Author Guidelines

Unsolicited manuscripts pertaining to any of the topics within the journal's scope are welcome and may be submitted to the journal. Contributions should fall within the broad scope of the journal, as outlined in the statement of scope and focus. We welcome contributions that engage with debates from previously published articles in the journal.

This journal does not charge APCs or submission charges.

The Journal of Global Buddhism publishes material in the following three categories:

  1. Research Articles (5,000–8,000 words)
  2. Discussions and Critical Notes (2,000 words or less)
  3. Book Reviews
We also welcome submissions of "Special Focus" and "Symposium" concepts (see below).

Research Articles

Research Articles will present original research in any of the areas under the journal's list of Subject Classifications. Contributors are welcome to contact the editors beforehand to discuss proposals or for guidance regarding the sorts of topics which are suitable for publication in the journal. Research articles will be subject to double blind peer review by appropriate members of the editorial board or external evaluators selected at the editors' discretion. Papers should generally be no longer than 8,000 words (inclusive of footnotes, bibliography and notes on contributors), unless permission for a longer submission has been granted in advance by the editors.

"Special Focus" sections

We welcome proposals for special themed sections (akin to special issues) that address the journal's scope. (See submission guidelines below.)

Discussions and Critical Notes

Generally 2,000 words or fewer, discussions and critical notes may reflect a variety of applications. They may be mini-research articles, interim reports on research in progress, or proposals for future research. They may also be used to comment on or respond to research published in the journal and elsewhere.

"Symposia" sections

"Symposia" can be thought of "Special Focus lite": they are collections of submissions on a specific theme, but they are shorter in format. Symposium essays are roughly equivalent to our "Discussions and Critial Notes" and should be no longer than 2,000 words. The format is especially suited for commentary or discussion of topical issues, a particular scholar's work, or a significant publication.

Book Reviews

As appropriate, the journal will publish reviews of various materials addressing issues which are included under the journal's Subject Classifications. Typical length 1,200–1,500. Longer reviews of over 5,000 may be published as Review Essays at the discretion of the book review editor and the general editors. Publishers or others wishing to have books, audio tapes, videotapes, software or other publications in any media reviewed should send copies for consideration to the book review editor.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All submissions should be preceded by a header on a separate page containing the title of the manuscript, the name(s) of the author(s), ORCIDs for all authors, any affiliations, email addresses, and telephone numbers.

The header should be formatted as in the following example:

a) Title: Title of Submission
b) Author(s): A.N. Author (please include all author ORCIDs)
c) Word length: 6,500 words
d) Date of submission: 1 November 1994
e) Address:
    Name of Institution
    Name of Department
    Full Postal Address
    Email Address
    Telephone Number

Please include an abstract of no more than 150 words after the header, as well several keywords, separated by semicolons. Authors should anonymize the body of their manuscript, removing references to themselves in the text as well as document metadata. If it is unclear what is entailed, please consult the journal editors. If you have used a special diacritic font please give the name (e.g., Indic Transliterator, CS Bitstream Charter, etc). For transliteration issues, see the JGB Style Guide, below.

Note: authors of accepted manuscripts assign to the Journal of Global Buddhism the right to publish the text both electronically and in any other format and to make it available permanently in an electronic archive.

Guidelines for "Special Focus" sections

Special Focus sections appear within the general volume of the year in which they are published but are grouped under their own heading and usually include a substantive introduction by the guest editor(s). All submissions with be peer reviewed individually in the normal way, and the Editors reserve the right to reject some articles and accept others. Proposals for special sections should be made to the managing editor (jgb@globalbuddhism.org) by email and should include as attachments:

  • A proposal by the guest editor(s) outlining the significance of the themes and issues covered and demonstrating the intellectual coherence of the various contributions in relation to those themes and issues (700-1,000 words).
  • A complete set of the proposed articles, including abstracts and keywords. Contributions should conform to the journal's house style, as detailed in the Style Guide below.
  • A list of author details, including name, email, and affiliation.

