Journal of Early Christian Studies

Please send editorial correspondence to:

Professor Stephen Shoemaker  
Dept. of Religious Studies  
311 Susan Campbell Hall  
University of Oregon  
Eugene, OR 97403-1294  
Phone: (541) 346-4998  
email: jecs.editor@gmail.com

Books for review should be sent to the book review editor:

Prof. Young Richard Kim  
Department of Classics and Mediterranean Studies  
School of Literatures, Cultural Studies, and Linguistics  
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, UIC  
601 S. Morgan St.  
Chicago, IL 60607 USA  
email: jecs.books@gmail.com

1. General Instructions

   1. Submission of articles

      1. Please submit your paper online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jecst. Please be sure that all identifying information is deleted from the properties of the file. Your name should not appear in the title, body, or endnotes of the manuscript; cite works by yourself in the third person; do not include personal notes (acknowledgments, thanks, references to oral presentation, etc.). A PDF is preferred in general, but is required if the paper includes non-English fonts (e.g., Greek). Otherwise, an MS Word document is acceptable.
      2. For questions of style, punctuation, and spelling not covered in the JECS style sheet, please consult the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), hereafter Chicago; and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. (Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 2014), hereafter MWCD. If there are variant spellings of the same word, we prefer the first entry in MWCD.
      3. When appropriate, please use gender-inclusive language (i.e., humanity not man, people not men). Translations of ancient (or modern) texts should not, however, be more or less gender-inclusive than the original language.
      4. Submissions should normally not exceed 12,500 words, including endnotes

   2. Final article preparation

      1. Once your article has been accepted, JECS requires a clean, revised, paper copy along with an electronic attachment containing an exact copy of the revised piece. We prefer Microsoft Word (PC or MAC format acceptable). Please indicate what version of the software you are using (e.g., MS Word for Windows 6.0).

         Beside the revisions you make based on the comments from the reviewers of your article and your own changes, you should be sure to:

         • Incorporate the abstract for your article into the final document, placing the abstract between the title/your name and the body of the article. Do not use a smaller font for the abstract; it should appear in the same size type as your article. See this example.
         • Add, if you wish, a short acknowledgement as an unnumbered note before the first endnote. See this example.
         • At the end of your article text, please indicate your name, location, and position (e.g., “Jane Doe is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at State University”).
         • Conform your article to JECS style. Please note: If the editors of JECS receive a final version of an article that is not in conformity with the guidelines laid out in this style sheet, the article will be returned to the author for correction, thus delaying publication of the article.
      2. Once an article has been typeset, the author will receive one (1) set of proofs to check for any errors (by either the author or the typesetter). Please know that the purpose of this stage of editing is to catch inaccuracies or mistakes. We are not able to accommodate stylistic changes at this stage, so please ensure that your final version of the article is exactly as you would like it before you send it to JECS.

