Instructions for Book Reviews

Spiritual Psychology and Counseling (SPC) also publishes book reviews. The Editorial Board of the journal is of the opinion that the reviews have an important place within the academic network of publishing.

Books reviews written in English are published in SPC. The reviews published in the journal are published with Digital Object Identifier (DOI) numbers, which are sent to the indexes where the journal is searched.

What is a Book Review?

Book reviews are discussions on a collection or a compilation publication (book, article, collection, and so on) while at the same time introducing the publication along with critical comments and contributions.

Book reviews are different from book reports. A book report solely informs the reader about the content of the book, whereas in a book review, the content only forms a part of the discussion.
Book reviews are expected to present constructive criticism of the book’s subject matter and the way in which such matters are handled by critiquing the ideas set forth in the text. In addition, the most prominent ideas in the book are to be critically evaluated along with the consistency of the book’s ideas and methods of using its sources.

While Writing the Review

While the reviewer organizes his/her work, he/she must ensure that the following aspects are included in the content of the review.

• A short, strong introduction presenting the subject matter and the main argument of the work.
• A brief introduction to the book.
• A logically ordered and effective presentation of the inferences that could be made from the text as well as the text’s strengths and weaknesses.
• A conclusion including the reviewer’s main ideas and points of emphasis.

The review must be carefully proofread, and the grammatical errors must be corrected upon completion. Parts that are not sufficiently clear must be revised in a clear and understandable manner.

Form of the Review

The general rules for writing articles for Spiritual Psychology and Counseling (SPC) also apply to reviews. The required grammatical rules and referencing system must be used.

• The length of the reviews must be between 500–750 words.
• The title of the review must be different than the title of the book.
• The review must include the following information about the reviewed text:
  • First names and surnames of the author(s) or the editor(s) (If the text is a compilation, this must be specified).
  • Title of the book
  • Year of publication
  • Place of publication
  • Publishing house
  • Pages

The following information about the reviewer must be included at the end of the review:

• First name and surname of the author/authors
• Affiliated institution and title
• A short biography of the author including his/her field, title, field of study, topics of interest, and contact information (25–40 words)

The Review of the Book Review

The journal prioritizes reviews of works published in the last two years. Book review submissions should be sent to the editor via: editor@spiritualpc.net or spiritualpcj@gmail.com.

Since the journal has a limited space for reviews, monographs written by a single author are preferred. Reviews of compilations of congresses or symposiums are given secondary preference. Reviews of course books or handbooks are not accepted.

It is recommended that researchers wishing to send reviews to the journal contact the Editor before writing their reviews.

The editor expects that there will be no organic or personal relationship (staff of the same department, membership in the thesis jury, and so on) between the reviewer and author.

The editor evaluates submitted works in accordance with the Formatting Guidelines and Book Review Form and decides whether the review will be published.