Journal Vision
The pages of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith (PSCF) feature
original contributions that advance human understanding of science and
Christian faith. Consistent with the expectations for an academic
journal, the articles it publishes should be clear, relevant, have an
evident central thesis, engage the pertinent scholarly literature with
fairness and rigor, exhibit charity, and conform to the highest
standards of scientific and Christian theological integrity (e.g.
engage Christianity as defined by the Nicene and Apostles' creeds as
articulated in the ASA statement of faith).
Published papers do not reflect any official position of the
American Scientific Affiliation.
Contents:
Contribution Types
PSCF publishes the following types of contributions:
ARTICLES advance a position on a particular subject related to science
and Christian faith. Such papers should be at least 2,000 words but not
more than 8,000 words in length, excluding endnotes. An abstract of
50–150 words and a list of 5–15 keywords are required and should be in
both the text of the email submission and at the beginning of the
attached essay.
INSIGHTS inform readers of important emerging developments in science,
theology, and other disciplines in a way that demonstrates their
relevance for the science-faith conversation. Such papers should not
primarily discuss their authors’ own work and should normally be
between 1,000 and 3,000 words in length, excluding endnotes. They are
written by leading experts at the invitation of the Editor-in-Chief
acting on the advice of the editorial board or in response to an author
proposal. See the INSIGHTS article proposal guidelines below for further
information.
REVIEWS contextualize, summarize, and evaluate important science and
religion conversations while informing readers of the key concepts and
issues involved and identifying promising avenues for further work.
Reviews should be authoritative, comprehensive, and critical. They are
written by leading experts at the invitation of the Editor-in-Chief
acting on the advice of the editorial board or in response to an author
proposal. Prospective authors should consult the REVIEWS article
proposal guidelines below for further information.
BOOK REVIEWS describe, contextualize, and evaluate books of
significance to scholarly science-faith discourse. Book reviews are
written under the guidance of subject area editors, who select books
for review and offer them to scholars with appropriate expertise.
Individuals who would like to be considered as potential reviewers are
welcome to express interest to book review editor E. Janet Warren
(ejanetwarren@gmail.com)
for inclusion in the reviewer database. Publishers may also contact
the book review editor if they are not sure which subject area reviewer
would best consider a particular book.
ESSAY REVIEWS contextualize and evaluate significant recent books
and/or articles so as to offer crucial criticisms or develop novel
proposals based on the ideas therein. To avoid duplication of effort,
essay reviews should be approved by the book review editor prior to
submission. Essay reviews should follow the guidelines for regular
articles.
EDITORIALS of up to 1200 words offer a compelling and informed
perspective on a topic of particularly pressing interest to academic or
popular science and religion conversation. Editorials are typically
written at the invitation of the editor, who prospective authors
without an invitation should contact prior to submission.
LETTERS discuss material published in the preceding two issues of PSCF
and should be no more than 300 words in length, excluding endnotes.
All contributions except ordinary book reviews and letters undergo both
double anonymous peer review and editorial review. Book reviews and
letters are subject to editorial review and may also undergo peer
review at editorial discretion.
Insight Article Proposal Guidelines
INSIGHTS inform readers of important emerging developments in science,
theology, and other disciplines in a way that demonstrates both their
intrinsic importance and their relevance for the science-faith
conversation. Such papers should not primarily discuss their authors’
own work and should normally be between 1,000 and 3,000 words in
length, excluding endnotes. They are written by leading experts at the
invitation of the Editor-in-Chief acting on the advice of the editorial
board or in response to an author proposal.
Proposals for an INSIGHT article should be submitted as a single
document that includes the following:
- Article title
- Author names and affiliations
- A short (100-200 word) description of a new or emerging perspective or
development in science, technology, philosophy, theology, culture, and
other fields of human endeavor, and its importance to thinking about
science and Christian faith.
- A short (<50 word) statement indicating how the proposed article would
offer insight (context, perspective, suggestions for further work,
etc.) in ways that go beyond existing reports.
- A short (<100 word) statement indicating whether the proposed article
might be intended to serve as the basis for a theme issue. In such
cases, the statement should indicate whether the author is willing to
serve as a guest editor or, alternatively, suggest an appropriate guest
editor and identify 2-5 other potential contributors.
