Submission Guidelines

Editor-in-Chief

Esben Petersen

Book Review Editor

Paride Stortini

Copy-Editor

Hillary Pedersen

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1. Manuscript Submission Guidelines for Japanese Religions

1.1 How to Submit

Manuscripts for Japanese Religions should be submitted electronically via email to the editor at japanesereligions@gmail.com. If files are too large for email attachments, consider using file-sharing software like Dropbox or WeTransfer. Hard copies are not accepted, and only complete manuscripts will be considered. Preliminary drafts, outlines, or proposals will not receive feedback. Please carefully review the style guide before submitting your work.

1.2. Publication Criteria

Manuscripts and supplementary materials will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Relevance: The content must pertain to Japanese religions or religion in Japan.
Scholarly Standards: Manuscripts should meet academic standards in using primary sources and secondary scholarship, as determined by editors and reviewers.
Originality: The manuscript must present an original argument that advances the study of religion related to Japan.
Exclusivity: The submission must not be under review with another journal or publisher and should not have been published elsewhere. Citing previous or forthcoming publications is acceptable, but the same text cannot be republished.
Length: While there is no established limit, typical articles in JR are 7,000 to 12,000 words, and book reviews are 1,000 to 2,000 words. Overly long manuscripts may require revision.
Translation: We accept translations of published articles from non-English language journals under specific conditions. All parties involved must agree to republication, the original publication should be included with the translation, and the draft cannot be translated by the author of the original article.
Fulfilment of submission requirements as listed below.

Please note that submissions not meeting these criteria may be rejected at any stage.

1.3. Submission Requirements

To be considered for publication in Japanese Religions, submissions must include the following:

Author Contact Information: Include your name, affiliation, email, and mailing address.
Title Page: Provide the manuscript's title, a 150–200 word abstract, and five to six keywords related to the content.
Completed Manuscript, including footnotes.
List of References: Include primary sources mentioned in the text, secondary sources cited in the text, URLs with access dates for websites, and DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) for relevant articles.
Images and Illustrations: Submit images, illustrations, or photographs individually in JPG, PNG, or TIFF formats. Tables and graphs should be in MS Word files. Include a separate document listing the order of images, tables, graphs, captions, and acknowledgments. Authors are responsible for securing all image publication permissions.
On Translation: If submitting a translation, include a copy of the text in the original language.
Document Format: Submit all documents in MS Word (doc or docx) and PDF format. If these formats are unavailable, contact the editor for alternatives before submission.

1.4. Evaluation Process

Upon receiving your submission, the editors will review it to ensure it aligns with Japanese Religions criteria for publication. An anonymous manuscript will then be sent to a specialist for peer review. Reviewers may recommend:

Rejection: Manuscript is not accepted.
Revise and Resubmit: Manuscript needs substantial changes but may be resubmitted in the future.
Accept with Major Revisions: Manuscript is accepted with significant revisions as specified by the reviewer and editors.
Accept with Minor Revisions: Manuscript is accepted with only minor suggested improvement

Japanese Religions reserves the right to retract acceptance if the manuscript doesn't meet the criteria.

1.5 Copyright

For possible future republication requests, Japanese Religions holds the copyright for published articles and book reviews. Reprinting is permitted without fees, but requests for republication will be forwarded to the author(s) for consent. Publishers of republished articles should send a print copy to the NCC Center for the Study of Japanese Religions office. The contents of Japanese Religions are available for download on the NCC Center for the Study of Japanese Religions website, Atlas and on other academic databases. Authors’ consent to publish in JR implies acceptance of these conditions. Selling or distributing JR publications for profit is strictly prohibited

1.6 Book Review Guidelines

Japanese Religions welcomes book reviews from scholars in all fields. Editors primarily solicit reviews of books recently published by university presses on Japanese religions, but they also consider proposals for books related to Japan and religion. Furthermore, Japanese Religions also consider review essays which are longer reviews including multiple books on a related topic. Contact the Book Review editor before submitting an unsolicited review. We prefer reviews that engage with the book’s themes and arguments rather than simple chapter summaries. While there is no set format for reviews, the content should primarily focus on the publication under review. Reviews should not exceed 2,000 words.

2. Style

For style and format, Japanese Religions generally follows The Chicago Manual of Style. However, specific conventions for JR are outlined below:

2.1 Formatting

The manuscript should be typed double-spaced throughout using a standard font (e.g. Times New Roman 12 pt.) with the right-hand margin unjustified. Margins of at least 2.5 cm should be left on all sides of each page. All pages should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals

2.2 Headings

Provide section headings and subheadings where applicable, but capitalize only the first letters of the main words. Section titles and subtitles should not be underlined.

2.3 Italicization

Italicize Japanese and non-English terms unless they are commonly used in English (e.g., Shinto, kami). Avoid using italics for emphasis.

