The Book Reviews Editor receives books offered by publishers for review, and assigns them to reviewers. Review books may be sent (FOC) to the following address:

Matthew Clark

Editor, Journal of Yoga Studies

Any established scholar may also offer to review a particular book in their field, but should first check with the Reviews Editor in case the book has already been assigned.

Longer review essays comparing several related titles or raising wider issues beyond the book(s) under review may also be considered, but please approach the Reviews Editor, with details of the book or books to be reviewed in the first instance. Longer review essays will be subject to peer review.

Book review submissions should not have been previously published, and should not have been sent to other journals for consideration. 

Format

• The length of single book reviews should be between 500 to 1200 words. 
• The heading should be as follows: 

Title. Author(s) or editor(s). City: Publisher’s name, year of publication. Number of pages.

Example: 

Yoga Powers: Extraordinary Capacities Attained Through Meditation and Concentration. Edited by Knut A. Jacobsen.  Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2012. 514 pages. 

• Place your name at the end of the review, justified to the right. Place your affiliation beneath your name.
• Use a 12pt font. Double-space all text. Indent the first line of each paragraph 1⁄2 inch.
• Save your review in .doc, .docx and/or .rtf format. Apart from any other format, always include a PDF version of the text.
• Avoid excessive emphasising of words. If emphasis is absolutely necessary, use italics.
• Avoid long quotations from the book, paraphrasing instead. If a quote is necessary, give the page number in parenthesis. Avoid references to other books. If quoting another work is indispensable, follow the guidelines given in the MHRA Style Guide, in particular sections 11.2-3 (about references in  footnotes). 
• When referring to concepts originating from South Asian traditions, provide the original term in the relevant South Asian language, using a standard academic transliteration into Latin alphabet. For Sanskrit, use the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (e.g., suṣumnā, not sushumna).

Contents

The reviewed book should be an academic publication relevant to the interdisciplinary field of yoga studies. Reviews of titles written from the perspective of philology, study of religions, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and history are welcome. Please write the review in clear, concise language, avoiding technical jargon as much as possible. Make sure the text is accessible to non-experts with university-level skills in other fields.

The two objectives of the review should be to provide basic information about the book and to evaluate it. Give short information about the author(s) – their affiliation, research experience, and significant earlier publications (if relevant). Highlight the book’s main topic and objective, avoiding excessive detail. Summarize the way the author(s) develop(s) the theme and arrive(s) at conclusions.

For edited volumes with contributions from multiple authors, avoid summarizing all the chapters. Instead, discuss the general topic of the publication. You may summarize two or three key chapters to illustrate the scope of the volume.

At least half of the review should be devoted to the book’s evaluation. When evaluating, be critical, yet courteous and impartial. It is helpful to indicate to which particular audiences, e.g. specific disciplines or levels of knowledge on the subject, the book might be especially useful or significant.

Judge the work, not the author, and make sure that any criticism is substantiated. Although eloquence and humour will increase the text’s readability, limit catchy phrases to the elegant minimum.

Submission

• Submit your review by email to the JoYS Book Reviews Editor, Matylda Ciołkosz (matylda.ciolkosz@uj.edu.pl)
• In the “Subject” window, write “JoYS book review:”, followed by the name of the author (e.g., JoYS book review: Singleton).
• Send your review as an attachment. Do not paste it into the body of an e-mail message.
• Endeavour to respect the set deadline. If extension of the deadline is necessary, please consult the Reviews Editor at least a week in advance. 
• We reserve the right not to publish a review, to suggest substantial edits and to introduce minor editing changes prior to publication.