The Journal of Islamic Law and its related Forum now welcomes submissions of Articles, Essays, and Comments. We prefer that you submit your materials directly through the journal submission website. We ask that all authors comply with the following standards.

How to Submit

  • We accept submissions via Scholastica or through our online submissions portal. 
  • Choose a Submission Type. All new submissions should be identified as an Article, Essay, or other Submission Type. For the full list of Submission Types and parameters for each, please see submission types. If in doubt, please use your best judgment. We will make adjustments if needed, informing you of any changes.
  • Enter Submission Information. We require certain metadata to help process your submission. Mandatory fields include Title, Abstract (not more than 250 words), and Keywords. Your name and institution—included through registration—will be redacted from submissions submitted for peer review.
  • Upload your manuscript. Please upload your piece and any additional related documents, including tables & charts, data sets, pictures, etc. Please also indicate whether you are interested in creating an Online Companion to your piece, if accepted, which will allow you to publish your primary sources in the online community and update your own bibliography.
  • Confirm and submit. Review your documents, confirm, and submit. We require exclusive submission. Each submission goes through an extensive peer review process, which may take 6-8 weeks.

When to Submit

We announce our call for submissions near the beginning of the academic year. Submissions of full articles are due by mid-October. and must be submitted through either Scholastica or our online submissions portal. Once accepted, the paper goes through a process of peer review and a final decision on acceptance in January, revisions in February, and publication by mid-April.

 What to Include in Your Submission

  • Manuscript Text. The manuscript in Word format, TNR, with footnotes that include full citations [rather than endnotes].
  • Bibliography. The bibliography should include a list of the primary and secondary sources used along with URLs for any online references. The bibliography may be appended as the last page of the manuscript, or submitted as an additional document.
  • Indication of Interest in Online Companion: For Sharing Primary Sources. The Journal, along with Portal aims to meet the goal of providing content and context on Islamic law to academics. Should your piece be chosen for publication, we will consider creating an online companion for it on the SHARIAsource Portal, where we will work with you to upload and all the cited primary sources with short summaries. (For a prior example, see the Online Companion to Justice & Leadership in Early Islamic Courts (2017).) If we opt to create an online companion for your work, we will ask that you send pdfs of all primary sources (relevant excerpts are sufficient) with short summaries, to be uploaded to the Portal. On a case-by-case basis, we will pair you with a research assistant to facilitate your work and provide space for you to update your work or sources online as further sources come to light.

Submissions Types

We are actively accepting scholarship submission to the  Journal in Islamic Law for new scholarship in Islamic law, and to its related Forum for new developments in Islamic law scholarship, cases, and AI/Digital Humanities. Submissions may take many forms, including: Articles, Essays, Student Notes, Book Reviews, Tech Reviews, Forum Comments or Responses (by invitation), Symposia Participation on New Scholarship (by invitation), and Roundtable Contributions on Recent Islamic caselaw or Digital Islamic Law (by invitation). The below sections describe each submission type, parameters and word count, and the policies for peer review.

Submission Descriptions & Parameters

  • Articles and Essays: Articles present sustained works of original research on some aspect of Islamic or comparative law; essays are usually narrower in scope. While the line between them is not rigid, we recommend that article submissions have fewer than 12,500 words, including footnotes. We publish two types of essays: (1) Journal essays, which have fewer than 5,000 words, including footnotes; and (2) Blog essays, which have fewer than 2,000 words, including footnotes. Blog essays may be considered for publication in the Journal at the editors’ discretion.

    Both articles and essays may explore traditional topics in Islamic law or engage with its intersection with AI and data science. Empirical elements like datasets, links, or statistical appendices may be included in AI/data science submissions and do not count toward the word limit.

  • Student Notes: Notes are student-written works typically available to Harvard students. Notes submissions should have fewer than 5,000 words, including footnotes. Like articles and essays, student notes may focus on Islamic law or its intersection with AI/data science. Empirical components such as datasets and statistical evidence are welcome and do not count toward the word limit.
  • Book/Tech Reviews: We accept reviews of books published within the last two years and tech reviews of AI or data science tools relevant to Islamic law research. Reviews should be under 2,000 words, including footnotes. Empirical components, such as datasets and appendices, may also be included and are not counted in the word limit.

Citations

  • Footnotes should conform to the latest edition of the Bluebook (i.e., no need for a separate bibliography). Submissions should be single spaced and in Times New Roman, font size 12.  Submissions should include a paragraph of not more than 500 words. Submissions should list between 3 and 5 key words.

Policies: Peer Review

  • Anonymity: All submissions undergo a process of double-blind peer review. Accordingly, please remove all identifying information from your manuscript, and file name before submission (including your name, affiliation, and acknowledgments). Identifying information in headers and footnotes should be removed as well.
  • Peer Review Process: Submissions that meet the basic standards of good writing and make a scholarly contribution, go through a double-blind process of peer review prior to publication. Each piece is sent to at least two peer reviewers who are expected to give feedback on whether to publish, reject, or revise and resubmit the piece, together with basic comments about why. Should a conflict arise between two peer reviewers, this may be resolved by sending the piece to a third reviewer. The peer review process typically takes 6-8 weeks.
  • Expedited Review (Limited): Please indicate whether you need to request an expedited review in the “Comments for the Editor,” explaining the reason for your request. We do our best to honor requests for expedited review only in exceptional cases (e.g., tenure review, time sensitivity for recent developments, etc.). However, we cannot eliminate any of the stages of review stages and will apprise you of a revised timeline where possible.