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ISEAS Publishing Publication Guide

ISEAS Publishing is the publishing arm of the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, a research institution and statutory board established by an Act of Parliament on 7 June 1968 (renamed in honour of Singapore's first president in August 2015). It is the definitive scholarly publisher on Southeast Asia, with three peer-reviewed tri-annual journals, the annual Southeast Asian Affairs review, and more than 2,000 book and journal titles published since the early 1970s.

Journals published: 3 tri-annual journals + the annual Southeast Asian Affairs review
Books published: 2,000+ titles since the early 1970s; ~50 new titles per year
Open access options: Primarily subscription; Green self-archiving; selected institute reports free to download
APC range: No APCs - journals are subscription-based, free to publish in
Headquarters: Singapore
Peer review: External refereeing; double-anonymized at the Journal of Southeast Asian Economies
Indexing: Scopus and SSCI (Contemporary Southeast Asia, SOJOURN); Scopus and ESCI (JSEAE)
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Publication Guide

ISEAS Publishing is the publishing arm of the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, a Singapore research institution and statutory board established by an Act of Parliament on 7 June 1968 as the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and renamed on 12 August 2015 in honour of Yusof Ishak, Singapore's first president. It is widely regarded as the definitive scholarly publisher on Southeast Asia: since the early 1970s it has produced more than 2,000 book and journal titles and currently releases roughly 50 new titles a year, alongside three peer-reviewed tri-annual journals and the annual Southeast Asian Affairs review.

Unlike large commercial publishers, ISEAS Publishing charges no article processing charges. Its journals are subscription-based, submissions run through direct email contact with the editorial teams rather than a submission portal, and content is distributed through the ISEAS bookshop and major scholarly platforms. This guide covers which ISEAS journal fits your paper, what each title publishes, costs and access routes, the peer-review workflow, and how to submit.

Which ISEAS journal fits your paper?

You're most likely to...Choose this journal
Study the politics, security, political economy or international relations of the ASEAN states and Timor-LesteContemporary Southeast Asia - the institute's flagship, indexed in Scopus and SSCI, published in April, August and December.
Analyse the economies of Southeast Asia - trade, development, macro policy, regional integrationJournal of Southeast Asian Economies (JSEAE) - formerly the ASEAN Economic Bulletin (renamed April 2013); indexed in Scopus, ESCI and the Journal of Economic Literature.
Work on social and cultural issues - ethnicity, religion, migration, urbanization, tourism, popular cultureSOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia - interdisciplinary, indexed in Scopus, SSCI and the ASEAN Citation Index; published March, July and November.
Write an invited country or thematic review of the year's developmentsSoutheast Asian Affairs - the annual review of the region, published every spring since the mid-1970s.

What ISEAS Publishing actually publishes

  • Contemporary Southeast Asia - refereed articles on the politics, security and international relations of the ten ASEAN member states and Timor-Leste. Three issues a year; manuscripts of 6,000-8,000 words in British English with Chicago-style endnotes.
  • Journal of Southeast Asian Economies - refereed full articles (7,000-8,000 words) and research notes (4,000-5,000 words) on the region's economies, with an approximately 200-word abstract. Uses author-date referencing.
  • SOJOURN - empirical and theoretical research on social and cultural life in Southeast Asia. Research articles up to 8,000 words with a 100-word abstract; research notes of 3,000-5,000 words. Author-date referencing; ranked among the leading Asia-based anthropology journals in SCImago.
  • Southeast Asian Affairs - an annual edited volume of country and thematic reviews.
  • Books - roughly 50 new scholarly titles a year across Southeast Asian politics, economics, history and society, sold through the ISEAS bookshop in print and ebook formats.

Open access, subscriptions and costs

ISEAS journals follow a subscription model, which means publishing in them is free for authors.

Cost itemWhat you pay
Article processing charge (APC)$0 - none of the ISEAS journals charge author fees
Submission fee$0
Reading accessSubscription - e.g., Contemporary Southeast Asia individual rates around S87/US87/US59-113 per year depending on region; institutional rates higher
Open accessNo standard Gold OA route; Green self-archiving is the realistic no-fee option - confirm current terms with the journal's editors before depositing

Selected institute publications, such as survey reports, are free to download from iseas.edu.sg, but the journals themselves are paywalled.

Peer review process

  • Contemporary Southeast Asia: manuscripts accepted for consideration are refereed by external readers after editorial screening.
  • Journal of Southeast Asian Economies: initial screening by the co-editors and associate editor, followed by double-anonymized review - two reviewers for articles, one for research notes.
  • SOJOURN: editorial-team screening with external review, overseen by an international advisory committee.
  • Turnaround: ISEAS does not publish standard decision times; area-studies review cycles typically run a few months. Ask the editors when you submit.

