I General

1. Aims, Readers, and Scope

What are the aims of a kalimat article?

The aim is to introduce concisely a term/concept from the Arabic tradition in an encyclopedic fashion and to present a reading of it in a defined context or corpus agreed on between the kalimat editors and the author(s).

Who are the readers?

Its primary audience are both the expert (scholars of Arabic) and non-expert scholarly community, which includes students of all fields in the humanities and social sciences. Articles are, therefore, to be written in a clear non-expert language.

How long shall an article be?

The length of a standard contribution (article) is 3000 words (excl. endnotes and bibliography). No submitted text should exceed the limit of 4000 words.

What Shall an Article Cover?

Articles belonging to a lemma should generally not aim to cover the entire history of a term/concept; they may but do not have to include the etymology of a term. Entries to a lemma may have a modular structure; that is, they may consist of sections (initially articles written by different authors) covering different historical periods, corpora, or semantic dimensions. Adding sentences, bibliographical data or short sections after an article has been published will result in a new version.

How Can Articles be Connected to Other Articles?

Writing on a lemma that has already been explored in kalimat, but based on a new corpus or context, should result in a distinct article. However, multiple articles on the same lemma may be combined into a single entry, which would then consist of more sections or subsections than the standard 3000-word article, and can be quoted as such. Authors are also welcome to suggest links to existing articles and, in the process of their writing, may consult the kalimat road map, which includes those terms on which other authors are currently working.

2. Structure of Presentation and Bilinguality

Every article, as also the entire website, will be presented in both English and Arabic. The article should have a recognizable structureand provide example(s) from the discussed corpus.

How does kalimat deal with different languages?

Every article which is submitted in English will be translated into Arabic and vice versa. Generally, all quotations from idioms other than the article’s language shall be translated either into Arabic or English, respectively.

For articles written in English: Words and phrases from the source languages shall always be rendered in English, usually followed by a transliteration of the original’s language.

How is a kalimat article structured?

The author is required to follow this structure:

0. Title: the lemma
1. Introduction: Overview of the term’s etymology/lexical meanings, state of the art in scholarship, outline of the article
2. Corpus: Introduce the main characteristics of the used sources and explain the rationale of the choice
3. Main Part titled

• Historical Semantics and Contextual Analysis

OR

• Terminological Analysis and Historical Semantics

• The main focus lies either (a) on the study of a term or concept in its historical contexts of use offering a specific set of examples; or (b) on the analysis of a term or concept indicating shifting definitions or interpretations (in a long diachronic perspective). Whereas the first approach is typical for dealing with genre terms and manuscript practices, the second is typical for terms and concepts from the poetic and rhetorical traditions.

0. Conclusion
1. Endnotes
2. Bibliography – see the necessary sectioning of the bibliography
3. Further Reading – optional

Remark: Only (3) may be divided into different sections (works/authors/regions/centuries…)

Where and how should examples from Arabic be included?

In part (3) of the article, the author is asked to provide one or several (short) examples from the discussed works that illustrate(s) the use of the specific term/concept or its meaning(s) and significance in full sentences.

Regarding examples in articles written in English: Translated quotations are to be submitted in the original script (in the main text or as an independent WORD document).

3. Peer-Review and Editing Process, Translation, and Versioning

Every article undergoes peer review and editing. Then it will be translated, and can be updated by the author after publication.

When and how shall an article draft be submitted?

The article will be submitted within an agreed time frame. The article should be sent via e-mail to kalimat@geschkult.fu-berlin.de as a Microsoft WORD document or any similar format (e.g. RTF) with the sections as defined above.

What is kalimat’s review process?

Every article undergoes double-blind peer review. Reviewers are asked to follow the peer review guidelines. If they agree, reviewers will receive a community profile on the website and will be credited for their work after an article is published.

When should the final article draft be submitted?

After the peer review and feedback from one of the editor s, the author will provide a final, possibly revised draft.

How will the article be translated?

Only after the submission of the final draft (before the proof stage) and after the editors’ approval, will the article be translated: either from Arabic into English or from English into Arabic. The author will be given sufficient time to review the translation.

4. What Other Texts and Information Shall Be Submitted?

Following successful peer review, authors will submit a few further pieces of information in addition to their final draft.

Abstract

The article should be preceded by a short summary of the article’s main findings, consisting of no more than 300 words. The abstract should be sent with the final draft.

