jaar-citation-and-style

Citation & Style (jaar-citation-and-style)

JAAR has a citation style that trips up authors coming from history or theology: **citations go

in-text (author-date), not in footnotes.** Footnotes are for substantive remarks only. Getting this

wrong signals you have not read the style sheet — fix it before submitting.

When to trigger

• Converting a footnote-cited draft to JAAR's in-text style
• Building the reference list and checking entry forms
• Handling primary-source citations, translations, and transliteration in references
• Final style pass before submission

JAAR's citation rules (verify current style sheet)

1. In-text author-date citations. Cite as (Wolf 1996: 33) or in prose `Clarkson notes … (1995:

45–46)`. Do not put bibliographic citations in footnotes.

1. Footnotes for substance only. Use notes for points outside the body of the argument, not to cite

sources. Keep them lean (they count toward the word budget).

1. Reference list. An alphabetized, year-keyed list of works cited; format each entry per the

JAAR style sheet.

1. House conventions. Serial (Oxford) comma; gender-neutral language; italicize foreign words;

a consistent transliteration system for non-Latin scripts.

1. Fallback style. For anything the JAAR style sheet does not address, the sheet directs authors to

the Chicago Manual of Style (the downloadable sheet references the 15th edition; CMOS is now

in its 18th — 待核实 the current edition the live style guide cites). Treat JAAR's in-text

author-date system as primary regardless.

Primary sources, translations, transliteration

• Cite primary texts by the conventions of your subfield, but keep them consistent and keyed to the

reference list; give edition/translation information.

• Provide originals where the argument turns on wording; note the translator; transliterate consistently.

Anti-patterns

• Footnote-style bibliographic citations (the most common JAAR style error)
• A footnote apparatus so heavy it blows the word budget
• Inconsistent transliteration or undefined foreign terms
• Reference-list entries that don't match the in-text author-date keys
• Defaulting to a CMOS edition without checking which the current style sheet names (待核实)

Output format

【In-text citations】author-date, not footnotes? [Y/N]
【Footnotes】substantive only, lean? [Y/N]
【Reference list】alphabetized, year-keyed, style-sheet form? [Y/N]
【House conventions】serial comma + gender-neutral + foreign-term italics? [Y/N]
【Transliteration】consistent + terms defined? [Y/N]
【CMOS edition】confirmed against live style sheet? [Y/N/待核实]
【Next】jaar-review-process

Conversion table: history/theology habits → JAAR house style

Most authors arriving at JAAR are trained in disciplines whose flagship venues cite in notes. The

AAR/Oxford University Press journal expects a specific in-text apparatus, so the highest-yield style

pass is mechanical reformatting first.

| You wrote (footnote-trained) | JAAR wants (in-text author-date) |

|------------------------------|----------------------------------|

| As Smith argues.¹ + note "¹ Smith, Imagining Religion, 22." | As Smith argues … (1982: 22). + keyed entry |

| Ibid., 24. / op. cit. | Repeat author-date: (1982: 24) — no Latin shorthand |

| See note 14 above for sources. | Cite in-text at the point of use; reserve notes for substance |

| Cf. the Bhagavad Gītā 2.47. in a note | Cite the primary text in-text per subfield convention |

| Bibliography of "Works Consulted" | Reference list of works cited only, alphabetized, year-keyed |

Worked vignette: de-noting a textual-historical draft

An author submits a study of a Kabbalistic commentary with 78 footnotes, 60 of them bare citations

migrated from a dissertation. The JAAR pass:

• Bibliographic notes go in-text. Note 12 ("Scholem, Major Trends, 205–6") becomes

(Scholem 1941: 205–6) in the sentence; the note disappears. After conversion, only 11 notes

survive — all genuinely substantive (a manuscript-variant aside, a definitional caveat on sefirot).

• Foreign terms. Ein Sof, tiqqun, devequt are italicized and glossed on first use under a

single declared transliteration system, so a non-Hebraist religion-studies reader can follow — a

point jaar-writing-style also enforces.

• Budget effect. Cutting 49 citation-only notes returns words to the body, easing the length

ceiling that jaar-structure-and-exposition tracks (notes count toward it); every surviving in-text

key now matches an alphabetized, year-keyed entry, and "Works Consulted" but never cited are removed.

Referee and copyedit pushback → the fix

• "Citations belong in the text, not notes" → run the conversion table above end-to-end.
• "Note apparatus is overweight" → strip citation-only notes; keep substantive asides.
• "Reference entry doesn't match the in-text key" → reconcile every (Author year) to its entry.

Hedged calibration: the downloadable sheet long referenced CMOS 15th while CMOS is now in its 18th

edition; treat the in-text author-date system as primary and verify the named fallback edition on the

journal's current submission guidelines rather than assuming the cached number.

Supplementary resources

• [../../resources/official-source-map.md](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — JAAR style sheet: in-text author-date citations, CMOS fallback