The Expository Times
Ecclesiastics
"The Expository Times has a long and illustrious history as a journal that bridges the gap between church and academy ... at a time of rapid cultural change, when the church in the West is struggling to redefine its mission, a journal like The Expository Times has an invaluable contribution to make to the ongoing debate." John Drane, author of The McDonaldization of the Church and an adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary
"The Expository Times inhabits a unique niche position. It is trustworthy both academically and pastorally. It publishes notices of new books more rapidly than any other journal. If a working pastor is to subscribe to any single journal, this is probably the wisest choice." Iain Torrance, President of Princeton Theological Seminary; former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
"I regularly turn first to the reviews section of The Expository Times for its invaluable, succinct notices of the latest important books in all areas of theology and I find that its articles often help to keep me up-to-date on new ideas in my areas of interest." Howard Marshall, Honorary Research Professor of New Testament, University of Aberdeen.
"The Expository Times represents something of inestimable importance, particularly within the Scottish preaching tradition. It evokes and helps maintain Scotland's long and respected tradition of a well educated ministry of the Word. It calls for and helps sustain sermons which are not merely homilies, and Bible Studies which are more than edifying readings of the biblical text. It enables even the hard pressed minister or interested pew person to keep up with current scholarship on a wide range of exegetical and theological issues of continuing importance. It provides a substantial bridge between the lectern and the pulpit. As its very title suggests, it makes for good exposition." James Dunn
For over a century, the monthly Expository Times has distinguished itself from other periodicals by successfully combining an interest in all pastoral matters, practical and theoretical, with the latest international biblical and theological scholarship.
Each edition contains a central section which offers resources for the month for those conducting worship: a sermon by a preacher of distinction, exegetical notes and reports of group readings of the texts for the month, prayers and material for children's worship.
The Expository Times is an invaluable tool for disseminating scholarship relevant to the ministry, giving practical help to preachers, and maintaining a healthy interaction between theology and practice.
The Expository Times is available on SAGE Journals Online.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
For over a century, the monthly Expository Times has distinguished itself from other periodicals by successfully combining an interest in all pastoral matters, practical and theoretical with the latest international biblical and theological scholarship.
Each edition contains a central section which offers resources for the month for those conducting worship: a sermon by a preacher of distinction, exegetical notes and reports of group readings of the texts for the month, prayers and material for children's worship.
The Expository Times is an invaluable tool for disseminating peer-reviewed scholarship relevant to the ministry, giving practical help to preachers, and maintaining a healthy interaction between theology and practice.
| Guy Bennett-Hunter | University of Edinburgh, UK |
| Paul Foster | University of Edinburgh, UK |
| John Riches | New College, University of Edinburgh, UK |
| Graeme Auld | University of Edinburgh, UK |
| Larry W. Hurtado | Head of School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, UK |
| Karen Wenell | University of Birmingham , UK |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: The Expository Times
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/expositorytimes to upload your manuscript. You can also submit your article by email to Divinity.ExTim@ed.ac.uk. Please also use this email address to contact the editors to discuss your submission. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of The Expository Times will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that The Expository Times may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy. If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.
If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Declaration of conflicting interests - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Before submitting your manuscript to The Expository Times, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Each edition of The Expository Times contains a central section which offers resources for the month for those conducting worship: a sermon by a preacher of distinction, prayers and material for children's worship.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online
The Expository Times strongly endorses the value and importance of peer review in scholarly journals publishing. All papers submitted to The Expository Times are subject to peer review by members of a carefully appointed editorial board/committee.
The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
2.4 Declaration of conflicting interests
The Expository Times encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
2.5 Research data
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway
3.1.1 Plagiarism
The Expository Times and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway
3.3 Open access and author archiving
The Expository Times offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
The Expository Times does not currently accept supplemental files.
The Expository Times conforms to its own journal style. Please refer to the journal's style guide Please also study recently published issues for style conventions.
The Expository Times uses footnotes within articles. Please refer to the journal's style guide. Please also study recently published issues for referencing conventions.
4.6 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
The Expository Times is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/expositorytimes to login and submit your article online.
You can also submit your article by email to Divinity.ExTim@ed.ac.uk. Please also use this email address to contact the editors to discuss your submission.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
Articles are normally between 3000 and 6000 words long. Articles should be formatted with footnotes (not endnotes). Single quotation marks should be used for quotation, and double quotation marks for quotation within a quotation. British spelling is preferred, but US spelling will be accepted.
Articles, once submitted, will be understood to be in their final form, and if the article is accepted, a first proof will be produced from the author's submission (with minor editorial emendations). No further revisions or additions should then be made by authors.
Submission of an article is taken to imply that it has not been previously published, and is not being considered for publication in another journal or as part of a book.
First proofs of articles (but not reviews) will be sent to authors for correction, and must be returned to the Executive Editor within one week of receipt. Corrections should be confined to typographical errors. Other corrections may be made only with the agreement of the Editor.
Contributors of articles, Book of the Month features and book reviews will receive one copy of the journal issue in which the article appears. Article authors will be given a set number of accesses to their article on Sage Journals Online, similar to the set number of paper offprints they currently receive, with the ability to print off a set number of copies of their article, as well as the opportunity to purchase additional paper copies if they wish.
Neither the editors nor Sage Publishers necessarily endorse every proposition expressed in the journal. Authors retain responsibility for any defamatory statements or untruthful claims which they may make.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to The Expository Times editorial office as follows:
Executive Editor: Dr Guy Bennett-Hunter
New College
Mound Place
Edinburgh
EH1 2LX. Email: ExTim@div.ed.ac.uk
Reviews and books for review contact:
Professor Paul Foster at the above address.