Submissions

Submission Instructions

*While all submissions must adhere to the journal’s instructions for Author Information and Abstract (below), authors will not be asked to format their text in accordance with the stylistic and bibliographic requirements of the journal until after it is accepted for publication.

Author information

For the purposes of double-blind review, please submit your manuscript without information that might signal your identity or affiliation (including acknowledgments). If you do have acknowledgments, please put them in the Comments for the Editors field in the submission form.

Abstract

Please provide an abstract of about 200 words to be placed in preamble to your article and a list of keywords. 

Language and spelling

Submissions may be in English or French. For English submissions, American spelling (rather than British) should be used, including for the transliteration of place names.

Fonts

Please submit your manuscript using a Unicode font such Times New Roman. Most diacritics are easily attained on Macs with a Unicode font using the U.S. Extended keyboard. 

Source citations

Sources should be cited in full at first mention, with shortened references thereafter. A complete bibliography must also be provided. In general, the format of citations follows The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition; see the table below for examples.

Additional Citation Notes

― Author and editor names can be abbreviated to spaced initials and last name.

― Journal titles and publisher names should be spelled out in full.

― Book series titles and total volume counts need not be given.

― Naming the first-listed city of publication is enough; standard English (or French) spelling of place names should be used whenever possible (e.g., Tehran rather than Tihrān).

― If more than one work by the same author is listed consecutively in a footnote, use “idem” for the author’s name after the first reference.

― When more than one work by the same author is listed in the bibliography, alphabetize entries by title and replace the author’s name with three em dashes after the first entry.

― Bibliographic entries retain the initial placement of the definite article al- for author names, but disregard it for alphabetization.

― Capitalization of titles of non-English-language works follows the conventions of the particular language.

― Transliterated titles are capitalized in sentence style (i.e., only the first word and any proper names capitalized); however, when transliterated titles appear in the title of another work, capitalization should follow the conventions of the language of that work.

― Number ranges are condensed per The Chicago Manual of Style: 100–101, 101–2, 111– 12, 122–23; do not use “f.”

Transliteration

Arabic, Persian, and Turkish

The transliteration of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish should follow the International Journal of Middle East Studies (see IJMES Transliteration Chart and IJMES Translation and Transliterations Guide), with limited elisions. Examples:

― umma, not ummah

― ʿarabiyya, not ʿarabīyah

― Abū al-Walīd, not Abū l-Walīd or Abū’l-Walīd

― wa-l-, bi-l-, li-l-

― Use half-ring characters, not apostrophes, for ʿayn (ʿ) and hamza (ʾ).

― The initial article al- in names is retained throughout and not capitalized (e.g., al-Dhahabī, not Dhahabī or Al-Dhahabī), except when it occurs at the beginning of a sentence.

― The medial ibn or bint in names is abbreviated to b. or bt.

 Armenian

The transliteration of Armenian should follow the Hübschmann-Meillet-Benveniste (HMB) system used in Revue des Études Arméniennes.

Greek

The transliteration of Greek should follow the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.

 Syriac

The transliteration of Syriac should follow Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies.

Stylistic and Formatting Guidelines

― Spell out numbers from zero through one hundred.

― It is up to the author which dating system(s) to use, but dates should be presented consistently within each submission.

― Quotations longer than sixty words should be displayed as separate paragraphs, indented on the left.

― Subheadings within the text are set in bold, left-justified, capitalized in headline style, and not italicized.

― Authors are encouraged to translate or define terms that are not in standard English or French dictionaries the first time they are used.

― In the case of other transliterated terms that have standard English or French spellings, it is up to the author which one(s) to use as long as they are consistent (e.g., Qurʾān, Quran, or Qurʾan).

Permissions

Should a submission be accepted for publication, the author is responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce photographs or line art from the copyright owner and for paying any fees associated with image use.