Description of works

Authors should list their sources in the Corpus section of the article. They may also be asked to include a very brief separate description (2–3 sentences) of the key works analyzed, which will be used in the individual work descriptions on the website. The descriptions of the works should be submitted along with the final draft or shortly thereafter.

Keywords

The author will also supply five to ten keywords to facilitate linking on the kalimat website, online search, and cataloging. The keywords should be sent with the final draft.

Short bio

Every author will be asked to submit a mini-bio consisting of no more than 200 words for the personal contributor page. The bio should be sent as early as possible with the final draft (3c).

Index, Interconnectedness

The editors will identify head words for the index, most importantly: names (of persons and places) and terms – from the article’s content – for the general index of kalimat. Index head words may also be suggested by the author. These head words serve to create links between various articles and facilitate orientation on the website. The head words may be sent with the first proofs (3c).

Contract

Prior to final publication, authors will receive an author’s agreement form, specifying the terms of publication and use. The contract should be sent with the final approval for publication (second proofs).

5. Publication and Post-Publication: License, Permanent Identifier, Versions

How will an article be accessed and quoted?

Every article will be given a permanent identifier (DOI) upon publication. This should be used in citations.

What rights does the author have?

Based on an agreement in which the author grants publication rights to the Freie Universität Berlin, articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC-BY 4.0) and may be reused in other publications, as long as kalimat is correctly mentioned as the initial place of publication.

kalimat also accepts previously published research, if the initial publisher agrees, and encourages potential authors to reuse already published findings for the kalimat purpose.

When does an article become a version?

Following initial publication, authors might be asked to update their article after a given time frame. If they decide to change a considerable amount of content (adding information instead of correcting single words or spelling errors), a new version will need to be implemented. That version will be given a new DOI so that both can be quoted individually.

II Formatting

1. Language

Spelling

kalimat uses American English spelling.

Quotations

Direct quotations of entire phrases and sentences from Arabic or other languages than English should be provided in both original language and script and English translation. kalimat prefers the font Scheherazade, 12-point for the Arabic text. The author must ensure they set the paragraph direction to be “Right-to-left.”

When quoting verses, the meter, if applicable, should be indicated as follows: (meter: al-ṭawīl).

Italics

For terms and short phrases from other languages than English, notably transliterated words from Arabic, the use of italics is recommended. Do not italicize punctuation that follows italicized text.

2. Text Format

Type-setting and font

Type your manuscript in Microsoft Word, but avoid using style formatting except for headings and annotations. The use of Times New Roman or Calibri, 12-point font is recommended. The author may use other fonts, provided they support the Unicode standard necessary to display all transliteration symbols.

Paragraphs

Keep paragraphs short and insert an extra line break between each paragraph. Do not insert line breaks where they are not needed. Avoid paragraph indentation, except for block quotations. Do not use any automatic formatting.

Sections

Use Microsoft Word’s built-in heading styles, beginning with H2 and using H3, H4, etc. for subsequent nested levels. Headings should begin flush left and must be left unnumbered. Always use bold title case for headings and non-bold subheadings.

Block quotes

For quoted passages longer than two lines, indent the paragraph one inch from the left margin (or 1 inch from the right margin for Arabic quotations). Do not use Microsoft Word’s built-in “Quote” style! Set off these block quotations from the running text using a line break before and after the quoted text. Remember, no quotation marks are needed.

3. Punctuation

Quotation marks

Commas and full stops should be placed inside quotation marks both in references and the main text, according to The Chicago Manual of Style.

• “Punctuation should be inside the quotation marks.”

Quotes and apostrophes

Use double quotation marks (“…”) for direct quotation and avoid any other use, e.g., to highlight or relativize terms. Single quotation marks should be avoided. “Curly quotes” and ‘curly apostrophes’ are preferred to straight quotation marks and apostrophes.

Commas

Abbreviated forms like i.e. and e.g., are both written within commas (American English), although these abbreviations should be avoided in the main text.

It is recommended to use serial commas.

Dashes

An en (–) dash, not a hyphen (-) should be used for page and year ranges. The em dash (—) is written to connect directly with words on either side (no spacing).

• E.g. See pages 2–5
• E.g. The em dash—long though it may be—is a useful punctuation mark.

Colons

Do not use capitalization after semi-colons (;) and after colons (:).

Footnote markers

The footnote marker should be placed after the punctuation mark, not before, and after the quotation marks, as follows:

• “Footnotes markers are to be placed after punctuation mark.”¹¹

4. Dates and Numbers

Hijri and Georgian calendar

Hijri and Gregorian dates, usually separated by a slash, should in general be provided for all exact dates unless the period referred to falls before Islamic times or outside the geographical area.

