HARTFORD, CT, July 25, 2011 – The world’s first journal dedicated to the
exploration of secularism and nonreligion will begin publication in
January 2012. The new journal is a partnership of the Institute for the
Study of Secularism in Society and Culture (ISSSC) at Trinity College in
Hartford, Conn., and the Non-religion and Secularity Research Network
(NSRN), an international and interdisciplinary network of researchers
founded in 2008.
The journal will be co-edited by Ryan T. Cragun, Assistant Professor of
Sociology at the University of Tampa, and Barry A. Kosmin, Research
Professor of Public Policy & Law and director of the ISSSC at Trinity
College. Lois Lee of NSRN and the University of Cambridge, England will
be Associate Editor.
The scope of the international academic journal, to be called Secularism
and Nonreligion, will be interdisciplinary. Its aim is to advance
research regarding all of the various aspects of “the secular†across
societies and cultures.
Articles, written in English, will be accepted from experts in the
social science disciplines of psychology, sociology, political science,
women’s studies, economics, geography, demography, anthropology, public
health, public policy, law and religious studies. However, contributions
also will be considered from researchers in the fields of history,
neuroscience, computer science, biology, philosophy and medicine.
Articles published in the new journal will focus on the secular at one
of three levels: the micro or individual level, the meso or
institutional level, or the macro or national and international level.
Submissions should explore all aspects of what it means to be secular at
any of the above-cited levels, what the lives of nonreligious
individuals are like, and the interaction between secularity,
nonreligion and other aspects of the world. Articles will explore the
ideology and philosophy of the secular, secularism, nonreligion and atheism.
Although Secularism and Nonreligion will adhere to a traditional blind,
peer-review referee process, it will be an open-access journal, meaning
all articles will be freely available and able to be downloaded on the
journal’s Web site: www.secularismandnonreligion.org.
The editors are now accepting submissions of academic articles and book
reviews, with the first volume of the journal to be published in 2012.
Additional information about how to submit papers and publication
procedures can be found on the Web site.
Members of the journal’s international editorial board include Kada
Akacem at the University of Algiers in Algeria; Andrew Singleton at
Monash University in Australia; Nathalie Caron at the Universite de
Paris-Est Creteil in France; Stacey Gutkowski at the King’s College,
London in the UK; Stephen Bullivant at St. Mary’s University College,
Twickenham in the UK; David Voas at the University of Manchester in the
UK; Will Gervais at the University of British Columbia in Canada; and
Guy Ben-Porat at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.
The editorial board members from the United States are John Alcorn at
Trinity College; Daniel Blackburn at Trinity College; Deborah Cragun at
the University of South Florida; Joseph Hugh Hammer at Iowa State
University; Karen Hwang Center for Atheist Research; Ariela Keysar at
Trinity College; Juhem Navarro-Rivera at the University of Connecticut;
Terry Parssinen at the University of Tampa; Frank Pasquale at the
Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture; Darren
Sherkat at Southern Illinois University; Donald Westbrook at Claremont
Graduate University; David Wulff at Wheaton College; and Phil Zuckerman
at Pitzer College.
For more information, contact Barry Kosmin at:
barry.kosmin@trincoll.edu, or Ryan Cragun at: ryantcragun@gmail.com