- A short 50-word statement outlining the authors’ qualifications for
writing the article.
- A list of relevant references, including the original book or article
in which the new perspective or development was first reported.
- Any additional material the authors judge may help inform the decision
as to whether to accept the proposal.
The process of evaluating such proposals may include back and forth
negotiation of such items as the article’s focus, scope, and length.
Note that acceptance of the proposal does not guarantee acceptance of
the final manuscript. Insight articles undergo an expedited peer review
process and are subject to the same editorial standards as regular
articles.
Review Article Proposal Guidelines
REVIEWS contextualize, summarize, and evaluate important science and
religion conversations while informing readers of the key concepts and
issues involved and identifying promising avenues for further work.
Reviews should be authoritative, comprehensive, and critical. They are
written by leading experts at the invitation of the Editor-in-Chief
acting on the advice of the editorial board or in response to an author
proposal.
Proposals for a review article should be submitted as a single document
that includes the following:
- Article title
- Author names and affiliations
- A short (300-800 word) description of the proposed topic that indicates
why the review topic is of interest to PSCF’s readers, why there is a
need for such a review, and the anticipated word count of the review.
- A short (<100 word) statement indicating whether the proposed article
might be intended to serve as the basis for a theme issue. In such
cases, the statement should indicate whether the author is willing to
serve as a guest editor or, alternatively, suggest an appropriate guest
editor and identify 2-5 other potential contributors.
- A short 50-200-word statement outlining the authors’ qualifications for
writing the review.
- In cases where previous reviews are available as articles or books the
proposal should include a 100-word statement indicating how the
proposed review would differ significantly enough from the prior
reviews to merit publication.
- A list of 5-10 references that would be substantively engaged by the
review.
- Any additional material the authors judge may help inform the decision
as to whether to accept the proposal.
The process of evaluating such proposals may include back and forth
negotiation of such items as the article’s focus, scope, and length.
Note that acceptance of the proposal does not guarantee acceptance of
the final manuscript. Reviews undergo peer review and are subject to
the same editorial standards as regular articles.
Theme Issue Editorial Process
Theme issues of PSCF are normally developed at the initiative of the
editor-in-chief, members of PSCF’s editorial board, or the authors of
INSIGHTS and REVIEW articles. The normal process is as follows:
Once a theme issue is identified and a guest editor selected, the guest
editor may either
- Write a public call for papers (cfp) for publication in PSCF. Such cfps
may be brief 300-800 word descriptions of a topic of relevance to
PSCF’s readers that also identifies areas where science-faith
discussion might benefit from additional contributions. However, more
extensive cfps that might also serve as an INSIGHTS or REVIEW article
are particularly encouraged. In either case, the cpf is subject to
editorial review and, for INSIGHTS or REVIEW articles, the normal
editorial review process. In such cases the cpf will be published in
PSCF prior to the theme issue along with a due date for submissions and
contributions to the theme issue will be open. That is, the theme issue
may feature both reader-submitted and editor-solicited contributions.
- Circulate a brief (500 word) description of the theme issue amongst
3-12 other potential contributors with relevant expertise and ask them
to submit a title, 100-250-word abstract, and author list with
affiliations. The guest editor would then work with these authors and
PSCF’s editor-in-chief to better define the focus of the theme issue
and greenlight an appropriate number of the most promising proposals
for submission of contributions to the theme issue, being careful to
indicate that submission does not guarantee acceptance.
In either case, submitted contributions to the theme issue should
undergo PSCF’s normal editorial process, which will be administered and
overseen by the guest editor under the advisement of the
editor-in-chief. This process should include double blind peer review
of all submissions excepting ordinary book reviews. The double blind
peer-review process should involve at least two reviewers and, for
interdisciplinary topics, an appropriate mix of subject area experts.
Once the guest editor has identified articles they consider to be of
sufficient merit for inclusion in the theme issue, they should forward
them to PSCF’s editor-in-chief for a final round of editorial review.
