META Journal is closing down

After a 7-year journey as an Open-Access Journal, it is with utmost regret that Middle East - Topics & Arguments (META) is closing down. Including the issue on Gender published in July 2020, META has produced a total of 14 issues since its inception in 2013. 

We want to thank the Centre for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS) at Philipps University Marburg, and the German Research Foundation (DFG), which both have supported us in building up (and upon) a community around and through this journal for these years, and in funding our endeavor of creating a truly interdisciplinary journal.

The discontinuation of institutional and financial support, as well the limits to our very own capacities, have led us to put an end to the work and mission we have developed through META over the years. The interdisciplinary nature of META--which is warranted through the curatorial idea of theme-based issues that focus on illuminating a single key concept throughout the various issue sections ranging from interviews and anti-thesis arguments--has always required additional labor relative to more traditional journals, and strong support from all seven disciplinary departments of the CNMS. We are aware that these conditions are not unique to META, but rather paradigmatic for the situation that many other scholar-led journals face.  

It is therefore with a heavy heart that we take the decision to discontinue the journal. In order to stay true to our approach of working cooperatively and in an interdisciplinary manner within the framework we collectively created, we do not see any other option than to close down the operation of META - for the time being.

We are grateful to have had the chance and experience of starting, editing and developing a journal and we would like to take this moment to thank our colleagues, readers, authors, reviewers, proof-readers, IT support, advisors and editors for their support and commitment over the years. Without you, META would not have existed at all.

With this statement, the present editorial board is stepping down and META Journal is closed. 

We are planning to archive META at the University and State Library Saxony-Anhalt (ULB), in cooperation with MENAdoc, the specialized information service for Middle East, North Africa and Islamic Studies. All content is accessible on our website meta-journal.net until further notice.

To new beginnings!

META Editorial Collective