The editor of the Baha’i Studies Review (BSR) is assisted by an editorial board. However, the BSR is an organ of the Association of Baha’i Studies (English-Speaking Europe) and the decision of the executive committee of this Association in all matters is final.

The purpose of the BSR is to advance scholarship on the Baha’i Faith. Although the BSR will maintain high academic standards in the material published, the aim will be to produce a journal that can be read by the intelligent and interested non-specialist. Coverage will include the central areas of Baha’i theology, history, textual studies, translation, and social studies as well as the application of Baha’i teachings to such areas as law, education, social and economic development, and the environment. Papers on comparative religion and inter-religious dialogue will also be accepted.

Papers should usually be no more than 10,000 words in length and should be submitted together with an abstract of 300-500 words. Book reviews should be no more than 3,000 words. If you think that there are special reasons for you to exceed this length please consult the editor.

The Baha’i Studies Review follows the latest edition of Judith Butcher, Copy-editing: the Cambridge Handbook with a few modifications, for style. Please use the latest edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary for spelling, except in the case of Arabic and Persian words (see Transliteration below); please use -ize ending for verbs rather than -ise; for example: italicize. Please use the Times Atlas of the World for geographical names, although Middle Eastern place-names may be given in their transliterated form (but without diacriticals, see Transliteration below).

• Please provide an abstract of your paper of some 300-500 words. This should be placed at the beginning of your paper.
• Please write dates as: 6 July 1884, 20th century
• Do not use dots in abbreviations: USA US UK UNESCO Dr Mr Mrs
• Where a surname is given with initials there should be dots, and space after the initials; for example: E. G. Browne
• A standard ellipsis consists of three points – never four, as in: should be stops . . . as in
• You may use Persia or Iran as you wish but the language is always Persian, not Farsi

Try to avoid all cultural bias (the tendency to use the practices of the West as the norms by which everything else should be judged); gender bias (the tendency to refer to the male as the norm; use of: ‘man’ and ‘mankind’ as well as the pronoun ‘he’ to refer to all of humanity); religious bias (the tendency to refer to religions other than the Baha’i Faith as ‘past religions’ and to refer to them in the past tense). Please avoid jargon, generalities, banter, in-group jokes, esoteric allusions, unnecessary opinions, unattributed quotations, and digressions. If there is a serious difference of scholarly opinion on a subject, present all sides fairly. Do not make ad hominem attacks on other scholars, especially in book reviews. Criticize and comment on another’s work, not the person himself or herself. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly and make every word count. When in doubt, define a term or identify a person.

Once you have submitted your paper, your work is considered final; please do not then send corrections and ‘addenda’. Remember to double-check the spelling of all proper nouns and to run the spell-check function of your word-processing program. Double check quotations, dates and other facts; we will not generally check these.

The preferred style is to minimize capitalization. Please do not capitalize positions (eg president) or institutions (eg local spiritual assembly), unless as part of the name of a specific individual or institution (eg Local Spiritual Assembly of Kampala). Please only capitalization personal pronouns related to God, not holy persons. This avoids difficult distinctions such as whether pronouns related to Guru Nanak should be capitalized or not, when he is being referred to as a founder of Sikhism alongside the founders of other religions.

The BSR uses the Baha’i system of transliteration (except that no underlining is used). Please use standard acute accents and insert ‘@’ after a letter which requires a dot under it – do not use any sophisticated printer instructions or unusual fonts for this. The use of diacritical marks should, however, be kept to a minimum. Diacritical marks should only be used in transliterating sentences or technical phrases in Arabic or Persian and in the titles of works. The names of people, places and common words do not usually need diacritical marks. Thus for example words and names such as Baha’u’llah, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i, Muhammad, ‘ulama, and kitab need no diacritical marks. In cases where the author feels that confusion may arise or there is a need to specify pronunciation, transliteration should be used on the first occasion that the word occurs but not subsequently. Arabic phrases and names should be transliterated according to Arabic pronunciation. Names such as Aminu’s-Sultan may be broken up as Amin as-Sultan and Persian names and phrases such as Khát@irát-i-Nuhsálih-yi-‘Akká should be broken up thus for clarity: Khát@irát-i Nuhsálih-yi ‘Akká.

When quoting a passage from an Arabic or Persian text, diacriticals should be used but not italics. Italics should only be used for the titles of books, for emphasis and for foreign words and phrases, as indicated in the latest edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary. Please give translations for all passages or expressions in foreign languages unless they appear in the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

Numbers

Spell out whole numbers one to ten, a hundred, a thousand, five thousand; but use figures for other numbers, percentages (6 per cent – note that ‘per cent’ is spelled out as two words), page numbers, and exact measurements (5 feet). If similar numbers both large and small occur in a single paragraph or section, use figures for all of them as in: The group consisted of 5 women and 17 men. Please note that ‘the 1930s’ does not have an apostrophe.

Use single quotation marks for all quotations and double quotation marks for quotations within quotations. Quotations of less than four lines should go within the text in quotation marks. For longer quotations, break off from the main text, use an indented paragraph, and do not enclose in quotation marks. Lengthy quotations are discouraged and the author is responsible for obtaining permission for the use of any lengthy quotations.

The BSR has footnotes using the short-title reference and bibliographic conventions from Judith Butcher, Copy-editing: the Cambridge Handbook, with some modifications. Give the full bibliographic details (see examples below) at the first mention of a work. Subsequently mentions should be in the short title form. Any frequently cited source can be abbreviated; for example: BW 11:245-56 – see below for the format for the first entry for this abbreviation. If the author’s name is given in the text, just the title and subsequent details can be given in the footnote. Do not use loc.cit., op.cit., etc. You may use ibid for references to a source cited in the immediately preceding note only, provide there is only one work cited in the previous note. It should be punctuated thus: ibid 95. With this system, no separate bibliography is needed. Long digressions in footnotes are discouraged.

The following are some examples of the full bibliographic details to be given at the first mention of a work followed by the same reference in short-title form in parentheses:

We do not usually have illustrations in the BSR. If you feel illustrations are essential for your paper, please discuss this with the editor. You will be responsible for obtaining any copyright permissions needed.

The BSR prefers papers to be submitted in electronic format by e-mail. We prefer to receive files prepared in WordPerfect (up to version 10) or MS Word (up to version 2000) for PC. If you plan to prepare your manuscript using any other software, please contact the editor first.

Tables and graphics should not appear in the text file; rather, each table or graphic should be submitted in a separate file. Indicate the placement of tables or graphics within the text using the marker <Insert table X here>. In addition to submitting an electronic version of your table, it may be necessary to mail or fax a hard copy to the editor. Note credit information if tables or graphics originate from copyrighted sources and obtain permission.

Always keep back-up copies and hard copies of your files.