliation. One author is designated as corresponding author and is responsible for communication with the editorial office throughout review and production. Changes to the author list after submission require written agreement from all authors.

Research Ethics, Conflicts of Interest, and Funding

Manuscripts reporting research involving human participants state the approving ethics committee and its reference number, or explain why formal approval was not required in the jurisdiction concerned. Authors confirm that informed consent was obtained and that identifying details have been removed or that participants consented to their publication. Research conducted with communities in conditions of conflict, displacement, or legal vulnerability describes the safeguards applied.

Authors declare financial and non-financial interests that a reader might reasonably consider relevant, including employment, consultancy, institutional affiliation to a body discussed in the article, and personal relationships. Where none exist, the manuscript states this. Funders are named with grant numbers, and manuscripts without external funding say so.

Sources, Data, and Use of Generative AI

Authors state where the evidence underlying the article can be consulted. Manuscripts resting on published texts identify the editions used. Where fieldwork material cannot be shared because of confidentiality obligations, the statement records this and explains the constraint.

Generative artificial intelligence tools do not meet the criteria for authorship and are not listed as authors. Authors who used such tools in preparing a manuscript disclose this in a statement naming the tool, its version, and the purpose for which it was used; use confined to language editing need not be disclosed. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy of all content, including references, quotations, translations, and transliterations.

Similarity Screening and Preprints

All submissions are screened with Turnitin before editorial assessment. Manuscripts returning a similarity index above 25 per cent, excluding references and properly attributed quotations, are returned to the author or declined.

Posting a manuscript to an institutional or subject repository before submission is permitted and is not treated as prior publication. Authors disclose the preprint and its DOI at submission and are asked to link the published version once it appears.

Copyright, Licensing, and Charges

Authors retain copyright. Articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence, which permits reuse with attribution. Authors may deposit the published version in any repository without embargo.

Islamic Studies Review does not charge authors at any stage. There is no submission fee, no article processing charge, and no charge for publication, colour figures, or supplementary material. All published content is freely available to readers without subscription or registration.

Submission Checklist

Before submitting, authors work through the Submission Checklist, which sets out every point a manuscript must satisfy before it enters editorial assessment.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered on this site are used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and are not made available for any other purpose or to any other party.