Guide for Authors

Table of Content

Copyright Conditions

Conditions of Submission

Scientific Conditions

Manuscript Conditions

Author Fees

Copyright Conditions

  • Papers should not have been published or submitted in another journal simultaneously
  • All responsibility for the content of papers is upon its authors.
  • Journal of History of Islam is free to scientific and language edit the submitted papers as far as it does not change their scientific content
  • Names and specifications of the authors should not be mentioned in the main text.
  • If a paper is derived from a thesis or dissertation, the confirmation of the supervisor is necessary.

Conditions of Submission

  • Submission of papers is only possible via the online site of the journal (https://hiq.bou.ac.ir)
  • The subject of papers should be in alignment with the aims and scope of the journal (see aims and scope) and be related to the history of Islam
  • The paper should have Persian, English, and Arabic titles, abstracts, and keywords. The main text of papers should be in Persian. They should also include references in Persian and Roman scripts.
  • We will only consider papers for evaluation with at least one of the authors either a faculty member or at least a PhD candidate.
  • Papers, which observe the format and content guidelines of the journal of History of Islam (HI) will be considered for evaluation.
  • The paper should be between 15 to 26 pages (4500 to 8000 words).

Scientific Conditions

  • Innovation and contribution to expand the study of the history of Islam. The paper’s question and subject should be new and not have been studied before.
  • The credibility of analysis, arguments, and criticism. Papers should be based on scientific methods of study in history.
  • Authenticity of references
  • Usage of the related scientific terminology
  • Coherence and logical process of content and headings. Papers should have a logical connection between the headings and topics and should observe the requirements of a scientific paper like the statement of the problem, background, literature, method, the accuracy of quotes, conclusion, etc.
  • The subject should be up to date and the results should have practical significance

Manuscript Conditions

To maintain the language consistency of the text, only the Farsi translation of non-Farsi words and terms should come in text and their non-Farsi words should be mentioned in footnotes. In case the Farsi translation is absent or is not used, transliteration could be used. Only if there is no transliteration available, inevitably the non-Farsi word is acceptable in text.

Explanations regarding the phrases and content come in the footnotes.

Photos, images, tables, and diagrams should be submitted in 300 dpi quality, and their reference should be mentioned. Tables and diagrams should be attached as images, besides being mentioned in the paper's text.

The referencing method in the journal is as footnotes. At the end of the paper and after the attachments, a list of all the references should be mentioned.

If reviewers, editor-in-chief, and director-in-charge confirm the submitted paper, it will be accepted.

Author Fees

For evaluation fees, an article submission charge of 2,000,000 Rials, and for covering the publishing and editing expenses an article processing charge (APC) of 5,000,000 Rials is required. 

 

SUBMISSION:

1) Online Submissions

Our selection of articles depends on the quality, breadth, and originality of the themes covered and their relevance to the scope of the journal. We do not accept manuscripts that have been previously published elsewhere.

Submit the manuscript without the authors' names, affiliations, and biographies. Along with it, submit a cover page that includes the manuscript title, authors' names and affiliations, and the corresponding author's name and contact information (full postal and e-mail addresses, phone and fax numbers).

The maximum number of pages, including footnotes, should not exceed 20. Please note that only one submission per author will be considered at a time. Before submitting your manuscript, please familiarize yourself with the peer review and publication process and learn how to submit your work. If you have not registered yet, please click on: Register. After successfully registering, you should have a username and password. If you already have a username and password, please  Login.

Required files to upload: Authors must submit the following five essential files through the manuscript submission system: 1. Main Manuscript File (without the author details and prepared based on the provided template. 2. Title Page, 3. Authorship Form (must include the article title, full names of all authors, and be signed by all authors), 4. Conflicts of Interest Form (must be signed by the Corresponding Author and uploaded with the Main Manuscript File), and 5. Cover letter (Please include any necessary information in the cover letter).

