CALL FOR PAPERS
As new Editors for the Sikh Research Journal (SRJ), we are excited for the opportunity to uplift, facilitate, and further new and ongoing conversations and debates on the study of Sikhs and Sikhi. We aim to facilitate academic discussions between scholars, Sikh community members, and greater academic and non-academic experts that expand the current literature on all areas of Sikh and Punjabi Studies, including (but not limited to) art, architecture, contemporary societal topics, culture, heritage, history, language, literature, methodologies, philosophy, and/or religion. You do not need an advanced degree in order to submit work to the Sikh Research Journal, as submissions will be evaluated through peer-review processes and held to an expectation of ethical citational practice.
Sikh Research Journal considers only original, previously unpublished research, scholarship, and/or commentary. Manuscripts submitted to SRJ for review should not be concurrently under consideration with another journal. All manuscripts submitted to SRJ will initially be screened by the SRJ editorial collective, and those selected to be potentially publishable will be sent for external peer-review. Generally, both the reviewer and author will remain anonymous to each other as per traditional peer-review models. For less experienced authors and willing reviewers, we will attempt to facilitate a guided revision process where the reviewer and author work together to complete the publication.
For the December 2023 issue, authors can expect the following timeline for decisions, revisions, acceptances, and copy editing:
- April 2023: Call for Papers Released
- June 2023: Papers submitted for review
- June-July/August 2023: Round 1 of review completed, with notification of one of the following by end of July/August: desk rejections by editors, rejections after peer-review, revise and resubmissions after peer-review, and acceptance after peer-review. We will not offer any paper with a “revise and resubmit” unless we can envision it ultimately being accepted for the December 2023 issue.
- July/August-September 2023: Round 2 of review completed with notification of acceptances and guidance for copy editing process by end of September.
- October-November 2023: Copy editing papers and finalizing papers for publication
- December 2023: Papers Published Online
For the December 2023 general issue, we welcome papers from any discipline or area of expertise that touches on a relevant topic on the study of Sikhs and Sikhi from a historic or contemporary perspective. As one of two general issues that SRJ publishes each calendar year, our hope is for the papers to contribute to or move beyond existing literatures in Sikh studies. More broadly, papers can engage with any of the following topics with which SRJ engages:
- Meditations and original research on questions, approaches, or methodologies that explore the histories of racism, cisheterosexism, colonialism, and decolonialism in the lives of Sikhs and the development of Sikhi.
- Original research (historical, qualitative, quantitative, or mixed or multiple methods) that engages with existing conversations in Sikh studies or provides a prompt or potential roadmap to new areas of research.
- Research on Sikhs’ engagement with Gurbaani in the context of their own individual lives, their activism, or the community spaces.
- Essays discussing contemporary community issues in Punjab and/or the diaspora (broadly defined, not centered on Western diaspora only).
- Artistic meditations or knowledge products on Sikh embodiment or praxis, such as (but not limited to) Gurmat sangeet traditions or Sikh visual art traditions.
- Book reviews on recent publications (2020-2023) that are relevant to or within Sikh studies. If accepted, submissions will be coordinated by SRJ’s book review editor.
Submission Guidelines
Please include a cover letter including keywords for the knowledge product, a brief overview of its major contribution, a short (100-150 word) abstract, and 2-4 potential reviewers. For traditional research articles, please format your submissions to APA (American Psychological Association, 7th edition), Times New Roman, 12-point font, double spaced, and no more than 12,000 words including all citations, tables, figures, and appendices. If you are submitting a creative piece, feel free to reach out to the Editors to inquire about what type of formatting to expect for your submission.
CALL FOR REVIEWERS
We are also currently expanding our team of reviewers. If you are interested and willing to serve as a reviewer for the Sikh Research Journal, please send the following information to Drs. Harleen Kaur and prabhdeep singh kehal at editors@sikhresearchjournal.org:
- Name as you would like to be referred and English pronouns
- Relevant fields of expertise and disciplinary training (e.g., activist experience and/or field of advanced study)
- Relevant topics you are comfortable reviewing in relation to the study of Sikhs and Sikhi (e.g., gender and sexuality, casteism, racism and colonialism, period and geography of historical research, hermeneutics, culture, qualitative/quantitative methodologies)
- Preference for how you would like to review: either or both double-anonymous and guided revision process (see paragraph 2 above)