2. Manuscript Format

   1. Please submit clear copies of your manuscript in black type on white paper. Standard size paper (8-1/2 x 11” or A4) should be used.
   2. All typing should be double-spaced, including block quotes, poetry, and endnotes. Leave at least 1” margins on all sides of the paper.
   3. Please make your manuscript as plain as possible. Use a standard font (e.g., Times Roman) and do not use boldface, small caps, or superscript except for footnote references. Please indicate headings and subheadings by using ALL CAPS for section headings, italics in caps and lowercase for subheadings.
      • Example:
        • FEMALE COPYISTS AND CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM  
          Melania the Younger
   4. Please notify the editors of JECS in advance of publication whether complex charts, diagrams, or illustrations are to be included with the article. Please include rough versions or photocopies (of art) for review when you first submit your manuscript. Please note: It is the responsibility of the author, not of JECS, to obtain all necessary permissions for the reproduction of copyrighted material. Failure to obtain such permissions may result in delay of publication.
   5. Although articles in JECS are always set with traditional footnotes, please submit all notes formatted as endnotes in your manuscript, beginning on a new page after the end of your article. Endnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout the article—do not repeat numbers or use references such as 23a—and double-spaced (also, see below for format).
   6. Please leave the right margin ragged; do not justify your text. Do not hyphenate at the end of lines in your manuscript text. Use hyphens only when they are part of the spelling of the word (e.g., tenth-century MS, an upper-class family) or between page numbers, dates, and so on. If you are uncertain whether a hyphen should be included, please consult Chicago or MWCD.
   7. Please indent any citations in the body of the text that are longer than five lines as a block quotation; give them a deeper indent than the rest of your text, specifically, using one full inch indentation. No extra space before or after block quotations is necessary, but please make them double-spaced.
   8. Punctuation: All punctuation should follow American English standards (consult Chicago when in doubt).
      1. Leave one space after all periods in personal names; all other abbreviations with periods have no spaces. Thus: J. Q. Doe for John Quintus Doe but 1 Cor 7.11, 100 C.E.
      2. All punctuation should be inside quotation marks exceptcolons and semicolons, and (sometimes) exclamation marks. Thus “mysticism,” not “mysticism”.
      3. Ellipses: Periods of ellipsis are three dots separated by spaces (. . .). At the end of a sentence, a fourth period should be added (or any other sentence-ending punctuation).
      4. Dashes: Please use a real em-dash (–). It is available in Microsoft Word: in the “Insert” menu, click on “Symbol” to open a dialogue box, and click the tab “Special Characters” where the em-dash appears as an option.
      5. Spell out numbers under 100, except for parts of books and numerals in citations: page numbers, dates, etc. (e.g., chapter 6, vol. 17, p. 8, 400 B.C.E.).
   9. Dates: JECS prefers the use of B.C.E. and C.E. to B.C. and A.D; both placed after the year (e.g., 325 C.E.). Please type these abbreviations in ALL CAPS.
   10. Please supply an abstract of 200–300 words with your paper.

3. Foreign Languages

   (see Chicago, chap. 11, for details)

   1. Modern languages

      1. Titles of works in Romance languages should have only the initial word of title and subtitle and proper nouns capitalized.
      2. Titles of works in German should have only nouns and words used as nouns capitalized.
      3. For all other modern languages, please consult Chicago.
      4. Please make sure that all accents are typed.
      5. Use of italics: Nonstandard foreign words and phrases used in the text should be set in italics. If a foreign phrase has become standard usage in American English (e.g., par excellence, vice versa), do not set in italics. When in doubt, consult Chicago or MWCD.

   2. Ancient languages

      1. JECS will print citations in original languages (Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Coptic, Syriac). Be sure to check these citations very carefully both before submitting your final manuscript andwhen you receive your proofs. Our typesetters are not linguists; they set what they see. Please type all non-latinate languages. We are prepared to work with all Unicode fonts. Please check with us if you wish to use another font. If you wish to cite material in a language not customarily used in JECS (e.g., Georgian, Armenian, Ethiopic) please notify the editorial staff in advance. You may be asked to transliterate these languages instead.
      2. Transliteration of words should follow the standards set out in the JBL guidelines (JBL 117 [1998]: 558-59). We prefer that you not use circumflex (^) to indicate long vowels in Greek, but rather indicate a macron by coding before and after the letter as follows:
         • <mac>o</mac>.
      3. In most cases, citations in Latin should be set in italics, in which case, quotation marks should not be used.

4. Citation Format

   The aim of citation is clarity and scholarly verification: in the end, it is the author’s responsibility to make sure that such references are accurate and will serve to instruct and aid the readers of JECS. When in doubt, more information is better.  
   Please avoid any idem/eadem and ibid. citations, and instead use the standard shortened citation (including page number) of a work.

    

   Preferred Standard Abbreviations

   Serials or monograph series not found on this list should be spelled out entirely in the first citation.

