Book Proposal Guidelines for Edinburgh Studies in Global Ethics
Series outline
Edinburgh Studies in Global Ethics is edited by Nigel Dower and Heather Widdows. The series captures the emerging interest in global ethics both as a distinguishable area of research focus and an increasingly prominent area of interest in many fields, including:
- moral and political philosophy
- international relations
- politics
- sociology
- social theory
- development studies
- environmental studies
- globalisation studies
- human rights law
- legal theory
- history
- development economics and bioethics
Global ethics is a multidisciplinary area that requires both empirical study and theoretical reflection. Books in the series aim to be open and accessible across the academic spectrum.
Accordingly, the series encourages submissions both from those working in single disciplinary areas and in multidisciplinary fields and welcomes proposals that apply theory to practice and engage in policy debates as well as books that address wholly academic debates.
Moreover, given the breadth of the field, we are open to co-authored as well as single authored works (edited collections would not be appropriate). The key criterion for publishing in the series is that the book addresses a contemporary global ethical concern. The series does not proscribe the adoption of particular theories or methodologies. It does require that the global nature of the ethical concern is at the forefront of framing and assessing the ethical dilemmas and challenges involved.
Books in the series will normally defend some account or other of global or transboundary responsibility, although books that adopt a sceptical stance towards the global ethics issues it addresses might be considered.
Edinburgh Studies in Global Ethics was formerly named Edinburgh Studies in World Ethics, and has been publishing books since 1998.
Topics and remit
We encourage proposals on all aspects of the theory and practice of global ethics. Examples of topics on which we would encourage proposals include, but are not limited to:
- Global Justice: proposals for new theories of justice and practical suggestions for engendering more just practices and policies, for instance addressing global inequalities or global governance mechanisms
- War, Conflict and Terrorism: proposals on overarching theories about the ethics of war and conflict, as well as more detailed proposals; for instance on the use of torture in a certain context or of humanitarian intervention
- Climate ethics: proposals from all aspects of the climate change debate; including the managing of scarce resources, common goods, and rights of future generations
- Poverty: proposals which address the causes and solutions to global poverty; from practical examples, for example on good practice in delivering aid or reducing corruption, to theoretical solutions, such as the Capability Approach
- Global governance: proposals on the ethics of the global economic system, global IP regimes and the UN/NGO structure of Civil Society; as well as more specific proposals, say, on the ‘Clean Hands Trust’ or the ethics of NGOs
- Human rights and international law: proposals on the history and philosophy of rights and law understood globally; discussion of rights and law as ethical and legal tools in the service of global justice; as well as more specific proposals, for instance, on how the law is implemented or rights understood in a specific context
- Global health: proposals on health expectations and threats (such as pandemic threats) to fair resource allocation for health goods to black markets in drugs and body parts
In addition to such standard topics in global ethics, we also welcome proposals from different theoretical and practical perspectives; for instance, feminist approaches, cosmopolitan approaches, anthropological approaches, ecological worldviews or religious worldviews, as relate to world issues generally or to any of the issues listed.
Furthermore, we are happy to include books that focus on one particular problem of global ethics and apply global ethical theory to a topic, rather than engaging in theoretical discussion as such. For instance, proposals could be on specific topics such as trafficking of persons, drugs and arms; the trade in body parts; the application of any particular human right to a specific context; understanding professional or relational responsibilities; or the development of civil society and political movements.
Preparing your book proposal
The following guidelines supplement the Edinburgh University Press book proposal guidelines.
Title
This will usually be in the form of ‘The Ethics of...’, as the main title, although other forms will be considered if a rationale is given and ethics is mentioned.
Style and format
Books in this series need to be appropriate to upper-level undergraduates, to postgraduates and those beginning research in the field. While they are not intended to be pure research monographs neither are these merely textbooks, or introductions. Rather, they map the current field and set out the ‘state of the art’, and also move beyond this to be discursive, develop a position and encourage reflection and debate. Thus, they need to cover alternative positions to some degree in a fair-minded way, and explore counter-arguments. Accordingly, as well as detailing the debate to date and contributing to it, books in this series might well present original empirical research and new arguments as well as counter and critique previous positions and understandings.
Innovative work that moves the debate forward is welcomed and the series intends to produce books which are bench-marking and define the field. Key to ensuring that these books are pitched appropriately is the need for easy-to-read style and language, in order to ensure that they are accessible to upper-level undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers of multidisciplinary backgrounds.
Submit your book proposal for Edinburgh Studies in Global Ethics
Proposals should be submitted to one or both of the series editors by email:
- Nigel Dower: n.dower@abdn.ac.uk
- Heather Widdows: h.widdows@bham.ac.uk
Your proposal will be read and responded to by the series editors.
Commissioning and review process
If your book is deemed appropriate for the series, your proposal will be sent to Jen Daly, Politics Commissioning Editor at Edinburgh University Press, to be submitted for anonymous academic peer review. The Series Editors will pass on the readers’ comments as soon as they are complete (generally within 6–8 weeks). You will be asked to respond to the reports where appropriate and to amend your outline in response to them if necessary.
If, in the Commissioning Editor’s judgement, the academic and financial criteria for a potentially successful Edinburgh University Press publication have been met, the project will be presented for contract approval to the University’s academic Press Committee and an internal publishing committee at the same monthly meeting. Your Editor will inform you of the publishing decision following the meeting and, if the proposal has been accepted, you will shortly be sent a contract.