Article Submission Guidelines

SCJ welcomes well-researched contributions from those who identify with its purpose to provide a scholarly platform for biblical interpretation, history, theology, philosophy, apologetics, and cultural criticism for those who value the perspective of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement and who endeavor to advance its distinctive principles today. Articles should attempt to connect with historical or contemporary issues for Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement at relevant points. Articles should target students and “thinking” ministers who have earned degrees from graduate schools.

Articles should be between 3000 and 5000 words in length, submitted as attached e-mail in Word (include font and also send hard copy if article is heavy with Greek and/or Hebrew), accompanied by a 80-word abstract.to the editor. Articles must include the author’s title/position and email address. If it is heavy with Greek or Hebrew the article a hard copy of pdf should be sent. The preferred fonts for SCJ are: Graeca II and Hebraica II but most others will work. If there is a question, include the font with the article.

Articles should be sent to the editor, William R. Baker, at scjeditor@aol.com. Mail items to William R. Baker, 106 Kilkerry Way, Loveland, OH 45140. For questions or to discuss article ideas e-mail or phone (513-683-6058). SCJ is pleased to receive articles anytime. Appearance of articles accepted in SCJ usually occurs in about a year. Issues are published in April and October containing from 5-6 articles in each issue.

Articles with potential but which the editors view as needing further work will be returned to the author with modifications suggested. Resubmission with the revisions will be invited. Articles not meeting the purpose or the standards of SCJ will be rejected and the author will be notified by e-mail.

SCJ is a juried journal, which can make the process of providing response to submissions very slow. Our evaluators are asked to do more than accept or reject and are encouraged to write clear recommendations for improvement, whether an article is invited for resubmission or rejected. We want to be viewed as a friend to aspiring academic authors, especially those with roots in the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. Be patient, but also do not hesitate to re-contact the editor to know where your submission is in the process.

Authors of accepted articles will be notified as quickly as possible. The projected issue in which accepted articles will appear is no guarantee. Many variables enter into placing accepted articles into an issue, including space and balance of fields. Occasionally, even articles expecting to be published must be carried over to the next issue due to last minute space limitations. Once an article has been placed in an issue, the author will receive the article in its edited form that may include crucial matters to correct or improve. This will be the only opportunity the author will have to make any corrections. This will occur by email. The article must be returned to the editor within one week. Agreeing to have your article published in the journal includes this stipulation. Failure to get the proofs back may result in the published article not being what you want it to be or it being suspended.

Once published, further use of this article in any form requires a full bibliographic footnote notation that its first publication was in SCJ..

Articles should conform to the style outlined for the Journal of Biblical Literature found in The SBL Handbook of Style (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999). Standard abbreviations for biblical, classical literature, and journals are noted there. These should be strictly followed. Please write out in full the titles of any journal or magazine articles not found in its list.

Greek and Hebrew words and phrases should be translated and transliterated at the first use. Subsequent uses of the same word or phrase should use Greek or Hebrew. For example, a first reference to a Greek word should look like this: (, "for"). Transliteration styles are in The SBL Handbook of Style. For Hebrew, the "General Purpose style" is preferred over the "Academic Style." Please indicate if translations are your own or note the version being cited.

The Chicago Manual of Style is the basis for the SBL Handbook of Style. This means that subsequent references to a source after the first require a short title. Footnotes should be double-spaced and placed at the end of the article (but remain tagged to the number in the text for easy manipulation). SBL’s removal of colons and commas before a source’s page numbers, though not consistent with Chicago style, will apply to SCJ. Consulting SCJ or JBL issues should be helpful in preparing your article. Example footnotes for articles and books follow:

John Ashton, Understanding the Fourth Gospel (Oxford: Clarendon, 1991) 341.

Bruce Vawter, "Ezekiel and John," CBQ 26 (1964) 451.

Ashton, Understanding, 362.

Vawter, "Ezekiel," 451.

You will receive two complimentary copies of the issue in which your article appears. If you are not a subscriber you will be encouraged to become a subscriber with a special offer. Please consider becoming a permanent part of our growing community of scholars.