   1. Modern texts

      1. All notes should appear at the END of the manuscript, numbered consecutively, and double-spaced. They will be set as traditional notes.
      2. Books: Citations of books should include the author, title, place and date of publication, and the publisher’s name (and, if relevant, the editor’s name). If the cited book is part of a series, the name of the series and the volume or number of the book should be indicated. Subsequent citations of the same book should cite the author’s last name, a shortened version of the title (please omit initial articles such as The, A, Un, Die, etc.), and the relevant page numbers. Monographs in more than one volume should refer to volume and page number (both in Arabic numerals) separated by a colon and without a space.
      3. Articles: Citations of articles should include the author, title in double quotation marks, title of journal (in italics), volume and year of the journal issue, and page numbers separated from the parenthetical date by a colon. If the journal cited does not number its pages consecutively throughout the year, please also indicate the number of the journal (e.g., JFSR 10.1). Subsequent citations of the same article should include the author’s last name, shortened version of the article title in quotation marks (please omit initial articles, such as The, A, Un, Die, etc.), and the relevant page numbers.
      4. Abbreviations: In endnote citations, please use abbreviations such as “pp.,” “vv.,” or “cols.” only when necessary. Please do not use op. cit., loc. cit., art. cit.,etc., but rather provide the abbreviated bibliographic information. Please do not use “ff.” or “sqq.,” but specific page numbers.
      5. Parenthetical references: References in parentheses in the body of the article are acceptable, as long as the references are not confusing or misleading (e.g., if much of the body of the article treats a single author or text), and as long as citation practices are consistent throughout the article.
      6. Page numbers: Elide all page numbers as in Chicago. E.g., 116–17, 238–39, 200–201, 1005–7, 802–6. Also see examples below.
      7. Example footnotes:
         • Gustave Bardy, “Saint Jérôme et ses maîtres hébreux," RBen 46 (1934): 145-64.
         • Bardy, “Saint Jérôme,” 150-51.
         • Robert L. Wilken, John Chrysostom and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late Fourth Century,Transformation of the Classical Heritage 4 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), 1–24.
         • Wilken, John Chrysostom, 40–45 and 125n8.
         • Owen Chadwick, John Cassian, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960).
         • Henri Crouzel, “La doctrine origènienne du corps ressucité,” BLE 81 (1980): 175–200, 241–66.
         • Crouzel, “Doctrine origènienne,” 199–200.
         • Sidney H. Griffith, “Asceticism in the Church of Syria: The Hermeneutics of Early Syrian Monasticism,” in Asceticism, ed. Vincent Wimbush and Richard Valantasis (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 233.
         • Griffith, “Asceticism in the Church,” 238.
         • Pier Franco Beatrice, “Pilgerreise, Krankenheilung, und Bilderkult: Einige Erwägungen zur Statue von Paneas,” in Akten des XII. internationalen Kongresses für Christliche Archäologie, ed. Josef Engemann, 2 vols., Studi di Antichitàl Cristiana 52 ( = JbAC Supp. 20.1–2) (Münster: Aschendorff, 1995), 1:530.

   2. Ancient Texts

      1. The Bible: Parenthetical or noted references to biblical books should use the short form of the abbreviation listed in the JECSabbreviation sheet, found online at the journal's website:  
         Preferred Standard Abbreviations  
         This list conforms to the biblical abbreviations used by JBL 117 (1998): 560. Separate chapter and verse with a period, not a colon. There is no period after the abbreviated title. If a biblical book has several parts, use Arabic numerals to specify which book is being discussed (e.g., 1 Cor 7.11; 2 Kgs 24.10; note: not II Kgs). The names of biblical books should not be italicized.
      2. Other ancient texts: Parenthetical or noted references to ancient texts should refer to the author (when known), the title of the work (italicized), and relevant numerical reference separated by periods (books, chapter, verse, etc.). Use Arabic numerals, not Roman, throughout (see the examples below).
         • Critical editions: To ensure scholarly accuracy, authors publishing with JECS should cite critical editions of ancient texts when possible. Standard series of critical editions may be referred to parenthetically in the note by abbreviation (see below), and volume and page (and, when desired, line) number separated by a colon and no space. If the critical edition is not part of one of these series, please make full bibliographical reference in the first citation and subsequent reference to the short title.
         • Abbreviations: You may abbreviate the titles of ancient texts. For Latin patristic literature, please use the abbreviations in the Dictionnaire Latin-Français des auteurs chrétiens; for Greek patristic literature, please consult Lampe’s Patristic Greek Lexicon. For classical sources, please see the Oxford Latin Dictionary and the Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek Lexicon. Do not use a comma between the ancient author and text when using an abbreviated title (see examples below).
         • Translations should generally be by the author of the article. If someone else’s English translation is cited in the article, that translation must be referenced in full (as a modern work: see above on citations of secondary literature). In subsequent citation, the author and title of the translation, with appropriate page number, may be placed in parenthetical notation with the critical edition (see above on subsequent citations of secondary literature).

