Author Guidelines

A) Author Information
B) Content Guidelines
C) Format Requirement
i. Paper Structure
ii. Headings
iii. Quotations
iv. Figures and Tables
D) Citation Guidelines
i. Footnotes
ii. Bibliography
E) Ethical Guidelines
i. Originality and Plagiarism
ii.Authorship and Contributions
iii. Disclosure of Conflict of Interest
iv. Ethical Treatment of Human and Animal Subjects
v. Data Integrity and Reproducibility
vi. Multiple Submissions and Concurrent Publication
F) Guidelines for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Other Instructions
Declaration
Submission Preparation Checklist

A) Author Information

The authors should provide their names, email addresses, phone number(s), ORCID ID, affiliations and designations of all contributors on the title page of the manuscript to facilitate academic review and production.

  • Every author must provide a working email ID irrespective of whether he/she is corresponding or not.
  • All authors of an article, whether 4 or 5, are requested to provide their ORCID ID'S.
  • The Corresponding Author clearly indicates who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal

Only those manuscripts will be considered for publication that have not been previously published anywhere nor is under consideration elsewhere.

Note
An author can publish again only after a gap of minimum three issues (in case of foreign author) and four issues (in case of local author).

B) Content Guidelines

Manuscripts which do not adhere to the following guidelines are NOT accepted.

    1. Religious preaching or sermon should not be confused with academic writing.
    2. A considerable amount of literature is available about the basics of Islam including prayers, Zakat, and fasting. Similarly, a great deal of existing literature discusses the juristic differences in Islamic jurisprudence or Fiqh. Mere translation and rewriting the existing discussions and juristic dissents do not make a research article.
    3. Articles of controversial nature (highlighting sectarian conflicts, issues related to Blasphemy etc.) will be declined. Academic freedom is essential and should be celebrated but it MUST NOT be used in any way to undermine the basic tenets of Islamic religion and mainstream Islamic religious beliefs and practices.

C) Format Requirement

i. Paper Structure

  • Manuscript should be submitted in Word format.
  • Font style Times New Roman, font size 12, and single spacing should be used throughout the manuscript.
  • Manuscript must include the following sections: Abstract, Keywords, Highlights, Introduction (literature review can be a separate section or a part of the introduction), Method, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Limitations, Implications, and Bibliography.
  • Title of the article should be bold and title case (initial capital letter for proper nouns).
  • The authors are requested to write an unstructured abstract of around 200-250 words. Abstract should explain the main points of your paper. The abstract must not be exaggerated or contain any new information that is not outlined in the main body of the text. The article must be accompanied by 5-8 keywords or descriptive phrases.
  • Add 3-4 highlights in bullet points that best indicate your research work.
  • Word limit of a typical article (including tables, figures, and references) should be 7500-8000 words (except for the review articles only).
  • Bibliography of a typical article should be 15-50 (70 for the review article).
  • Spell out abbreviations when you incorporate them for the first time, except for the cases where the abbreviations are well- known, such as, CIA.
  • Provide a brief description of the Table/Figure before explaining the content in the Table/Figure and also refer to them in the text for clarity. For example (see Table 1).
  • Add the conflict of interest statement and data availability statement at the end of the manuscript (above references).

ii. Headings

  1. Consistency and parallel structure must be maintained in headings and subheadings.
  2. Headline styles must be in accordance with chicago manual.
  3. Headings and subheadings must begin on a new line.
  4. The level of hierarchy in the headings and subheadings must be clear and consistent.
  5. Headings and subheadings should not be ended with a period.
  6. Avoid using more than three levels of hierarchy.
  7. There should be more space before the subheadings than after.
  8. There can be two levels of headings without any text between them.
  9. Font should be any font that is readable, preferably Times New Roman 12 points.

Subdivision - Numbered Sections
Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2 ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in the section numbering). Use this numbering for internal cross-referencing as well: do not just refer to 'the text.’ Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear in its separate style format.

Heading Level Format
Level 1: Centered, Bold or Italic font used, and Headline-style Capitalization
Level 2: Centered, Regular font used, and Headline-style Capitalization
Level 3: Flush with Left margin, Bold or Italic font used, and Headline-style Capitalization
Level 4: Flush with Left margin, Regular font used, and sentence-style capitalization
Level 5: Beginning line of the paragraph (no blank line after heading), Bold or Italic font, sentence-style capitalization, and terminal period used

iii. Quotations

A prose or quotation of five or more lines or more than 45 words should be “blocked.” The block quotation is single-spaced and takes no quotation marks, but an extra line space must be left immediately before and after the quote. Indent the entire quotation 0.5.” However, quotes less than 45 words would be incorporated within the text with inverted commas as running quotes.

iv. Figures and Tables

Figures and Tables Embedded in Text
Please ensure the figures and the tables included in the single file are placed next to the relevant text in the manuscript, rather than at the bottom or the top of the file. The corresponding caption should be placed directly below the figure or table.

D) Citation Guidelines

  1. All footnotes and Bibliographies should be cited in the Chicago Manual of Style. The Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization follows the Chicago Citation Style, Notes and Bibliography Style (17th) for citations. This reference style requires footnotes or endnotes in the text while citing, and a bibliography at the end of the document listing all the works that have been cited and any other works consulted. The bibliography should be arranged alphabetically by the author.

  2. A quick style guide and transliteration table is accessed by clicking these links;

    A Quick Style Guide
    Transliteration Table

i. Footnotes

While giving footnotes, please keep in mind the following requirements.

