Instructions for potential authors

Introduction

Asia Maior is an English-language annual scientific journal. Its articles analyse the political, economic, and, if need be, social developments in Asian countries. The geopolitical space analysed by the Asia Maior think tank is bounded to the north by the Caucasus Mountain range, the Caspian Sea, and the southern border of Siberia; to the west by the eastern borders of Türkiye and the Arab countries; to the south by the Indian Ocean; and to the east by the Pacific Ocean.
The articles published in Asia Maior usually focus on the year preceding the publication date. However, for countries that have not been previously analysed, or have not been covered for more than a year, the focus extends to the entire unexamined period.
A standard Asia Maior article consists of three sections: internal policy, economic policy, and foreign policy. The sequence and relative length of these sections are determined by the author(s), who should base their choices on the relative importance of each topic during the period analysed.
This rule does not apply to China- and India-related coverage, where separate articles are published—typically one covering internal affairs and another foreign policy.
Apart from single-country studies, Asia Maior publishes review articles and reviews. Monographs that use diverse methodologies (historical, sociological, economic, anthropological, etc.) to illuminate the contemporary situation of any Asian nation or region are reviewed. They (the monographs reviewed) need not focus strictly on the recent past, but can be focused even on historical junctures from the distant past, which help contextualise present events.
Asia Maior also publishes ‘special articles’ addressing transnational issues or sensitive regions such as Kashmir and Xinjiang.

FORMAL GUIDELINES

Asia Maior does not employ professional proofreaders to standardise submitted manuscripts. Therefore, articles submitted for publication must strictly adhere to the journal’s style rules upon submission.

Page Format

• Page dimensions: 14 × 21 cm
• Top margin: 2.1 cm
• Left margin: 2.0 cm
• Bottom margin: 2.5 cm
• Right margin: 1.8 cm

Typography

• Main text: Times New Roman 9.5 pt or NewBaskerville 9 pt (line spacing: 10.5 pt).
• Footnotes: Times New Roman or NewBaskerville 8 pt (line spacing: 9 pt).

Article Opening Structure
An Asia Maior article must begin as follows:

1.   Title (in Small Caps, centred)
2.   [Insert 2 empty lines]
3.   Author Name(s) (in Italics)
4.   [Insert 2 empty lines]
5.   Affiliation (e.g., University of … / Independent Scholar / Asia Maior – An Italian Think Tank on Asia)
6.   [No empty line]
7.   Email Address (in regular font)
8.   [Insert 3 empty lines]
9.   Abstract (in Italics, maximum 250 words; do not precede with the word «Abstract»)
10.   [Insert 2 empty lines]
11.   Keywords (format: KEYWORDS – First keyword; second keyword; third keyword; fourth keyword — limit to 5–6 keywords)
12.   [Insert 3 empty lines]
13.   Main Text Begins

Section Subdivisions

Articles are divided into numbered, titled sections. Section numbers must use Arabic numerals followed by a full stop (e.g., 1.), with the title in Italics.

• Insert two empty lines before a section title and one empty line after it.
• Subsections (e.g., 1.1.) require one empty line before and after the title. Subsection numbers must also end with a full stop.
• The first paragraph of any section is aligned to the left margin. Subsequent paragraphs begin with an indent (equivalent to six blank spaces).

Language & Spelling

Asia Maior uses British English following Oxford spelling (-ize) suffixes for words like realize or organization. However for analyse and the words derived from it the -se suffix must be retained, as the British word analyse derives from French/Greek analysis.
Also, Asia Maior makes use of the standard en dashes. These are dashes with a space before and after to insert parenthetical statements or explanations.

Maintain American English spelling in direct quotations and footnote citations only if present in the original source.

Capitalisation of Job Titles

Capitalise job titles only when they form an integral part of a proper name or act as a specific title:

• Correct: Prime Minister Modi arrived at noon. / The Chinese delegation will meet the President tomorrow.
• Correct: The prime minister, Narendra Modi, arrived at noon. / She hopes to become president of the company.

(For expanded rules, request “Capital Letters: Asia Maior’s Manual of Style” from the editors).

