Journal of East Asian Cultures

About the Journal

History and spirit of the journal
The Journal of East Asian Cultures (in Hungarian: Távol-keleti Tanulmányok) is the official journal of the Institute of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Humanities of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), acknowledged by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The journal publishes scholarly articles from the fields of Chinese Studies, Mongolian and Inner Asian Studies, Japanese Studies, Korean Studies, and other topics related to researches conducted on East Asian culture. The journal was founded in 2009, and it is the only Hungarian periodical focusing on this particular region.

ELTE’s Faculty of Humanities ranks first in Europe in terms of the number of languages taught and researched,with over 70 modern and dead languages. These include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Tibetan (including their classical and modern variants), Hindi, Pali, Sanskrit, Vietnamese, and the languages of various other East Asian countries. Over many decades, this unique diversity of languages and cultures has connected a vast number of multidisciplinary-oriented scholars who possess comprehensive knowledge and significant field experience related to Asian cultures.

The spirit of the journal is determined by the century-old tradition of Asian Studies in Hungary. This tradition was founded on first-class philological knowledge, which provides access to cultures of the region through comprehensive knowledge of its languages. This tradition has made Hungarian Asian Studies renowned throughout the world through Hungary’s scholars, including Sándor Kőrösi-Csoma, Lajos Ligeti, Étienne Balázs, Ferenc Tőkei, and many others. At the same time, the journal also relies strongly on methodological (e.g., geopolitical, socio-linguistical, and archaeological) innovations that have given a new vigour to Asian Studies in the past decades.

Mission and significance of the journal
Following the traditions of the 100-years-old Institute of East Asian Studies of ELTE, it is the mission of the journal to provide space for the most diverse scholarly approaches and, combining these in an inter- and multidisciplinary framework, to examine the cultures of East Asia in their complexity. Accordingly, the journal is open to all papers that analyse the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian and Inner Asian, and other related cultures using an explanatory framework of philosophy, history, linguistics, arts, folklore or religious studies. The Journal of East Asian Cultures welcomes papers applying a historic approach as well as studies that examine contemporary East Asian societies.

The Journal also publishes book reviews on works related to the above fields. The journal welcomes brief reviews on newly published monographs, proceedings and translations as well.

Originally all issues were in Hungarian, but since 2021 the journal’s policy has been to publish one issue in Hungarian and one in English. English issues contribute in three senses to the widening of scholarly exchange.

  1. They make it possible for the results of research projects carried out in the framework of the broad international network of the publisher, the Institute of East Asian Studies, to become accessible also in English to a wide audience.
  2. They enable Hungarian and international doctoral students as well as Hungarian and guest lecturers and scholars to publish their findings in English.
  3. Strengthening the international ties of Asian Studies in Hungary, they enable the journal to accept manuscripts matching its profile by scholars from abroad.

Through these aims the journal plays the role of a bridge between Hungarian and international East Asian Studies.

Following its foundation in 2009, the journal swiftly became a periodical of central importance in Asian Studies within Hungary as well as for Hungarian-speaking scholars in the neighbouring countries and around the world. Due to the English issues, the world-class results of Asian Studies in Hungary have become part of the international discourse.

Indexing
The Journal of East Asian Cultures is indexed/included in the following databases and resources:
SherpaRomeo
ERIH PLUS
MATARKA
EBSCO Discovery (being processed)
DOAJ
EPA
MTMT

For more on indexing see HERE.

Ethical principles, review procedure
The operation of the Journal of East Asian Cultures is based on internationally acknowledged ethical principles and is in accordance with the highest scholarly standards. The Declaration of Ethics can be found HERE. Studies are judged by peer-reviewers in a double-blind procedure which is described HERE.

No publication or access charges
Following a publication policy based on the principle of equity, the Journal of East Asian Cultures does not charge any article processing, submission or publication charges. All articles published in the journal are made available on the website without delay after official publication free of charge and without registration.

Publication frequency and language
The Journal of East Asian Cultures is published twice a year, in Spring and in Autumn, with one Hungarian (Spring) and one English (Autumn) issue.

Sponsorship
The journal is published and developed with the support of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) Journal Development Fund and ELTE Faculty of Humanities.

ISSN 2060-9655 (Print)
ISSN 2786-2976 (Online)

Contact: Dr. Ferenc TAKÓ (editor), tako.ferenc@btk.elte.hu, tkt@btk.elte.hu