Although it is not required, guest editors are invited to provide
opportunities for authors to develop their ideas and manuscripts prior
to submission. Possible avenues for doing so include:
- Arranging for discussion of theme issue contributions at an ASA
national meeting. This would involve contacting the organizers of
upcoming ASA conferences about the possibility of holding sessions at
which contributions to the proposed theme issue may be discussed and
developed prior to publication.
- Organizing an online discussion group where prospective authors may
discuss and develop ideas prior to publication. These meetings should
be held regularly, may be held virtually, and ideally would progress
from the discussion of ideas to a discussion of paper drafts or
proposals. Since one goal of such meetings would be to provide
mentoring opportunities, the theme issue editor and, optionally and to
a lesser extent, the editor-in-chief, should help oversee these
meetings.
Manuscript Guidelines
Exclusive Submission Policy
Although PSCF is sometimes open to publishing English-language articles
that have been further developed from exceptionally significant
non-English-language articles and book chapters, in general articles
submitted for publication in PSCF should not have previously been
published in another journal and should not currently be under
consideration by another journal. Doubtful cases should be discussed
with PSCF's editor-in-chief.
Criteria for Authorship
All authors listed in PSCF should either have conceived of the work
described in the article, undertaken substantive investigatory or
interpretive work that contributed to one or more of the article’s
conclusions, written up or substantially revised the article, or
contributed significantly to the creation of software or instruments
described for the first time in the article. All such living authors
are considered accountable for and are expected to approve of the final
published versions of the article. Further, individuals who have made
author-level contributions to PSCF articles may not be excluded from
authorship. In contrast, individuals who contributed to the work but do
not satisfy the criteria for authorship should not be included in the
list of authors but instead acknowledged in an acknowledgements section
following the conclusion of the article.
Authors should also indicate all relevant institutional affiliations
and acknowledge sources of funding and other support that contributed
to successful completion of the article. Authors should also separately
disclose any competing interests, which comprise cases where an
author’s judgement may – or may be reasonably perceived to be –
influenced by nonstandard financial considerations or commitments to
employers, funders, and other institutions except in such cases where
those commitments are public in being already specified by the author’s
funder or affiliation.
AI Usage Policy
While the use of editing tools such as Grammarly and MS Word’s grammar
tools does not need to be disclosed, authors should disclose on
submission any use of Large language AI models such as ChatGPT to
generate substantive content (facts, ideas, trains of thought, etc.).
However, AI may not be used to generate perspectives and other
substantive lines of argumentation and authors are responsible for
ensuring the accuracy of all facts presented. Generative AI may not be
used to prepare images for publication except in cases where such use
is the subject of the article (e.g. in an article offering theological
perspectives on AI-generated art).
Ad Hominem Rule
PSCF’s pages are open to the evaluation and critique of publicly
documented actions and scholarly writings of individuals and groups
living or dead. However, the suitability of such critique for
publication is in direct proportion to its helpfulness and relevance
for public scholarly conversations at the intersection between science
and Christian faith. While PSCF recognizes that directness can be
helpful, in no case will PSCF publish critiques that violate basic
principles of Christian charity or academic discourse. Authors should
also limit the basis of any critique to the content of what others have
written, said, and done and, in cases other than historical studies, to
what living persons have publicly written, said, and done. Excepting
historical studies, authors should also not insinuate or ascribe
motives to persons or groups unless those persons or groups have
clearly and publicly articulated those motives. Finally, under no
circumstances will PSCF publish content which it suspects may
inaccurately represent persons and groups, be defamatory, or otherwise
be unlawful.
Human and Animal Subject Research
While PSCF does not typically publish research best established in the
ordinary scientific or medical literature, it is conceivable that it
may publish studies involving human and/or animal subjects. All such
manuscripts should include in the body of the manuscript a statement
noting the approval of relevant institutional and/or national ethics
committees corresponding to the location where the research was
performed or, alternatively, a statement indicating why the research is
exempt. Exceptions to this policy will be considered in cases where it
can be established that the research was conducted ethically but
approval cannot be reasonably expected (e.g. where a needed approval
was not prospectively requested or research involving previously
available data or biological material for which formal approval or
consent may be difficult to obtain). In such cases the editorial
decision making process will involve bioethical evaluation by editorial
board members and other reviewers with relevant expertise. Decisions
rendered on the basis of a paper’s noncompliance with bioethical
expectations are final and cannot be appealed.
