About the Journal

The Harris Manchester College Journal (HMCJ) is a peer-reviewed, diamond open-access digital journal for scholarly work from mature students, early-career researchers, and their collaborators at Harris Manchester College (HMC) and the wider University of Oxford community. It is the first Middle Common Room (MCR)-led journal at the College, and is hosted on the Bodleian Libraries' Shortform Hosting at Oxford (SHOx) platform using the Public Knowledge Project's Open Journal Systems (OJS). 

JOURNAL POLICIES

Open Access Policy

The Harris Manchester College Journal (HMCJ) provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. There is no embargo on publications. HMCJ operates under a diamond open access model and does not charge fees for submission, publication, or access.

Copyright Notice

Authors of articles published in HMCJ retain copyright and grant third parties the right to use, reproduce, and share the article according to the Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Items are published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. The content and errata of this website are licenced under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. 

Authors may post the accepted manuscript (post-peer-review, pre-copyedited version) or the final published PDF on their personal website, institutional repository, or any open repository at any time. Please attribute the publication to HMCJ and include the DOI link as soon as it is available.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. 

Archiving and Preservation

All scholarly outputs assigned a DOI are archived in the Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) via an automated SHOx system. Full content is also archived in the PKP Preservation Network, with data stored in multiple global locations. 

Data-linking

HMCJ is a short-form hosting service with a 500mb file size limit. Authors with large datasets supporting their articles should deposit data in a suitable trusted repository (such as the UK Data Service or Figshare) and link to the dataset in their article. HMCJ does not host primary datasets. 

Ethics Statement

HMCJ is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics, following guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to adhere to standards of authorship integrity, originality, transparency of AI use, conflict of interest disclosure, and data honesty. Suspected ethical misconduct should be reported to the Editor-in-Chief. 

Publishing Schedule

The inaugural issue of HMCJ will be published in Hilary Term 2027. Submissions will open in Trinity Term 2026 and close in August 2026. The editorial review period will run from Trinity Term 2026 to September 2026. Final adjustments, copy-editing, and production will take place in Michaelmas Term 2026 and the finalised issue will be provided to SHOx for publication by no later than the second week of Hilary Term 2027.

For subsequent issues, submissions will open at the beginning of Michaelmas Term and the schedule will adjust accordingly. The timetable for each issue will be updated here following the closure of submissions for the previous issue.

Indexing

HMCJ follows best practice for indexing eligibility (e.g. DOAJ, Scopus) as guided by SHOx and PKP.

Review Policy

HMCJ operates a developmental dual-layer peer review model. Each submission is reviewed by at least one nominated peer reviewer and one editorial board member, with oversight from the Academic Advisor(s). The process is not single-blind or double-blind: it is collaborative and formative, designed to support authors in strengthening their work. 

ORCID Requirement 

All submitting authors, regardless of affiliation, must hold a registered ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) account. Submission is made via ORCID login through our SHOx OJS portal. If you do not yet have an ORCID account, you can register for free in under five minutes at orcid.org. This is a mandatory requirement with no exceptions. 

SUBMISSIONS

Who Can Submit? 

We welcome submissions from both Harris Manchester College members and external members: 

  • Students (MCR and JCR members) and Staff (such as SCR members)  
  • Early-career researchers and postdoctoral researchers affiliated with Oxford University 
  • Junior faculty, college fellows, and tutors 
  • Alumni engaged in applied research or public scholarship 
  • Collaborators from industry or other research institutions working with HMC members 

When it comes to exceeding amount of submissions, our Editorial Team will prioritize members of the college. 

Subject Areas 

The journal reflects the interdisciplinary nature of Harris Manchester College. We welcome submissions in: 

  • Humanities: History, Theology, Literature, Philosophy 
  • Social Sciences: Politics, Psychology, Sociology, Education, Anthropology and Archaeology 
  • Law: Legal theory, policy analysis, comparative law 
  • Physical and Engineering Sciences, including Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering, and Health Technology 
  • Medical and Health Sciences: Population health, epidemiology, medicine, and related fields 
  • Interdisciplinary work connecting multiple fields is especially encouraged 

We do not impose a strict boundary on subject areas. If you are uncertain whether your work is suitable, please email us at journal@hmc.ox.ac.uk.