About the Journal

Focus and Scope

JCREOR was established as an open-access journal, not only to promote diverse critical and hermeneutical exchanges, but also to contribute to democratizing access to high-quality peer-reviewed scholarship and publishing opportunities. Accordingly, JCREOR provides immediate open access to its content and does not charge any subscription fees or article processing fees.

Subject Areas:

  • theology
  • biblical studies
  • comparative religion
  • religion and politics
  • philosophy of religion
  • history of religions
  • sociology of religion
  • anthropology of religion
  • religion, culture, & society
  • religious ethics
  • theory and method in the study of religion & theology

JCREOR accepts two types of article submissions: submissions for announced, special issues, and general submissions that fall within our focus and scope. Special issues are opened on a specified date, and reviewed and accepted articles are published on a rolling basis until the issue is closed, with the uploading of the Editorial Address/Introduction signaling the closing of the issue. General submissions that pass peer review are thematically grouped together and then published under a broad theme. In practice, this means that submissions to special issues are published faster (4–6 months) than general submissions (12 months).

Peer Review Process

After submission, all manuscripts are evaluated by the editor-in-chief (or guest editor in the instance of a special issue) and managing editors to assess the overall suitability of the article for the journal and/or special issue as well as its stated contribution and scholarly rigour. If the article qualifies for peer-review, it will be sent for evaluation by two experts in the subject area of the submission (reviewers must have recent, peer-reviewed publications in the area of the submission). In the case of a substantial disagreement between the first two reviewers, a third review is undertaken. The review process is anonymous, so neither the reviewer nor the author knows the other’s identity.

The final acceptance or rejection decision on reviewed and revised manuscripts can be made by the editor-in-chief, guest editor(s), or an appropriate editorial board member if their specific expertise is needed to make a final decision.

Once accepted, all manuscripts undergo professional copy-editing, English/French editing, proofreading, and layout.

Publication Frequency

The Journal of the Council for Research on Religion is published bi-annually.

Disclaimer

The opinions of our authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial team. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their submitted material.

Therefore we state:
By submitting written material to the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion, the author hereby agrees to assume full legal responsibility in any matter that may arise due to the publication of their submission(s). This can include, but is not limited to, issues of data falsification, libel/slander, moral misconduct, academic misconduct and plagiarism.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. There are no article processing fees or subscription fees.

Copyright 

All content published by the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. The copyright of an article published by JCREOR remains with its author(s).

Self-Archiving Policy

Under the terms of the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-ND, authors are permitted to post their work online in institutional/disciplinary repositories or on their own websites. Pre-print (submitted) versions posted online should include a citation and link to the final published version in JCREOR as soon as the issue is available; accepted versions (including the final publisher’s .pdf) should include a citation and link to the journal’s website.

Journal Archiving and Digital Preservation

JCREOR participates in the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) Archive via the OJS software platform. The PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) digitally preserves OJS journals under the LOCKSS program, which offers decentralized and distributed preservation, seamless perpetual access, and preservation of the authentic original version of the journal’s contents. Learn more here.

ISSN

The Journal of the Council for Research on Religion - e-ISSN 2563-0288

Publisher

McGill University Library

Sources of Financial Support 

SSHRC Connection Grant (Religion and Violence) – vol 1, no. 1 (2019)

SSHRC Connection Grant (Christian Theology After Christendom) – vol. 2, no. 2 (2021)

Lily Endowment Foundation - Who is My Neighbour? Theological Education in the 21st Century – vol. 4, no. 2 (2023)

SSHRC Connection Grant (Analyzing the Discourse of Religious Phobia) – vol. 6, no. 1 (2025)