In-Text Citation & Reference Style

In-text citations are given between square brackets and are abbreviated as explained hereafter.
Please, bear in mind that in-text citations in square brackets must be placed before the sentence’s closing punctuation mark. E.g.:
…as demonstrated in recent geopolitical studies [Smith 2020, p. 45].

Full bibliographic details must appear at the end in the List of References.

Please, bear in mind that titles of books, academic journals, newspapers, and magazines must always be italicised both in the main text, footnotes, and the List of References (e.g., Modern Asian Studies, The Economist, How Democracies Die),
and that
titles of journal articles, book chapters, newspaper headlines, and online articles must be set in regular font enclosed in single quotation marks (e.g., ‘Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India’).

Hereafter the style to be adhered to is exemplified, by making reference to the following topics:

NEWSPAPER & MAGAZINE CITATIONS
CITATIONS FROM WEBSITES
CITATIONS FROM SCHOLARLY JOURNALS
CITATIONS OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN ASIA MAIOR/ASIA MAJOR
CITATIONS FROM BOOKS
CITATIONS FROM EDITED BOOKS
HOW TO CITE THE NAMES OF AUTHORS & EDITORS
CITATIONS FROM SOURCES WITH TWO AUTHORS OR EDITORS
CITATIONS FROM SOURCES WITH MORE THAN TWO AUTHORS OR EDITORS
HOW TO CITE MULTIPLE SOURCES IN A SINGLE IN-TEXT CITATION
CITATIONS FROM OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS
DIFFERENTIATING SOURCES WITH THE SAME SHORTENED CITATION
MULTIPLE WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR IN THE SAME YEAR
CITATIONS FROM SOURCES IN NON-LATIN ALPHABETS
INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS
LIST OF REFERENCES
PECULIAR FORMATTING CHOICES
EXPLANATORY FOOTNOTES
TABLE AND FIGURES
A RECURRING MISTAKE THAT MUST BE AVOIDED

Instructions for reviews and review articles follow under the heading GUIDELINES FOR BOOK REVIEWS.

NEWSPAPER & MAGAZINE CITATIONS

Two different citation styles are to be followed, depending on whether the author of the article is named or not.

1) If the author of the article is named in the source, as in the following example:
Prem Shankar Jha, ‘Who is really behind the Islamic State?’, Tehelka, 3 September 2014.
The in-text citation is:
[Jha 2014, 3 September]
The full citation, to be given in the List of References, is:
Jha, Prem Shankar, 2014, 3 September, ‘Who is really behind the Islamic State?’, Tehelka.

2) If the author of the article is not named in the source, as in the following example:
‘A chaotic conference fractures Liz Truss’s young premiership’, The Economist, 5 October 2022.
The in-text citation is:
[The Economist 2022, 5 October]
The full citation, to be given in the List of References, is:
The Economist, 2022, 5 October, ‘A chaotic conference fractures Liz Truss’s young premiership’.

Should you cite more than one anonymous article from the same source in the same year, the citations must be differentiated by adding a lowercase letter after the year.

For example, if you cite the article above alongside this additional source:
‘Is the world economy in a debt trap?’, The Economist, 5 October 2022.
The first article will be cited in-text as:
[The Economist 2022a, 5 October]
And the second as:
[The Economist 2022b, 5 October]

The complete citations in the List of References will be:
The Economist, 2022a, 5 October, ‘A chaotic conference fractures Liz Truss’s young premiership’.
The Economist, 2022b, 5 October, ‘Is the world economy in a debt trap?’.
When an article title includes nested quotation marks within the source text, these inner quotation marks must be replaced with French guillemets (« and »).

For example, the following headline:
‘Make in India’ pitch from Sept. 25
which heads an article by Puja Mehra published in The Hindu on 21 September 2014,
will be cited in-text as:
[Mehra 2014, 21 September]

and in the List of References as:
Mehra, Puja, 2014, 21 September, ‘«Make in India» pitch from Sept. 25’, The Hindu.

(Note: The symbols « and » are available in the character/symbol set of any standard word processor).

