In short: we publish original empirical social science research that seeks to understand Islam as, or as part of, a social system in digital contexts.

Rationale

The Journal of Digital Religion and Contemporary Society (JDRCS) is an international, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary platform committed to advancing critical scholarship on the interaction between religion and digital transformation. As digital technologies reshape modes of belief, ritual, identity, and authority, new intellectual frameworks are required to understand how religious life evolves within technologically mediated environments. JDRCS addresses this need by fostering scholarly conversations that are theoretically grounded, empirically robust, and globally relevant.

The journal particularly seeks to illuminate how digital cultures intersect with religious traditions, including but not limited to Islamic contexts, and how these intersections inform broader social, cultural, ethical, and political processes in contemporary societies.

Topical and Interdisciplinary Scope

JDRCS welcomes submissions from diverse disciplines—including religious studies, sociology, anthropology, communication studies, media and cultural studies, digital humanities, Islamic studies, and political science—provided they meaningfully engage with the study of religion in digital contexts. We encourage research that bridges theoretical innovation with empirical inquiry and that contributes to expanding and diversifying scholarly discourse in this emerging field.

Relevant areas of inquiry include, but are not limited to:

• Digital Theology and Spirituality: AI-generated religious content, digital hermeneutics, virtual pilgrimage, immersive or augmented religious experience.

• Online Religious Communities and Identity: Digital congregations, social-media-driven conversions, gender and sexuality in online religious expression, ritual performance in virtual space.

• Religion, Media, and Power: Platform-mediated religious authority, influencer-based da‘wah/evangelism, digital disinformation involving sacred texts, and the role of algorithms in shaping religious discourse.

• Ethics, Technology, and Faith: Data ethics in religious apps, bio/neuro-enhancement for spiritual experience, environmental ethics of digital infrastructures, moral reasoning in technologically mediated religious life.

• Extremism, Conflict, and Governance in Digital Religion: Counter-radicalization, online sectarian discourse, platform policy, and digital governance of religious expression.

Focus and Methodology

JDRCS publishes original research articles, theoretical essays, review pieces, and (when appropriate) methodologically innovative field reports. Submissions may adopt qualitative, digital ethnographic, discourse analytic, mixed-method, or interpretive approaches. We prioritize work demonstrating:

• Theoretical depth and conceptual clarity

• Empirically grounded argumentation

• Methodological transparency and innovation

• Ethical integrity and compliance with international research standards

• Contribution to contemporary social and scholarly debates

All submissions undergo plagiarism screening and double-blind peer review.

Readership

JDRCS is designed for an international audience of scholars, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and advanced graduate students interested in digital religion, digital sociology, Islamic studies, media and religion, and contemporary religious change. Given its interdisciplinary scope, the journal is relevant not only to academic researchers but also to civil society actors, technology designers, cultural institutions, and governmental bodies engaged in questions of religion in the digital age.

Editorial Board

The journal is supported by an international editorial board composed of experts in digital religion studies, Islamic and interfaith scholarship, digital humanities, digital sociology, cyber-ethnography, and media studies. The board is committed to maintaining academic rigor, fostering diverse global scholarship, and advancing equitable knowledge production in emerging debates on religion and digital transformation.