Journal of Islamic Studies

Journal of Islamic Studies
Title	Journal of Islamic Studies
Discipline	Islamic studies
Abbreviation	JIS
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Country	United Kingdom
Frequency	Quarterly
History	1990–present
Issn	0965-1006

Journal of Islamic Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on Islam, Muslim world, and Muslim societies. It publishes articles, review essays, and book reviews addressing historical, textual, legal, theological, and social dimensions of Islam and Muslim communities. The journal engages with scholars working on topics related to the Qur'an, Hadith, Sharia, Sufism, Sunni Islam, Shi'ism, and interactions between Muslims and non-Muslim polities such as the Ottoman Empire, Safavid dynasty, Mughal Empire, and modern states like Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

History

The journal was established in 1990 during a period of expanding scholarship on Islam, contemporaneous with increased academic attention to the Iranian Revolution, the end of the Cold War, and regional developments in North Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. Early editorial leadership included scholars with research ties to institutions such as Oxford University, Cambridge University, University of Chicago, SOAS University of London, and Harvard University. Over successive decades the journal reflected shifts in the field, responding to debates sparked by works associated with figures like Edward Said, historians of the Abbasid Caliphate and Umayyad Caliphate, and legal historians studying the Mali Empire and Al-Andalus.

Scope and editorial focus

The journal's remit encompasses textual studies of the Qur'an and canonical corpora including the Kutub al-Sitta, philological work on Arabic and Persian manuscripts such as those connected to Ibn Sina and Al-Farabi, and historical research on dynasties like the Mamluk Sultanate, Ayyubid dynasty, and Timurid Empire. It welcomes contributions on theological debates involving figures such as Al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyya, Jalal al-Din Rumi, and Ibn Khaldun, as well as modern intellectual histories tied to thinkers like Muhammad Iqbal, Sayyid Qutb, Fazlur Rahman, and Ali Shariati. The journal also publishes work on legal traditions related to the Hanafi school, Maliki school, Shafi'i school, and Ja'fari jurisprudence, and on socio-political movements including Pan-Islamism, Wahhabism, Muslim Brotherhood, and Tanzimat reforms.

Publication and indexing

Published by Oxford University Press, the journal appears quarterly and is abstracted and indexed in major bibliographic services linked to institutions such as JSTOR, Scopus, and the Web of Science. It is catalogued in university libraries including Bodleian Library, British Library, Library of Congress, National Library of Australia, and Bibliothèque nationale de France. The journal's publication schedule aligns with academic calendars used by departments at Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, University of Michigan, and McGill University.

Editorial board and peer review

The editorial board has included senior scholars affiliated with departments and centers such as Institute of Ismaili Studies, King's College London, Princeton University Department of Near Eastern Studies, Harvard Divinity School, and Leiden University. Peer review follows standard double-blind procedures practised by journals associated with Modern Language Association and scholarly societies like the Middle East Studies Association and the British Association for Islamic Studies. Editors have overseen special issues on themes involving archives from Damascus, Cairo, Baghdad, and Istanbul, and interdisciplinary work connecting to research at institutions such as the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity and the school of Oriental and African Studies.

Notable articles and impact

The journal has published influential articles engaging with debates provoked by scholars and events including Edward Said's critique of Orientalism, historiography of the Crusades, reinterpretations of the Islamic Golden Age, and reassessments of figures like Ibn Battuta and Al-Biruni. It has featured archival studies drawing on manuscripts from collections tied to Patiala Library, Topkapi Palace, and the Suleymaniye Library, and methodological pieces addressing digital humanities projects related to the Waqf registers and epigraphic corpora from Syria and Iran. Citation impact is reflected in citations by monographs published by presses such as Cambridge University Press, Brill, Routledge, Edinburgh University Press, and Palgrave Macmillan.

Access and availability

The journal is distributed through institutional subscriptions held by universities including Oxford University, Cambridge University, University of Toronto, Australian National University, and National University of Singapore. Individual readership is supported via digital platforms associated with Oxford University Press and archival access on repositories such as JSTOR where back issues are available. Libraries and researchers can obtain physical copies deposited in collections like the British Library and university special collections at Yale, Princeton, and Columbia.

Category:Academic journals Category:Islamic studies journals Category:Oxford University Press academic journals