 

2) Font

All spellings must be rendered in American English. To change British or Commonwealth spellings to their American equivalents, please see the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary. To distinguish the different parts of the manuscript, use the following fonts for each part:

  • Title: The title of the manuscript should be typed in 16-point Times New Roman, Bold-face, heading 1, centered.  
  • Author Name: Author names should be typed in 12-point Times New Roman.
  • Corresponding author: It should be typed in 12-point Times New Roman.
  • Abstract: Times New Roman is the "default" font. The abstract should be justified. The font is Times New Roman 12. The indention of BEFORE TEXT and AFTER TEXT are 0. The special indention should be in NONE. The spacing of BEFORE paragraph is 0 and the space AFTER a paragraph is 10 pt. LINE spacing is multiple 1.2.
  • Introduction: The entire manuscript should be typed in 12-point Times New Roman and single-spaced. The paragraph should be justified. The indention of BEFORE TEXT and AFTER TEXT are 0. The special indention should be in NONE. The spacing of BEFORE paragraph is 0 and the space AFTER a paragraph is 10 pt. LINE spacing is multiple 1.2. The body of the paper should be written in a single-column format.
  • Table: Times New Roman 10 is the default font of tables, numbered from 1.

 

SECTIONING AND STRUCTURE:

The manuscript should be organized in the following sequence: title page, abstract, keywords, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conflict of interest, acknowledgments (optional), references, tables, and figures.

 

1) Title page

The title page should include the following items (please do not include any text other than the ones described below):

- The title of the manuscript. The title of the manuscript should be typed in bold-faced print using both upper and lower-case letters and set in the center of the page. Abbreviations are not permitted in the title. Capitalize all “major” words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns) in the title and subtitle. The title should reflect exactly, efficiently, and succinctly what the study is about. The title of a scientific paper is the most important part of the paper because it is the first introduction the reader has to the content of the paper. Many readers skim titles and abstracts looking for suitable articles to read. So the title should give a terse description of the main content and should help readers decide whether to read the abstract or the paper itself. Therefore, it should be attractive and meaningful.

- Author or authors list. The full names of all authors should be provided with the family name.

- Each author's institution and e-mail (optional). The address of the institution was conducted should include the name of the institution, city, zip code, and country

- The FIRST NAMEs, Initials (if any), and LAST NAMEs, as well as the e-mail addresses and the ORCID code of all authors, must be provided.

- The corresponding author should be marked with "Corresponding author" at the beginning of his/her affiliation address.

 

The title page should include the title and the authorship in the following structure:

Title of the manuscript

Author Name

Corresponding author, Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic History, Faculty of History and Political Studies, Baqir al-Olum University, Qom, Iran. E-mail: abcdef@bou.ac.ir

 

Author Name

Associate Professor, Department of Islamic History, Faculty of History and Political Studies, Baqir al-Olum University, Qom, Iran. E-mail: abcdef@bou.ac.ir 

 

Notes:

- Professional titles: Professional titles (e.g., Doctor or Engineer) should not be included.

- Affiliation: The affiliation(s) and address(es) of the author(s) should follow the below structure: Academic ranking, department, faculty, university, city, and country. E-mail: abcd@bou.ac.ir, for example, Associate Professor, Department of Islamic History, Faculty of History and Political Studies, Baqir al-Olum University, Qom, Iran. E-mail: abcdef@bou.ac.ir.

 

2) Abstract

An abstract is required for all article types. The abstract should be structured in the following order: objective, methods, results, and conclusions. The abstract should be between 400-500 words. The abstract should be free of references and abbreviations. The abstract should summarize pertinent results in a brief but understandable form.

  

3) Keywords

At the end of the abstract, up to six keywords that best describe the content of the research should be listed. The term "Keywords" should appear in bold, followed by a colon. The first letter of each keyword is capitalized, and keywords are separated by a comma. It is suggested to use the UNESCO Thesaurus and other thesauri.

 

4) Document types:

  • Article: Original research or opinion.
  • Editorial: Summary of several articles or provides editorial opinions or news.
  • Erratum: Report an error, correction, or retraction of a previously published paper.
  • Letter: Letter to or correspondence with the editor.
  • Note: Note, discussion, or commentary.
  • Review: Significant review of original research, also includes conference papers.
  • Short survey: Short or mini-review of original research.

