Guidelines for Contributors
Studies in Christian Ethics adheres to a rigorous double-blind reviewing policy in which the identities of the referees and the author are concealed from all parties. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees and their reports are forwarded directly to authors within approximately 8 weeks, after which an editorial decision is made.
Articles may be submitted to the journal in printed form with two copies posted to the Editor, or electronically as an email attachment. It is essential that the following guidelines are observed. We may ask you to revise your article if it is not supplied in house style.
The papers for consideration and editorial enquiries could be sent to Dr Susan F. Parsons, 1 Cackle Hill Cottages, Snelston, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 2DL. EMAIL: sfparsons@btinternet.com. The books for review need to be sent to Dr Robert Song, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Durham DH1 3RS, EMAIL: robert.song@durham.ac.uk.
GENERAL
1. Manuscripts should be formatted using one and a half line spacing, printed on one side only and numbered consecutively throughout. Margins of approximately one and a half inches or 39mm should be used.
2. A short ABSTRACT of 100-150 words and about five to six KEYWORDS arranged in alphabetical order must be supplied with your article.
3. All articles will be refereed and should normally be 5000-8000 words in length. Studies in Christian Ethics adheres to a rigorous double-blind reviewing policy in which the identities of the referees and the author are concealed from all parties. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees and their reports are forwarded directly to authors within approximately 8 weeks, after which an editorial decision is made.
4. Quoted matter, if more than four lines, should normally be indented, without quotation marks.
5. Quotations of up to four lines should form part of the text, and should be indicated by single quotation marks. Double quotation marks should be used only for quotations within quotations.
6. Greek and Hebrew fonts should be used where possible. In general, foreign words and phrases should be italicised, both in the main text and footnotes.
7. -ise spellings should be used (recognise, emphasise, organisation, analyse, etc.).
8. Contributors from North America may use North American spelling and punctuation.
9. Headings: Please mark up heading levels 1.1, 1.2, 1.2.1 etc. These will be removed later, but are helpful to the typesetter to assign heading styles.
10. Underlines should be used for words that the author wishes to emphasise in the body of the paper. The use of quotation marks is to be reserved for quoted material or for commonly disputed terms.
11. Authors of articles and book reviews will be sent a first proof and will normally be expected to return these within two weeks of receipt. Corrections should be confined to typographical errors or to specific questions raised by the editors.
12. For further reference, The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (Clarendon Press 1981) is recommended.
13. Authors are required to assign copyright to SAGE, subject to retaining their right to reuse the material in other publications written or edited by themselves and due to be published at least one year after initial publication in the journal. Accepted articles cannot be published in the absence of the signed copyright form.
14.Authors will be given a set number of accesses to their article on SAGE Journals Online, similar to the set number of paper offprints they currently receive, with the ability to print off a set number of copies of their article, as well as the opportunity to purchase additional paper copies if they wish. We will continue to send complimentary copies of the journal in which their articles appear, in addition to the online access to pdfs.
UPPER & LOWER CASE
1. Use lower case for personal pronouns of divine persons other than at the beginning of sentences: he, his, etc.
2. In the case of the Church, use upper and lower case as follows:
Upper case (a) for the whole Church
(b) for a denomination, e.g. the Church of England
Lower case (a) for the building
(b) for the local church
(c) as an adjective: church teaching
also: churchgoer but High Church
3. In the case of the Scriptures, use upper and lower case as follows:
(a) Bible and Scripture but biblical and scriptural
(b) Gospel - when referring to a canonical book
(c) gospel - when speaking in more general terms
(d) Kingdom of God but cross, crucifixion, resurrection, etc.
ABBREVIATIONS
1. Use of full stops in abbreviations:
When an abbreviation is formed by cutting a word short, a full stop must be used at the end; when an abbreviation is formed by the omission of internal letters, a full stop is not generally used. Thus: Rel. but Sgt
Note: Prof. Revd St Dr Mr
2. BC, AD, CE, BCE should be unpunctuated and set in small capitals.
3. Note the following abbreviations:
ed. (editor, edited by)
trans. (translator, translated by)
rev. (reviser, revised by)
edn (edition)
repr. (reprint)
vol./vols. (volume)
VERBAL STYLE and SPELLING
1. Brackets within brackets should be square, e.g. G.H. Jones ('The Decree of Yawweh', VT 15 [1965], pp. 336-44). However, the major exception to this rule is that square brackets indicating text inserted into a quotation by the author stay in square brackets, e.g. [sic].
