About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The Journal for the Study of Religious Experience (JSRE) 

JSRE aims at gathering together different approaches to the study of religious experience. Therefore, it encourages submissions from scholars working in the area of anthropology, sociology, psychology, and religious studies.

JSRE welcomes submissions in the following formats:

Journal Articles: original research aimed at contributing to the scholarly discourse in the field of the study of spiritual or religious experience by proposing theoretical developments, engaging in current debates, or discussing experimental methodologies. Approx. length (7.000-10.000 words).

Field Reports:  in order to disseminate current research in the field of religious experience we welcome reports on work-in-progress research projects discussing initial findings. Approx. length (2,000 to 4,000 words).

The  Journal for the Study of Religious Experience (JSRE) is promoted by the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre (RERC), University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Sir Alister Hardy, a renowned scientist, approached the complex field of religious and spiritual experience from a similar disciplined and scientific manner in which he approach natural science. Asking people from the public to send him accounts of first-hand experiences with spiritual or religious powers he established the Religious Experience Research Centre that has been since then at the forefront of the academic study of religious experiences. This journal will take his work forward and engage in the study of religious and spiritual experiences from an academic perspective.

 

Peer Review Process

The Journal for the Study of Religious Experience operates a conventional single-blind reviewing policy in which the reviewer's name is always concealed from the submitting author. Submissions are reviewed initially by the Editors and then by two or sometimes three external referees.

The typical articles publication process is:

  • An author submits a paper to our journal;
  • The managing editor assigns two reviewers;
  • Reviewers submit their reports and recommendations;
  • The editors take a decision based on the submitted manuscript and the submitted recommendations;
  • The managing editor informs the author about the decision and forwards the reviews;
  • If the author is asked to make changes, the paper can be resubmitted. If the paper is not suitable for this journal or contains fatal errors, the paper will be rejected and cannot be resubmitted;
  • Either the paper is accepted, or the author is asked to make minor revisions before acceptance, or the author is asked to make major revisions and resubmit the article for a second review, or the paper is rejected due to fatal errors that cannot be corrected or the topic is unsuitable for this journal;
  • If the paper is accepted, the author is asked to layout the paper according to our guidelines (references, citations, format, etc.) if the author has not done so in the first place;
  • The paper is published as soon as we receive the author's final version. 

Publication Frequency

The Journal for the Study of Religious Experience publishes one issue a year. We encourage authors to contribute to the open submission phase.

JSRE may publish special issues compiling best papers from conferences or the RERC Seminars. Only invited authors may contribute. It may also publish special issues which will provide an open call on a specific topic related to the focus of JSRE, edited by invited guest editors.

Open Access Policy

This Journal for the Study of Religious Experience provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

We ask authors to register with JSRE to manage the publishing process. Authors play an active role in the publishing process and take full responsibility for using the layout template and proofreading their submissions. As editors we maintain the right not to publish papers that do not meet our quality standards.

To gain all benefits of the JSRE community we recommend to readers that they register with our journal.