http://www.aarweb.org/Publications/RSN/default.asp
Religious Studies News
Religious Studies News (RSN) is the newspaper of record for the field especially designed to serve the professional needs of persons involved in teaching and scholarship in religion (broadly construed to include religious studies, theology, and sacred texts). Published quarterly online by the American Academy of Religion, RSN is received by some 10,000 scholars and by libraries at colleges and universities internationally. Religious Studies News communicates the important events of the field and related areas and examines critical issues in education, pedagogy (especially through the biannual Spotlight on Teaching), theological education (through the annual Spotlight on Theological Education), research, publishing, and the public understanding of religion. It also publishes news about the services and programs of the AAR and other organizations, including employment services and registration information for the Annual Meeting and related activities. It does not accept books for review.
Editor: Stephanie Gray, M.T.S.
Writing Guidelines
RSN is not a scholarly journal. It is the newspaper of record for the field. Features should demonstrate an understanding of the field but have a more informal, narrative feel.
Your piece is not a scholarly treatise and therefore you should avoid footnotes, specialized research language, or knowledge of "canonical works" in your subfield. We can incorporate in-text citations, but they should be kept to a minimum. Please don’t write as you would for a journal article. Vignettes are good.
Readers want to know something about you as a person, with a story worth sharing. We encourage you to include such information in the piece where appropriate. Also, use sidebars to present related materials or a lot of facts. You will be given a total word count, and the count includes words used in such sidebars.
As RSN is not a journal, but a newspaper, and considering the incredible number of contributing authors, it is impossible to show each edit as you would expect during a book or journal publishing process.
RSN reserves the right to edit the piece for content, length, and format; however, after you have submitted the article, you will not be able to proof any further edits. The RSN editor will contact the author if there is major editing, rewriting, clarification, or amplification involved. We will not be contacting authors for grammar, style, or length edits.
Submission Guidelines
Items needed for complete submission:
- Article meeting specifications discussed in writing guidelines (contact RSN Editor for word length and subject matter prior to submission).
- A short biographical paragraph of no more than 150 words. It should include your background, research, teaching commitments, major published work, etc.
- A head shot, electronic of 300 dpi resolution for 2” square space [i.e., at least 600 pixels on the shortest axis].
- Feel free to submit other artwork or photos, audio clips, or video clips. While we can’t guarantee that we will be able to include all materials with the article, we will make every effort to do so. If you submit additional photos or images for your article, be sure to provide captions and necessary photo credits. The article shouldn’t require the inclusion of such media in case we do not post the materials with the piece.
- Optional: A resources or reading list to be included with your article for the readers to study other materials on the topic being discussed. Please limit your list to 10 items maximum (recommend 5-7 items).
Religious Studies News is published four times a year. Deadlines for submissions are:
January issue: November 15 deadline
March Issue: January 15 deadline
May Issue: March 15 deadline
October Issue: July 15 deadline
Send your materials in electronic form only to the RSN Editor, Stephanie Gray, at sgray@aarweb.org.
