About
Spirituality Studies is an international double-blind peer-reviewed open access academic journal published twice a year (Spring, Fall) in English by the Society for Spirituality Studies. The journal welcomes original articles from a variety of academic fields that reflect the phenomenon of spirituality in its many forms and from different perspectives.
Spirituality Studies covers a wide range of theoretical and practical (lived spirituality) issues related to contemplative spirituality, such as processes of spiritual transformation as reported and described in various traditions of mysticism (in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc.) or yoga (in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, new religious movements, etc.). The journal publishes research studies, both theoretical and empirical, academic articles, essays, interviews, reviews, and poetry.
Spirituality Studies also provides a forum for the sharing of personal spiritual experiences of spiritual practitioners in the form of autobiographical essays or poetry. By combining academic and personal approaches to spirituality, the journal aims to provide an exceptional interdisciplinary platform for constructive dialogue among a variety of viewpoints, approaches, and methodologies in the study of spirituality.
The third area of focus for Spirituality Studies is spiritual education. By publishing studies in spiritual education, as well as teaching and methodical materials that reflect the practical experience of educators, Spirituality Studies facilitates education in spirituality and promotes awareness of the importance of spirituality for personal, interpersonal, and social wellbeing.
Indexing, Abstracting & Discoverability
Spirituality Studies is indexed and abstracted in the Web of Science Emerging Sources Citation Index, Scopus, and the Atla Religion Database. The journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and ERIH PLUS. It is also discoverable through Google Scholar, J-Gate, and AskBisht.
Editorial Team
The Editorial Team, composed of renowned experts in spirituality from around the globe, is the governing body of Spirituality Studies and guarantees its overall quality.
Editor-in-Chief
Doc. PaedDr. Martin Dojčár, PhD.
Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Trnava University
Slovakia
e-mail
Doc. Ing. Gejza M. Timčák, PhD.
President, Slovak Yoga Association
Slovakia
e-mail
Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D.
California Institute of Integral Studies
Grof Legacy Training
USA
e-mail
Rabbi Abraham Skorka, Ph.D.
Georgetown University
USA
e-mail
William Skudlarek, OSB, Ph.D.
Former Secretary General, DIMMID
USA
e-mail
Prof. Néstor Da Costa, Ph.D.
The Catholic University of Uruguay
Uruguay
e-mail
Assoc. Professor Anna Halafoff, Ph.D.
Deakin University
Australia
e-mail
Prof. PhDr. Slavomír Gálik, PhD.
University of SS. Cyril and Methodius
Slovakia
e-mail
Doc. RNDr. Adrián Slavkovský, OP, PhD.
Palacký University Olomouc
Czech Republic
e-mail
Stephania Palmisano, Ph.D.
University of Turin
Italy
e-mail
Matteo Di Placido, Ph.D.
University of Turin
Italy
e-mail
Yohanan Grinshpon, Ph.D.
Hebrew University
Israel
e-mail
Anuradha Choudry, Ph.D.
IIT Kharagpur
India
e-mail
Bhante Dhammadipa
emeritus
Nalanda University
India
e-mail
dr hab. Marek Rembierz
University of Silesia, Katowice
Poland
e-mail
Editorial Policy & Peer Review
Peer Review Process & Evaluation
Spirituality Studies operates a rigorous double-blind peer review process, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from one another throughout the review process. Prior to evaluation, author-identifying information is removed from submitted manuscripts and associated materials made available to reviewers. Prior to being sent for review, each submission undergoes an initial editorial assessment to confirm that it falls within the journal’s scope, meets the journal’s formal submission requirements, and shows no evidence of plagiarism or prior publication. Manuscripts that do not meet these conditions may be declined by the handling editor without external review.
Reviewers are selected by the handling editor based on the subject matter and expertise required for the manuscript. Each manuscript selected for peer review is evaluated by two independent experts in the relevant field. Reviewers assess the manuscript with regard to its scholarly significance, originality, grounding in current research, methodological and conceptual soundness, clarity, relevance to the journal’s scope, compliance with formal requirements, and quality of presentation and language. Reviewers are allowed 30 days from acceptance of the invitation to complete and submit their review. Where a reviewer is unable to complete the review within this period, the handling editor may grant an extension or appoint a replacement reviewer.
