BLIIS Overview of Publishing Guidelines
Submission Guidelines
Scope
BLIIS (Berkeley Institute for Islamic Studies) is a forum for opinion and the latest research on the academic world of Islam. The online institute is international in scope and invites contributions on a wide-array of sub-disciplinary fields in the academic study of Islam and Shīʿism in particular. Contributions on socio-cultural issues on Islam from the blogosphere genre are also welcome. Submissions are invited from both professionals and academics, and research articles and essays will be subject to peer review.
We also encourage academics to consider books for review. An English-language online scholarly institution, founded in 2017, BLIIS provides a platform for communication between professionals, authors, scholars, and those in related professions. It features articles from and about the Islamic world, illustrating the unity, commonality, and conflicting interests of those who write, edit, publish, disseminate, preserve, study, and read published works on Islam.
BLIIS is international and intercultural, but its primary focus is from that of the English-speaking West. BLIIS understands the important rise of the digital world yet still appreciates the world of print and as such, it seeks to bridge the gaps between printed and digital media. Its constituency comprises of professional academics and trained scholars of Islam. BLIIS welcomes research articles, as well as opinion pieces, and stories of personal experience by professionals and academics from the academic fields of Islam, be they historical, anthropological, sociological, political, legal or what have you. In addition, BLIIS invites analyses, reviews, book chapters, and interviews related to recent trends or important developments in the academic study of Islam.
BLIIS is a non-profit and non-partisan institution and does not represent any political affiliation or forms of advocacy and will not accept any submissions that display a particular political bias or support the political efforts of any secular or religious group and/or sect. Furthermore, BLIIS does not accept submissions that disparage any particular culture, country, religion, sect or political/religious figure. Any political or controversial positions taken from its authors outside the realm of BLIIS’s publications are solely their own and do not represent those of BLIIS, its authors, stakeholders and/or board members.
Online Submission
BLIIS uses online submissions only. Authors should submit their manuscript via email at admin@bliis.org.
Ethical and Legal Considerations
Submission of an article for publication for BLIIS implies the following:
- All authors are in agreement about the content of the manuscript and its submission to the journal.
- The manuscript has not been published previously in whole, in English or any other language, except as an abstract, part of a published lecture or academic thesis. If the material has been published in another language or in part beforehand, the author must make enough changes and additions so that the editors of BLIIS may feel comfortable enough to consider it an original publication.
- The manuscript has not and will not be submitted to any other journal while still under consideration for this institute.
- If accepted, the author agrees to transfer copyright to BLIIS and the manuscript will not be published elsewhere in any form, in English or any other language, without prior written consent of BLIIS. Authors must also sign BLIIS’s Consent to Publish Form which will be emailed to the author separately.
- If the submission includes figures, tables, or large sections of text that have been published previously, the author has obtained written permission from the original copyright owner(s) to reproduce these items in the current manuscript in both the online and print publications of the journal. All copyrighted material has been properly credited in the manuscript.
Language, Spelling and Diacritic Guidelines
Articles should be written in English. The preferred BLIIS spelling is American English, with the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as the journal’s main reference work on spelling matters (merriamwebster.com). However, either British/Canadian or American spelling is accepted, but should be consistent throughout.
Diacritics should follow the Library of Congress Arabic romanization table which can be found at Library of Congress – Arabic. All other Islamic languages also need to follow the Library of Congress romanization tables.
For Persian, see Library of Congress – Persian.
For Urdu, see Library of Congress – Urdu.
Italics
Use italics for: • titles of books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, journals, newspapers, newsletters and magazines • set-off quotations (usually quotations longer than three lines, not enclosed in quotation marks). • emphasis • non-English words (sine qua non, de facto, Wechselwirkung, etc.). • Common Latin abbreviations: et al., idem, op. cit. (italicized), i.e., etc., e.g., viz., cf., c. are not italicized.
