Journal of Indian Social Transformation
Historical and Contemporary Studies
A peer-reviewed, open-access journal on India — its society, environment, economy, education, history, texts and heritage, in any period, from the earliest evidence to the present day.
We are particularly interested in work that begins with a question about India today and looks for its answer in the historical record. Why vegetarian diet is so widespread here, and what in the evidence actually accounts for it; why a district's water is governed the way it is; why one community sends its daughters to school and its neighbour does not.
Where the journal stands today
- First issue
- In preparation
- Submissions
- Open
- Editorial Board
- Five members; more being added
- ISSN
- Not yet applied for — see below
- Charges to authors
- None, at any stage
An online journal cannot hold an ISSN before its first issue exists: the ISSN National Centre of India assigns one only after seeing a published issue. We say so plainly, and we claim no indexing anywhere.
Free to publish in, free to read
There is no article processing charge, no submission fee, no page charge and no fee of any kind at any stage. This is a fixed commitment, not an introductory offer. Everything the journal publishes is free to read from the day it appears, with no subscription, no paywall and no registration.
Editorial work is unpaid — for the Editorial Board, for reviewers, and for the publishers. Nobody earns anything from this journal, and it carries no advertising.
What we publish
Research on Indian society in any period and in any design. Every paper carries Transformation Notes after its abstract: who and where, when, what moved or what held, why, and so what — five short answers, published with the article, so that a reader outside your field can see what the research shows and why it matters.
The test has three parts: the paper is about India; it asks a question and answers it with evidence, and its notes answer the five questions; and its subject is people. Writing for the journal · Is my paper in scope?
The Board is being formed
We are looking for senior teachers and researchers at a university or research institute who hold an institutional email address.
Most urgently: Indian history, epigraphy and archaeology, and Pali, Sanskrit or manuscript studies — but every field in our scope is welcome.
Five to ten minutes. It commits you to nothing, and nothing is published in your name unless you later agree to it in writing.