South Asia Research
South Asia Studies
South Asia Research is an international, multidisciplinary forum which covers the history, politics, law, economics, sociology, visual culture, languages and literature of all countries in South Asia. We publish both work of a more theoretical nature as well as detailed empirical studies by emerging and established scholars from around the world.
Founded in 1980 by young activist researchers at SOAS, University of London, the Journal now attracts a huge number of submissions and follows a rigorous double blind peer review process. Over the years, the editorial team has sought to maintain the Journal’s original focus on promoting the work of young scholars, the next generation of South Asia Area Studies specialists, now a global community with a strong diasporic presence. In the context of decolonisation and the decentring of knowledge, South Asia Research has recognised the need for promoting New Area Studies as a truly interdisciplinary arena not constrained by national boundaries. The Journal has consistently committed itself to empowering the (g)local rather than privileging global neo-colonial forces. Over the years, it has also cultivated new clusters of regional expertise and specific, newly intersecting forms of interdisciplinary scholarship. Consequently, detailed empirical studies have gained prominence, and the Journal increasingly features complex issues of socio-economic and political relevance. Activist engagement with often deeply contested new themes in the study of contemporary South Asia also motivates our collective education-centric efforts to find a viable balance between Social Sciences and Arts subjects.
The Journal constantly updates its operating procedures and has built an expansive profile, growing from two issues per year to three parts, with more pages and a lively Book Reviews section. Run by a truly interdisciplinary team of Editors and Assistant Editors, it is supported by an Editorial Committee and an International Advisory Board.
Electronic Access:
South Asia Research is available electronically on SAGE Journals Online at http://journals.sagepub.com/home/sar
South Asia Research is a peer-reviewed international, multidisciplinary forum which covers the history, politics, law, economics, sociology, visual culture, languages and literature of the countries in South Asia. It includes works of theory, review and synthesis as well as detailed empirical studies by both research students and established scholars from around the world.
| Werner Menski | South Asia Institute, SOAS, London, UK |
| D Parthasarathy | Nayanta School of Public Policy, Hyderabad, India |
| Diotima Chattoraj | Migration and Health Studies, James Cook University, Singapore |
| Md. Sadequle Islam | Bangladesh Studies, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany |
| Kalindi Kokal (Reviews Editor) | Law & Society. Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, Pune, India |
| Gaurav J Pathania | Sociology, Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA |
| Anubhav Pradhan | Liberal Arts, IIT Bhilai, Raipur, India |
| Anirudh Tagat | Economics, Monk Prayogshala, Mumbai, India |
| Zahoor A Wani | Political Science/Afghanistan, LPU, Phagwara, India |
| Muneeb Yousuf | International Relations, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India |
| Neha Adsul | Health Policy, George Institute for Global Health, Mumbai, India |
| Ambika Aiyadurai | Anthropology/Wildlife Studies, IITGN, Gandhinagar, India |
| Nafay Choudhury | Law, Socio-Legal Studies Centre, Oxford University, Oxford, UK |
| Goutam Karmakar | Literature and Culture, NIT Durgapur, Durgapur, India |
| Manav Khaire | Housing Policy Studies, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India |
| Muhammad Asim Khan | Applied Linguistics, NED University, Karachi, Pakistan |
| Vineeth Mathoor | History, Changanacherry, Kerala, India |
| Haripriya Narasimhan | Liberal Arts, Anthropology, IIT Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India |
| Saidalavi P C | Sociology, Shiv Nadar University (IoE), Delhi, India |
| Arshid Hussain Peer | Economics/Management, Bennett University, Noida, India |
| Niranjana Prasad | Cambridge Econometrics, Brussels, Belgium |
| Lloyd Price | Modern South Asian History, Independent Scholar, Geoje-Si, South Korea |
| Shubha Ranganathan | Medical Anthropology, IIT Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India |
| Amit Ranjan | International Relations/Pakistan Studies, NUS, Singapore |
| Serena C Rattu | Public History, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK |
| Rajnish Saryal | Political Science, Panjab University RC Ludhiana, Chandigarh, India |
| Annapurna Sinha | Communication, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia |
| Arun Som | Sociology of Law, Independent Scholar, Muzaffarnagar, India |
| Federica Sona | Law/Minorities in the West, Max-Planck-Institute, Halle, Germany |
| Soni Wadhwa | Liberal Arts, SRM University, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Ayan Guha | School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK |
| Qaiser Abbas | Energy Economics/Development, Ghazi University, DG Khan, Pakistan |
| Santhosh Abraham | Humanities/Social Sciences, IIT Madras, Chennai, India |
| Chudamani Basnet | Department of Sociology, South Asian University, New Delhi, India |