Research involving human subjects and/or their biological materials or
data is also expected to adhere to all applicable laws in the
jurisdiction where such research took place and the ethical standards
of the relevant field, such as the American Psychological Association’s
Human Research Protections Guidelines, the
American Sociological Association’s Code of Ethics, or the ethical principles
set forth in the most recent World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki. Human health
research should be reported following the publication guidelines
recommended by the Equator Network and research involving
animals reported according to the latest Arrive guidelines (see Percie
du Sert, Nathalie, Viki Hurst, Amrita Ahluwalia, Sabina Alam, Marc T.
Avey, Monya Baker, William J. Browne, et al. "The Arrive Guidelines
2.0: Updated Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research." PLOS Biology
18, no. 7 (2020): e3000410).
Language
PSCF publishes articles in English, although its articles may contain
excerpts and quotations in other languages (Hebrew, Greek, Akkadian,
etc.). In such cases, a translation should be provided.
PSCF does not require transliteration of languages that do not use
Latin script (e.g. Greek, Hebrew, etc.). However, any transliteration
provided should follow the guidelines in the Chicago Manual of Style.
Format
PSCF follows the Chicago Manual of Style 18th edition with the
exception that PSCF allows for (but does not require) multiple
references in a single sentence. In all cases references should be
numbered and given as endnotes when the final version of the manuscript
is submitted for publication. However, authors are encouraged (but not
required) to use footnotes as a service to reviewers when submitting
articles prior to peer review. Each note should have a unique number.
Submit a Paper
ARTICLES, INSIGHTS, REVIEWS, ESSAY REVIEWS, and EDITORIALS should
follow the submission process outlined below. LETTERS, with all
references formatted as Endnotes, should be submitted directly to
Stephen Contakes at scontakes@westmont.edu.
BOOK REVIEWS are overseen by the coordinating book review
editor, Janet Warren (ejanetwarren@gmail.com). Book reviews are
typically solicited at the initiative of PSCF's Subject Area Editors.
Interested parties should contact either the coordinating editor or the
appropriate subject area editor for further guidance.
Submission
Authors should submit their manuscript as a Word file to Stephen
Contakes at scontakes@westmont.edu.
All figures, charts, schemes, and tables should be numbered, referred
to by number, and given in the body of the manuscript along with their
captions.
Along with the manuscript, authors should submit an abstract of 50-150
words.
Submission of the Final Accepted Articles
When a manuscript is accepted for publication, authors should submit a
Word file of the completed manuscript with all references formatted as
endnotes according to the manuscript guidelines to Stephen Contakes at
scontakes@westmont.edu.
In addition, figures, charts, and schemes should be submitted as
separate electronic image files in jpg, png, or pdf format.
When languages other than those which employ traditional Latin script
are used, authors should also submit a pdf file of the final accepted
article to ensure accurate copyediting.
Along with this manuscript, authors should submit an abstract of 50-150
words, a list of 5-15 keywords, a short author description of less than
50 words, a headshot, and a completed copyright agreement.
Additional Editorial Policies
General
The editing process of PSCF meets the standard publishing expectations
of the Code of Conduct distributed by the COPE Committee on Publication
Ethics, and aspires as well to the Best Practice Guidelines. These are
enumerated here.
Licensing
The terms by which articles are normally licensed for publication in
PSCF is given in the PSCF copyright agreement. Briefly, authors are
expected to transfer copyright of accepted articles to the American
Scientific Affiliation (ASA) but retain certain rights as outlined in
that agreement.
Articles published in PSCF will be included in BiblioTech, a platform
that curates Christian scholarship for Majority World institutions of
theological education. BiblioTech is DRM protected and secure. The
BiblioTech app includes foreign language translation, and clearly
states that all translations are technologically mediated learning
tools that do not qualify as human translations with editorial
approval. The translation technology is secure and private; content
translated is not susceptible to use by large-language model artificial
intelligence. Translations will not be distributed to third parties,
but will only be made available to the licensed users of BiblioTech,
within the environment of the BiblioTech App.