The document type should follow the below structure:

            Paper type: Research Article

            Paper type: Research Review

 

5) Introduction

The Introduction, the beginning of the paper, provides a context or sufficient background information for the study (i.e., the significance and nature of the problem) and previous experimental results to enable a reader who is not an expert in the topic to understand the question that is being addressed in the paper, and why it is significant. The Introduction should attract the reader to the rest of the paper. When presented properly, this section ensures that the reader will be able to understand the details of the experiment as well as its relevance to the scientific community. The Introduction should (a) present the nature and the scope of the problem investigated; (b) provide enough background to orient the reader and justify the study, reviewing the pertinent literature to the problem; (c) state the reason for the study, and how it differs or is related to previous studies; and (d) state the goal/objectives and method of the investigation.

The Introduction should put forth the related background to the study, explain why the study was done, and specifies the hypotheses to be tested. An extensive discussion of relevant literature should be included in the discussion of results, not in the Introduction.

 

6) Materials and Methods

In the Materials and Methods section, all materials used and methods followed throughout the experiment should be reported. This section should be sufficiently clear and include a detailed procedure of how the experiment was performed, both methodologically and statistically, in such a way that another competent researcher can follow and duplicate the experiment. It is vital in the Materials and Methods section that the reader understands the author's experimental design and how data will be analyzed. The Materials and Methods section allows the reader to put the work into its environmental context. Scientific reports must be reproducible; consequently, the Materials and Methods section is extremely important to the credibility of the work.

The materials and methods should present essential details, experimental design, and statistical analysis. A clear description or original reference is required for all biological, analytical, and statistical procedures used in the study. All modifications of procedures must be explained. Treatments and measurements should be described clearly. Statistical models and methods of analysis should be described clearly and fully.

 

7) Results

The results should present the findings of the study. The Results of the study should be presented in tables, and data means (numbers) should not be repeated broadly in the text. The results should be separate from the discussion and written in the past tense.  

The Results section is often referred to as the "core" of the scientific paper.  The purpose of this section is to present the data and observations clearly. It describes the results obtained but generally should not interpret the results, discuss their significance, or present conclusions. The Results section should be in paragraph form and concisely report the exact results of the experiment. The data must be described in words and may be accompanied by representative data in tables and figures. "A picture is worth a thousand words." However, the Results section is not merely a collection of tables and figures without explanatory text.  If tables and figures are used, the author should provide the reader with an interpretation of what a table or figure illustrates. 

All tables and figures must be referred to in the text of the results in this way (Table 1) or (Figure 1). All tables and figures must: (a) have a brief description, preferably one or two sentences; (b) be numbered consecutively and in the same sequence as they will be used in the text; (c) be appropriately labeled; (d) be formatted properly to stand alone, and (e) be headed by a caption or a title describing its contents.  Tables and figures should include titles, legends (if necessary), axis and column labels, units, and numbered figure headings. Figures and tables are numbered separately. 

The clarity in the Results section is paramount. Statistical methods used to analyze and treat data should be pertinent and meaningful, and problems with data collection can be presented. The Results section should only deal with results, but briefly describe experimental approaches when necessary to understand the experiment. 

 

8) Discussion

The Discussion section is the most important component of a scientific paper. The Discussion section serves to interpret the results and place them in a broader context by citing and discussing related studies. The purpose of the Discussion section is to make conclusions and evaluate the results within the general context of the research rather than to summarize the results, although it can start with this.

The Discussion section is a return to the original objectives and hypotheses. It is the section of the paper in which the author should interpret his/her data and draw conclusions regarding his/her hypotheses. The author should describe in detail what s/he observed and explain why demonstrating how the results support or refute his/her original hypotheses and how the results lead to the conclusions.

The author can refer to the data, citing tables and figures if necessary as evidence for his/her argument. The author should not repeat the Results section but rather place his/her data in a broader context (i.e., why should anyone care about what s/he found?). While the other sections of the paper are mostly technical, in the Discussion, the author gets a chance to express his/her scientific point of view and the significance of his/her work. In some respects, the Discussion section is the most difficult section of the paper to write and define.

 

9) Conclusion

The Conclusion is the final section of a scientific paper, and it should wrap everything up. The Conclusion section should summarize the findings of the research and explain the implications of the experiment (What does this new information mean?  How can this information be used in the future?) 