2.4 Name Orders

Present Japanese, Korean, and Chinese names in traditional order (e.g., Suzuki Norihisa), unless the name has been Westernized in English-language publications (e.g., Harumi Befu).

2.5 Non-Roman Scripts

Provide Chinese characters at the first mention of names, place names, or technical terms. Don’t provide characters for prefectures, islands, provinces, or major cities (e.g., Tokyo, Osaka). Use modern, simplified characters unless traditional characters are used in the modern Japanese context. The characters for names, terms, and places should immediately follow the romanized version (e.g., Uchimura Kanzō 内村鑑三).

2.6 Romanization and Diacritical Marks

Use the Revised Hepburn style for Japanese terms. Use a macron for long vowels (ō, ū) except for anglicized terms and locations. Include diacritics for Sanskrit terms and titles, and use Pinyin for Chinese names and titles.

2.7 Spelling and Punctuation

Manuscripts should be written in English (either British or American English, but it should be consistent throughout the article) Avoid punctation for emphasis (e.g., scare quotes, italics, underlining, all-capitalization, and em-dashes).

2.8 Citations

Japanese Religions uses in-line citations for primary and secondary sources both within the body of the text and in footnotes Citations in the text should be given in parentheses: author’s last name followed by the dates and pages (Smith 1990: 22-44; Kakimoto 1988b: 13-157). Give both last names for a co-authored article, monograph, or book (Plane and Soper 1995: 38), but only the first author’s name and et al., if there are three or more authors (Swayle et al. 1980: 25). Multiple references for a single author should be in chronological order, multiple publications in a given year being denoted by lower case letters (1990a, 1990b).

2.9 Footnotes

Footnotes should be numbered with Arabic numerals consecutively throughout the article. Footnotes should be used only to provide essential supplementary information relevant to the article’s content.

3. References

Please provide complete bibliographical details for sources referenced in the manuscript. These details should be placed in a section at the end of the manuscript titled “References.” Arrange all sources in alphabetical order of the author’s surname. Any references not cited within the manuscript will be removed. For names and publication titles in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean scripts, include them, but omit such scripts for publishers or journals.

3.1 Primary and Secondary Sources

Scholarly works cited in the body of the manuscript must be listed in the references. Japanese Religions employs a modified version of The Chicago Manual of Style author-date format for secondary sources.

Paine, Robert T. and Alexander Soper. 1955. The Art and Architecture of Japan. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Gorai Shigeru 五來重. 1975. Kōyasan Hijiri 高野山聖 (Wandering Monks of Kōyasan). Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten

3.2 Book Chapters

Supply page numbers for all works cited. Do not use quotation marks or capitalization (aside from proper nouns) for titles.

Weinstein, Stanley. 1977. “Rennyo and the Shinshū Revival.” In Japan in the Muromachi Age, ed. Hall, John Whitney and Toyoda Takeshi, 331-358. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Okada Shōji 岡田荘司. 1985. “Nakatomi Harae Kige” 中臣祓記解 (Nakatomi Purification Rites, Records and Explanations). In Nakatomi Harae Chūshaku: Shintō Taikei 中臣祓註釈神道大系 (Nakatomi Purification Rites: Comments. Great Series of Shinto). Tokyo: Shinto Taikei Hensankai.

3.3 Book Chapters

Provide the journal name in italics, along with the volume number and page numbers for every referenced article. In the case of journals with continuous pagination, omit the issue numbers. If applicable, incorporate Chinese characters and kana for author names and article titles, but do not include them for the journal names. However, exceptions can be made for lesser known journals where including the complete Japanese or Chinese title is necessary for identification. Also, make sure to include the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for all pertinent articles. You can locate the DOI for specific articles at www.crossref.org.

Durt, Hubert. 1991. “Bodhisattva and Layman in Early Mahayana.” Japanese Religions 16 (3): 1-16.
Little, Stephen. 1996. “The Lure of the West: European Elements in the Art of the Floating World.” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 22 (1): 74. DOI:10.2307/4104359
Yamamoto Hiroko 山本ひろこ. 1994. “Meigū toshite no Ise Jingū. Chōsho: Takamiya shinkyō funshitsu jiken” 明宮としての伊勢神宮──調書・高宮神鏡紛失事件 (Ise Shrines as a Labyrinth. Report: The Incidents of Disappearance of Takamiyaʼs Sacred Mirrors), Shisō 思想 10: 55‒87.

3.4 Websites

Only published material cited in the text should be included in the reference section. For references to websites, provide author’s name, title of work, URL, and access dates (but without hyperlinks).

Borggreen, Gunhild. “Japan in Scandinavia: Cultural Cliché in Receptions of Works by Mori Mariko.” Hz 4 (June 2004). http://www.fylkingen.se/hz/n4/borggreen.html (accessed February 2006).