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Guidelines
for writers of EMQ articles
A.
Scott Moreau, Editor
Gary Corwin, Associate Editor
Dave Broucek, Book Review Editor
What
we are
EMQ (Evangelical Missions Quarterly) is a professional journal
serving the worldwide missions community. EMQ articles reflect
missionary life, thought, and practice. Each issue includes articles,
book reviews, editorials, international news reports, and letters.
Subjects are related to worldwide mission and evangelism efforts,
and include: successful ministries, practical ideas, new tactics
and strategies, trends in world evangelization, church planting
and discipleship, health and medicine, literature and media, education
and training, relief and development, and missionary family life.
Our
purpose
The Purpose of EMQ is to increase the effectiveness
of the evangelical missionary enterprise by:
- providing
a forum for communicating new concepts, strategies, and resources
- reporting,
analyzing, and interpreting significant trends in missions
- encouraging
and assisting mission personnel in their personal and professional
growth
- by
providing a platform for the discussion of important mission issues
About
our readers
- They
include: short-term and career missionaries, mission executives,
mission scholars, mission professors, mission students and missionary
candidates, mission pastors, lay leaders, and mission supporters.
- Over
half of our 7,000 readers live and work overseas;
- They
serve with over 40 different denominations and sending agencies;
- They
are well-educated: two-thirds of them have graduate degrees;
- Eight
out of 10 are men;
- Thirty-five
percent fall within the 35 to 44 age bracket;
- They
work at more than 30 different missionary ministries, most of
them as church planters and teachers;
- They
are most interested in cultural and biblical values, Christianity
and culture, church and culture, discipleship processes, evangelism
methods, church planting methods, leadership training methods;
- They
don't see EMQ as a scholarly journal, rather they see it as a
very readable, informative, stimulating, and practical publication;
- Five
times as many readers describe EMQ as extremely practical compared
to extremely theoretical.
Our
editorial philosophy
EMQ is open to anyone who has a fresh idea about anything
pertaining to world missions. We are not a scholarly journal written
for academics, but we do wantĘt material that is academically respectable,
reflecting careful thought and practical application to missions
professionals and especially working missionaries. We like to see
problems not only diagnosed, but solved either by way of illustration
or suggestion.
We
prefer articles about deeds done, showing the why and the how, claiming
not only success but also admitting failure. Principles drawn from
one example must be applicable to missions more generally.
Criteria
by which we evaluate articles
- Importance
of subject to our readers.
- Freshness
and creativity.
- Clarity
and readability.
- Development
and depth.
- Support
and resources.
- Convincing
arguments.
- Accuracy
and validity.
- Overall
treatment of a subject.
How
to submit articles and book reviews
- Before
sending your article or review, e-mail emqjournal@aol.com
to ask the editor if he's interested in the subject or book. He
may have a similar article on hand; he may have assigned the book
to someone; your subject may not be on his agenda.
- Think
about your word length; 3,000 to 3,500 words for articles; 400
words for reviews.
- Send
a hard copy, double-spaced, and a disk if you have one. Copy may
also be sent by e-mail to emqjournal@aol.com
- Enclose
a photo, a biographical sketch of yourself, and your social security
number (necessary for payment) if you are American.
How
we treat all articles and reviews
- We
give a prompt acknowledgment that we received your piece.
- We
may make suggestions for improvements and return it to you, if
we are interested in your subject.
- We
usually are scheduled up to a year in advance for a publication,
and may not be able to give you a prompt decision.
- If
we do more than routine copy editing, we normally return our edited
version for your approval before we print it.
- We
pay $100 upon publication for articles, $25 for book reviews.
What
we look for in EMQ Book Reviews
- A
sparkling opening to grab the reader, state the central problem
or issue in a broad missions context.
- A
succinct overview of the contents. Don't try to cover everything.
Strip it down to its essence.
- The
author's contributions that are new. We want fresh insights. How
does she or he help us solve a problem, grow, or whatever?
- Anything
the reviewer thinks the author has missed or stated wrongly, that
is of crucial importance. No nit-picking please.
- A
lively style and tone. Be upbeat. Keep sentences short. Use short,
simple words. No academic, technical jargon.
- Add
two or three related books as a separate item at the end. Include
title, author, city of publication, publisher, date of publication.
- Overall
length: 400 words. (That's one page in EMQ.)
- We
pay $25 on publication of the book review, which may be edited
for style and space.
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