Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The text and references adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style stylistic and bibliographic requirements. References align between the text and the footnotes.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • All authors have contributed significantly to the manuscript. No author is listed as an honorific.
  • All Authors have reviewed the manuscript and have approved it for submission
  • After uploading your manuscript, be prepared to provide 1) up to seven keywords or phrases in alphabetical order, 2) acknowledgment of any presentation of this material, to whom, when, and where, 3) acknowledgment of financial support, including grant numbers, 4) explanation of any conflicts of interest.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word file format.
  • No copywritten material has been included without permission.

Author Guidelines

CSR Mission

Established in 1970, Christian Scholar’s Review is a medium for communication among Christians who have been called to an academic vocation. Its primary objective is the publication of peer-reviewed scholarship and research, within and across the disciplines, that advances the integration of faith and learning and contributes to a broader and more unified understanding of the nature of creation, culture, and vocation and the responsibilities of those whom God has created. It also provides a forum for discussion of pedagogical and theoretical issues related to Christian higher education. It invites contributions from Christian scholars of all historic traditions, and from others sympathetic to the task of religiously-informed scholarship, that advance the work of Christian academic communities and enhance mutual understanding with other religious and academic communities. 

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

  1. 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.
  2. Currency: Since CSR is a journal, its articles should 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.
  3. 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 should 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 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. As a general rule, CSR does not accept submission which derive from undergraduate papers, graduate school essays, or work that has been published in other formats.
  4. Christian perspective: The author may assume that his or her readers are generally familiar with, and sympathetic to, the Christian religion. 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.
  1. 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.
  2. 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.

Manuscript Style Guidelines

Manuscripts should be de-identified and uploaded as an MS-Word document formatted in the Chicago Manual of Style. Manuscripts that do not follow closely to the Chicago Manual of Style will not be sent for further review. Ensure that your manuscript is right justified, double spaced written in a 12-pt font, and in keeping with CMOS guidelines, one space after a period. The portal requires you to upload a separate abstract of approximately 150 words. Once in the portal, the authors are encouraged to write a brief note to the editor explaining the contribution of the manuscript to the mission of the journal.

Editorial Process.

  1. Manuscripts will be initially screened by the editor with the assistance of the 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.
  2. The final decision about publication is made by the editor in consultation with associate editors and journal leadership, as needs dictate. Authors should be aware that CSR is highly selective, publishing only 20% of the manuscripts it receives.
  3. 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.
  4. Authors of accepted papers must obtain and provide to the editor on final acceptance all necessary permissions to reproduce in print and electronic form any copyrighted work.
  5. 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.

Privacy Statement

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