SUBMISSION, REVIEW, AND PUBLICATION

** The _Journal of Moral Theology_ accepts open submissions, at any time, on any topic pertaining to moral theology, as well as theological treatments of related topics, including, but not limited to, philosophy, economics, political philosophy, psychology, and contemporary culture. **AI and Third-Party Content** Manuscripts submitted to the _Journal of Moral Theology_ should consist of **original research and writing by the author(s) and follow accepted canons of academic scholarship.** Manuscripts should not have previously appeared (in whole or in part), including in digital repositories, or be simultaneously considered for publication in another venue. The _Journal_ will not publish any manuscripts that contain third-party content that is not explicitly cited as such. The _Journal of Moral Theology_ is **a scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic journal.** We will not publish any manuscripts that contain or are suspected of containing any AI-generated or AI-enhanced text. The _Journal_ now uses the AI-detection service of iThenticate, provided by CrossRef. Every manuscript submitted to the journal is checked by iThenticate. Articles flagged as using AI are double-checked by the JMT editorial staff to confirm gen-AI probability. Articles suspected of using generative AI will be rejected. We counsel that authors should not use AI programs for research, as they collate material from predatory journals, repositories, and other substandard sources. We counsel that authors not use programs such as Grammarly or similar tools to "improve" their text. Generating one's own text--at the sentence, paragraph, and manuscript level--is a key part of the scholarly research and intellectual process. We would rather receive an honestly written and imperfect text generated by a human scholar than superficially smooth AI-slop. Do not use AI-translators, as this may result in the manuscript being flagged and therefore rejected. **NB**: Please **do not** submit book reviews through our submission portal. If you wish to review a particular book, please contact associate editors [Kate Ward](mailto:katharine.ward@marquette.edu) or [Matthew Shadle](mailto:matthew_shadle@outlook.com). Guidelines for book reviews can be found [here](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/j4c4lmk8oswaxziako3cf/JMT-Book-Review-Guidelines-2026.pdf?rlkey=eian3bfo99cscr4kr32totde4&st=jtvhnzdc&dl=0). All manuscripts should be submitted by clicking on the "Submit a Manuscript" button above. This will take you to the Scholastica submission form. Please complete this form as thoroughly as possible. All manuscripts should: * Be approximately 8,000-10,000 words (including footnotes); * Be anonymized for blind review; * Be in Microsoft Word format; * Should not be simultaneously considered for publication in another venue; * Comply with the [JMT Style Guide](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2wic0xvh1qaxo47a4ntcg/JMT-Style-Sheet-Version-9.9.pdf?rlkey=femd5hl6hg4rm4i3f42tme8uf&st=6wek9yk2&dl=0) Submitted manuscripts should include the following items: * Title of the essay; * A 150-200 word abstract; * A 30-word lede describing the essay (labelled “Lede” and included beneath the abstract in the abstract box); * Up to 10 key words; * All author (and co-author if relevant) information requested. * Documentation on funding and copyright use (when applicable). * Documentation of ethics review board approval for articles that use data from studies involving human subjects (when applicable). * A statement that **no generative AI was used to produce the research and manuscript submitted.** Queries regarding the submission and production process should be directed to the Editor, [M. Therese Lysaught](mailto:journal.moral.theology@gmail.com). **ORCID** The _Journal of Moral Theology_ encourages but does not require ORCID. An ORCID ID is encouraged as it helps distinguish between authors with similar names and provides connections to other works published by the author. An ORCID ID is freely available at: https://orcid.org. **Charges and Fees** This journal does not charge submission fees or open access fees for publications. **Authorship** All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have approved the final submitted version. Authors are ordinarily considered those who have “authored, drafted, reviewed, and approved” a manuscript. An individual who does not meet authorship criteria for a specific piece of work but has contributed in some capacity should be acknowledged in a footnote, with their approval. Authors of intercultural research should consider appropriate attribution for traditional knowledge, to the extent that this attribution does not compromise any agreed assurances of anonymity. This may include “traditional knowledge” notices, or citation of indigenous sources (such as people or community groups) or other cultural sources of knowledge by name within the text. Appropriate attribution may require sharing authorship with intercultural collaborators. Any authorship disputes will be referred to the journal’s Publication Ethics subcommittee which will follow the COPE processes for dispute resolution. **Funding** All funding sources supporting a submitted manuscript should be identified in a separate document submitted with the original manuscript and, if the article is accepted for publication, in a footnote acknowledging the funding support. Authors are responsible for acknowledging and accurately noting funding sources. **Peer Review** The _Journal of Moral Theology_ operates under a double-blind peer review model. Manuscripts are given an initial review by the Editor. If the Editor determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements, then the essay will be sent out to reviewers. Reviewers are selected based on their scholarly expertise in relation to the topic of the manuscript, in consultation with the editorial staff as needed. Reviews are conducted via Scholastica’s editorial management system. The journal strives to render decisions as in a timely manner. In-house submissions (i.e., papers authored by Editors or Editorial Board members of the journal) will be sent to editors unaffiliated with the author or institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias. This process is monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias. The peer-review process adheres to accepted canons for confidentiality. Other aspects of the submission process are not ordinarily considered confidential. Correlatively, authors are welcome to list submitted manuscripts on their CV as “under review with the _Journal of Moral Theology”_ until a decision is rendered by the Editor. **After Acceptance and Proofs** After manuscripts have been accepted for publication and final edits have been completed, the article will be proofed and formatted by the journal’s production team. The primary contact person for that process is the [Managing Editor](mailto:journal.moral.theology@gmail.com). Authors will receive proofs for review before publication via the Scholastica editorial management system, along with any final questions from the Managing Editor. Authors should return the proofs within seven days, responding to all queries and ensuring that texts and citations are accurate. **