CITATIONS FROM WEBSITES

If the name of the author is available in the source, as in the following example:
Keith Jones, ‘US elite rolls out red carpet for Indian PM Modi’, World Socialist Web Site, 30 September 2014.
The in-text citation is:
[Jones 2014, 30 September]
The full reference, given in the List of References, is:
Jones, Keith, 2014, 30 September, ‘US elite rolls out red carpet for Indian PM Modi’, World Socialist Web Site.

If the name of the author is not available, as in the following example:
‘PM’s address and interaction at Council on Foreign Relations in New York’, PMINDIA, 29 September 2014.
The in-text citation is:
[‘PM’s address and interaction’ 2014, 29 September]
(In other words, insert the first three or four words of the title, followed by the date).

The full reference, to be given in the List of References, is:
‘PM’s address and interaction at Council on Foreign Relations in New York’, PMINDIA, 2014, 29 September.

The URL of a web source should generally not be included, as the title of the article, its publication date, and the name of the website are sufficient to locate it on the web. Moreover, while a URL often changes over time, the title, date, and website name typically do not, making it possible to locate the source even if the link becomes broken.
However, URLs must be provided:

• (a) when citing a website in a non-European language;
• (b) when a website lacks a name, or when there is reason to believe the title, date, and website name alone are insufficient to locate the article.

In these cases, the full URL should be supplied in parentheses () at the end of the entry in the List of References.
When providing a URL, authors should prefer a shorter domain/landing page URL over a long, direct permalink. While a direct link leads straight to the document, it is more prone to link rot over time. A shorter address remains stable for longer, even if it requires readers to perform a brief search within the site.

CITATIONS FROM SCHOLARLY JOURNALS

If the source is an article published in a scholarly journal, such as the following example:
D. A. Washbrook, ‘Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India’, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1981, pp. 649–721.
The in-text citation for the article as a whole is:
[Washbrook 1981]

If the citation refers to specific information on a given page, or across a range of pages, the in-text citation is:
[Washbrook 1981, p. x] or [Washbrook 1981, pp. x–y]

The full citation, to be given in the List of References, is:
Washbrook, D. A., 1981, ‘Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India’, Modern Asian Studies, 15(3), pp. 649–721.

CITATIONS OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN ASIA MAIOR / ASIA MAJOR

If you need to cite an article published in Asia Maior (or Asia Major for volumes published prior to 2005), such as:

Michelguglielmo Torri, ‘India 2019: Assaulting the world’s largest democracy: building a kingdom of cruelty and fear’, Asia Maior, Vol. XXIX/2019, pp. 156–159.

The in-text citation is not:
[Torri 2019] (or [Torri 2019, p. x] / [Torri 2019, pp. x–y])

Instead, it must be cited by its actual year of publication:
[Torri 2020] (or [Torri 2020, p. x] / [Torri 2020, pp. x–y])
This distinction is necessary because Asia Maior volumes are published in the calendar year following the period covered by their analyses.

The full citation, to be given in the List of References, is:
Torri, Michelguglielmo, 2020, ‘India 2019: Assaulting the world’s largest democracy: building a kingdom of cruelty and fear’, Asia Maior, XXIX/2019, pp. 156–159.

CITATIONS FROM BOOKS

When the source to be cited is a book, such as:
Abdul Majed Khan, The Transition in Bengal 1756–1775: A Study of Saiyid Muhammad Reza Khan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969, pp. 17–22.

The in-text citation for the work as a whole is:
[Khan 1969]

If referring to specific pages, the in-text citation is:
[Khan 1969, p. x] or [Khan 1969, pp. x–y]

The full citation, to be given in the List of References, is:
Khan, Abdul Majed, 1969, The Transition in Bengal 1756–1775: A Study of Saiyid Muhammad Reza Khan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

CITATIONS FROM EDITED BOOKS

When citing a chapter within an edited book, such as:
Thomas A. Timberg, ‘Hiatus and Incubator: Indigenous Trade and Traders, 1837–1857’, in Asiya Siddiqi (ed.), Trade and Finance in Colonial India 1750–1860, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 251–264.

