Modern Asian Studies

Modern Asian Studies publishes cutting-edge research articles on the history, social anthropology, sociology, political science, and cultures of modern Asia. Covering all the regions of Asia, including Maritime Asia, and their interconnections, the journal particularly welcomes submissions which deploy interdisciplinary and comparative research methods. The journal is not a forum for articles that explicitly advocate specific public policy recommendations nor does it publish articles that rely heavily on econometric or highly quantitative forms of analysis. Submissions must address a broad audience of Asianists from diverse disciplinary backgrounds with varied geographic specializations.

Since its inception in 1967, Modern Asian Studies has specialized in the publication of longer monographic essays whose theoretical claims are supported by rich empirical data. It also publishes special issues, forums, and roundtable discussions which explore topical themes in depth and from a number of perspectives, and it carries substantial synoptic review essays which summarize and critique the current state of a field of study.

Special issues, forums, and roundtable discussions

Modern Asian Studies periodically publishes special issues (an entire issue of the journal consisting of approximately nine to 12 articles on a particular topic or theme), forums (smaller collections of articles on a topic which do not comprise an entire issue of the journal), and roundtable discussions (collections of shorter reflections on a particular book, essay, or topic). All submissions for these compilations go through the same double-anonymous, peer review process as our usual research articles. Potential guest editors are encouraged to contact the editors at an early stage to discuss the suitability of their topics, scheduling, and potential publishing conflicts. Because all articles go through the journal’s peer review process, it is imperative that guest editors rigorously pre-review the manuscripts in their collections before submitting them to the journal. All manuscripts for a potential special issue or forum must be submitted to the journal at more or less the same time. Individual manuscripts will not be sent out for review until all submissions for the relevant issue have been received.

Text and manuscript preparation for authors submitting manuscripts for review

Modern Asian Studies now receives many more submissions than it can accept. In recent years, the acceptance rate for research articles has been generally under 15 per cent, often falling to under ten per cent. Therefore, it is vital that manuscripts be in as polished a state as possible on first submission. Authors cannot expect to use the review process as a mechanism to formulate their ideas, and the journal will reject, without peer review, manuscripts that are clearly in draft state.

Modern Asian Studies recognizes that some forms of analysis and debate cannot be argued within restrictive word limits, and consequently the journal does not set any definitive limits on the length of submissions. Nevertheless, the journal also insists that no submission should be longer than necessary. The absence of word limits is not an invitation to submit unedited and self-indulgently long manuscripts.

Authors may choose to follow Modern Asian Studies house style when first preparing their manuscripts, as this will save time if it is later accepted. (Please see below for the journal’s house style conventions.) This suggestion, however, is not a requirement for manuscripts to be reviewed.

An abstract of between 100 and 250 words summarizing the contents of the article should be typed before the main text. Sub-headings (rather than Roman numerals) should be used to divide articles into sections.

Tables should be clearly laid out and numbered consecutively. All figures and totals should be checked for accuracy.

Please see relevant instructions below for further information about how to supply figures and tables.

The online version of the journal also has the capacity to host links to short audio and audio-visual clips. Authors who wish to avail themselves of this facility should discuss this matter with the editors once their manuscript(s) have been accepted for publication.

Charges apply for all colour figures that appear in the print version of the journal. At the time of submission, contributors should clearly state whether their figures should appear in colour in the online version only, or whether they should appear in colour both online and in print. There is no charge for including colour figures in the online version of the journal. If you request colour figures in the printed version, you will be contacted by CCC-Rightslink who act on our behalf to collect author charges. Please follow their instructions in order to avoid any delay in the publication of your article.

Modern Asian Studies takes instances of plagiarism very seriously. Submissions are randomly reviewed using anti-plagiarism software. Please refer to our Ethical Standards policy.

Contributors should remove their name from the manuscript and should ensure that their manuscript is fully anonymous.

The journal welcomes expression of all shades of opinion, but responsibility for these rests with their author.

Text and manuscript preparation of production files for authors whose articles have been accepted for publication

General layout

• All articles (text and footnotes) must be clearly typed in double spacing throughout..
• Main text should be size 12 point, Times Roman font (except for foreign characters and diacriticals). All text should be left justified.
• Abstract and footnotes should be size 10 point, Times Roman font. Left and right justified.
• The title of the article (sentence case only), author name(s), affiliation(s), and email address for the corresponding author (preferably linked to their institution) should be typed at the beginning of the article. Full affiliation information for all authors must be included where applicable. Affiliations should contain Department, Institution, City and Country.
• Acknowledgements and competing interest declarations should be typed at the end of the article before the references (all 12 point Times Roman font).
• An abstract of between 100 and 250 words summarizing the content of the article should be typed before the main text.
• Below the abstract 3–5 keywords must be provided.
• Sub-headings must be used to break up articles. Headings should all flush left: H1, bold; H2, bold + italic; H3, italic; H4, Italic following by full point and run on text. Do not use Roman numerals as section headings.
• The use of diacritical marks, italics, and capital letters should be kept to a minimum.