• Rajab 3, 1389/ June 9, 1978

CE dating

In passages covering (early) modern times authors may prefer to use CE dating only. Then set the dates in the format: March 14, 2025. For dates before the Common Era, use BCE.

Death dates

When a central historical figure is discussed for the first time in the main text, this mention should include the full name and date of death after “d.”; for living authors one may use the date of birth “b.”; if uncertain, provide the date range or, alternatively, “fl. mid-eight century” (floruit).

5. Transliteration

Style

Generally, follow the IJMES transliteration style for Arabic. Historical proper names should also be written with diacritics. The same applies in general for other languages, e.g., Persian, Hebrew, and Ottoman Turkish.

Hints: For the word “history” in Arabic write tārīkh, not taʾrīkh. And for female nisba endings always use -iyya, not –īya.

• Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya al-Qaysiyya

Names

Modern authors’ names should generally be written in their anglicized spelling; for disambiguation the transliteration of their Arabic name may be given in brackets in the bibliography. Write ʿAbdallāh as one word, but all other names of the same structure as two words, e.g., ʿUbayd Allāh. Ibn is written at the beginning of a name (Ibn Qutayba) and neither Ibn nor bin/b. can be omitted from names. The abbreviation b. should only be used inside the name (ʿAmr b. ʿAdī).

Names of dynasties and places

Names of all well-known time periods/dynasties should be written according to accepted and conventional English spelling, e.g., Abbasid, Seljuq, Mamluk, Ilkhanid. Similarly, Baghdad is preferred (not Baghdād). Cities with conventional English spelling should be written according to this spelling. Exceptions can be made for lesser-known place names or dynasties.

Established words

ommonly used Arabic words in English, i.e., listed under Merriam-Webster, shall be rendered without following academic transliteration styles.

• For instance, write: Islam; Muslim, Non-Muslim; Qurʾan, not Qurʾān; Qurʾanic, not qurʾanic; madrasa; sharia, Sufism.

However, if a terminological use is to be highlighted, one is advised to use standard transliteration.

6. Capitalization

Punctuation

No capitalization after semi-colons (;) or colons (:). Always capitalize Arabic words at the beginning of a new sentence (also in bibliographical entries, e.g. article al-.

Geographical terms

Capitalize most of the established geographical terms, e.g. the Muslim World, the Islamicate World, North Africa, the Tigris River, the Zagros Mountains, the Middle East, Central Asia, the East, the West, the Hejaz, the Holy Land. But write: eastern Europe, northern Iraq, northeast.

Periods

Capitalize most of the established names for time periods, e.g. the Early Islamic period, Premodern, Post-Mongol period, Classical period, Post-Classical period, Formative, Post-Formative, Modern period, Pre-Islamic (times), Pre-Mongol etc., Early Modernity, Late Antiquity – as an adjective use late antique (no hyphen and lower casing).

Terms for dynasties, polities, authorities, and movements

Capitalize most of the well-known dynasties, e.g., the Mamluk Sultanate, the Abbasid Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Ilkhanate. Also write “the Civil War.” Moreover, write Caliph al-Manṣūr, like King George (but the caliph al-Manṣūr; lower casing with article), Sultan Malikshāh, Chief Emir Bajkam, Khwārazm Shāhs, Shuʿūbī, Shuʿūbiyya, and also capitalize the Prophet Muḥammad (as well as Prophetic); capitalize doctrinal designations: Islamic, Muʿtazilī, Sasanian, Manichaean.

7. Abbreviations

A minimum of abbreviations

In general, avoid abbreviations in the main body of the text. Abbreviations can be used in the annotations. Avoid abbreviations particular to specific fields of scholarship, e.g., for reference works like EI for Encyclopaedia of Islam (also in bibliography) or CHAL for Cambridge History of Arabic Literature etc.

If abbreviations are really needed to gain some space, provide a list.

Some examples for accepted abbreviations

i.e. (followed by comma)

e.g. (followed by comma)

ca. (not c.)

no.

sing.; pl.

BCE; CE

cent.

approx.

fl. (no italics)

ibid. (no italics)

chap. (only in annotations)

MS and MSS (not Ms. and similar)

Arab. (= Arabic); Gr. (= Greek); Syr. (= Syriac); Hebr. (= Hebrew); Pers. (= Persian); Lat. (= Latin)

b. (= ibn); bt. (=bint)

III References

More important than using the citation and bibliography style suggested below are completeness and consistency in references. Please always use a consistent transliteration style for all languages in non-Latin script.kalimat strongly recommends the use of ZOTERO or a similar reference management software and the submission of the individual library in a fitting export format (e.g. Zotero RDF, RIS, BibTex, Endnote XML).