The in-text citation is:
[Timberg 1995] (for the chapter as a whole)
[Timberg 1995, p. x] or [Timberg 1995, pp. x–y] (for specific pages)

The full citation, to be given in the List of References, is:
Timberg, Thomas A., 1995, ‘Hiatus and Incubator: Indigenous Trade and Traders, 1837–1857’, in Asiya Siddiqi (ed.), Trade and Finance in Colonial India 1750–1860, Delhi: Oxford University Press.

HOW TO CITE THE NAMES OF AUTHORS & EDITORS

First names must be given exactly as they appear in the source text. Do not abbreviate a first name (e.g., changing “Steven” to “S.”) if it is spelled out in full in the original publication.

CITATIONS FROM SOURCES WITH TWO AUTHORS OR EDITORS

If the source is a work with two authors or editors, such as:
Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die, New York: Broadway Books, 2018.
The in-text citation is:
[Levitsky & Ziblatt 2018]

The full citation in the List of References is:
Levitsky, Steven, & Daniel Ziblatt, 2018, How Democracies Die, New York: Broadway Books.
(Use either ‘&’ or ‘and’ depending on which symbol appears in the original source).

Note on Name Inversion: In the List of References, the first author’s family name is listed first, followed by a comma, a space, and their first name. For the second author, their first name is listed first, followed by their family name (without an inverted comma structure).

CITATIONS FROM SOURCES WITH MORE THAN TWO AUTHORS OR EDITORS

If the source is a work with three or more authors or editors, such as:
Christopher Baker, Gordon Johnson and Anil Seal (eds.), Power, Profit and Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

The in-text citation is:
[Baker et al. 1981]

The full citation in the List of References is:
Baker, Christopher, Gordon Johnson and Anil Seal (eds.), 1981, Power, Profit and Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(Use either ‘&’ or ‘and’ as in the original source).

Note on Name Inversion: In the List of References, invert only the first author’s name (Family Name, First Name). All subsequent co-authors should be listed in standard order (First Name, Family Name).

HOW TO CITE MULTIPLE SOURCES IN A SINGLE IN-TEXT CITATION

When citing multiple works within a single set of brackets, separate the citations with a semicolon (;) and list them in chronological order by publication date.

Example:
[Bayly 1975; Levitsky & Ziblatt 2018]

CITATIONS FROM OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS

When citing official government documents or institutional reports, the primary body or government acts as the author for the in-text citation, followed by sub-agencies in the full reference.

Example 1:
Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, A Shared Vision for the 21st Century of the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China, 14 January 2008.

In-text citation:
[Government of India 2008, 14 January]

Full citation in the List of References:
Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, 2008, 14 January, A Shared Vision for the 21st Century of the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China.

Example 2:

White House, Statements & Releases, Statement by President Donald J. Trump on Signing the ‘Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act’, 2 August 2017.

In-text citation:
[White House 2017, 2 August]

Full citation in the List of References:
White House, Statements & Releases, 2017, 2 August, Statement by President Donald J. Trump on Signing the ‘Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act’.

DIFFERENTIATING SOURCES WITH THE SAME SHORTENED CITATION

When applying the above rules results in identical in-text citations for different sources published in the same year, distinguish them by appending a lowercase letter (a, b, c, etc.) directly after the year, without spaces or parentheses.

Example:
[Government of India 2008a, 14 January] and [Government of India 2008b, 10 March]

MULTIPLE WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR IN THE SAME YEAR

When citing multiple works by the same author published in the same year, differentiate them by appending a lowercase letter (a, b, c) to the year, both in the in-text citation and in the List of References.
E.g. [Torri 2020a] and [Torri 2020b]

CITATIONS FROM SOURCES IN NON-LATIN ALPHABETS

When citing a source written in a non-Latin alphabet, the in-text citation in square brackets must render the author’s name, a shortened title, or an acronym in Latin characters, followed by the publication date.
Example:
[TAOSC 2012] (where TAOSC stands for Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council)

In the List of References, repeat the bracketed Latin in-text citation, followed by the full entry in the original alphabet (following standard citation styling). This must be accompanied by an English translation in parentheses and the URL (if available online).

