Journal of Bentham Studies

Journal aims and scope

Journal of Bentham Studies (JBS) is a peer reviewed, open-access journal, dedicated to the life and writings of the utilitarian philosopher, and spiritual founder of UCL, Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). First published in 1997, the journal aims to provide a forum for debate and discussion on all aspects of Bentham studies and utilitarianism.

In additional to scholarly articles, the journal also includes book reviews, accounts of on-going research projects and short articles.

Journal supporting society information

The Journal of Bentham Studies is the official publication of the UCL Bentham Project.

The Bentham Project, part of the UCL Laws Faculty, is the world centre for Bentham Studies and their main activity is the production of the new edition of Bentham's Collected Works. The aim of the Bentham Project is to produce a new scholarly edition of the works and correspondence of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the influential jurist, philosopher, and social scientist, whom A.J.P. Taylor described as `the most formidable reasoner who ever applied his gifts to the practical questions of administration and politics'.

You can read more about the Bentham Project at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bentham-project.

Editor

Dr Chris Riley, The Bentham Project, Faculty of Laws, UCL, UK

Editorial Board

The Bentham Project

Prof Philip Schofield, Director, The Bentham Project, Faculty of Laws, UCL
Dr Tim Causer, The Bentham Project, Faculty of Laws, UCL
Dr Peter Lythe, Transcription Assistant, Bentham Project, Faculty of Laws, UCL

Journal information

ISSN: 2045-757X
Homepage: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/pages/journal-of-bentham-studies

Published by:
UCL Press
University College London (UCL)
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT

UCL Press website: https://www.uclpress.co.uk
UCL Press email: uclpresspublishing@ucl.ac.uk
UCL Press twitter: @uclpress
UCL Press Journals Editorial Policy: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/pages/journals-editorial-policy

Publication frequency: The Journal of Bentham Studies publishes articles continuously (as and when articles are ready for publication).

Contact the journal

All general enquiries should be made to the Editor.

Open-access policy

All articles published in Journal of Bentham Studies are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY) 4.0 international license agreement and published open access, making them immediately and freely available to read and download. The CC-BY license agreement allows authors to retain copyright while allowing others to copy, distribute, and make some uses of the work. Further information regarding this can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and licensing terms and conditions can be found in our Journals Editorial Policy.

Abstracting & indexing

UCL Press works with subject specific indexers to deposit published articles in relevant repositories and search databases. Further information will be published here and on the journal homepage.

• Dimensions 
• EBSCOHost
• Google Scholar
• OCLC
• OpenAIRE
• Portico digital archive
• ScienceOpen database
• UCL Discovery  
• Baidu

Peer review

Journal of Bentham Studies operates double blind peer review, where both the reviewers and authors are anonymised during review. Authors should submit an anonymous version of the manuscript, stripped of all identifying references to the author(s) for peer review.

Further information regarding peer review can be found on our editorial policy and peer review policy pages.

Article publication charges (APC)

UCL Press journals do not charge an Article-Processing Charge (APC) for submission or publication in this journal. Journal of Bentham Studies authors will not be required to make an APC payment for submission or publication of their article

How to submit

Authors should follow the journal’s author guidelines. Manuscripts that are not formatted appropriately for the journal will be referred to edit accordingly before peer review.

All submissions should be sent to the Editor. Please email your full manuscript, author CV, as well as a 300 word abstract to the Editor at c.riley [at] ucl.ac.uk.

Before submitting to the journal, all authors must have read and agreed to the journal’s editorial policy, found here.

Preparing your manuscript

Authors are requested to follow the UCL Press author guidelines, as well as the following specific instructions outlined here. It is the responsibility of the author to ensure adherence to the style guide. Please note that editors will not undertake any extensive formatting to this extent, and anything not adhering to the guidelines might be returned for revision.

Journal of Bentham Studies operates double blind peer review, where both the reviewers and authors are anonymised during review. Authors should submit an anonymous version of the manuscript, stripped of all identifying references to the author(s) for peer review. The word count should be clearly indicated. All submissions must be in .doc or .docx format to facilitate the peer-review process.

Manuscripts must be in English, but dual copies in other languages can be published simultaneously upon request. The journal actively encourages multi language format.

Formatting

Title page (non-blinded version)
Include the full title, the full names of contributing authors including their institutions/affiliation and address, and their institutional email address (including ORCiD ID’s). The corresponding author should also be identified.

Abstract
Present the abstract as an overview of your article (up to 250 words), giving a summary of the contents and major themes. (Note that this will ultimately be used by search engines, and it will form part of the meta-data that will be seen first by people searching your article.)

Keywords
Please list up to 10 keyword terms that accurately reflect the article.

Main body of text

List of abbreviations
If any abbreviations have been used, please define and list them accordingly under this heading.

End notes
Use endnotes rather than footnotes, for any additional notes and information. These appear at the end of the main text, before References. All notes should be used only where crucial clarifying information needs to be conveyed.

Acknowledgements
The Acknowledgements page mentions everyone whose contribution to the work you wish to recognise.

References/bibliography
A full references list should contain all the sources cited in the text.

Declarations and conflict of interests
Clearly state the following in the article:

• Consent from all authors for publication and their contributions
• Clearly declare any possible conflicts of interest, including but not limited to financial and non-financial competing interests. Where there are no conflicts of interests or competing interests, authors must clearly declare this under the same heading. For further information, please refer to the journal’s Editorial Policy.
• Ethics approval statement (where applicable)
• Consent for publication (where applicable)

Article types

Original research article
Original research articles are detailed studies reporting original research classified as primary literature.

Review article
Reviews provide critical and systematic appraisal of the current research to provide authoritative judgement to its particular context, topic, and field.

Book review
Book reviews are brief concise articles that provide an evaluation of a published scholarly book.
Book reviews are generally invited only, however suggestions are welcome and should be sent to the Editors of the journal. A book review might assess the importance of a book's contributions to a particular field covered by the journal’s aims and scope and should aim to objectively review the strengths and weaknesses that concern the journal’s audience. (Please refer to the journal’s aims and scope).

Special issues

The Journal of Bentham Studies welcomes proposals from Guest Editors for specific special issues. These special issues are themed and focused publications that fit within the overarching remit of the journal. Proposals are welcome from editors with a specialism in any relevant field.

All general enquiries should be made to the Editor at: c.riley [at] ucl.ac.uk.