The Conclusion section restates the primary goal of the study, the hypothesis, and whether the data and results collected confirm or refute that hypothesis (Why? How? If refuted, was there some sort of error or bias that affected the outcome?).  This is the primary principle for a scientific paper to convince readers of the experiment’s validity. The author should never claim that a hypothesis is correct, true, or proven; it is only confirmed or refuted.

The author should restate the objective(s) of the study and point out how s/he has achieved these goals. The author should make a general statement about the success of the experiment as a whole, generalizing the conclusions. The final paragraph should return to the initial subject matter of the paper.  The author should make suggestions for improvement in the future or propose further studies in the Conclusion section. Science progresses through attempts to extend explanations to new areas.    

 

10) Conflicts of interest

The corresponding author must inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the authors' interpretation of the data. Download the form of conflicts of interest here. A copy of the letter of commitment is available here

 

11) Acknowledgements (optional)

The acknowledgments should be as brief as possible. The Acknowledgements section should be a few sentences at the end, but it is important to recognize those people (organizations and individuals) who made a considerable impact on the research, provided significant help to the author to formulate and complete the experiment, and improved the research at any stage (from providing access to equipment or field sites to editing the manuscript). However, this is an optional section. 

 

12) References

The Journal uses the style of the APA to conform to international styles. The references section should be located following the acknowledgments at the end of the text. Complete information should be given for each reference. The accuracy and completeness of the references are the responsibility of the author(s). References to personal letters (e-mail communications), papers presented at meetings, and other unpublished works (papers in preparation) may be cited. If such work may be of help in the evaluation of the manuscript, copies should be made available to the editor(s). The author(s) must submit a letter of permission from the cited persons to cite e-mail communications. The corresponding authors and references should be set out in the style of the APA, and only the first word of a cited title should be written in an initial capital letter. Journal names should not be abbreviated and should be given in italics.

When referring to your own work within the manuscript, consider the likelihood of someone being able to identify you from the citation. Reduce that possibility by:

  1. a) Avoiding the first-person in association with any citation (e.g., replace “As we have shown (Jackson, 2019) …” with “As Jackson (2019) has shown…”).
  2. b) Remove references to your own unpublished / in press work except where essential; where such work is cited, delete the author’s name (i.e., cite as “Author, in press”) and remove from the reference list.
  3. c) Avoid references that by implication identify the author (e.g., delete “This work is part of a larger grant project (Garfield, 2018, 2019)”).
  4. d) Avoid excessive self-citation—typically, articles citing “Wilson (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) …” are by Wilson!
  5. e) More generally, use common sense. Consider whether your writing has the potential to identify you to a reader who is an expert in the field; if it does, think about sensible ways to reduce that possibility.

  

13) Illustrations: Tables and Figures

Illustrations (tables and figures) should be embedded within the text. All illustrations should be cited in the text as Table 1, Table 2, etc., or Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.

 

Tables

They must be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in the order in which they are cited in the text. They should have a brief descriptive title placed at the top and with essential footnotes below. Prepare tables in a consistent form, and each appropriately titled. Provide them at approximately the correct size they are to be published.

 

Figures

The figures must be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and have a brief descriptive title. They should have a short descriptive title placed at the top and with essential footnotes below. Lettering on drawings should be of professional quality or generated by high-resolution computer graphics and must be large enough. Diagrams should be converted to .jpg or .gif files. 

 

14) Footnotes

Footnotes can be used and are usually listed at the bottom of each page in your manuscript. Times New Roman 9 is the default font for the footnotes. WORD, however, puts the footnotes in 10pt. WORD also sometimes changes the font. Any endnotes should be converted to footnotes.

 

15) Symbols and Variables

All variables or applied symbols should be defined and explained at the point of first use in the text.

 

16) Copyright and permissions

The copyright of manuscripts accepted for publication in the journal rests with the author(s) under the Creative Commons — Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). All opinions stated are exclusively those of the author(s).

Figures that reproduce copyrighted or trademarked visual images or that show objects whose design is copyrighted or trademarked can be published only with the permission of the owner of the copyright or trademark. It is the responsibility of the author of the article in which the figure appears to obtain this permission or to determine that the image or design is in the public domain.