Information For Authors

If you are interested in submitting a manuscript to our journal, please review the journal's publication policy via the About page and the Author Guidelines below. Authors must register with the journal before submitting. Submissions are made via the login link in five steps.

1. Article Types

The Journal of Kyrgyzstan Studies (JKS) accepts the following article types:

Research Article

Original empirical work designed around a specific research question, with collected and analysed data. 6,000–10,000 words (including references).

Review / Theoretical Article

Studies that systematically or critically examine the literature on a specific topic and present theoretical discussions. 8,000–12,000 words (including references).

Manas Studies

Research specifically on the Manas epic, the manaschı tradition, oral literature, and Kyrgyz folklore. 6,000–10,000 words.

Book Review

Critical assessments of academic books published in the past three years. 1,500–2,500 words. Not subject to peer review; assessed by the Editorial Board.

2. Formatting Guidelines

Document Format

  • Page size: A4
  • Font: Times New Roman
  • Size: 12 pt (body), 10 pt (footnotes)
  • Line spacing: 1.5
  • Margins: 2.5 cm (all sides)
  • Alignment: Justified
  • Page numbers: Bottom right

Abstract and Keywords

  • 200–250 word abstract
  • Regardless of the language of the article, an English title and abstract are required
  • For articles in languages other than English, a title and abstract in the article's language must also be provided
  • 5–7 keywords

3. Citations and References

  • The journal uses the APA 7th edition (American Psychological Association) citation and reference system.
  • In-text citations and the reference list must conform to APA 7 rules.
  • The use of reference management software such as Zotero or Mendeley is recommended.
  • DOI information should be included in all references where available.

4. Article Structure

IMRaD Structure for Research Articles

Research articles must include the following sections:

  • Introduction
  • Method
  • Results
  • Discussion & Conclusion

The IMRaD structure is not mandatory for review and theoretical articles; however, the logical coherence of the text must be clearly maintained.

5. ORCID Requirement

All authors must submit with a valid ORCID identifier. ORCID is a unique digital identifier for researchers, ensuring recognition across international academic registry systems. If you do not yet have an ORCID, you can register free of charge at orcid.org/register.

6. Anonymisation (Double-Blind Peer Review)

The journal operates a double-blind peer review process. To enable reviewers to assess submissions impartially, please complete the following before submitting:

  1. Remove author names, institutional affiliations, and acknowledgements from the manuscript file.
  2. Anonymise explicit self-citations ("in our previous work…") — for example, "Author, 2023".
  3. Check and remove your name from the Word document's file properties.
  4. Provide author information, affiliations, ORCID IDs, and contact email on a separate cover page.

7. Author Contributions Statement (CRediT)

For multi-author submissions, each author's specific contribution must be specified using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). The taxonomy defines 14 contributor roles:

  • Conceptualization
  • Data curation
  • Formal analysis
  • Funding acquisition
  • Investigation
  • Methodology
  • Project administration
  • Resources
  • Software
  • Supervision
  • Validation
  • Visualization
  • Writing — Original draft
  • Writing — Review & editing

For details: credit.niso.org

8. Ethical Statements

The following statements must accompany the manuscript:

Conflict of Interest Statement

Authors must explicitly declare any potential conflicts of interest (financial, personal, or institutional) that could influence the work. If there are no conflicts, the statement "The authors declare no conflicts of interest" should be used.

Funding Statement

The funding source for the work (if any), including grant number and supporting institution, must be disclosed. If no funding was received, use the statement: "This work received no funding from any institution or organisation."

Ethics Approval

For any research involving human or animal subjects, an ethics committee approval document must be submitted. The document should specify the ethics committee name, decision number, and date.

Informed Consent

For studies involving human participants, it must be stated that informed consent was obtained from participants.

9. Artificial Intelligence Use Statement

If artificial intelligence (AI) tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, translation tools, grammar checkers, etc.) were used during manuscript preparation, this must be explicitly disclosed in the acknowledgements or methods section.

  • AI cannot be listed as an author; responsibility lies with the human author(s).
  • The tool used and its purpose (language editing, idea development, data analysis, etc.) must be specified.
  • Content generated by AI must be verified and justified by the author(s).

10. Data Sharing Policy

The journal supports open science principles and encourages data sharing. Wherever feasible, and to the extent permitted by ethical constraints, authors are invited to share their research data in publicly accessible repositories such as Zenodo, Figshare, or the Open Science Framework.

A "Data Availability Statement" must be included at the end of the article. Examples:

  • "The data underlying this study are openly available at [repository name], [DOI/URL]."
  • "The data cannot be shared due to ethical restrictions but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request."
  • "No primary data were generated for this study."

11. Tables, Figures, and Images

  • Tables and figures must be numbered (Table 1, Figure 1) and referenced in the text.
  • All tables and figures must include a caption and source.
  • Images should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
  • For copyrighted images, permission documentation must be supplied by the author.

12. Submission Process

Articles are submitted online via the OJS system:

  1. Register with the system or log in.
  2. Start a "New Submission" and select the appropriate section.
  3. Upload all required files: anonymised manuscript, cover page, ethics committee document (if applicable), copyright form.
  4. Provide complete metadata (title, abstract, keywords, author information, ORCID).
  5. Complete the submission. You will receive a confirmation email.

13. Review Timeline

  • Pre-screening: 7–10 days
  • Peer review: 4–8 weeks
  • First decision: 8–12 weeks from submission
  • Publication: 1–3 months from acceptance

14. Copyright and License

Copyright

The copyright of articles published in the Journal of Kyrgyzstan Studies (JKS) belongs to the authors. By accepting publication in JKS, authors agree that their work may be:

  • published in open access on the journal's website,
  • indexed in national and international academic databases.

License Policy

All articles published in JKS are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Under this licence:

  • Articles may be freely copied, shared, distributed, printed, and reused, provided that proper attribution is given.
  • Derivative works are permitted.
  • All uses, including commercial uses, are permitted.
  • The only requirement is appropriate attribution to the author and the journal.

For details: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

15. Contact

For questions about the author guidelines or submission process, please contact us at editor@kyrgyzstanstudies.com.