2. Numerals are written out in full when they are ten or below, when they begin a sentence and when they are an even hundred, thousand, million, etc. But sometimes it is better to have consistency rather than follow this rule. Numbers of centuries should always be written out in full: twentyfirst century; nineteenth century etc.
Use Roman numerals for vol. numbers of books, and series numbers; and Arabic numbers for journal issue nos.
3. Possessives. For possessives of proper names ending in a (pronounced) s add 's, e.g. Child's Introduction, Jones's views. The exception is for ancient names, e.g. Jesus', Barthes', Descartes' etc.
4. Ellipses: all quotations are in the nature of things an extract from a longer text, so ellipses should not be used simply to indicate that in the original text there are preceding and following words.
5. Use:
focused, focusing etc (not focussed, focussing)
first, secondly, or first, second (but not firstly)
acknowledgment, judgment
analyse (but analyze in American spelling)
6. 'E.g.' and 'i.e.' are only permissible in the body of the text if they introduce a list or are within brackets. Likewise, please avoid 'etc.' unless it is in a footnote.
Please do not use op. cit. and avoid ibid.
Avoid 'f.' and 'ff.'
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Please observe the following abbreviations:
Gen. , Exod, Song., Isa., Lev., Jer., Num., Lam., Deut., Ezek., Josh., Dan., Judg., Hos., Ruth, Joel, Sam., Amos, Kgs, Obad., Chron., Jon., Ezra, Mic., Neh., Nah., Est., Hab., Job, Zeph., Ps. (plural Pss.), Hag., Prov., Zech., Eccl., Mal.,
Mt., Col., Mk., Thess., Lk., Tim., Jn, Tit., Acts, Phlm., Rom., Heb., Cor., Jas., Gal., Pet., Eph., Jn, Phil., Jude, Rev.
Use Arabic numerals throughout: 2 Cor. not II Cor.
Full stops between chapter and verse numbers: Lk. 6.12
Hyphens to mark sequences of verses:
Mt. 3.6-8 Lk. 6.10-12 Jn 10.12-14, 16 (N.B. the space after the comma).
En rules for sequences extending beyond a single chapter: Mt. 6-9
Semicolons to divide distinct references to different chapters of the same book: John 6.15; 14.12
Semicolons to divide single references to separate books: Lk. 4.12; 2 Cor. 3.8
Biblical references may be placed in parentheses in the text - e.g. (Mt. 2.6-8)
- or in the footnotes but please be consistent.
FOOTNOTE STYLE
The following conventions should be followed in footnotes. Please note articles from periodicals or titles of book chapters are printed within single quotation marks. Book titles are in italics.
Journal article:
L. Barrett, 'Theology as Grammar: Regulative Principles or Paradigms and Practices?', Modern Theology 25.2 (1988), pp. 155-72.
Book:
Colin E. Gunton, The One, The Three and The Many (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn, 1993), pp. 56-59.
D. Stephen Long, John Wesley’s Moral Theology (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2005)
Chapter/article in a collected volume:
J.L. Martyn, 'Have we Found Elijah?', in R. Hamerton-Kelly and R. Scroggs (eds.), Jews, Greeks and Christians: Cultures in Late Aniquity (trans. J. Smith; SJLA, 21; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2nd edn, 1976).
Short title
When a book, a chapter or an article is referred to again, after its first occurrence, short title form is used, e.g. Martyn, 'Have we Found Elijah?', p. 235.
The following conventions should be observed in the footnotes:
1. When the reference is to a nineteenth-century or older work the publisher's name may be omitted.
2. Page references should be in the following form: pp. 92-98, pp. 153-79 but pp. 107-109, pp. 107-114. Avoid the use of 'f.' and 'ff.'
3. For more than three authors or editors it is permissible to use et al.
4. In the bibliography, multiple entries for an author may be arranged either in chronological or alphabetical order.
5. Title and subtitle. Between the title and subtitle of a book there should be a colon, not a full stop (though occasionally a book has a more complicated title and a full stop is more appropriate).
6. More than one place of publication. When a publisher has more than one office, only the first stated or the head office should be given.
7. More than one publisher. Where a book has been published by more than one publisher, use the following style:
Exeter: Paternoster Press; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
English Language Editing Services: Please click here for information on professional English language editing services recommended by SAGE.