| Uttam Deb | Agricultural Economics, University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, AR, USA |
| Eswarappa Kasi | Tribal Studies, IGNTU, Amarkantak, MP, India |
| Prashant Kidambi | History, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK |
| Nida Kirmani | Urban Studies, LUMS, Lahore, Pakistan |
| Shashikantha Koudur | Humanities/Social Sciences, NITK Surathkal, Karnataka, India |
| Hawon Ku | South Asian Art History, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea |
| Rama K.R. Kummitha | Entrepreneurship, Essex University, Southend, UK |
| Abhijit Mazumdar | Journalism, Park University, Parkville, MO, USA |
| Alessandra Mezzadri | Development Studies, SOAS, London, UK |
| Muhammad Mughal | Anthropology, King Fahd University of Petro & Min, Saudi Arabia |
| Shobna Nijhawan | Languages and Literatures, York University, Toronto, Canada |
| Avinash Paliwal | International Relations, South Asia Institute, SOAS, London, UK |
| Iromi Perera | Urban Studies, Colombo Urban Lab, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Saba Pirzadeh | Environmental Humanities, LUMS, Lahore, Pakistan |
| Praveen Rai | Electoral Politics, CSDS, Delhi, India |
| Shilpi Rajpal | Social History of Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Devapriya Sanyal | Film Studies, Mt. Carmel College, Bangalore, India |
| Annika Schmeding | Anthropology of Religion, NIOD Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Kanika Sharma | Law and Gender, SOAS, London, UK |
| Gopika Solanki | Political Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada |
| Pradip Swarnakar | Environmental Sociology, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur, India |
| Bina Agarwal | Development Economics, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK |
| Waheeda Amien | Law, Religion and Gender, University of Cape Town, South Africa |
| Domenico Amirante | Law, Università della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Caserta, Italy |
| Padma Anagol | History, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK |
| Raziuddin Aquil | History, University of Delhi, Delhi, India |
| Fardaus Ara | Public Administration, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh |
| Ishita Banerjee-Dube | History, El Colegio de México, Mexico |
| Rohit De | History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA |
| Faisal Devji | History, St Antony’s, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK |
| K J Gardner | Anthropology/Bangladesh, LSE, London, UK |
| Charu Gupta | Medieval and Early Modern History, University of Delhi, Delhi, India |
| Farhat Hasan | Medieval and Early Modern History, University of Delhi, Delhi, India |
| Livia Holden | Legal Anthropology, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France |
| Ridwanul Hoque | Law, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Hiroko Ito | Global Ethics, National Muroran Institute of Technology, Muroran, Japan |
| Ashutosh Kumar | Political Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India |
| Chris Ogden | Asian Security, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK |
| Ashok Pankaj | Development Studies, Council for Social Development, New Delhi, India |
| Susmita Roye | English/Foreign Languages, Delaware State University, Dover, USA |
| Tanika Sarkar | School of Social Sciences, JNU, Delhi, India |
| Sudha Shastri | Literary Studies, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India |
| Gauri Viswanathan | Comparative Literature, University of Columbia, New York, USA |
| Jeanne S Zaino | Political Science, Iona University, New Rochelle, NY, USA |
South Asia Research
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
Please read the guidelines below and then submit your manuscripts to the Deputy Editor in charge of submissions, Dr. Anubhav Pradhan, at anubhavp@iitbhilai.ac.in. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned or rejected.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of South Asia Research will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication.
If you have any questions about publishing with SAGE, please visit the SAGE Journal Solutions Portal
1. What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper
2. Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research data
3. Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving
4. Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style
5. Submitting your manuscript
5.1 Information required for completing your submission
5.2 Permissions
6. On acceptance and publication
6.1 SAGE Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article
Before submitting your manuscript to South Asia Research, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Articles should be sent in a word document format, and should normally be between 5000–7000 words, including references. Book reviews are also invited of about 1000–1500 words. There is no limit on the number of references allowed.
The manuscript should be structured as follows:
- Contributors must provide their complete affiliations and e-mail addresses with their papers. In case there are two or more authors, then corresponding author’s name and address details must be clearly specified on the first page itself.
- All articles must be accompanied by an abstract of 150–200 words and 4–6 keywords.
- A short bio-sketch of about 50–75 words must be provided for every contributor.
