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St. Tikhon’s University Review. Series I: Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies

St. Tikhon's University Review. Series I: Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies publishes materials on theology, philosophy and religious studies. Papers dealing with issues outside the scope of religion, including those related to history of philosophy and to culture studies, are not accepted for publication. One should also consider the other series of the Review, namely History, Philology, Pedagogy; Psychology, Christian Art. Before submitting your paper to the theological series, please make sure whether it is relevant to the range of topics of the series or it would be better to submit it to a different series. In the first hand, this concerns historical materials. Papers dealing with history of church events or institutions, history of theological education or with source criticism should be submitted to the series History.

St. Tikhon's University Review. Series I: Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies publishes only those papers which deal with clearly formulated research problems. In connection with this, reviewers pay special attention to how the submitted paper states the research problem and how relevant it is to the present-day scholarship. Doubts as to the topicality and relevance of the problem which the paper deals with is the main reason for the rejection of the paper. 

Only those papers are accepted which have their own topics and conclusions and do not refer to some other texts published in other periodicals or monographs. Even if the paper continues another publication, it should be designed as a separate paper.

According to the decision of the Editorial Board, St. Tikhon's University Review. Series I: Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies does not publish the following materials:

  • papers that do not take into account recent research literature relevant to the topic;
  • papers with no or insufficient description of previous research, or papers in which most references point to publications of the author him-/herself;
  • translation of sources, except short texts put as apps for the main paper;
  • oral presentations or reports which are not designed as an academic paper;
  • materials not following norms of the standard academic language;
  • materials that had already been published, including in the Internet, in other languages, or fragmentarily;
  • materials not following Editorial Style;
  • materials containing non-motivated (non-academic) criticism of religion or specific religious traditions;
  • pseudo-academic materials.

It is also advised to take into account the volume of submitted materials. The recommended volume is 40 000 characters with spaces and footnotes. However, the Editorial Board admits the reasonable extension of the volume up to 50 000 characters. In any case, this only concerns the body of the paper itself without supplementary materials such as summaries, keywords and references. Papers with volume less than 20 000 characters are rejected. For reviews, the recommended volume is 8 000–15 000 characters. However, it may be extended if a clear explanation is provided, e.g. if the review deals with several books. Reviews with the volume not exceeding 8 000 characters are not considered. The volume of materials in the section Publications can be up to 120 000 characters with spaces, including the introductory text.

Reviews of books published earlier than two years before the publication of the review are not considered, e.g. if the review is published in 2017, the book reviewed should be published no earlier than 2015. Reviews-announcements which announce the publication of a book or summarise its content are not considered either. The review should present main ideas of the book and show its place in the contemporary academic context. Criticism is also welcome as long as it follows academic ethics. The review may be provided with its own title, but as a rule reviews are published untitled. If the review deals with a collection of papers, it is advisable not to describe each paper, but to summarise main ideas and tendencies that can be traced in the material of the entire volume.

The section Discussion contains responses to any previous papers published in our journal as well as polemical pieces. Publication in this section is automatically regarded as invitation to the following discussion.

As a rule, the same author can publish a paper in St. Tikhon's University Review. Series I: Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies only once a year, i.e. no earlier than five issues after the preceding publication. For this reason, the journal does not publish series of papers, nor does it divide papers, apart from those cases when they are commissioned by the Editorial Board or the Editorial Board is interested in the continuation of the paper. In other cases, the author is likely to wait the whole year for the next publication. This limitation does not concern materials published in the sections Reviews, Publications, Discussion. This means that even if an author has published a paper in the current year, he or she can submit a review as well as material to the sections Publications and Discussion in the same year.

St. Tikhon's University Review. Series I: Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies makes every effort to publish approved materials as quickly as possible. However, we cannot totally exclude possible delays, and if these take place we suggest that authors contact the secretary of the Editorial Board and ask for the reason for the delay.

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