Reviewers act in an advisory capacity and provide recommendations to the handling editor
Spirituality Studies provides its reviewers with the standardized review form, which is available here: Review form
Reviewers are required to disclose any financial, professional, personal, or other competing interests that could reasonably be perceived as affecting their impartiality. Reviewers with a relevant competing interest must decline the invitation to review or promptly inform the handling editor, who will determine whether recusal is required. Reviewers’ further obligations – including confidentiality of the manuscript and its contents, restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence tools, and standards of objectivity – are set out in the journal’s Publication Ethics statement.
Editorial Decisions & Revisions
Editorial decisions are based on the reviewers’ reports, the scholarly merit of the manuscript, its relevance to the journal’s scope, and compliance with the journal’s editorial, ethical, and publication standards. The final decision on a manuscript is made by the handling editor and is not determined solely by the recommendations of the reviewers.
Authors are notified by email of the outcome of the review process and the corresponding editorial decision. Where a revision is requested, authors are allowed 30 days from the date of notification to submit a revised manuscript together with a point-by-point response to the review summary. An extension may be granted by the handling editor upon a reasoned request from the author(s).
Manuscripts may undergo up to two rounds of revision and review before a final decision is reached. Where a manuscript returns for a further round of review under the procedure above, it is returned to the original reviewers unless one or both are unavailable, in which case the handling editor may appoint an alternative reviewer or, depending on the nature and extent of the revisions, assess the manuscript editorially without further external review. The Editor-in-Chief retains final authority over publication decisions, except where recused for a competing interest, in which case final editorial authority for the manuscript passes to an independent editor.
Competing Interests & Recusal Policy for the Editorial Team
The competing-interest disclosure and recusal obligations of the Editor-in-Chief and other members of the Editorial Team are set out in full in the journal’s Publication Ethics statement and apply throughout the editorial process.
Author Declarations: Competing Interests, Ethics, Data
All authors are required to disclose any financial and non-financial competing interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing, or having the potential to influence, the research, its interpretation, or its presentation. Upon manuscript submission, authors must provide a Competing Interests statement. Where no relevant competing interests exist, authors should explicitly state this. Author-side duties are set out in full in the journal’s Publication Ethics statement and apply in conjunction with this policy.
Where a submitted manuscript reports empirical research involving human participants (including interviews, questionnaires, observational or experimental studies of practices such as meditation), authors must confirm that the research was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki or a comparable recognized ethical standard, that appropriate informed consent was obtained from participants, and that approval was granted by a relevant institutional or independent ethics committee where such a committee exists. Where no formal ethics committee was available to the authors, the handling editor evaluates the ethical conduct of the research against the Declaration of Helsinki and may seek guidance from COPE.
Investigation of Suspected Misconduct
Any editor, reviewer, author, or reader who suspects that a submitted or published manuscript involves research or publication misconduct should report the concern to the Editor-in-Chief without delay.
The Editor-in-Chief evaluates the concern following the relevant COPE guidelines and may request additional information or documentation from the author(s), consult with the Editorial Team, or contact the author’s institution. Members of the Editorial Team who have a competing interest in relation to the manuscript under investigation take no part in the evaluation. Where misconduct is confirmed, the journal takes action proportionate to the severity of the finding, up to and including rejection, correction, or retraction of the manuscript.
Corrections & Retractions
Spirituality Studies is committed to correcting the published record where necessary. Where a significant error, inaccuracy, or instance of misconduct is identified in a published article, the journal publishes a correction, clarification, or, where the article’s findings or conclusions are substantially undermined, a retraction. Corrections and retractions are issued in accordance with COPE guidelines, are linked to the original article, and state the reason for the correction or retraction.
Author Guidelines
Spirituality Studies accepts manuscripts edited in accordance with its Author Guidelines. All submissions must be the original work of the author(s). Manuscripts should be submitted in English via email (editor@spirituality-studies.org). Publication in Spirituality Studies is not compensated.
Text
The manuscript must be submitted as a Microsoft Word file with no automatic formatting and functions applied.
Word Formatting guide download
The study of empirical research usually consists of an abstract, keywords, an introduction, the current state of research, an analysis of the chosen area of research or interest, methodology, results, a discussion of the findings, a conclusion, and references. The research study is usually structured into four parts: objective, method, results, and conclusions.
The standard structure of a theoretical research study typically includes a thesis (claim), argument(s) to support the claim, examples from spiritual traditions that support the argument(s), and discussion of opposing views.
The standard format of the manuscript is one column A4 with no headers, footers, or page numbering; all style tags are removed. Paragraphs are separated by spaces, not tabs. The default font is Calibri 12-point. All text is left-aligned. Automatic citations and links are not used. All direct quotations are italicized, but the quotation marks themselves are not.
