About the Journal

The aim of the Scandinavian journal Scripta Islandica is to promote interest in West Nordic matters: primarily Icelandic, but also Faroese and Norwegian as well as matters relating to the Nordic cultures on Greenland, the Orkneys and Shetland. 

Aims and Scope

Scripta Islandica’s sphere of interest is West Nordic philology (language and literature) in a broad sense. Articles published in the journal usually address Old West Norse texts (Icelandic, Faroese and Norwegian) and the manuscripts that contain them. However, contributions with a more modern focus are also published. The journal welcomes scholarly contributions on all subjects in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic, as well as English and German.

The range of contributions published in Scripta Islandica is wide. Subjects include textual criticism, history of religion and history of literature. It is thus the empirical basis of the contributions that defines the journal’s focus: Old West Norse texts and manuscripts.

Scripta Islandica is distinctly interdisciplinary in a way that is unique in Sweden, and also to a large extent internationally. Readers come from many different fields: Nordic philology and linguistics, history of religion, history and history of literature. The articles are largely aimed at academic researchers in the relevant fields, but they are also well suited to the interested layperson.

The first issue of Scripta Islandica was published in 1950, by the then newly founded Icelandic Society in Uppsala. The society was formed in connection with a visit to Uppsala by prof. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, the famous saga researcher. The first issue consisted of his essay on Njál’s saga.

Peer Review Policy

All submitted manuscripts are first assessed by an editor who decides whether the manuscript is suitable to be sent for peer review.

Manuscripts deemed suitable for further review are sent to two or more experts who are tasked with highlighting the manuscript's general and specific merits and shortcomings.

The journal uses a double-blind review procedure before acceptance/rejection of manuscripts, which means that authors and reviewers are anonymous throughout the review process.

The review process is expected to take 6 to 8 weeks but may vary.

Based on the review, the editor then compiles a recommendation to:

a) accept the manuscript for publication,

b) ask the author to revise the manuscript, or

c) reject the manuscript.

The overall publishing responsibility rests with the journal's editor-in-chief, who has a qualified editorial board for support in various issues regarding the publication of individual manuscripts, the journal's development, etc.

Original articles are externally peer-reviewed, but book reviews and short notes are approved by the editorial board without external peer review.

In cases where a manuscript’s author is in some way associated with the journal, they will be removed from all editorial tasks for that article. 

The journal accepts manuscripts that have previously been uploaded for review as preliminary versions, on personal websites, presented at conferences, or made available through other informal communication channels. However, authors must hold copyright for the text in question. Authors are also encouraged, when available, to include links to previous versions of the article in the final version of the article published in the journal.

Duplicate publication, also called "redundant publication" or "dual publication", is not permitted. This refers to the publication of the same article in more than one journal or to the publication of a document that is substantially similar to one already published without reference to the original publication.

Read more about Scripta Islandica's editorial and ethical guidelines >>