Unio cum Christo is committed to a journal publishing process in the field of theology characterized by a high standard of academic content and editorial objectivity. It is published twice a year (April and October) by Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, USA, and International Reformed Evangelical Seminary, Jakarta, Indonesia. The journal is available in print and in electronic version, and is archived on the journal website (https://uniocc.com/archive) and full texts of the contributions are available on ATLA Plus (an indexing service for theological and religious periodicals, www.atla.com). Publication is overseen by an Editorial Committee of five members, advised by an international Editorial Board of recognized scholars in their field (https://uniocc.com/about/editors).
The following statement indicates lines of the policy adopted by the editorial committee of the journal [for a comprehensive treatment of ethical issues in relation to journal publishing, see Sally Morris, Ed Barnas, Douglas LaFrenier, and Margaret Reich, The Handbook of Journal Publishing (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 358-79] in the following areas:
Unio cum Christo seeks to maintain the standards of excellence that characterize the academic institutions it represents, including respect for:
• honesty in research procedures;
• carefulness and thoroughness in research practice;
• transparency, openness, and globality;
• respect for the subjects and those involved in the field of research.
In the case of failure to meet these standards those concerned should raise the issue with the managing editor of the journal.
The editorial process seeks to achieve standards of independence, comprehensiveness, and objectivity for all contributions. Freedom of expression is maintained by the fact that the journal does not approve or disapprove of contributors' positions. Contributors are encouraged to present the results of their research without constraint from vested or party interests, commercial, ideological, or other.
Editorial decisions to publish or not are made by the editorial committee and based on independent peer review reports. Appeals following a decision not to publish a contribution can be addressed to the Editorial committee with a motivated request.
• Authorship implies personal active engagement in research, drafting, final form, and the subsequent submission of texts. Persons thus involved are referred to as authors and agree to the peer review process and stand accountable for all aspects of their work, including questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of their specific contribution.
• Sources are referenced in notes and in particular cases, bibliography.
• Institutional and other affiliations are listed to clarify any potential conflict of interest.
• For some articles or contributions, an honorarium is paid on the publication of some contributions according to the agreement with the author before undertaking to write.
• Reviewers of books are not to have had involvement in the production of the book reviewed.
Plagiarism is unacceptable to the journal and any articles with unresolved misconduct issues will be refused without appeal for this reason. It includes reproducing (cutting and pasting sources), paraphrasing a text or the ideas of others without proper citation of those concerned, or of the author themself (self-plagiarism). The journal uses electronic tools to check plagiarism. Authors are to carefully use quotation marks or block quotes and reference all citations. Common knowledge or recognized facts are not necessarily referenced.
In specific cases, an author may reuse previously published material with proper referencing, especially if a contribution is of the review type. In such cases, copyright issues should be cleared before publication and the references to the original text should be acknowledged. Similarly, should the journal publish a translation, the proper copyright to translate the original is to be sought from the author and the publisher.
Texts published in Unio cum Christo are the property of the journal. Authors are to seek permission from the Editor in chief to republish or post a text online.
Print and PDF versions of the journal are available to institutions and individuals through subscriptions (https://uniocc.com/). The electronic texts of individual contributions can be accessed through theological libraries who subscribe to ATLA Plus (www.atla.com). Older issues of the journal are available for free on the website (https://uniocc.com/archive).
Authors are required to submit their manuscript only to Unio cum Christo. Manuscripts submitted in duplicate elsewhere are not considered.
Peer review, "the obtaining of advice on individual manuscripts provided by experts in the field," is an anonymous procedure both with respect to the authors and with respect to the feedback reviewers provide.
All contributions to Unio cum Christo are subject to the review and approval of the editor in chief (main editor peer review) and by at least one other member of the editorial team. Submissions are also subject to independent peer reviews by specialists in their field (double-blind peer review). In the case of questions arising before acceptance a second independent peer review may be sought. Care is paid by the editorial committee to avoid insufficient or fraudulent peer review. The procedure of peer review follows the objective indications provided by the form sheet sent to peer reviewers. The final decision to publish an article following peer review is taken by the editor in chief together with members of editorial board.
Book reviews are vetted by the book review editor, the editor in chief, and the managing editor.
Submissions will be reviewed by the editorial committee and peer readers in a timely and appropriate manner.
Please click here to download the peer review form.
Unio cum Christo commits to accompanying contributors in defining and deciding on subjects, through the submission process, and to the eventual publication of their work.
Texts are returned to the authors for review and correction when clarification is needed or substantial changes have been made to the submitted text. All contributions are edited and formatted by the editorial team following the in-house rules before they are sent to the copy editor. The editorial team may make changes in texts to assure conformity to readable English style. The editor in chief evaluates all documents for content and style before they are sent to the typesetter. The typeset files are checked at least once by two members of the editorial team before they are submitted to the printer. Similarly, the printer files are signed off by two members of the team.
• Being an international journal Unio cum Christo accepts all scholarly contributions irrespective of ethnic, cultural or national origin.
• Authors are responsible for the content of their work and for personal views expressed.
• Any complaints regarding published material will be dealt with by the editorial committee of Unio cum Christo in collaboration with the contributors.
• Adversarial responses to published articles can be considered on request.
• In the case of errata being discovered or authorial retraction after publication a notification to that effect will be published in a subsequent issue of the journal.
Submissions to Unio cum Christo are considered confidential. They will only be shared with the editorial committee and peer reviewers. Such material will not be disclosed until publication and not at all if unpublished.