Example:
[TAOSC 2012, 2 April] ‘王毅在欢迎吴敦义一行招待酒会上的即席致辞’ (Wang Yi Delivers an Impromptu Speech at the Cocktail Reception for Wu Den-yih and His Party), 2012, 2 April (http://www.gwytb.gov.cn/wyly/201204/t20120402_2418794.htm).

Of course, when transliterating non-Latin terms or titles, authors should consistently use standard academic romanisation systems throughout the manuscript. The most widely used transliteration systems are:

• Chinese: Hanyu Pinyin (without tone marks unless strictly necessary).
• Japanese: Revised Hepburn system.
• Korean: Revised Romanization of Korean.
• Arabic / Persian / South Asian languages: Standard IAST or widely accepted academic transliteration conventions.

Should an author decide to follow a different transliteration system, their choice should be explained in a footnote at the beginning of the article.

INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS

Initial in-text citations for interviews must be formatted as follows:
[Family Name, First Name, personal communication, location, DD Month YYYY]

Note: The location indicates where the interviewee was physically located at the time of the interview.

Example:
[Corvino, Marco Valerio, personal communication, New Delhi, 28 September 2021]

Subsequent citations:
[Corvino 2021]

If the interviewee is anonymous, authors should state their professional or civic status:

Example 1: [State employee, personal communication, New Delhi, 28 September 2021]
(Subsequent citation: [State employee 2021])

Example 2: [Private citizen, personal communication, New Delhi, 28 September 2021]
(Subsequent citation: [Private citizen 2021])

Because informational interviews yield non-recoverable data, they are generally not included in the List of References. However, if the author maintains transcripts and is willing to share them upon request, an appendix titled according to the following template may be placed immediately before the List of References:

List of Interviews Used in This Article

The transcripts/records of the following interviews are in the possession of [Author Name] and can be obtained upon request:

Corvino, Marco Valerio, New Delhi, 28 September 2021.
State employee, New Delhi, 28 September 2021.
Private citizen, New Delhi, 28 September 2021.

LIST OF REFERENCES

The reference section must be headed by the words List of References (in Small Caps, centred). Leave four empty lines above the heading (separating it from the body text) and two empty lines below it before the first reference entry.

Note: If leaving four empty lines places the heading at the very bottom of a page, move the heading to the top of the next page.

Font & Size: The List of References must be set in the same font as the footnotes (Times New Roman 8 pt or NewBaskerville 8 pt).

Ordering: Entries must be arranged strictly in alphabetical order, without dividing sources by medium or category.

Repeated Authors: If multiple entries share the exact same author(s), repeat the author name(s) in full for each entry (do not use dashes or lines).

Indentation: Use a hanging indent. The first line of each entry aligns to the left margin, while subsequent wrapped lines are indented.

Example Reference List Format:

BBC News, 2021, 27 October, ‘Hong Kong passes new film censorship law’.
Bloomberg News, 2019, 15 July, ‘Nervous Hong Kong millionaires move cash to Singapore’.
Chau, Candice, 2022, 19 October, ‘Hong Kong Policy Address: Laws against insulting regional flag to be aligned with national flag legislation’, Hong Kong Free Press.
Cheng, Yut Yiu, & Raymond Chung, 2021, 8 November, ‘Hong Kong universities film classes amid rollout of «national security education»’, Radio Free Asia.
Cheung, P. H., C. P. Chan, & D. Y. Jin, 2022, ‘Lessons learned from the fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong in early 2022’, Emerging Microbes & Infections, 11(1), pp. 1072–1078.
European Chambers of Commerce, 2022, 24 March, EuroCham Survey on the impact of Covid-19 on the business community.
Forbes India, 2022, 23 September, ‘Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) rankings: Hong Kong replaced by Singapore as Asia’s top finance centre’.

PECULIAR FORMATTING CHOICES

Currency Symbols: For clarity, Asia Maior inserts a space between a currency symbol and the amount (e.g. US$ 35,000.00, not US$35,000.00).

