Citation and Reference Style

Islamic Sciences follows the Chicago Manual of Style, Notes and Bibliography system. Authors should use footnotes for citations and provide a bibliography at the end of the article.

The journal places greater importance on accuracy and consistency than on minor stylistic details at the initial submission stage. References should be complete enough for editors, reviewers, and readers to identify the source without difficulty.

Basic Practice

The first reference to a source should normally appear in full. Later references to the same work may use a shortened form consisting of the author's surname, a shortened title, and the relevant page number.

For example:

First citation

Muzaffar Iqbal, Islam and Science (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), 45.

Later citation

Iqbal, Islam and Science, 52.

Bibliography

Iqbal, Muzaffar. Islam and Science. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002.

The journal normally prefers shortened citations to repeated use of ibid.

Books

A book citation should identify the author, title, publication details, and the page or pages being cited.

Footnote

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Knowledge and the Sacred (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989), 78.

Bibliography

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Knowledge and the Sacred. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.

For a book written by two authors:

Footnote

John L. Esposito and John O. Voll, Islam and Democracy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 32.

Bibliography

Esposito, John L., and John O. Voll. Islam and Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Chapters in Edited Books

A chapter should be cited under the name of the chapter author, followed by the chapter title and details of the edited volume.

Footnote

Author First Name Last Name, “Chapter Title,” in Book Title, ed. Editor First Name Last Name (Place: Publisher, year), 45.

Bibliography

Last Name, First Name. “Chapter Title.” In Book Title, edited by Editor First Name Last Name, 35–56. Place: Publisher, year.

Journal Articles

Journal references should include the author, article title, journal title, volume and issue number where available, year, and relevant page number.

Footnote

Osman Bakar, “The Question of Methodology in Islamic Science,” Muslim Education Quarterly 4, no. 4 (1987): 16–17.

Bibliography

Bakar, Osman. “The Question of Methodology in Islamic Science.” Muslim Education Quarterly 4, no. 4 (1987): 12–29.

Where an article has a DOI, it should normally be included in the bibliography.

Example

Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Journal Title 12, no. 2 (2025): 135–56. https://doi.org/xxxxx.

Edited and Translated Works

The role of an editor or translator should be identified where relevant.

Edited book

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ed., Islamic Spirituality: Foundations (New York: Crossroad, 1987), 75.

Bibliography

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, ed. Islamic Spirituality: Foundations. New York: Crossroad, 1987.

Translated book

Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, The Incoherence of the Philosophers, trans. Michael E. Marmura (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2000), 18.

Bibliography

Al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid. The Incoherence of the Philosophers. Translated by Michael E. Marmura. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2000.

Classical Islamic Sources

Authors working with classical Islamic texts should identify the edition they have actually consulted.

A citation should normally include the author, title, publication details of the edition, volume where applicable, and page number.

Footnote

Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn (Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah, n.d.), 1:24.

Bibliography

Al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah, n.d.

For multivolume works, a reference such as 2:145 indicates volume 2, page 145.

Authors should not reproduce bibliographic details from another scholar's citation without checking the edition themselves, particularly where the argument depends upon the precise wording of a classical text.

Qurʾanic References

References to the Qurʾan should normally be given by sūra and verse number.

Examples:

Qurʾan 2:256.

Qurʾan 96:1–5.

The Qurʾan itself does not normally need to appear in the bibliography unless the article relies upon a particular published edition or translation.

Where a specific English translation is quoted, the translator should be identified at the first appropriate occurrence.

For example:

Qurʾan 24:35, trans. M. A. S. Abdel Haleem.

Authors providing their own translations may indicate this where it is relevant to the discussion.

Hadith

Hadith references should be sufficiently precise for the report to be located.

The form of citation will depend upon the collection and edition being used, but authors should normally identify the collection and, where available, the book, chapter, hadith number, volume, or page.

For example:

Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-ʿIlm, no. 71.

Where a particular printed edition is central to the article, its full bibliographic details should be given in the first citation and bibliography.

Authors are encouraged to consult established primary collections rather than relying solely on secondary websites for Hadith references.

Arabic and Other Non-English Works

Works in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Turkish, and other languages may be cited in transliteration according to the journal's transliteration practice.

For example:

Footnote

Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh Darāz, Dustūr al-akhlāq fī al-Qurʾān (Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 1998), 77.

