Aims & Scope
IJMES focuses on the area encompassing the Middle East and adjacent geo-cultural regions from the seventh century to the present. This area includes North and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab, Turkic and Persianate worlds, the Mediterranean and Balkans, Central, South and Southeast Asia and areas to which peoples from these lands have migrated or settled. Essays on communities that have historical, political, cultural or religious ties to the Middle East and on transnational or trans-regional relations are encouraged. Particular attention will be paid to works dealing with anthropology, art and architecture, cultural studies, economics, gender and LGBQT studies, history, indigenous studies, law, literature, political science, religious studies, and sociology.
IJMES editorial policy requires that articles be based on original research and the careful analysis of archival and other primary-source materials. IJMES evaluates manuscripts with the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere in any language and are not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
IJMES remains committed to combatting conscious or unconscious bias with regard to gender, sexual preference, class, ethnicity, religion, or nationality. The journal also remains committed to expanding the scope of international multi-lingual research that strives to interpret the lived and living experiences of peoples of diverse backgrounds and orientations.
The Editorial Office at the University of Arkansas maintains its website here.
Article Types Accepted
- Article*
- Book Review (solicited)
- Book Review Essay (solicited)*
- Foundational Text (solicited)
- Review Essay*
- Roundtable*
* If publishing Gold Open Access, all or part of the publication costs for these article types may be covered by one of the agreements Cambridge University Press has made to support open access.
Author Resources
Editorial Office Website
Website of the editorial office at the University of Arkansas.
IJMES Translation and Transliteration Guide
General IJMES guidelines for translations and transliterated text.
IJMES Word List
Includes transliterations of common words, exceptions to the transliteration guidelines, and IJMES-approved spellings, word choices, and capitalization/italicization/hyphenation preferences for many foreign-language and English terms (e.g., the Prophet Muhammad, the Arabian peninsula, World War II).
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
IJMES and Cambridge University Press use Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary to determine whether a foreign-language word has an accepted English spelling. Except for words included in the IJMES Word List (above), any word that appears in Webster’s should be spelled as it appears there, without italicization or diacritical marks. Words that are neither in Webster’s nor the IJMES Word List are considered “technical terms” and must be transliterated, with diacritics, according to the IJMES Transliteration Guide and Transliteration Chart above, except in cases outlined in the Transliteration Guide (titles, names, etc).
Jaghbub Uni Font
Any Unicode font may be used in submissions with transliterated text. IJMES prefers either recent versions of Times New Roman (which are Unicode-compliant), or Jaghbub Uni, which is based on Times New Roman. Jaghbub Uni may be downloaded for free through the link above. Once the font is downloaded, it must be installed on your system. For font installation instructions, see the Microsoft website for Windows, or the Jaghbub Uni site (link above) for Macintosh. Once installed, the transliteration symbols can be inserted in MS Word by selecting "Insert--Symbol" while Jaghbub Uni is selected as the font. From the Symbol popup window, shortcut keys can be set up (e.g., "alt-s" for "s" with a dot underneath) so that you do not need to use Insert--Symbol each subsequent time.