When the proposal is provisionally accepted, the next step is for all essays, including the introductory essay, to be submitted for blind review. These should be made directly to the editors rather than using the online submission system. The introductory essay should not only de-identify the author of the essay itself, but identities of all the contributors should be hidden by using designations such as ‘Author 1’, ‘Author 2’, etc. At this stage the guest editor should also provide the managing editor by email with a list of two recommended referees for each submission. As guest-editor(s), it is understood that you will:

  • Solicit and vet articles for relevance for consideration in the special focus section.
  • Recommend two referees per article to meet the standards of the journal's double-blind peer review process. The Editors reserve the right to choose alternative reviewers.
  • Undertake the majority of contributor liaison, including advising authors of review outcomes and necessary revisions, and informing contributors when their pieces have been published.
  • Check revised articles to ensure quality and that authors have addressed referee concerns.
  • Edit articles to ensure that they generally comply with the house style. Final copy editing and proofing of the issue will be undertaken by members of the editorial team, but it is the responsibility of the guest editor to ensure the overall quality and consistent formatting of articles.
  • Provide a substantial introduction for the special issue (at least 2,000–3,000 words, ranging up to a maximum of 7.500 words).

After publication of the special focus section, the names of guest editors will appear on the home page of the current issue as well as in the journal archive.

Guidelines for "Symposium" sections

For the most part, the procedures for proposal and submission of Symposia is the same as for "Special Focus" sections (see above). However, due to the shorter format, one peer reviewer will normally review all the essays.

Book Review Policy

Reviewers are generally chosen by the editor. Scholars who are interested in reviewing a book that is listed on the book review page without a specified reviewer, or who wish to review a book not currently listed, should contact the book review editor. While the JGB does accept unsolicited book reviews and is open to receiving curriculum vitae from potential reviewers, the decision to print reviews or to use particular reviewers rests solely with the JGB.

Reviews will communicate to specialists and non-specialists the scope of the book's content, assess its major points and contributions, and provide a reasoned judgment of its worth. In keeping with proper scholarly method, any critique should be directed at an author's work. Reviews that contain materials considered to be directed towards an author's character or that are considered to be potentially libelous will be rejected. The JGB will be the final arbiter in all cases.

When you have agreed to review a volume for us, please discuss a realistic submission date with the book review editor. The JGB aims at publishing book reviews within three months of the time you have received the volume under review. We realize that this is not always possible, but it has proven to be a good rule of thumb. Occasionally, reviews may have to be reassigned or dropped. Reviews that do not meet the JGB's professional standards or that fail to conform to conditions agreed upon by the reviewer and editor will be rejected. All such decisions are at the sole discretion of the JGB.

Reviews may be of any length, however, they will typically not be less than 1,000 words nor more than 5,000. Many reviewers find a length of 1,500 to 2,500 words about right. Reviews of more than 5,000 words will be considered review articles and screened by both the book review editor and the general editors of the JGB.

After your review has been copyedited, it will be returned to you for a final proofreading. Please be especially careful in proofreading any transliterations in your review. We ask that, before you submit a review to our editors, you ensure that Sanskrit and Japanese words are in the JGB's transliteration format (see Journal Style Guide, below).

Please do not submit drafts or incomplete articles or reviews. While minor changes are permitted during final proofreading, JGB policy does not allow changes to an article after it has been published on the site.

Headers should be set up as in the following example:

The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvaa.na in Early Buddhism. By Peter Harvey. London: Curzon Press, 1995, viii + 293 pages, ISBN 0-7007-0337-3 (paperback), £14.99; ISBN 0-7007-0338-1 (cloth).

Reviewed by
Rupert Gethin
Lecturer in Indian Religions
University of Bristol
rupert.gethin@bristol.ac.uk

References should be cited in the body of the review. Where you quote from the book you are reviewing, refer to an author's argument or a prolonged discussion, or note points of particular interest or controversy, please give page references in the format illustrated at the end of the General Guidelines below.

Avoid footnotes if at all possible. Please use italics for emphasis. Do not indent paragraphs except when employing block quotes. Double space between paragraphs. Your review may be submitted in plain text, rich text format, html, or as an attachment. We prefer to receive attachments in Microsoft Word format, but other popular formats are acceptable. The review should be submitted to the book review editor.

Publishers: you may wish to contact one of the JGB's editors before sending us books for review. Books received unsolicited may not be reviewed and will not be returned to the sender.

Figures, Images, and Third-Party Materials

Figures should be high quality (minimum 300 dpi) and should be supplied in one of our preferred file formats: JPEG or TIFF. Microsoft Word (DOC or DOCX) files are acceptable for figures that have been drawn in Word. For the purposes of peer review, low-resolution artwork can be included in the submission file. For the purposes of publication, high-resolution files should be supplied to the layout editor.

Using Third-Party Material in your Paper
If you wish to include any material in your paper for which you do not hold copyright, you will need to obtain written permission from the copyright owner prior to submission.