Bibliography

Darāz, Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh. Dustūr al-akhlāq fī al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 1998.

An English translation of a title may be supplied in brackets where it would genuinely assist readers, but it is not necessary in every reference.

Theses and Dissertations

Footnote

First Name Last Name, “Title of Dissertation” (PhD diss., University Name, 2024), 88.

Bibliography

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Dissertation.” PhD diss., University Name, 2024.

The same form may be adapted for master's theses.

Conference Papers

Footnote

First Name Last Name, “Title of Paper” (paper presented at the Name of Conference, City, May 10–12, 2025), 6.

Bibliography

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Paper.” Paper presented at the Name of Conference, City, May 10–12, 2025.

Websites and Online Sources

Where possible, authors should prefer stable scholarly or primary sources over general websites.

For material published only online, provide the author or responsible organization, page title, website title where relevant, date where available, and URL.

Footnote

Author or Organization, “Title of Page,” Website Name, accessed January 15, 2026, URL.

Bibliography

Author or Organization. “Title of Page.” Website Name. Accessed January 15, 2026. URL.

An access date is particularly useful where the page carries no clear publication or revision date.

Institutional Reports

Reports should normally be cited under the name of the authoring institution where no individual author is given.

Footnote

Institution Name, Title of Report (Place: Institution or Publisher, 2025), 15.

Bibliography

Institution Name. Title of Report. Place: Institution or Publisher, 2025.

Where the report is available online, the stable URL may be added.

Encyclopaedia and Reference Works

Signed entries in scholarly encyclopaedias should normally be cited under the author's name.

Example

Author First Name Last Name, “Entry Title,” in Encyclopaedia Title, ed. Editor Name (Place: Publisher, year), volume:page.

For continuously updated online reference works, authors should include appropriate version, revision, publication, or access information where available.

Manuscripts and Archival Material

There is no single citation form suitable for every manuscript collection or archive.

Authors should give enough information to allow the material to be located. Depending on the source, this may include:

  • Author

  • Title

  • Manuscript or collection number

  • Folio or page

  • Collection name

  • Library or archive

  • Location

For example:

Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī, Kitāb al-Hind, MS 1234, fol. 27b, Manuscript Collection, Library Name.

Authors should follow the cataloguing conventions of the library or archive where appropriate.

Page References

Page numbers should normally be given when an author:

  • Quotes directly from a work

  • Refers to a particular argument or passage

  • Attributes a specific position to another scholar

  • Discusses evidence found at a particular place in a source

Citing an entire book without a page reference is usually insufficient when the citation is intended to support a specific claim.

For classical works organized by volume, book, chapter, section, or numbered report, the most useful locator for that particular source should be given.

Bibliography

A bibliography should appear at the end of the article and should normally contain the works actually cited.

Entries should be arranged alphabetically by author surname wherever this is practicable.

For example:

Bakar, Osman. Classification of Knowledge in Islam. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1998.

Iqbal, Muzaffar. Islam and Science. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Knowledge and the Sacred. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.

The bibliography should reflect the sources genuinely used in the article. Authors should not add unrelated works merely to enlarge the reference list.

Names and Transliteration

Names and titles from Arabic and other Islamic languages should be presented consistently.

For contemporary scholars, the spelling used by the scholar in his or her own English-language publications should normally be respected.

Classical names and titles may follow the journal's transliteration system.

The same name should not appear in several substantially different forms within a single article without a clear reason.

Detailed conventions for Arabic and other non-Latin terms may be given separately in the journal's Transliteration Guidelines.

Reference Accuracy

Authors are responsible for their references.

Before submitting an article, they should check that:

  • The source actually exists

  • Author and title information is correct

  • Quotations match the cited source

  • Page and volume numbers are accurate

  • DOI links correspond to the correct article

  • Qurʾanic and Hadith references have been checked

  • Classical texts are attributed correctly

  • Translations are properly identified

References produced or suggested by AI-assisted tools should never be accepted without checking the original source.

A Note on Style

Authors do not need to reproduce every typographical detail of Chicago style perfectly before submitting a manuscript. Small inconsistencies can usually be regularized during editing.

What the journal expects from authors is more fundamental: sources should be genuine, citations should lead readers to the material actually used, and quotations and references should be accurate.

Good referencing is part of the argument itself. It shows readers where an author's evidence comes from, where earlier scholarship ends, and where the author's own contribution begins.