- Use a clear readable style, avoiding jargon. If technical terms or acronyms must be included, define them when first used. Use non-racist, non-sexist language and plurals rather than he/she.
- UK spellings with ‘ise’ are normal practice for this Journal (but retain US spelling in original quotes and references).
- Use single quotation marks with double quotes inside single quotes.
- Use points in abbreviations in initials of name, Latin abbreviations, reference abbreviations, the United States when used as an adjective and for labels to conceal the identities of study participants. Do not use points with contractions or acronyms (e.g., APA, NY, USA, Dr, PhD) or measurement abbreviations.
- Page ranges should be elided to the last digit. For example, 320–329 should be 320–9, but 318–356 should be 318–56.
- Use ‘per cent’ instead of % in the text. In tables, graphs, etc., % can be used.
- Give specific dates in the form 22 November 1980. Decades should be referred to as ‘twentieth century’, ‘1980s’.
- Use of italics and diacriticals should be minimised but consistent. For non-English and uncommon words and phrases, use italics throughout the text. Meaning of non-English words should be given in parenthesis just after the word when it is used for the first time.
The SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. SAGE Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online
South Asia Research operates a strictly double blinded peer review process in which the reviewer’s name is withheld from the author and, the author’s name from the reviewer. The reviewer may at their own discretion opt to reveal their name to the author, but our standard policy practice is for both identities to remain concealed. Decisions on manuscripts will be taken as rapidly as possible, but may take several months.
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
If the named authors for a manuscript change at any point between submission and acceptance, an Authorship Change Form must be completed and digitally signed by all authors (including any added or removed) . An addition of an author is only permitted following feedback raised during peer review. Completed forms can be uploaded at Revision Submission stage or emailed to the Journal Editorial Office contact (listed on the journal’s manuscript submission guidelines). All requests will be moderated by the Editor and/or Sage staff.
Important: Changes to the author by-line by adding or deleting authors are NOT permitted following acceptance of a paper.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
2.3.1 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
South Asia Research requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
It is the policy of South Asia Research to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.
Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.
At SAGE we are committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research. Where relevant, The Journal encourages authors to share their research data in a suitable public repository subject to ethical considerations and where data is included, to add a data accessibility statement in their manuscript file. Authors should also follow data citation principles. For more information please visit the SAGE Author Gateway, which includes information about SAGE’s partnership with the data repository Figshare.
SAGE is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the SAGE Author Gateway
3.1.1 Plagiarism
South Asia Research and SAGE take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the Journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a SAGE journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the SAGE Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
Before publication, SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. SAGE’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants SAGE the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than SAGE. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the SAGE Author Gateway
3.3 Open access and author archiving
South Asia Research offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. A LaTex template is available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit SAGE’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from SAGE after receipt of your accepted article.
This Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files
References in both the text and end notes should be cited in the text as author (date: page), or, for a series of references (Black & Williams, 1999; Downey & Jones, 2001). Use ‘et al.’ in the text for more than two authors, and give all names in the References list. The letters a, b, c, etc. should be used for different works by the same author in the same year: (Brown, 1999a, b).
An alphabetical references section should follow the text (and end notes if any), formatted as follows:
Book
Surname, X.X. & Surname, Y. (year) Title with Initial Caps [Translated Title]. Place: Publisher.
Chapter in a book
Surname, X.X. (year) ‘Title of Chapter’. In X. Surname & Y. Surname (Eds), Title of Book (pp. xxx – xxx). Place: Publisher.
Journal article
Surname, X.X. (year) ‘Title of Article’, Name of Journal, vol.no.(issue no.): xx – xxx [page range].
Paper in a conference
Surname, X.X. (year, month) ‘Title of paper’. Paper presented at Name of Conference, City of presentation.
Website
Surname, X. (year, month, date) Title of Article. URL (consulted month, year), from http://xxxx.xxxx.xx.xx/xxxx/xxxx
Please submit your manuscripts to the editor Dr Deputy Editor Dr. Anubhav Pradhan, at anubhavp@iitbhilai.ac.in.
5.1 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the SAGE Author Gateway
6. On acceptance and publication
Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the SAGE Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
SAGE provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The SAGE Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the South Asia Research editorial office as follows:
Prof. Werner Menski, Emeritus Professor of South Asian Laws, School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), Thornhaugh Street, London, WC1H 0XG, UK. E-mail: wm4@soas.ac.uk Web: http://www.soas.ac.uk