Open Access and Preprint Policies
PSCF’s open access and preprint policies reflect a balance between the
ASA’s vision of “serving [its] members …in service to society, science,
the church, and one another” and its mission of “interpreting,
integrating, and communicating the discoveries of science with insights
from Scripture and Christian theology”, which is understood to include
direct communication with the world.[1]
Open Access Policies
The pages of PSCF are available exclusively for the use of ASA members,
partners, and subscribers[2] for one year and afterwards made open
access.
In addition, PSCF practices green open access (Green OA), whereby the
authors of published manuscripts are given the right to post articles
on their and their employer’s web pages, use then for classroom
purposes, and post unedited versions of the articles on free access
e-print servers. Specifically, they may
- use all or part of the Article, including the ASA‐prepared version
without revision or modification, on the author(s)’ web home page or
employer’s website
- make copies of all or part of the Article for the author(s)’ and/or the
employer’s use for lecture or classroom purposes. If a fee is charged
for any use, ASA permission must be obtained.
In addition, the articles of authors whose institutions or funders
mandate full open access (gold OA) may make their articles open access
immediately by either paying an article processing charge of US $500
per article or, in cases of financial need or where institutional or
funder requirements require otherwise, by permission of the ASA.
Preprint Policies
PSCF only considers articles for publication that have not been
published elsewhere and are not under consideration elsewhere. Further,
any content that has been made publicly available in any form other
than as a preprint may jeopardize publication of the article. However,
PSCF grants its authors the right to post and update their articles on
free‐access e‐print servers as long as files prepared and/or formatted
by ASA or its vendors are not used for that purpose. On submission,
authors should disclose any prior dissemination of the article in print
or electronic format, including the posting of any prior or
substantially similar draft to a preprint server. Further, any such
posting made or updated after acceptance of the article for publication
shall include a link to the online PSCF abstract, the article itself,
or to the cover page of the appropriate issue of PSCF. If the author
wishes the ASA‐prepared version to be used for an online posting other
than on the author(s)’ or employer’s website, ASA permission is
required and, if permission is granted, ASA will provide the article as
it was published in the journal and use will be subject to ASA terms
and conditions.
Reuse Policies
Authors may reuse data, Figures, Schemes, Tables, artwork from their
articles for teaching, at their presentations at conferences, in their
subsequent scholarly publications, and on their personal, university,
employer, and conference websites provided the published article is
appropriately credited and any modifications to the reused material are
noted.
Authors may reuse all or part of their articles in a thesis or
dissertation the author writes to satisfy undergraduate or graduate
degree-requirements. In such cases, this should be indicated in the
thesis, along with a note indicating the relationship of the reused
material to the published article.
Authors may share copies of their articles with their employer,
colleagues, and students for the purposes of teaching, scholarly
collaboration, and for assessment and review purposes. They may also
provide copies of their articles to their students and attendees at
conference presentations where they discuss work related to the
article.
Authors may also commission non-English translations of all or part of
their articles provided such translations are disclosed to the ASA, the
translation includes a note that the translated version of the article
has not been reviewed by the ASA, the translation clearly indicates it
is a translation of the original PSCF article, and the translation is
not made available outside the aforementioned channels of dissemination
prior to the open access release of the English-language article.
If a fee is charged for any use, ASA permission must be obtained.
Post-Publication Updates
PSCF reserves the right to issue corrections, retraction statements,
editor’s notes, editorial expressions of concern, and other
post-publications updates.
Corrections will be used for minor errors of fact, omission, or
argumentation that might cause readers confusion but which do not
substantively affect the article’s main conclusions. Depending on the
extent of corrections needed, such corrections may either be noted as
nonsubstantive corrections without other explanation (e.g. for
typofixes) or given as a list of errata in a separate document (e.g.
for extensive corrections which would necessitate altering the
article’s pagination). In all cases the corrections will be posted on
PSCF’s website, it will be clearly noted whether the corrections
occurred at the request of an author, authors, or editor, and a link
will be provided to the original uncorrected article.