1. Citation Style

Footnotes

All annotations should be submitted as numbered footnotes. Reduce annotations to a minimum and, more importantly, keep them short, and do not use them to provide information that belongs into the main text. Combine multiple notes into one if needed. Avoid footnote markers on headings and subheadings.

Citation in footnotes

Use short citations in annotations based on the format of the Chicago Manual of Style ‘author, short title, page(s)’ format for all references. Several authors (or editors) shall be separated by “and.”

• Leder and Kilpatrick, “Classical Arabic Prose Literature,” 4.

For manuscript sources use the format ‘MS collection shelf mark, folio number (r/v)’, and, if available, dating at first mention. For printed sources use the format ‘author, short title, page.’

• MS USJ 183, 5r.

If you use different editions or translations of the same book, the citation should be specific.

• al-Maʿarrī, Epistle (ed. van Gelder and Schoeler) I, 181.

If the publication has no page numbers, one may use other numeric criteria of ordering, e.g., section or paragraph numbers.

Page range and numbers

Give all page numbers as follows: 74–83, 280–312, 200–1, 522–24. Use Latin numbers for volumes in citations (multivolume works) and Arabic numbers for journal volumes and other bibliographical content.

Qurʾanic quotations

Qurʾanic quotations should have this format:

• Q 24/shuʿarāʾ: 224–27.

2. Bibliography – General Format

All references are to be presented in one bibliography below the article text. It is the author’s responsibility to review each bibliographic entry for accuracy (e.g., transliteration, publication dates, author names, etc.) and completeness.

Subsections in the bibliography

Class, if applicable, manuscript sources, print sources, and secondary references in different subsections.

Order of references

Multiple items by the same author are to be given in descending order beginning with the most recent. Sort author first before same author editing and thereafter same author co-authoring with other authors, thereafter author and contributing author(s). Names beginning with Arabic al- are ordered by what comes after it. Al- is to be placed behind what we today generally take as the first name(s).

• Maʿarrī, Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-

If the author of a work is known, always begin the reference with his name (not translator/editor):

• Maʿarrī, Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-. The Epistle of Forgiveness, ed. and trans. Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler. Library of Arabic Literature. New York: NYU Press, 2013.

Cited introductions to a translation or edition should be referenced separately.

Capitalization in references

Use caps for titles (in bibliography) of works written in English. In Arabic book titles that include another work, capitalize that too.

• Sharḥ Dīwān al-Mutanabbī

Initial of first word in Arabic titles (after Kitāb or Risāla) is capitalized (except al-), all other words small except for names of persons and places.

Multiple authors and places in a bibliography

For cases of multiple authors/editors or multiple places of publication use “and” in bibliography. In case of four and more use “et al.”

• Leiden and London
• Leder, Stefan and Hilary Kilpatrick
• Franzen, Johannes, et al., eds. Geschichte der Fiktionalität: diachrone Perspektiven auf ein kulturelles Konzept. Faktuales und fiktionales Erzählen 4. Baden-Baden: Ergon, 2018.

Translations of transliterated titles in the bibliography

In the bibliography: Provide translations of transliterated Arabic titles of publications

• Kilito, Abdelfattah. al–Ḥikāya wa-l-taʾwīl: Dirāsāt fī l-sard al-ʿarabī [Literature and Strangeness: Structural Studies in Arabic Literature]…

3. Bibliography – References

Manuscripts

Always mention the place/city and the library name as a heading, then the shelf mark and in brackets the MS title as in catalogue if available. Always use MS (not Ms.).

• Beirut, Bibliothèque Orientale

MS USJ 183 (Riḥlat Ibrāhīm al-Ḥakīm ilā Miṣr)

Printed sources (edited and translated works)

Jāḥiẓ, Abū ʿUthmān ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-. “Risālat al-muʿallimīn” [Treatise on Teachers], ed. Ḥātim Ṣāliḥ al-Ḍāmin. Al-Mawrid 7 (1978): 149–58. https://archive.org/details/almawridar/page/n147/mode/2up

Maʿarrī, Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-. The Epistle of Forgiveness, ed. and trans. Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler. Library of Arabic Literature. New York: New York University Press, 2013.

ed. (= “edited by” before name/s, never eds.)

ed./eds. (= “editor” / “editors” after name/s)

For printed sources, place the year in the end (before page numbers).