ADDITIONAL POLICIES

** **Data Information** Rarely do essays in the _Journal of Moral Theology_ utilize data sets. * If an accepted article uses a data set, it must be cited in the same way as an article, book, or web citation. * If an accepted article uses a data set, the _Journal of Moral Theology_ encourages data sharing. Consult with the Editor if you wish to access data cited in the journal. **Personal Information Protection** By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require will be used for the regular operations of the publication. **Reproduction of Copyright Material** If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included in a manuscript, credit must be shown in the manuscript. It is the author’s responsibility also to obtain written permission for reproduction from the copyright owners. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining written permission to reproduce the material "in print and other media" from the publisher of the original source and for supplying the editors of the journal with that permission upon submission. **Distribution** The _Journal of Moral Theology_ retains permission to distribute and highlight publications in its journal through various online platforms. **Publishing and Research Ethics** The _Journal of Moral Theology_ follows [the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)](https://publicationethics.org/core-practices) and handles cases of research and publication misconduct accordingly. For the JMT Publication Ethics policies, click [here](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d62geq298nvylyxij7vgi/JMT-Publication-Ethics-Nov-2025.pdf?rlkey=7ychyrl8gwf72v8cqpxxw3c35&dl=0). The _Journal_ also participates in Scholastica's [Similarity Check](https://www.crossref.org/services/similarity-check/) service. Similarity Check includes an AI-detection component. The Chair of the JMT's Publication Ethics Committee is [Mary Doyle Roche](mailto:mroche@holycross.edu). **Open Access, Copyright, and Licensing** The _Journal of Moral Theology_ is an open-access journal and fulfills the DOAJ definition of open-access. Articles published in the journal are copyrighted using the [Creative Commons-Attribution (CC-BY) license](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Authors hold the copyright to their articles and may share, adapt, or reuse their own article in a new publication of which they are the author, editor, or co-editor, without prior approval. We request that authors allow the JMT to publish the article first, before it appears elsewhere, inform the journal in writing that they will be reusing the article, and cite the original publication information in the reproduced material. Authors may also deposit submitted, accepted, and published versions of their articles in an institutional or other repository of the their choice without embargo. The journal requests that authors inform the journal if they plan to post copies prior to publication. As noted earlier, this journal does not charge submission fees or open access fees for publications. Users do not have to register to access the journal's articles and may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose. Articles are made available to authors and users immediately without embargo. **Author Name Change Policy** In cases where authors wish to change their name following publication, the _Journal of Moral Theology_ will update the online publication. The journal will use discretion in recognizing that name changes may be of a sensitive and private nature for various reasons including (but not limited to) alignment with gender identity, or as a result of marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Accordingly, to protect the author’s privacy, the journal will not publish a correction notice to the paper. Authors should contact the journal’s editor with their name change request. **Correction to Authorship** The _Journal of Moral Theology_ will allow authors to correct authorship on a submitted, accepted, or published article if a valid reason exists to do so. All authors—including those to be added or removed—must agree to any proposed change. To request a change to the authors listed, please contact the Editor. **Early View Articles and Preprints** Due to the _Journal of Moral Theology’s_ ordinarily short publication timeline, the journal does not offer early view or pre-prints for manuscripts. If an author wishes to disseminate an accepted article prior to publication, please contact the journal Editor. **

SPECIAL ISSUES

** For many years, the _Journal of Moral Theology_ has regularly published special issues in April and October. We are currently reassessing our special issue feature. At this time, we are only considering special issue proposals from scholars who have worked extensively with the _Journal of Moral Theology._ Scholars so situated should contact the [Editor](mailto:journal.moral.theology@gmail.com) for more information. All manuscripts submitted for special issues undergo double-blind peer review.

Negotiating Authenticity: Immersion Experiences as Compromised Vehicles for Francis’ “Authentic Encounters”