Biography
A 50- to 150-word sketch of notable facts and achievements related to an author’s professional and/or academic experience should be provided. It should appear before the beginning of the article, and be preceded by the heading Biography in bold. When an article has more than one author, all listed authors should provide biographies, limiting themselves to between 50 and 100 words per biography. It is preferable (though not obligatory) that authors indicate their e-mail addresses and, if applicable, their personal websites, after each biography. These will be included in the final publication.
Author Photo
A recent head-and-shoulder photograph of each author must be included. This should be provided by the author(s) upon submission of their manuscript, and where applicable, explanations on how the picture(s) should be credited.
Abstract
Articles should contain an abstract of around a 150 words in length.
Keywords
Articles should contain three to ten keywords separated by a comma: Keywords: keyword 1, keyword 2, keyword 3, etc.
Paragraph Indentation and Spacing
The first line after a new heading should be flush left. All following paragraphs should also remain flush left. Paragraphs that come immediately after an in-text illustration, diagram or block quotation should also be flush left. No indentations will be accepted. All Sentences should be single-spaced.
Quotations
Use American-style quotation marks: double quotation marks. Use single quotation marks for a quotation within a quotation. Single quotes can be used for a quote of one to two words, to denote irony, or to denote a short quote that might not be immediately attributable /attributed. Quotation marks close after a period/full stop or a comma, but before a colon or semi-colon; a question mark or exclamation point is inside quotation marks only if part of the original quotation. Short quotations (shorter than two-and-a-half lines) remain run-in with the text, within quotation marks. Punctuation must follow citation: “This is the quotation” (citation in parentheses, or end note). A quotation, including the capitalization at the beginning, must fit the syntax of the surrounding text; if capitalization of the original material is adjusted for syntax, indicate with square brackets (e.g. “The…” becomes “[t]he…”).
Block Quotes
Quotations longer than three lines should be set off as block quotes without quotation marks. There is a period/full stop (exclamation or question mark) at the end of the quoted material; optionally, the quote may be followed by the parenthetical citation, with no punctuation after. That is: This is the end of the quote. (citation, e.g. footnote #)
Numbers and Dates
In main text, the numbers from one to ten are usually written out in full. Digits can be used to maintain consistency, as well as for designating book, chapter, and other such numbers (book 3, chapter 12). To start a sentence, either spell out the number or rewrite. Ordinal numbers are not elevated/superscripted (e.g. 1st, 2nd, not 2nd). Centuries can be either spelled out (first, twentieth, etc.) or abbreviated with a numerical and a suffix (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on, is the preferred format [not 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th]). January 1, 201X. Months are spelled out. Both 1980s and ‘80s are acceptable.
Money and Currency
USD 300 million, $ 300 million and $300 million are all acceptable, but use consistently throughout. Spell out currency on first reference, if other than GBP, EUR, USD.
Percentages For percentages, use the percentage sign or “per cent” if using digits, but spell out per cent if spelling out the number (ten per cent, 27%, 9%, 10 per cent are all acceptable). Time 9:30 am or pm.
References, Footnotes, Endnotes and Bibliography
BLIIS only accepts footnotes for its research articles and essays. No endnotes are used. Only the Turabian citation style is accepted. For more information on how to use Turabian, please visit Chicago Manual of Style.
Since BLIIS uses the Turabian method of citation for its online publications, bibliographies are not needed.
Tables
Tables should be given short informative titles and be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals.
Publication
Proofs
Authors of accepted contributions will receive one set of proofs for proofreading, in the form of a doc file per email attachment. In the event of a multi-authored contribution, proofs are sent to the first-named author unless otherwise requested. The proofs should be returned promptly within the period requested, with no corrections marked other than those made in the typesetting or conversion process.
Consent to Publish
Transfer of Copyright
By submitting a manuscript, the author agrees that the copyright for the article is transferred to the publisher if and when the article is accepted for publication. For that purpose the author needs to sign the Consent to Publish Form which will be sent with the first proofs of the manuscript.