General style guidelines regarding text and footnotes

Follow the Modern Asian Studies ‘house style’ outlined in the notes below. For matters that are not covered in these notes, please refer to the New Oxford Style Manual, third edition, 2016.
• Spell out centuries: i.e. ‘nineteenth century’ rather than ‘19 ^th century’, ‘tenth century’ rather than ‘10^th century’, etc.
• Spell out numbers 1–10: i.e. ‘one’, ‘two’, ‘three’, etc. All other numbers should be represented as numerals.
• Spell out %: i.e. ‘15 per cent’.
• ‘c.’ should always be spelled out and italics: ‘circa’.
• In references, there should be a space between ‘p.’ and its number, i.e. ‘p. 15’. ‘ed.’ and ‘eds’/trans. and trans should be in () brackets.
• Persons’ initials should have a space: i.e. R. D. Hume, Esq.
• With footnote layout, please follow rules below, and maintain consistency.
• Please use ‘and’ rather than ‘&’, especially in references between authors.
• Please spell out, at first mention, all acronyms and initialisms.
• Long quotations should be size 11 point, Times Roman font. Indented, with one line spacing above and below main text and not enclosed in quotation marks. All quotations must be acknowledged and fully referenced within a footnote.
• Use single inverted commas for short quotations and phrases within the main text, then double quotations for quotes-within-quotes.
• Tables should be clearly laid out and numbered consecutively. Vertical lines between columns should be omitted.
• All British spellings, ‘z’ rather than ‘s’ for ...ize/ization (materialize, constitutionalize, etc.), and, for example, ‘analyse’ not ‘analyze’, ‘colour’ not ‘color’, ‘programme’ not ‘program’.
• Please use the phrase ‘this article’ rather than ‘this essay’ or ‘this paper’.
• Dates: English format please, i.e. day, month, year—14 July 2009.
• Figures, and totals in tables, references and footnote numbers should be checked for accuracy.
• Paragraphs (except directly under a heading, where they should be flush left) should be indented by 4mm, with no line space.

• Footnote numbers and text (10 point) should be indented paragraphs (4mm), one space between footnote number and its text.
• No line separator between main text and footnotes.

Citations and references

Citations should be in footnotes without a bibliography at the end of the manuscript.

For those authors using footnotes, placement of footnotes must be at the foot of each page, with automatic footnote numbering, running consecutively to the end of the document. All sources or references should be cited in full in the first instance, within the body of the footnote text. References repeated in subsequent footnotes should be written: author, ‘short’ title, page numbers. Add initials, if more than one author with the same surname is mentioned in the article. Use ibid when two references in a row are from the same source.

For authors who are uncertain about which footnote style to follow, they are welcome to use the journal’s ‘house style’ which is outlined below.

Modern Asian Studies’ ‘house style’ for footnotes

Books

D. N. Gellner, Resistance and the state: Nepalese experiences (New York and Oxford: Berghan Books, 2007).

Qeyamuddin Ahmad (ed.), Patna through the ages: Glimpses of history, society and economy. (Patna: Janaki Prakashan, 1988).

Articles in an edited volume

K. Ogura, ‘Maoist people’s governments 2001–2005: The power in wartime’, in Local democracy in South Asia: Microprocesses of democratisation in Nepal and its neighbours , (eds) D. N. Gellner and K. Hachhethu (Delhi: Sage, 2008), pp. 188–198.

Journal articles

Bart Klem, ‘Showing one’s colours: The political work of elections in post-war Sri Lanka’, Modern Asian Studies, vol. 49, no. 4, 2015, pp. 1091–1112.

Chi-yong Jung, ‘The people of Joseon’s perception of Baekdusan viewed through geographical materials’, The Review of Korean Studies, vol. 13, no. 4, December 2010, pp. 105–132.

Website

F. Jansz, ‘LTTE’s police and UFPA’s silence’, The Sunday Leader, published online on 20 June 2004, available at http://www.thesundayleader.lk/archive/20040620/issues-more.htm [accessed 31 January 2018].

Figures/illustrations

1. Figures should be supplied final size, and be no larger than 110mm x 180mm, as separate electronic files, in either TIFF or EPS format, scanned at a minimum of 320dpi for black and white halftone, or colour artwork, at 1200 dpi for black and white line art, and at 800 dpi for combination artwork (line/halftone).

Figures embedded into the Word document will not be accepted.

For further details of file formats please see Cambridge Journals Artwork Guide at https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/authors/journals/journals-artwork-guide#.

2. The separate TIFF/EPS files containing Figures and Illustrations should be saved individually with their Figure/Picture number being the file name: (‘[author surname] Fig_1.tif’, ‘[author surname] Pic_2.eps’, etc.).

3. ( Please DO NOT include legends, sources and general text in the figure files; these should be included in your Word document underneath the position marker text, i.e . ‘[INSERT FIGURE 1 NEAR HERE. LEGEND: Figure 1. The handbill calling the Nishads to support Ramraj and the BJP. Source: OND Government texts 1954...]’.

4. Each figure must be cited at least once in the text. The spelling of place names should be consistent with those used in the text. If there are more than five table/figures/illustrations, please provide a separate word document listing them, in the order they are to appear in the main text, with full titles, legends and sources. Pictures may be embedded in this Word document, but for information only. They cannot be used for final publication (see 1 above).

Copyrighted material

If your article contains any material in which you do not own copyright, including figures, charts, tables, photographs or excerpts of text, please see the seeking permission to use copyrighted material page for instruction.

Publishing ethics

Please refer to the publishing ethics page while preparing your materials for submission to ensure you comply with the relevant policies.