  1. References/footnotes must be in Chicago style, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the pagination must be present. For further details of the Chicago Manual of Style please click.
  2. Note numbers should begin with “1” and follow consecutively throughout a given paper. Be sure to use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3) rather than Roman (i, ii, iii).
  3. In the text: Put the note number at the end of the sentence and after all punctuation where the reference occurs, even if the cited material is mentioned at the beginning of the sentence. In MS Word this can be achieved by clicking Alt+Ctrl+F for footnotes and ALT+Ctrl+E for endnotes. Moreover, note numbers are superscripted.
  4. Never reuse a number - use a new number for each reference, even if you have used that reference previously.
  5. Never use two note numbers at the end of a sentence.
  6. To cite multiple sources in a single note, separate the two citations with a semicolon (;).
  7. If citing the same work again immediately after you've already cited it, use ibid.
  8. Use of DOI is highly encouraged.
  9. All citations must be confirmed. That is, the correct page number of the cited source and details of publication should be given. If they are not, they will be removed wholly from the text by the editors.

ii. Bibliography

  • The bibliography should start on a new page, and be titled ‘Bibliography’ at the top in 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Do not embolden the title.
  • Use proper formatting for each type of source and always using a hanging indent. The first line of the citation will begin on the margin, subsequent lines are indented (opposite of a footnote/endnote).
  • The bibliography must be ordered alphabetically.
  • Please note that name of the first author in the bibliography is inverted while in the case of more than one author rest of the names are not inverted. For more information regarding the Chicago Bibliography, please click.

E) Ethical Guidelines

i. Originality and Plagiarism

  • Authors must ensure that their submitted articles are original and have not been previously published elsewhere.
  • Plagiarism, including the use of AI tools and the use of others' work without appropriate citation and/or permission, where necessary, is strictly prohibited.
  • JITC employ plagiarism detection software to screen submissions for potential plagiarism detection.
  • All the submitted documents pass through similarity-checking tools, such as Turnitin, iThenticate, and others.

ii. Authorship and Contributions

  • All individuals who have made substantial contributions to the research and preparation of the article should be listed as authors.
  • The order of authorship should be determined based on their significant contributions. (For details see Author(s) Contributions/Credits)
  • It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission.

iii. Disclosure of Conflict of Interest

  • Authors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional conflict of interest, which could potentially influence the research, analyses, or findings.
  • If no conflict of interest exist, authors are required to explicitly state it in the submission. (For details see Conflict of Interest Policy)

iv. Ethical Treatment of Human and Animal Subjects

  • Research involving human or animal subjects should have appropriate ethical approvals and informed consent from participants or their legal guardians.
  • Authors would provide details about the ethical considerations and approvals in their submissions (See Research Ethics Guidelines).

v. Data Integrity and Reproducibility

  • Authors would ensure the integrity and accuracy of their data and provide a sufficient information to enable the reproducibility of the research (For details see Data Availability policy).

vi. Multiple Submissions and Concurrent Publication

  • UMT journals explicitly state that simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to multiple journals is not acceptable even if the manuscript is under review process and status is unknown. The manuscript can be submitted to a journal only if the final decision of rejection has been communicated to the author.
  • JITC Authors are required to disclose the status (if any part of the submitted work has been previously published) or is under consideration elsewhere.

F) Guidelines for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Readers of JITC usually access articles from Google Scholar, research gate, and other search engines. Authors can play a crucial role to enhance the visibility and citations of their research by following the given tips.

  • Title of a research article should include 1 or 2 keywords and a phrase of the title must be placed at the very start of the abstract (first or second sentence) as the first two sentences normally display in search engines.
  • As the abstract aims to present the key points of your research, authors are requested to repeat the keywords (3-6 times) in the abstract.
  • Use keywords or keyword phrases throughout the article, including title, abstract, headings, and paragraphs, however, avoid unnecessary repetitions (use 5-6 times in the content of the article)
  • For SEO, keywords can be found using tools, such as, Google Trends and Google Adwords
  • Use field-specific keywords by consulting major papers in the field.
  • Share your paper on different social media networking sites, institutional sites, and colleagues for optimization/visibility.

Other Instructions

  1. Terms of other languages should be in Italics and explained/ translated.
  2. Academic jargon that is specific to a particular discipline needs to be thoroughly elaborated upon or footnoted.
  3. The Manuscript must be ‘spell-checked’ and ‘grammar ’corrected.
  4. The authors must get the article’s language edited to avoid rejection.
  5. Authors should attach a plagiarism report with a manuscript authorized by library sources.
  6. Articles that are unoriginal and heavily plagiarized shall not be entertained.
  7. Articles not following Reference Guidelines i.e., Chicago Manual of Style for footnotes/Endnotes and Bibliography shall not be entertained.

Declaration

  • Authors are required to provide an undertaking/ declaration stating that the manuscript under consideration contains solely their original work that is not under consideration for publishing in any other journal in any form.
  • A manuscript that is co-authored must be accompanied by an undertaking explicitly stating that each author has contributed substantially towards the preparation of the manuscript to claim the right to authorship.
  • It is the responsibility of the corresponding author that s/he has ensured that all those who have substantially contributed in the manuscripts have been included in the author list and they have agreed to the order of authorship.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As a part of the submission process, authors are required to ensure their submission's compliance with all of the following items, however, the  submission can be returned to authors in case of non-compliance. The authors are required to submit the submission checklist and author consent form in this regard.

  • Authors Consent Form (See Template)
  • Formatted Manuscript
  • Conflict of Interest Statement (See Template)
  • Data Availability Statement (See Template)
  • Submission Checklist (see Template)
  • Acknowledgement (if necessary)