Studies in Christian Ethics
Studies in Christian Ethics is an English-language journal devoted exclusively to theological questions arising in the field of Christian ethics and moral theology. The journal is published in conjunction with the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics based in the UK, whose annual conference furnishes the themed material for the first issue of each volume. By publishing contributions from international scholars and influential theologians and philosophers, the journal seeks to strengthen debate and to foster research on the wide range of topics that emerge in this fast-growing field.
"Studies in Christian Ethics has today established itself as the leading English-language journal in theological ethics. While continuing to offer first-rate work by British theologians and ethicists, it also showcases the best in North American and Continental scholarship in the field. It holds a secure place internationally as one of a few indispensable sources for cutting-edge work in theological ethics, political theology, and related fields." Jean Porter, Rev. John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
"Studies in Christian Ethics is the leading English language Christian Ethics journal in Europe. It is a high impact journal which publishes cutting edge research papers by leaders in the field on both sides of the Atlantic, and has done since its founding in 1988. It is essential reading for those looking for Christian scholarly writing on contemporary moral problems." Michael S. Northcott, Professor of Ethics, University of Edinburgh
"Studies in Christian Ethics has gone from strength to strength over the past decade to establish itself as the premier journal of theological ethics in the English speaking world. If you want to know the field, you have to know this journal." Brian Brock, Reader in Moral and Practical Theology, King’s College, Aberdeen
"Studies in Christian Ethics is the leading Anglophone journal in theological ethics, and one of only two in religious ethics. Originally British, it now attracts material from around the world and from every Christian tradition. The coverage of its book reviews is unequalled, making it essential for keeping one's finger on the pulse of the field." Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, Christ Church Oxford
SCE has been included in the top category in the European Reference Index for the Humanities.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
Studies in Christian Ethics is an English-language peer-reviewed journal devoted exclusively to questions arising in the field of Christian ethics and moral theology. The journal is published in conjunction with the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics based in the UK, whose annual conference furnishes the themed material for the first issue of each volume. By publishing contributions from international scholars and influential theologians and philosophers, the journal seeks to strengthen debate and to foster research on the wide range of topics that emerge in this fast-growing field.
| Kevin Hargaden | Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, Ireland |
| Regius Professor Emeritus Nigel Biggar | Oxford |
| Revd Professor Emeritus Oliver O’Donovan | Universities of Edinburgh and St Andrews, UK |
| Professor Therese Lysaught | Loyola University, Chicago USA |
| Professor Murray Rae | University of Otago, New Zealand |
| Professor Anthony G Reddie | Regent's Park College, Oxford UK |
| Professor Philip Ziegler | Kings College, Aberdeen UK |
| Dr. Therese Feiler | Ludwig-Maximilian Universität, München, DE |
| Professor Vincent Lloyd | Villanova University, USA |
| Professor D Stephen Long | SMU Perkins School of Theology, USA |
| Professor Aristotle Papanikolaou | Fordham University, USA |
| Andrew Cameron | Charles Sturt University, Australia |
| David Elliot | Catholic University of America, USA |
| Michael Mawson | University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| Susanna Snyder | Sarum College, UK |
| Vice-Chancellor Rufus Black | University of Tasmania, Australia |
| Dr Vivian Boland OP | Convento di Santa Sabina Rome, Italy |
| Dean Christopher Brittain | Trinity College Toronto, Canada |
| Dr Jonathan Chaplin | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Dr Yves De Maeseneer | KU Leuven, Belgium |
| Professor Nancy Duff | Princeton Theological Seminary, USA |
| Professor Emeritus Robert Gascoigne | Australian Catholic University, Australia |
| Dr Perry Hamalis | North Central College Illinois, USA |
| Professor Maureen Junker-Kenny | Trinity College Dublin, Ireland |
| Dr Anna Rowlands | University of Durham, UK |
| Professor Emeritus Hans Ulrich | Erlangen, Denmark |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Studies in Christian Ethics
Please read the guidelines below. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Studies in Christian Ethics will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Studies in Christian Ethics may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy. If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Declaration of conflicting interests - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Journal Style
4.5 Reference style
4.6 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 SAGE Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Before submitting your manuscript to Studies in Christian Ethics, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Studies in Christian Ethics publishes original research articles and reviews that match the journal’s aims and scope.
The SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. SAGE Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
Studies in Christian Ethics adheres to a rigorous double-blind reviewing policy in which the identities of the referees and the author are concealed from all parties. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees and their reports are forwarded directly to authors within approximately 8 weeks, after which an editorial decision is made.
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, SAGE reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
2.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
2.4 Declaration of conflicting interests
Studies in Christian Ethics encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.
2.5 Research data
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the SAGE Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
SAGE is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the SAGE Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Studies in Christian Ethics and SAGE take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a SAGE journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the SAGE Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. SAGE’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants SAGE the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than SAGE. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the SAGE Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Studies in Christian Ethics offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit SAGE’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from SAGE after receipt of your accepted article.
Studies in Christian Ethics does not currently accept supplemental files.
Studies in Christian Ethics follows its own journal style. Authors should study recent previous issues of the journal carefully and follow these guidelines:
Quoted matter, if more than four lines, should normally be indented, without quotation marks.
Quotations of up to four lines should form part of the text, and should be indicated by single quotation marks. Double quotation marks should be used only for quotations within quotations.
In general, foreign words should be italicised, both in main text and footnotes.Greek and Hebrew fonts should be used where possible.
-ise spellings should be used (recognise, emphasise, organisation, analyse, etc.).
Contributors from North America may use North American spelling and punctuation.
Headings: The levels of heading, if more than one, should be distinguished by type style, e.g. roman (centred) for first-level head; italics (left aligned) for a second-level head.
Underlining should be used for words that the author wishes to emphasise in the body of the paper. The use of quotation marks is to be reserved for quoted material or for commonly disputed terms.
For further reference, The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (Clarendon Press 1981) is recommended.
Studies in Christian Ethics conforms to the following conventions for footnotes. Please note articles from periodicals or titles of book chapters are printed within single quotation marks. Book/journal titles are in italics.
Book titles are in italics.
Journal article:
- Barrett, 'Theology as Grammar: Regulative Principles or Paradigms and Practices?', Modern Theology 25.2 (1988), pp. 155-72.
Book:
Colin E. Gunton, The One, The Three and The Many (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn, 1993), pp. 56-59.
- Stephen Long, John Wesley’s Moral Theology (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2005)
Chapter/article in a collected volume:
J.L. Martyn, 'Have we Found Elijah?', in R. Hamerton-Kelly and R. Scroggs (eds.), Jews, Greeks and Christians: Cultures in Late Aniquity (trans. J. Smith; SJLA, 21; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2nd edn, 1976).
Short title
When a book, a chapter or an article is referred to again, after its first occurrence, a short-title form is used, e.g. Martyn, 'Have we Found Elijah?', p. 235.
The following conventions should be observed in the footnotes:
- When the reference is to a nineteenth-century or older work the publisher's name may be omitted.
- Page references should be in the following form: pp. 92-98, pp. 153-79 but pp. 107-109, pp. 107-114. Avoid the use of 'f.' and 'ff.'
- For more than three authors or editors it is permissible to use et al.
- In the bibliography, multiple entries for an author may be arranged either in chronological or alphabetical order.
- Title and subtitle. Between the title and subtitle of a book there should be a colon, not a full stop (though occasionally a book has a more complicated title and a full stop is more appropriate).
- More than one place of publication. When a publisher has more than one office, only the first stated or the head office should be given.
- More than one publisher. Where a book has been published by more than one publisher, use the following style:
Exeter: Paternoster Press; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
4.6 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using SAGE Language Services. Visit SAGE Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Studies in Christian Ethics is hosted on SAGE Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sce to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the Journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
Books for review need to be sent to:
Kevin Hargaden
Reviews Editor, Studies in Christian Ethics
Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice
54-72 Gardiner Street Upper
Dublin 1, DO1 TX23
Ireland
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process SAGE is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the SAGE Author Gateway.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal SAGE Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the SAGE Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
SAGE provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The SAGE Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Studies in Christian Ethics editorial office as follows:
Dr Susan F. Parsons
Cackle Hill Cottage
Snelston
Ashbourne
Derbyshire DE6 2DL
EMAIL: sfparsons@btinternet.com
The books for review need to be sent to:
Kevin Hargaden
Reviews Editor, Studies in Christian Ethics
Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice
54-72 Gardiner Street Upper
Dublin 1, DO1 TX23
Ireland