A list of Notes appears in a separate section between the main text and the final list of References. In the text, the number of the note is given in Arabic numerals in square brackets.
All illustrations, tables, and figures are attached separately, while their descriptions are marked and included in the text. Figures are designed in MS Excel with a maximum width of 19 cm. The optimal font size is 9 pt. In some cases, a smaller font size may be used, but it must be at least 5 pt. The preferred font is the system font, such as Calibri or Arial. Figures are delivered in PDF format with export settings set to A4 and scale set to 100%. All images are provided with a copyright license granted to the publisher.
The total length of a paper, including illustrations, tables, and figures inserted in the text, should not exceed 30 author pages (54,000 characters including spaces).
Abstract
The abstract provides a concise description of the objective(s), methodology, and main findings of the paper. It is usually no longer than 150 words.
Keywords
A list of up to five key words or key technical terms from a relevant academic field should be provided, separated by semicolons.
References
Submissions must follow the author-date system according to the following edition of the Chicago Manual of Style
References at the end of a study are listed alphabetically. In the text, the author’s name (without initials) is cited, followed by the year of publication and page number(s) (both in parentheses), e.g. (McGinn 2008, 12). Each in-text citation corresponds to an entry in a reference list that provides full bibliographic information.
About author(s)
Author information includes first name, last name, degrees, affiliation, major professional accomplishments, professional headshot, and email of the author(s). They are attached to the manuscript in two separate files – text and image files.
Privacy Statement
Names and email addresses submitted to this journal site will be used solely for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be shared for any other purpose or with any other party.
Article Processing Charge
Spirituality Studies publishes all articles under the open access policy. In order to provide free online access to readers worldwide and to cover publishing costs, an Article Processing Charge (APC) of 400 EUR is applied to accepted papers after successful peer review. The APC is a one-time charge levied on authors of accepted papers, especially those whose projects are funded by grants, and is administered solely to cover the costs of graphic design, copyediting, typesetting, archiving, digital publication production, and journal management. Waivers of the APC may be granted at the publisher’s discretion. There are no submission fees or rejection fees.
Open Access & Licensing
Open Access Policy
All articles published in Spirituality Studies are made available in Open Access. Copyright of each article is retained by the author(s). By submitting and publishing their manuscript, the author(s) grant the publisher a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to publish, reproduce, distribute, archive, and identify itself as the original publisher of the work.
Copyright Statement
Articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC BY 4.0. Authors and readers may freely reuse the published articles, provided that the original publication in Spirituality Studies is properly acknowledged.
This licensing policy applies to articles published from 2026 onward. Articles published prior to this date remain licensed under the terms in effect at the time of their publication CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, unless their author(s) explicitly consent to relicensing under CC BY 4.0.
Authors whose funding body or institutional policy precludes the use of CC BY 4.0 should contact the editorial office prior to submission to discuss alternative licensing arrangements.
Authors are solely responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any copyrighted material owned by third parties. Such material must be appropriately credited in the published article.
Privacy Policy
Spirituality Studies respects the privacy of its readers and contributors and is committed to protecting the personal data of individuals in accordance with its Privacy Policy.
Publication Ethics
Spirituality Studies acknowledges, honors, and applies all standards of Publication Ethics.
Publisher & Contact
Publisher
The Society for Spirituality Studies is an independent NGO dedicated to promoting theoretical and experiential research in spirituality. The Society for Spirituality Studies promotes awareness of the importance of spirituality for personal, interpersonal, as well as social well-being. It facilitates interspiritual, interreligious, and intercultural understanding through dialogue and exchange of scholarship in the study of different spiritual traditions.
Bank Account
IBAN: SK8683300000002900766182
BIC/SWIFT: FIOZSKBAXXX
IČO 42407061
Address
The Society for Spirituality Studies
Pekinská 17
040 13 Košice
Slovakia
Spirituality Studies collaborates with the following independent organizations:
Dialogue Interreligieux Monastique/Monastic Interreligious Dialogue is an international monastic organization that promotes and supports dialogue, especially dialogue at the level of religious experience and practice, between Christian monastic men and women and followers of other religions.
dimmid.org
The European Union of Yoga is an organization representing Yoga Associations, Federations, and Bodies across Europe.
www.europeanyoga.org
The International Network for the Study of Spirituality is a unique international network for people interested in bringing the study of spirituality to life through research, scholarship, education, and practice.
spiritualitystudiesnetwork.org