      3. Please be consistent in the method of citation employed (i.e., do not use abbreviated titles in one note, and then full titles in another).

      4. Example notes:

         • Jerome, Ep. 84.3.3 (CSEL 55:123). See also Jerome, Praefatio in Pentateucho 43. Line number follows Biblia sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, ed. R. Weber et al., 2 vols. (Stuttgart: Würtembergische Bibelanstalt, 1964), here 1:3.
         • Jerome, Praefatio in libro Ezrae 4 (Weber 1:368).
         • Ruf. Apol. adv. Hier. 2.7 (CCL 20:88) OR  
           Rufinus, Apologia contra Hieronymum 2.7 (CCL 20:88) OR  
           Rufinus, Apology against Jerome 2.7 (CCL 20:88).
         • Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica 4.2.1 (SC 31:160). Translation from Eusebius: The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, trans. G. A. Williamson, rev. and ed. Andrew Louth (London: Penguin Books, 1989), 105 (altered for clarity).
         • Eus. HE 4.5.2-5 (SC 31:164; Williamson, Eusebius, 107).

   3. Abbreviations

      A complete list of preferred standard abbreviations may be found online at the Journal of Early Christian Studies website maintained by Johns Hopkins University Press:  
      
      Preferred Standard Abbreviations  
      
      Serials or monograph series not found on this list should be spelled out entirely in the first citation.

The Hopkins Press Journals Ethics and Malpractice Statement can be found at the ethics-and-malpractice page.

Peer Review Policy

All articles submitted for review to the Journal of Early Christian Studies must be original work that makes a substantial scholarly contribution to the study of early Christianity, on the basis of wide engagement with the primary sources in the original languages and relevant scholarship on the topic in multiple languages. Simultaneous submissions with other journals is not allowed, and the Journal does not print reprints or translations. Submissions are initially reviewed by the editorial staff–the Journal’s editor and associate editors–in order to determine if these basic criteria have been met. If so, then the submission is sent out for review to two different readers, who are asked to return their reviews within two months. All reviews for the Journal of Early Christian Studies are double-blind. We ask our reviewers to evaluate the articles specifically for their 1) originality and contribution to the field; 2) engagement with the primary sources; and 3) presentation of the argument and quality of writing. Once the two initial reviews are obtained, the editorial staff decide whether the article should be accepted, rejected, or offered an opportunity to revise and resubmit for a second review. In the latter case, authors are given six months to resubmit their revised version. At that stage another round of double-blind review takes place, and reviewers are again asked to return their reviews within two months. Once these are received, a final decision is made whether to publish or reject: there is no possibility for subsequent revision and resubmission at this stage. The timetable for review can vary considerably, from as little as month or two for an article that is quickly reviewed and accepted after the first review, to as much as a year, if the author takes six months to revise and resubmit and reviewers are not as prompt in delivering their reviews as they have promised.

For the List of Abbreviations click here.

Editor

Stephen J. Shoemaker, University of Oregon

Associate Editors

Andrew Crislip, Virginia Commonwealth University    
Brian Dunkle, Boston College    
Morwenna Ludlow, Exeter University    
Ellen Muehlberger, University of Michigan
Laura Nasrallah, Yale University​    
Caroline T. Schroeder, University of Oklahoma   

