Irish Theological Quarterly - Guidelines for Contributors
The Irish Theological Quarterly is a refereed journal of systematic, moral, and historical theology, and of sacred scripture, founded in the Pontifical University at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. It is committed to the advancement of constructive and critical scholarship in these areas and welcomes to its pages theologians from the international forum. Whereas its primary emphasis is on classical and contemporary theological issues, it also invites contributions from ancillary disciplines (such as philosophy, classical studies, and the social sciences) inasmuch as they have a direct bearing on theological reflection. Rooted in the Catholic tradition, the ITQ aims to be a place of discussion that is informed by this tradition, but it encourages equally an ecumenical and interfaith exchange in its presentations.
The ITQ carries articles by leading theologians who are international experts in their respective fields and is also a forum for young theologians to publish their research findings. It furnishes competent book reviews to keep readers informed about the current state of scholarship in theology, biblical studies, church history and cognate disciplines. It aims to provide commentary on intellectual developments that are of theological interest.
Manuscripts should normally be submitted in two letter-perfect copies, in conjunction with an e-mail attachment (in Microsoft Word), to: The Editor, Irish Theological Quarterly, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland. The author must certify that the article is not being submitted simultaneously to another periodical. Submit reviews/shorter notices by e-mail attachment (in Microsoft Word) to the editor's office (itq.editor@may.ie).
The preferred length for an article in the ITQ is circa 7,000 words, although occasionally contributions of up to 10,000 may be considered. If possible, use Microsoft Word and use the following guidelines in preparing your final copy:
I. General Instructions
1. In general, follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (2003), unless otherwise instructed. For spelling, follow the Oxford Dictionary.
2. Double-space your entire paper without exception: main text, blurb, titles, block quotations, footnotes, etc. Do not use headers or footers. Number your pages at bottom right.
3. Use one-inch margins all around. Do not justify the right side of your printed manuscript.
4. All notes are to appear as footnotes.
5. Use Times New Roman 12-point type only. Do not use 'bold fonts.' Use italics where appropriate. Leave only one space after any item of punctuation - full stops, commas, semi-colons, etc.
6. Italicize titles of books and journals. Italicize foreign words, but not foreign expressions familiar in theological English (e.g. ibid., de iure, prima facie, etc.)
7. Eliminate from the main text unnecessary bibliographical data or parenthetical references to sources; such information is to be placed in the footnotes. An exception would be references to biblical texts identified in parentheses, e.g., (Exod 23:5-6).
8. Use single quote marks for quotations; double for quotations within quotations. Use 'smart' ('') quotes as opposed to straight quotes if possible.
9. Capitalize what are clearly proper names and adjectives, and lowercase everything else except to avoid ambiguity. E.g., God in his mercy
10. Quotations from other languages (e.g. German, French, Latin) should be translated if in the main text; the original may be reproduced in a footnote if it is deemed important.
11. For Greek and Hebrew, please use the SPIonic and the SPTiberian fonts that are available, free of charge, from the SBL website (http:/www.sbl-site.org/Resources/Resources_BiblicalFonts.aspx).
12. For numbers in the main text, use commas only in those of more than four figures (e.g. 10,000, as distinct from 1000). Numbers lower than ten must always be spelt as words, while those over and above are to be written as figures.
II. Titles and Headings
13. Your main title should be printed in large and small letters, in bold, and left justified only. If more than one line, double space. Do not use italic fonts. Do not place a full stop after any of your headings. E.g., Approaching Theology with Newman
14. Your name, as author, should be printed in large and small letters, left justified, indented, and without any titles. E.g., Padraig O'Donnell. This should be followed by a hard-return with your institutional affiliation (if applicable), likewise indented, given on the next line.
15. A short ABSTRACT of 100-150 words, left justified, indented one half-inch, should follow with the heading ABSTRACT, followed by 4-6 KEYWORDS arranged in alphabetical order.
16. Start your first paragraph immediately after this without any subtitle (or block citation at this point).
17. First-order headings are to be in bold, in large and small letters, and left justified only. E.g., Certitude and the Illative Sense
18. Second-order headings (subdivisions under the first-order headings) are indicated by large and small letters, in bold, italicized, and left justified only. E.g., Patristic Theology
19. Third-order headings are indicated by large and small letters, left justified, but not in bold. E.g., The Oxford Sermons
20. As a rule, avoid following a heading directly with a subheading.
21. At the end of your article, give a short biographical note (50 words), followed by your email and full postal address.
III. Block citations
1. Indent your block citations one half-inch from the left margin in your text. Ensure your block citations are double-spaced.