How to submit

  1. Pick the journal using the fit table above, and read the author guidelines on its page at bookshop.iseas.edu.sg.
  2. Prepare your manuscript in Microsoft Word, following the journal's word limits and reference style - Chicago endnotes for Contemporary Southeast Asia, author-date for JSEAE and SOJOURN. Templates are available on SciSpace.
  3. Email your submission directly to the editorial team: csea@iseas.edu.sg (Contemporary Southeast Asia), jseae@iseas.edu.sg (JSEAE), or sojourn@iseas.edu.sg (SOJOURN). There is no online submission portal.
  4. Respond to review - expect editor screening followed by external refereeing, then revisions handled over email.

Ethics and integrity

ISEAS Publishing operates under the governance of a Singapore statutory board and follows standard scholarly-publishing ethics: external refereeing, anonymized review at JSEAE, and editorial oversight by international advisory committees. Its journals have been continuously indexed in Scopus and the Web of Science citation indexes, and the press has no record of predatory-publishing concerns. Authors should disclose conflicts of interest and confirm originality at submission, per each journal's author guidelines.

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PUBLISHER COMPARISON

How ISEAS Publishing compares

How ISEAS Publishing compares on breadth, cost to authors, open-access routes and turnaround as a specialist area-studies institute press.

ISEAS Publishing
ISEAS Publishing logo
How ISEAS Publishing compares on breadth, cost to authors, open-access routes and turnaround as a specialist area-studies institute press.
ANU Press
ANU Press logo
How ANU Press compares across breadth of titles, open-access routes, costs, waivers and turnaround.
Hong Kong University Press
Hong Kong University Press logo
How Hong Kong University Press compares as a book-only university press - scope, costs, review model and turnaround.
Kyoto University Press
Kyoto University Press logo
How Kyoto University Press compares as a book-primary Japanese university press - scope, costs, review model and turnaround.
Core Features
Best for
Southeast Asian studies - politics, security, economics, and social issues of the region
Asia-Pacific studies, Australian and Indigenous history, fee-free diamond OA
Chinese and Asian studies, film and cultural studies, Hong Kong scholarship
Japanese and Asian studies monographs, area studies, philosophy and classical translation
Typical APC (OA)
$0 - no article processing charges
$0 - no author-facing fees
N/A - book publisher; no APCs charged
N/A - book-primary publisher; no article processing charges
LMIC fee waivers
N/A - no author fees are charged
Not needed - there are no fees for any author
N/A - authors are not charged publication fees
N/A - authors are not charged article fees
Read & Publish deals coverage
No - subscription model; content distributed via major scholarly platforms
N/A - no APCs to cover; funded by the Australian National University
None - these apply to journals, which HKU Press does not publish
None - transformative agreements cover journal portfolios, not this book list
Free / subscription (non-OA option)
Yes - all journals are subscription-based and free to publish in
N/A - everything is open access; print copies sold on demand
Yes - all titles published on the traditional print + ebook sales model
Yes - titles are sold in print and ebook through bookstores and university co-ops
Breadth of titles
3 peer-reviewed journals, 1 annual review, ~50 new books per year
~10 journals + 900+ open-access books, humanities and social-science focus
Up to 50 new books a year, 1,000+ backlist; no journal portfolio
~1,446 catalogue titles across named series; only a handful of journals
Cheapest realistic OA route
Green self-archiving (confirm terms with the journal's editors)
$0 - every title is diamond OA by default
No standard OA books program - discuss funder OA requirements with your editor
Limited - no standard OA monograph program; ask the Press about funder-mandated OA
Speed to first decision
Editor screening then external review; typically a few months - ask the editors
Varies by journal; most titles publish annually or semi-annually
Proposal-based; allow 2+ months for peer review, then Editorial Board approval
Proposal-based; editorial assessment plus expert review typically takes weeks to a few months
KEY BRANDS

ISEAS Publishing Journal Family

The ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute's flagship journals and annual review, each linked to its SciSpace journal page with metrics, templates, and submission details.

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Faqs

ISEAS Publishing FAQs

ISEAS Publishing is the publishing arm of the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, a Singapore research institution and statutory board founded in 1968. It is the leading scholarly publisher on Southeast Asia, producing three peer-reviewed journals, the annual Southeast Asian Affairs review, and more than 2,000 book and journal titles since the early 1970s.