Pro Ecclesia
A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical TheologyPro Ecclesia is a quarterly journal of theology published by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. It seeks to give contemporary expression to the one apostolic faith and its classic traditions, working for and manifesting the church's unity by research, theological construction, and free exchange of opinion. Members of its advisory council represent communities committed to the authority of Holy Scripture, ecumenical dogmatic teaching and the structural continuity of the church, and are themselves dedicated to maintaining and invigorating these commitments. The journal publishes biblical, liturgical, historical and doctrinal articles that promote or illumine its purposes.
New to SAGE in 2019
Pro Ecclesia is the theology journal of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. It publishes academically rigorous articles on biblical, liturgical, historical and doctrinal topics, aiming to serve the church (and thus be pro ecclesia), promote its ecumenical unity (and thus be catholic) and speak the truth about the Gospel of Jesus Christ entrusted to it (and thus be evangelical). Its advisory council includes members from ecclesial communities committed to the apostolic faith, the authority of Holy Scripture, the great tradition of Christian doctrine, the historical continuity of the church, and the divine call to personal holiness and obedience to Christ.
New to SAGE in 2019
| Phillip Cary | Eastern University, USA |
| Joel Thomas Chopp | Asbury Theological Seminary, USA. |
| Brett Salkeld | Roman Catholic Diocese of Regina, Canada |
| John Behr | St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, USA |
| William T. Cavanaugh | DePaul University, USA |
| Lois Malcolm | Luther Seminary, USA |
| Joseph L. Mangina | Wycliffe College, Toronto School of Theology, Canada |
| Bruce Marshall | Southern Methodist University, USA |
| R. R. Reno | Institute on Religion and Public Life, USA |
| Michael Root | Catholic University of America, USA |
| Katherine Sonderegger | Virginia Theological Seminary, USA |
| R. Kendall Soulen | Wesley Theological Seminary, USA |
| Telford Work | Wesmont College, USA |
| David S. Yeago | Trinity School for Ministry, USA |
| Khaled Anatolios | University of Notre Dame, USA |
| Gary Anderson | University of Notre Dame, USA |
| Jeffrey Bingham | Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, USA |
| Hans Boersma | Regent College, Canada |
| Jason Byassee | Vancouver School of Theology, Canada |
| Brian Daley | University of Notre Dame, USA |
| Ellen Davis | Duke University Divinity School, USA |
| Barry Harvey | Baylor University, USA |
| Stanley Hauerwas | Duke University Divinity School, USA |
| Christopher R. J. Holmes | University of Otago, New Zealand |
| Mickey Mattox | Marquette University, USA |
| Mark McIntosh | Loyola University Chicago, USA |
| Gilbert Meilaender | Valparaiso University, USA |
| R. David Nelson | Baker Academic and Brazos Press, USA |
| Friederike Nüssel | University of Heidelberg, Germany |
| Chad Pecknold | Catholic University of America, USA |
| Ephraim Radner | Wycliffe College, Toronto School of Theology, Canada |
| Risto Saarinen | University of Helsinki, Finland |
| Alan Torrance | University of St. Andrews, UK |
| Kevin Vanhoozer | Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, USA |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/proecclesia to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Pro Ecclesia 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 Pro Ecclesia 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.
1. What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper
2. Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.5 Research Data
3. Publishing polices
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
3.3 Open Access and author archiving
4. Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services
5. Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions
6. 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
1. What do we publish?
Before submitting your manuscript to Pro Ecclesia, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Pro Ecclesia publishes:
(1) Articles in any branch of Christian theology (e.g., historical, systematic, liturgical or exegetical) that fit its aims and scope. Articles may explicitly take the standpoint of specific ecclesial traditions (Catholic, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc.) so long as the ecumenical value of the article is clear.
Submissions in this category will be peer-reviewed. Submissions should be under 12,000 words (including references), though longer submissions of exceptional interest may be considered.
(2) Review essays focusing on major new publications in the field, typically 5,000 words or less, accepted by the Editor.
(3) Commentary pieces, which are shorter and more topical, usually less than 2,500 words, accepted by the Editor.
(4) Theologically rich and exegetically well-grounded sermons will also be considered at the Editor's discretion.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online
Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:
• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
• The author has recommended the reviewer
• The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).
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.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
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.
2.4 Declaration of conflicting interests
Pro Ecclesia encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
It is the policy of Pro Ecclesia to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.
Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.
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.
Pro Ecclesia 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 plagiarized 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.
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
Pro Ecclesia 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.
This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.
Pro Ecclesia adheres to the Chicago Manual of Style for references. View the guide here to ensure your manuscript conforms to this style. The journal uses footnotes rather than endnotes. Bibliographical information should be included in footnotes rather than a Works Cited list.
4.5 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.
Pro Ecclesia is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/proecclesia 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.
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 Pro Ecclesia editorial office as follows:
Phillip Cary, Editor
pcary@eastern.edu
Inquiries about book reviews may be sent to the Book Review Editor:
Brett Salkeld
bretzky@hotmail.com