2. Citations set apart in this way should always be long enough to occupy at least four full lines on the printed journal page. Do not set apart brief citations, unless they will be the subject of some discussion and will require extraordinary relief on the page.
3. When material is omitted from a citation, if the omitted material falls in the middle of a sentence, the omission should be signalled by three double-spaced periods (. . .). If the omitted material comes toward the end of a sentence, or the end of one sentence and material from one or more subsequent sentences, it should be signalled by four double- spaced periods (. . . .). Ellipsis points are rarely to be used at the beginning or at the end of quotations. The convention '. . . [T]he etc.' is normally replaced by '. . . The etc.'
4. Omit quotation marks at the beginning and end of block citations.
IV. Footnotes
1. Double-space all footnotes.
2. The first line of each footnote should be indented like a normal paragraph, and each footnote should begin with a raised number. E.g., 1 See John Madden, etc.
3. Give complete bibliographical information the first time a work is referred to in your text. For information to be included in notes and the proper format, see the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, chaps. 16 and 17. E.g., 1 Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz, The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998), 35.[for a book]; 2 John Galvin, 'The Origin of Faith in the Resurrection of Jesus: Two Recent Perspectives,' Theological Studies 49 (1988): 25-44. [for an article].
4. In subsequent references use the 'short title' format. E.g., 1 McDermott, Word Become Flesh, 20. [for a book]; 4 Galvin, 'The Origin of Faith,' 35. [for an article]. See the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, chaps. 16 and 17.
5. If your first reference to an article in a journal or a collective volume refers to a specific page, give first the opening and closing pages of the article and then the specific page(s) referred to. E.g. 187-99, at 192. The dash is an 'n-dash.'
6. Within a footnote, if you are quoting or referring to a source, give your reference or comment first, and then, at the end of the sentence, within parentheses, cite the source of the quote or reference. E.g.: Dunn observed this also (The Partings of the Ways, 239).
7. Spell out the full names of periodicals and series on their first occurrence. If the same periodicals and series are mentioned often in your article, standard abbreviations should be used after the first occurrence.
8. For references to Aquinas, use the following format: STh I-II 65.1, ad 1.
9. Follow the conventions of each language cited regarding upper and lower case in titles. For French and Spanish titles note Manual of Style, 15th ed., chap. 10. To divide titles from subtitles (in any language), use a colon (:); always capitalize the first word of the subtitle. E.g., 'Mirror of His Beauty: The femininity of God in Jewish Mysticism and in Christianity.'
10. In giving publication data, generally omit the words 'Press, Verlag, Editions, Publication, Ltd.,' etc. When several cities in different countries are listed on a book's title page (e.g., Oxford/Bern/Berlin/Bruxelles/etc: Peter Lang) give the nearest (to Ireland) European place of publication. E.g., Oxford: Peter Lang.
V. Book Reviews
1. The normal length of an ITQ review is 800-1000 words, and of a shorter notice 300-450 words.
2. If a reviewer considers a book does not require a full review, a shorter notice should be submitted.
3. Use 'Microsoft Word', if possible, and 'Times New Roman' font, 12 points.
4. No footnotes are to be included in reviews.
5. Information about a book for review is to be given as follows: Title (in bold) + full stop + 'By'/'Edited by' + name(s) of author(s)/editor(s) + full stop + (where applicable) 'Translated by' + name(s) of translator(s) + full stop + place of publication + colon + name of publisher + comma + date of publication + full stop + Pp. + number of pages + full stop + Price (€/$/£) + hbk/pbk in brackets, where appropriate + full stop + ISBN + full stop. E.g., Nicaea and its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology. By Lewis Ayres. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Pp. 492. Price £87.00 (hbk). ISBN 0-198-75506-6.
6. Double-space entire review or shorter notice. Number pages at bottom right.
7. Only justify left-hand margins.
8. If quoting from the book under review, indicate where the quotation occurs using brackets and 'p.' or 'pp.' where appropriate: e.g., (p. 125) or (pp. 122-4) followed by any necessary punctuation (e.g., full stop); i.e. do NOT end a quotation with a full stop or comma and then add the page reference.
9. For all other questions of style, follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (2003).
10. All paragraphs should begin with a half-inch indent.
11. The review editor reserves the right to modify reviews in accordance with the ITQ's general editorial policy.
12. The ITQ cannot give guarantees about precise publication dates for reviews submitted, though reviews will normally be published within a reasonable length of time after their submission.
13. At the end of a review/shorter notice, a reviewer should indicate her/his name (small caps) together with the name and location of her/his institution (where applicable). This information should, like the review itself, be left-justified.
English Language Editing Services: Please click here for information on professional English language editing services recommended by SAGE.