Advisory Board

Pier Franco Beatrice, University of Padua    
David Brakke, The Ohio State University    
Daniel F. Caner, Indiana University    
Kate Cooper, University of Manchester    
George Demacopoulos, Fordham University    
Elizabeth DePalma Digeser, University of California, Santa Barbara    
Harold Drake, University of California, Santa Barbara    
Geoffrey D. Dunn, Catholic University of Lublin    
Benjamin H. Dunning, Harvard University      
Georgia Frank, Colgate University    
Chris Frilingos, Michigan State University    
David G. Hunter, Boston College​    
Andrew S. Jacobs, Harvard Divinity School​    
Robin M. Jensen, University of Notre Dame    
Rebecca Krawiec, Canisius College    
Nicola Denzey Lewis, Claremont Graduate University​    
AnneMarie Luijendijk, Princeton University    
Wendy Mayer, Australian Lutheran College    
Candida Moss, University of Birmingham     
Michael Penn, Stanford University    
Pierluigi Piovanelli, École Pratique des Hautes Études​  
Andrew Radde-Gallwitz, University of Notre Dame    
Luis Josué Salés, Scripps College    
Christine Shepardson, University of Tennessee  
Dennis Trout, University of Missouri

Book Review Editor

Young Richard Kim, University of Illinois at Chicago

Editorial Assistant

Michelle Freeman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Send books for review to: 

Prof. Young Richard Kim
Department of Classics and Mediterranean Studies
School of Literatures, Cultural Studies, and Linguistics
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, UIC
601 S. Morgan St.
Chicago, IL 60607
USA
 

Please send book review copies to the contact above. Review copies received by the Johns Hopkins University Press office will be discarded.

Abstracting & Indexing Databases

• Clarivate Analytics
  • Arts & Humanities Citation Index
  • Current Contents
  • Web of Science
• De Gruyter Saur
  • Dietrich's Index Philosophicus
  • IBZ - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur
  • Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur
• EBSCOhost
  • Academic Search Alumni Edition, 1/1/2007-
  • Academic Search Complete, 1/1/2007-
  • Academic Search Elite, 1/1/2007-
  • Academic Search Premier, 1/1/2007-
  • Academic Search Ultimate, 1/1/2007-
  • ATLA Religion Database (American Theological Library Association), 1981-1992
  • Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), Dec.2003-
  • Current Abstracts, 1/1/2007-
  • Humanities Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), 11/24/2003-
  • Humanities Index (Online), 2003/12-
  • Humanities International Complete, 1/1/2007-
  • Humanities International Index, 1/1/2007-
  • Humanities Source, 11/24/2003-
  • Humanities Source Ultimate, 11/24/2003-
  • Middle Eastern & Central Asian Studies, 1/1/1996-
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
  • New Testament Abstracts (Online)
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), 11/24/2003-
  • SocINDEX, 12/1/2002-
  • SocINDEX with Full Text, 12/1/2002-
  • TOC Premier (Table of Contents), 1/1/2007-
• Elsevier BV
  • Scopus, 2002-
• Gale
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
• OCLC
  • ArticleFirst, vol.9, no.3, 1992-vol.9, no.4, 1992
  • Electronic Collections Online, vol.4, no.1, 1996-vol.19, no.4, 2011
  • Humanities Index (Online), 2003/12-
• Periodica Islamica, 1991-
• Personal Alert (E-mail)
• ProQuest
  • Art, Design & Architecture Collection, 10/01/2017-
  • Arts & Humanities Database, 10/01/2017-
  • Arts Premium Collection
  • Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (Online), Selective
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
  • Periodicals Index Online
  • ProQuest 5000
  • ProQuest Central, 10/01/2017-
  • Religion Database, 10/01/2017-
  • Research Library
• Religious & Theological Abstracts, Inc.
  • Religious & Theological Abstracts

Abstracting & Indexing Sources

• New Testament Abstracts (Print)   (Active)  (Print)
• Family Index   (Ceased)  (Print)
• International Review of Biblical Studies   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Religion Index One: Periodicals   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Religion Index Two: Multi-Author Works   (Ceased)  (Print)

Source: Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory.

0.5 (2023)
0.7 (Five-Year Impact Factor)
0.00060 (Eigenfactor™ Score)

Rank in Category (by Journal Impact Factor):
84 of 518 journals, in “History”

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Published quarterly

Readers include: Scholars and students of patristics, biblical literature, archaeology, classics, technology, religion, and all members of the North American Patristics Society

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