Information For Authors

Update: As of 9/28/22, new submissions have been temporarily disabled. We are very grateful for your patience over the past months as JOCI began the process of moving to our new publisher, the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) Libraries, under the aegis of UNC’s Center for Applied Contemplative Studies.

As you may know, this transfer is occurring in response to the closing of JOCI's founding publisher, the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society (CMind). The legal process of dissolving the CMind 501c3 and transferring its assets, including JOCI, now requires us to await a decision from the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General before the formal transfer to UNC can be finalized.

This process may take some months, and we are planning to resume production of the next issue with a new editorial team by March 2023. Hence, new submissions are currently paused due to this anticipated delay in our publishing schedule.

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The Journal of Contemplative Inquiry (ISSN: 2333-7281), founded by the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal publishing articles, reflections, and book reviews to support the scholarly exchange of ideas regarding the understanding, development, and application of contemplative and introspective methods in all aspects of higher education. Our intention is to share knowledge that is theoretically grounded and practically useful for teachers, students, staff, and leadership in higher education and related contexts.  

We seek to publish work that builds bridges between the emerging field of contemplative education, broadly defined, and related practices in the wider Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), student life, faculty development, leadership studies, and related areas. Particularly welcomed are submissions that further compassion and social justice in all aspects of higher education and in our world more widely. We welcome submissions that introduce, explore, and evaluate contemplative practices from different cultural traditions that deepen and support interactions across cultural boundaries and identities. This includes work that may draw on paradigms for conducting research that are different from or in addition to conventional academic methodologies.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

  • All submissions must be original works not previously published and not currently under review by other publications.

  • Papers should be suitable for a broad, interdisciplinary audience.

  • We do not accept outlines or drafts for review. Submissions should be prepared as if they are ready for publication.

  • JOCI operates a blind peer review process during which the identities of the author and the reviewers are concealed. Please be sure to remove your name (and the names of any co-authors) from your manuscript text and your file properties. If you are citing your own previously published work, we ask that you keep your name in the citations and reference pages as though you were any other cited author, provided that such citations do not indicate that you are also the author of the manuscript.

  • The suggested word count is 7,500 words for articles and case studies, 3,000 words for reflections, and 1,500 for book reviews.

  • Follow our Author Guidelines for more detailed information on document formatting, punctuation, quotations, etc.

  • Please use APA format for your citations. All submissions must include references.

 

Articles

Articles should describe and analyze specific developments and practical applications of contemplative practice and inquiry relevant to higher education. We seek papers that consider the context and source of the scholarship and practices and we support the representation of diverse contemplative theories, approaches, and methods. Expected length of articles is roughly 7,500 words.

Reflections

Reflections may include personal narratives, research notes, literature reviews, opinion pieces, and creative/artistic presentations of material, including controversial or challenging material. Reflections should engage substantive issues in contemplative education and are evaluated with the same criteria used for articles, as applicable to the piece. Expected length of reflections is roughly 3,000 words.

Book Reviews

JOCI is interested in publishing book reviews. Authors and publishers can send publications to be considered for review to the editor. Materials received will not be returned. The editor will solicit book reviews from impartial reviewers. Unsolicited reviews may also be considered for publication, although decisions to publish reviews are made at the discretion of the editor. We seek to publish engaging, informative, and critical reviews of books related to contemplative education and contemplative learning broadly conceived. Book reviews should be addressed to the interdisciplinary and international readership of the journal. Reviews should describe the intended audience of the book, summarize its major themes, outline the theoretical framework and core assumptions of the work, and critically assess the argument of the book and its overall contribution to the field. Book reviews will be roughly 1,000-1,500 words, although longer reviews may be admissible in the case that several works are being reviewed.


CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING SUBMISSIONS

Articles should describe and analyze specific developments and practical applications of contemplative practice and inquiry relevant to higher education. We seek papers that consider the context and source of the scholarship and practices, and we support the representation of diverse contemplative theories, approaches, and methods.  Articles are evaluated against the following criteria:

  1. Clarity and extent of the description and analysis of the contemplative practice/inquiry used

  2. Suitability for a broad, interdisciplinary academic audience

  3. Potential impact on teaching, learning, and the broader cultures and social contexts of higher education

  4. Quality of the writing

  5. Consideration of relevant literature and research, including publications in earlier issues of JOCI

  6. Quality of the analysis or assessment.

Reflections should engage substantive issues in the field and are evaluated with the same criteria used for articles, as applicable to the piece.

TO SUBMIT YOUR MANUSCRIPT

  1. Register with the journal. During registration, you must select the option to enroll as an author.

    If you are already registered but have not enrolled as an author, you must edit your profile and select this option before beginning the submission process.
     
  2. Once you are enrolled as an author and have logged in to the website, you may begin the five-step submission process here.

The Journal of Contemplative Inquiry (ISSN: 2333-7281) is an online, peer-reviewed journal which advances the understanding, development, and application of contemplative and introspective methods in order to serve a vision of higher education as an opportunity for cultivating personal and social awareness and an exploration of meaning, values, and engaged action. The development of critical first-person perspectives and alternative ways of knowing allows everyone in higher education to examine their own experience in relationship to the material they study, transforming their understanding of how their work, study, and actions affect the wider world.