Requests for name changes should come from the author whose name has
changed and only involve the name change. Requests to update
institutional affiliation, for instance, will not be honored. No reason
for the name change need or should be given. When an author’s name is
changed, the original article and its bibliographic information will be
replaced on PSCF’s website and a note will be made indicating the
article includes nonsubstantive corrections without offering any
explanation other than that the corrections occurred at the request of
an author, although to preserve the form of the original article a link
to the print published form of the article will be retained on PSCF’s
website.
Addendums will be appended when the content of an article PSCF
reasonably assumes has been submitted in good faith is subsequently
shown to contain substantive factual errors, omissions, or errors in
logical argumentation or when subsequent work clearly and unambiguously
falsifies or significantly qualifies the article’s conclusions.
Retractions are used in cases where PSCF judges an article likely
contains fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or was otherwise
offered in bad faith.
When PSCF has received information that it judges merits an
investigation into the possibility that an article may have been
falsified, fabricated, plagiarized, or otherwise offered in bad faith
but has no other reason to suspect such has occurred, an editor’s note
will be issued indicating that PSCF is conducting an inquiry into the
integrity of the article.
When PSCF has good reason to suspect there might be cause to
significantly correct or retract an article but is unable to do so
immediately, an editorial expression of concern will be issued while an
investigation occurs. In cases where the investigation supports the
contention an article was offered in bad faith, a retraction will be
issued. The retraction will be noted on PSCF’s website along with the
article’s bibliographic information, a revised editorial expression of
concern explaining the reason for the retraction, and a link to the
original uncorrected article. In no cases will an editor’s note,
editorial expression of concern, or retraction be issued owing to
disagreements a complainant has with the perspective offered by an
article, in cases where the complaint involves a failure to cite the
complainant’s published work that is not recognizably malicious, or in
cases when PSCF suspects the complaint is offered in bad faith.
Scholarly disagreements and lacunae are more profitably handled via a
letter to the editor or submission of a separate article responding to
the article in question. Similarly, as one function of the scholarship
published by PSCF and other journals is to advance scholarly
conversations with new information and ideas, PSCF will not retract
articles merely on the grounds the ideas therein have been corrected or
superseded by later scholarship.
PSCF also reserves the right to remove articles from its website in
cases where the content of an article is subsequently found to be
defamatory, unlawful, or contain false information that, if acted upon,
could cause significant injury or death. In such cases the article will
be removed from PSCF’s website and replaced with a note outlining the
reason for its removal, although the article’s bibliographic
information will be retained.
Handling of Submissions from PSCF Editors and Editorial Board Members
Submissions from editors and editorial board members are welcome though
no priority or other consideration will be given to such submissions
and the editors or board members involved will be excluded from
involvement in the decision-making process for their own manuscripts.
The evaluation of submissions from the editor-in-chief or for which the
editor-in-chief has or may be perceived of as having a conflict of
interest will be handled by a previous PSCF editor-in-chief or a
previous or past editor of a journal familiar with PSCF’s editorial
practices.
Appeals of Editorial Decision
Appeals for reconsideration of a revision decision should normally be
made as part of the process of responding to reviewer and editorial
comments when submitting a revised manuscript. Editorial rejection
decisions may be appealed by formal written application to the editor
in chief. Such appeals should explain, offering evidence as
appropriate, why they think the editorial decision is in error and
respond to any editorial or reviewer comments that were cited as a
reason for the editorial decision. The appeal request will be
considered by the editor-in-chief excepting in cases where the appeal
involves allegations of bias or conflict of interest involving the
editor-in-chief or in cases where the editor-in-chief recuses
themselves. In such cases the appeal will be handled by a three to
five-member committee of editorial board members appointed by the ASA
executive director. However, no appeals will be considered for
manuscripts judged inconsistent with ethical human subject or animal
research.
Complaints
Complaints about a PSCF editor should be made first directly to the
editor in question and only if unresolved advanced to the
editor-in-chief. In cases where the unresolved complaint remains
unresolved or involves the editor-in-chief, complaint may be made to
the American Scientific Affiliation via its president.
