The Journal of Tibetan Literature publishes two issues per year, in the fall and spring, using a system of single-blind peer-review. It accepts original manuscripts of research, translation, and literary criticism focusing on works of Tibetan-language literature from the ancient to contemporary periods. Please keep the following guidelines in mind as you prepare your submission. Please make your submissions through this platform. If you have questions, you can write us at editors@journaloftibetanliterature.org.
Manuscripts typically should not exceed 12,000 words in length (not inclusive of abstract, notes, and references). JTL currently publishes works in English together with translated Tibetan abstracts.
The Journal accepts research articles on all facets of Tibetan literature. They should refer to and cite original works wherever possible.
Translations should include a commentarial essay to contextualize the content, form, and style of the text. Where possible, the essay should further call attention to the literary qualities and aesthetic dimensions of the text as well as the translator’s approach. Submissions should include a copy of (or link to) the original Tibetan text, together with a full bibliographic citation.
Criticism includes critical and appreciative perspectives on issues of relevance to the reading and research of Tibetan literature, including opinion pieces, explorations of recent scholarship in multiple languages, or constructive pieces that offer productive perspectives on contemporary engagement with Tibetan literature. While works of criticism needn’t follow the traditional format of a research essay, they should include scholarly conventions such as footnotes, as appropriate, and a complete list of cited works.
The Journal also publishes conference notes and brief communications relating to aspects of Tibetan literary studies up to 2000 words.
JTL maintains the right to first publication of all submitted manuscripts. JTL will not review any submission simultaneously under review by another journal.
JTL follows the stylesheet developed by Wisdom Publications, which adapts the Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition for matters of style, including hyphenation, capitalization, punctuation, abbreviations, and grammar. The Wisdom Stylesheet can be found here: https://wisdomexperience.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Wisdom-Style-Guide.pdf.
Manuscripts must be double-spaced and in a 12-point Unicode font, preferably Times New Roman. Manuscripts may use either Wylie transliteration or Tibetan script for Tibetan. Please use THDL protocol for Extended Wylie: https://www.thlib.org/reference/transliteration/#!essay=/thl/ewts/tables/. For Tibetan script, use a standard Unicode font.
Manuscripts should be submitted as both Microsoft Word and PDF documents.
Where available, please include permalink URLs for Tibetan-language materials from the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (www.bdrc.io).
Images and illustrations should be submitted as JPEG files in the highest resolution possible. JTL welcomes original images, illustrations or photographs. Non-original images should be accompanied by complete bibliographic information. Authors are responsible for obtaining copyright clearances for non-original materials.
Authors retain copyright of their works and agree to license their articles with a standard Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 License which can be found at the link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Please consult the JTL Style Sheet for more details on general points of style as well as examples of bibliographic entries.
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
You can download the JTL STYLE SHEET here.
