RAS China Journal 2017 – Call for Submissions

Posted: January 26th, 2017 | No Comments »

You may know that RAS China publishes an annual journal which combines a scholarly approach with an easily accessible style

(http://www.royalasiaticsociety.org.cn/publications/). 

A new editorial team has recently been appointed, composed of myself as the Journal’s editor and my colleague Dr. Ines Eben v. Racknitz, an historian at Nanjing University, as deputy editor. My own background is as a scientist; I am an astrophysicist at Peking University, where I have been employed full-time for the past 7 years. I have more than 10 years of experience in journal editing in my own research field, first as Scientific Editor of The Astrophysical Journal (6 years), followed by my current role as deputy editor in chief of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Simultaneously, I have been freelancing as language editor in the sciences for a number of different publications cations. These experiences form the basis of my new role as the editor of the Journal of the RAS China, where I will be handling both the managerial and the linguistic aspects.

However, Ines and I cannot populate the journal with interesting articles on our own. This is where you, the RAS China membership, playa crucial role! The Journal is only as good or as bad as the articles submitted to the editors for publication. Please consider contributing one or more articles and feel free to get in touch with us to discuss options, either peer reviewed or non-peer reviewed. We are open to suggestions and will work with you to benefit the Society as a whole.

Allow me to introduce our publication philosophy:

The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society China is a scholarly journal which aims at publishing articles that are accessible to a broad cross-section of the culturally literate public. The Journal’s publication frequency is once annually, both in print and online. It publishes original research articles of up to 10,000 words (although shorter articles are certainly also welcome; please check with the editorial team) on Chinese culture and society, past and present, with a focus on Mainland China. Original articles, which may be peer-reviewed (in consultation with the honorary editor), must be previously unpublished, and make a contribution to the field. Prospective authors are encouraged to contact the honorary editor or the deputy editor (contact details below) to explore the suitability of their potential contributions. Peer-reviewed articles, assessed by a minimum of two independent reviewers, will be marked as such in the Journal.

The Journal also publishes timely reviews of books on all aspects of Chinese history, culture and society. Again, prospective authors are strongly encouraged to contact the editorial team prior to embarking on any writing project.

The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society China is a continuation of the original scholarly publication of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, published 1858–1948. Through its collection of peer-reviewed articles, the Journal proudly maintains the level of academic standards and innovative research that marked its standing as the pre-eminent Western Sinological journal in China for nearly a hundred years.

Prospective authors should follow the style recommendations in the Chicago Manual of Style, but articles must be submitted in British English. (Nevertheless, the editorial team will work on submissions that need some standardization.) All articles should include an abstract of up to 250 words and provide references (citations) to any external material consulted. Colour figures may be possible but this is not guaranteed (to be determined). An edited page proof will be provided prior to publication. Authors are required to return any corrections to their proofs within a week of receipt. Only proposed corrections to factually incorrect information introduced during the editing process will be considered; issues affecting the Journal’s style are illegible for correction. Word documents are preferred, although submissions in LATEX format can also be handled.

Inquiries may be sent to the Journal’s Editor, Dr Richard de Grijs (Peking University), grijs@pku.edu.cn, or to the Deputy Editor, Dr. Ines Eben v. Racknitz (Nanjing University), ines.evracknitz@gmail.com.

Thanks for your consideration and your patience in reading this far! We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Submission deadlines:

– Peer-reviewed manuscripts: 1 March 2017

– Non-peer-reviewed manuscripts: 1 May 2017

Publication: August/September

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