Monographs

Kilito, Abdelfattah. al–Ḥikāya wa-l-taʾwīl: Dirāsāt fī l-sard al-ʿarabī [Literature and Strangeness: Structural Studies in Arabic Literature]. Casablanca: Dār Tūbqāl li-l-nashr, 1988.

Mallette, Karla. Lives of the Great Languages: Arabic and Latin in the Medieval Mediterranean. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021.

Edited books and special issues

Bahl, Christopher and Stefan Hanß, eds. Scribal Practice and the Global Cultures of Colophons, 1400–1800. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.

El Hamamsy, Walid, ed. Food as Culture: Literary and Artistic Approaches/al-Ṭaʿām wa-l-thaqāfa, special issue of Alif 44 (2024): 1–222. https://www.jstor.org/stable/e27324705

Doctoral and Master theses

Jackson, Cailah. “Patrons and Artists at the Crossroads: The Islamic Arts of the Book in the Lands of Rūm, 1270s–1370s.” PhD thesis, University of Oxford, 2017.

Saba Yared, Nazik. “Shuʿarāʾ maghmūrūn fī l-ʿaṣr al-ʿAbbāsī al-awwal” [Obscure Poets from the First Abbasid Period]. MA thesis, American University of Beirut, 1960. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://scholarworks.aub.edu.lb/handle/10938/7709

For theses use: PhD thesis, MA thesis, MPhil thesis, etc.

Journal articles

Leder, Stefan and Hilary Kilpatrick. “Classical Arabic Prose Literature: A Researcher’s Sketch Map.” Journal of Arabic Literature 23/1 (1992): 2–26. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4183254

Shtīwī, Aḥmād Sāsī. “Ruʾyat Abī l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī fī l-shiʿr” [Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī’s View on Poetry]. Ḥawliyyāt al-ādāb wa-l-ʿulūm al-ijtimāʿiyya 111/16 (1996): 7–82. https://doi.org/10.34120/aass.v16i111.357

Articles in edited volumes

Chraïbi, Aboubakr. “Fiction, religion et observations sur les rongeurs : la souris aux pièces d’or.“ In Classer les récits : théories et pratiques [actes du colloque international, Fondation Singer-Polignac, Paris, 24–26 Mai 2007], ed. idem. Critiques littéraires. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2007: 211–31.

Use this format also for reference works.

For subsequent double mention of authors in one bibliographical entry use sing. (m) idem and (f) eadem (or pl. idem and eaedem). For introductions (or chapters) in edited or translated works, cite as noted below:

Van Gelder, Geert Jan and Gregor Schoeler. “Introduction.” In Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī. The Epistle of Forgiveness, ed. and trans. van Gelder and Schoeler. Library of Arabic Literature. New York: New York University Press, 2013, xv–xxviii.

Riḍā, Muḥammad Rashīd. “Muqaddimat nāshir al-kitāb” [Editor’s Introduction]. In ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī. Asrār al-balāgha fī ʿilm al-bayān [The Secrets of Eloquence in the Science of Revelation], ed. Riḍā. Cairo: Maṭbaʿat al-Taraqqī, 1902/1903, b–ḥ.

Websites

Schmalzgruber, Hedwig. “When ‘Dumb’ Beasts Raise Their Voices: Speaking Animals in Ancient Graeco-Roman and Near Eastern Literature.” The Ancient Near East Today 10/4, April (2022), blog. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://anetoday.org/schmalzgruber-animals/

“HMML Reading Room.” Virtual Hill Museum and Manuscript Library. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.vhmml.org/readingRoom

Always prefer a stable URL when referencing webpages.

IV Check List

Check…

• If the text in the manuscript is complete with quotes, footnotes, and bibliography,
• that no special formatting is present in the manuscript.
• If quotes in Arabic script are correct.
• whether all entries in the bibliography are cited in the text and vice versa.
• the consistency of writing Arabic names in text, annotations, and bibliography.
• the completeness and consistency of the citation and bibliography style.
• levels of Subheads: Microsoft Word’s built-in H2, H3, etc. style.
• If the manuscript uses a Unicode font (e.g., Times New Roman, Calibri) in 12-point.
• punctuation, notably the use of quotation marks (curly) and all dashes.
• whether there are extra spaces (double spaces) to be eliminated.

Submitted?

• no more than 4000 words excl. bibliography, footnotes, and all material below
• abstract
• keywords
• short bio