Journal Policies

Editorial Oversight

QS was overseen by a single Founding Editor until 2021. The Founding Editor invited the two now co-editors to take over. Future editors will be nominated by the current co-editors and will take over, subject to approval by the Editorial Board. The Reviews Editor is an advertised position and the current editor was selected, with the advice of the co-editors, by the Editorial Board.

For articles, editorial decisions on article acceptance are made by the co-editors on the basis of peer review reports by at least two reviewers. For research notes and other short pieces, the two co-editors assess their suitability for publication. For book reviews, the Reviews Editor decides on their suitability for publication.

QS cultivates a broad and experienced Advisory Board that contains members from across different nations, academic institutions, genders and demographics. Potential board members are approached by the editorial team while keeping this diversity in mind.

Peer Review Process

Articles submitted to QS go through the following stages:

  1. The author submits their article;
  2. Editors review the submission for general suitability, in line with the journal's 'Focus and Scope';
  3. Two experts are asked to provide anonymous peer review reports;
  4. The editors received and check the peer review reports;
  5. The editors decide whether or not to accept and publish the submission, based on the peer review outcome and their own editorial scrutiny;
  6. Editors notify the author of the outcome.

If the article is recommended for publication subject to revisions, the next steps are:

  1. Editors provide the author with feedback from the peer reviewers and request any changes;
  2. The author submits their revised article;
  3. epending on the number and type of revisions outlined by the reviewers, major revisions often require a second round of peer review, or re-review, when further revisions may be necessary;
  4. The editors ultimately accept or decline the article based on the revisions and further peer review reports, if the manuscript was sent for re-review.

Double anonymous review is used because QS is a small scholarly community and the journal wishes to maintain the highest standards of scholarly rather than personal judgement.

Double anonymous review is used for all full-length research articles. Research notes, which are shorter and present work-in-progress, updates or resources, are only reviewed by the editors. Other exceptions include the winners of essay prizes and the texts of public lectures. These are always labelled as such.

Selection of Peer Reviewers

The editors approach peer reviewers, usually leading experts in the relevant field.

QS does not allow for authors to submit peer reviewer suggestions to the journal. Any such suggestions will be disregarded by the editors, who source peer reviewers themselves.

Guidance for Peer Reviewers

Anonymised manuscripts, which may include abstracts and figures, and reviewer guidelines are provided to all peer reviewers prior to them completing their peer review report. The journal expects reviewers to word their feedback in a way that they themselves would like to receive it.

Publication of Peer Review Reports

According to its double-anonymous peer review policy, QS does not publish peer review reports alongside articles, or the names of the peer reviewers who have undertaken review of the article. Anonymised peer review data is held securely and privately in the journal’s publishing platform for the author to access whenever they choose to.

Organisation and Governance

QS is published on behalf of The Quaker Studies Research Association (QSRA). The QSRA was formed in 1992 and, with an international membership, is the umbrella organisation for all those studying, teaching, researching or connected with research into one of the areas of Quaker Studies. The journal is also co-sponsored by the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies at Woodbrooke and the American Academy of Religion Quaker Studies Group.

The Editorial Board of the journal approves the nomination of the editor(s), based on names suggested by the previous editor(s). Appointments are not of fixed duration. This journal was formerly published by Liverpool University Press until 2023 but is now published solely by OLH.

The journal is currently reviewing its governance structure and will provide more detailed information on this in due course.

Business Practices

Advertising and Direct Marketting

QS does not permit any advertising on the journal’s website and will never consider requests of any kind from other parties wishing to advertise in the journal or on its webpages.

QS does not engage in any direct marketing practices.

The publisher, OLH, employs a Marketing Officer who undertakes general marketing activities for the publisher including the promotion of its journals. The Marketing Officer does not, however, engage in direct marketing for any OLH journals and this does not affect the editorial decisions of OLH journals in any way.

Other Revenue

This journal is funded by OLH’s Library Partnership Subsidy Model and individual articles may be funded by Voluntary Author Contributions (VACs). However, the journal does not generate any additional streams of revenue and the above does not affect the editorial decisions of the journal in any way.

Preprint Policy

QS does not publish preprints. The journal may consider material based on work that has been made openly available as a preprint, but it must pass through the usual peer-review process for the article type.

Special Issues

Special issues collect together articles on a particular theme, often under guest editors, and the articles self-contained in a dedicated section. Special issues do not deviate from the journal’s standard publishing cycle.

Anyone is welcome to contact the editors with an idea for a special issue. The editors consider these proposals and either manage the issue directly or appoint a guest editor for the issue. All research articles within the issue are peer-reviewed in the usual way.

The main editorial team oversees the publication of these issues, sometimes with the assistance of a guest editor. All guest editors are thoroughly vetted prior to their engagement with the journal's workflow, and at least one member of the main editorial team monitors the publishing process for guest-edited special issues to safeguard against potential malpractice.