Direct Quotations: Passages quoted directly in either the main text or footnotes must be enclosed in French commas (guillemets), namely: « ». (Note: French commas can be found in the character/symbol insertion menu of any standard word processor).

Article Titles in Footnotes: When citing the title of an article in a footnote, enclose it in single inverted commas: ‘ ’.

If the title itself contains single inverted commas, replace those inner quotes with guillemets (« »).

If the title contains double quotation marks (“ ”), leave them as they appear in the original source.

EXPLANATORY FOOTNOTES

Explanatory footnotes ((substantive notes providing context or commentary) can be inserted, although sparingly. They must be placed at the bottom of the page (footnotes, not endnotes) using continuous Arabic numerical sequencing (1, 2, 3…) throughout the article. Footnote callout numbers in the text must always be placed after the punctuation mark (e.g., …end of the sentence.²).

TABLES & MAPS/FIGURES

All tables, maps, and figures must be numbered sequentially using Arabic numerals (e.g., Table 1, Figure 1).

Each table or figure must have a short, descriptive title placed directly above it.

The source must be explicitly stated directly below the table/figure formatted as: Source: Author’s elaboration based on Data Bank (2023).

Example:

Tables must be created using the standard word processor table function (do not insert tables or graphs as image files).

A RECURRING MISTAKE THAT MUST BE AVOIDED

Section numbers are frequently indented incorrectly rather than being left-aligned.
Incorrect:

aaaaaaa1. Title of the section (preceded by an automatic tab or indent)

Correct:
1. Title of the section (aligned flush to the left margin)

This error occurs because most word processors are configured to insert an automatic paragraph indent whenever a number is followed by a full stop or bracket. Authors must deactivate or override this automatic formatting setting to ensure section numbers remain flush with the left margin.

GUIDELINES FOR BOOK REVIEWS

Reviews published in Asia Maior are formatted as review articles. As such, their length can reach 2,000 words or more. If a review article includes a List of References, the standard rules for journal articles apply.
All Asia Maior reviews must begin with a standalone title, rather than simply repeating the title of the monograph under review. This title should provide an introduction to the central argument or thesis presented in the review article.

Layout and Formatting Rules:

Title: Set in Small Caps and centred at the top of the page.

Spacing Above Text:

2 empty lines between the Title and the Author’s Name.

2 empty lines between the Author’s Name and their Institutional Affiliation.

N0 empty lines between the Affiliation and the Author’s Email Address.

3 empty lines between the Email Address and the bibliographic details of the reviewed monograph.

Bibliographic Details Example:
Chen Jian, Zhou Enlai: A Life, Cambridge, MA / London, UK: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2024, 817 pp. ISBN: 9780674659582.

• Start of Text: 3 empty lines below the bibliographic entry, followed by the main text of the review.

If the review covers more than one monograph, the titles of the books must be placed in the same position as the title of a single monograph would be. Each title and its bibliographic details must be separated from the title and bibliographic details of another monograph by an empty line.

Of course, if the monograph under review is an edited volume, (ed.) or (eds.) must be included after the editor’s name(s) in the bibliographic heading.

Example: Asiya Siddiqi (ed.), Trade and Finance in Colonial India 1750–1860, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995, 380 pp. ISBN: 9780195634020.

Page Citations & References:

Page Numbers: When citing a page from the monograph being reviewed, insert the page number directly into the text in square brackets, e.g. [p. 45] or [pp. 112–115].

List of References: If external sources are cited, the List of References follows the same positioning and formatting rules as standard articles.

CONCLUSION

Should you have any remaining questions regarding matters of style or submission guidelines, please do not hesitate to contact one of the editors:

• Filippo Boni: filippo.boni@open.ac.uk
• Diego Maiorano: dmaiorano@unior.it
• Michelguglielmo Torri (Senior Editor): mg.torri@gmail.com
• Elena Valdameri (Book Reviews Editor): elena.valdameri@gess.ethz.ch

Please bear in mind that all correspondence to the editors must be copied to the editorial secretary, Ms. Maria Laura Piane pianemarialaura23@gmail.com