Artwork submission

Low-resolution images are acceptable for initial consideration, with the expectation that authors will provide high-resolution TIFFs or JPEGs (at least 300 dpi at 4 x 6 inches) and secure all necessary permissions if the article is accepted for publication. Photographs should be sent as color or grayscale at 300 dpi at the size they are to be printed. Line drawings (black and white without gray) should be sent as bitmaps at 1,200 dpi. Each image should be clearly labeled and have a corresponding caption that provides identifying information and appropriate image credits.

Book Review Guidelines

The editors request that reviewers observe the following guidelines:

Content

All reviews should include the following two elements:

• Brief summary (often somewhat longer for non-English books). Please synthesize and clearly represent the book’s salient features (e.g., subject, thesis, sources, methodology, argumentation) rather than narrating its contents chapter by chapter.
• Critical evaluation. Identify the book’s positive contributions to the field as well as any noteworthy weaknesses that affect the validity of its conclusions or its general usefulness.

If reviewing an edited volume, please indicate the unifying theme and argument, if any, and evaluate its success in addressing the same. It will normally be most practical to summarize and evaluate select articles rather than treating all those included in a particular volume.

Reviewers should seek to be fair and sincere in their assessments, restricting the scope of their critical evaluation to the book under review. The editors recognize that there a great many ways to write an effective book review, and welcome all contributions that observe these considerations.

Length

The online, open-access format of al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā permits us to print extensive, in-depth reviews. In general, reviews tend to run between 1000 and 3000 words, but may be longer. The editors reserve the right to require that the length of reviews be changed by their authors.

Style

Reviews should adopt the following format:

1. Bibliographical Information

For a monograph

Olivia Remie Constable. Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain: The Commercial Realignment of the Iberian Peninsula, 900–1500. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, fourth series, 24 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994). ISBN 0-521-43075-5. xxv+320 pp. $59.95 cloth; $29.95 paper.

For an edited volume

Gouverner en Islam (xe–xve siècle): Textes et documents. Edited by Sylvie Denoix and Anne-Marie Eddé. Bibliothèque historique des pays d’Islam, 7. Textes et documents d’histoire médiévale, 11 (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2015). ISBN 978-2-85944-894-3. 352 pp. €20 paper.

For a multi-volume edited work

al-Samhūdī, ʿAlī b. ʿAbdallāh. Wafāʾ al-wafā bi-akhbār Dār al-Muṣṭafā. Edited by Qasim al-Samarrai. 5 vols. (London: Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, 2001). ISBN 978-1-78814-725-5. 2615 pp. £150 cloth.

2. Reviewer Information

Name

Institution [if any]

Location [only if there exists more than one institution of this name]

E-mail address

3. Text of Review

Additional Details

Please provide the names of all authors and editors rather than using et al. Reproduce personal names exactly as they appear on the title page. When personal names are given in both Roman and non-Roman scripts, use the given Roman-script spelling rather than transliterating. Titles, however, should be transliterated following IJMES conventions. Place of publication should be given according to English usage (e.g., Damascus rather than Dimashq, Damas, etc.).

When quoting or alluding to specific passages of the book under review, indicate the page number in the body of the text using parentheses, as follows:

The author states, “Most Umayyad caliphs made their capital in Damascus” (p. 44).

References to other books and articles should go in footnotes and adhere to the journal’s style sheet (see above).

Please transliterate rather than using non-Roman scripts. Transliteration norms should adhere to the journal’s style sheet (see above).

Negative Reviews

As a matter of policy, in the case of strongly negative reviews the editors will request a second opinion from a member of the journal’s board or an outside authority. If you believe that your review matches this description, please mention this to the editor. The publication of negative reviews may be delayed as a result of this policy.

Submission Procedure

All reviews should be submitted as a Microsoft Word Document (.doc or .docx). In addition, please include a version in Portable Document Format (.pdf) that has been checked to ensure that all elements (diacritics, font, etc.) display as intended.

The editors of al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā reserve the right to make editorial changes to all book reviews, to request alterations from reviewers, and to make final decisions concerning publication.