What does it mean for the person,
and for humanity?
Across law, science, politics and culture, we ask how people make meaning, live together and understand their place in the world.
We invite original scholarship on what ideas, institutions and discoveries mean for human life. Contributions are considered on a rolling basis for the founding issue.
Read the call for papersThe Human Question: A Journal of Humanistic Inquiry explores how people make meaning, live together and understand their place in the world.
Whether examining law, science, politics, technology or culture, the journal returns to a shared concern: what does this mean for the person, and for humanity as a whole?
Explore Albert’s research, open books, teaching resources and opportunities for collaboration.
The house style brings accepted papers into a readable, coherent journal. Authors retain responsibility for the accuracy of their arguments and sources.
Approved by Albert Tan Sin Hon, President and Editor-in-Chief, on 8 November 2026. Our full logo, deep green headings and compact scholarly layout give accepted articles a consistent identity. The style guide specifies typography, footnotes, references and production checks. Initial submissions may use any clear, consistent format.
Use British English, informative headings and a clear account of the paper’s question, approach and contribution. Explain specialist terminology for readers beyond your discipline.
Distinguish evidence, interpretation and speculation. Quotations, factual claims and references should be accurate and traceable.
Use a consistent citation system appropriate to your discipline. Supply complete references and stable links or identifiers where available.
The final default is footnotes and a bibliography. Legal scholarship follows OSCOLA, fifth edition. A discipline-specific author-date system may be retained with the handling editor’s agreement. Give precise pinpoint references.
Number tables and figures, give them informative captions and identify their sources. Explain abbreviations. Include descriptive text for visual material and obtain any required permissions.
After acceptance, the editors prepare a uniform PDF and ask the authors to check it. Publication follows approval of the final text, author details and applicable licence.
Authors retain copyright. Published articles use CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, allowing noncommercial sharing of the unadapted work with attribution. Read the rights policy for permissions and exceptions. The template is a specimen, with no assigned article identifiers.
The journal is free to read and charges authors no submission, review or publication fees. These documents explain how we assess, prepare and publish work.
President and Editor-in-Chief: Albert Tan Sin Hon, also the journal’s founder and publisher, based in Singapore. Editorial and privacy contact: editor@thehumanquestionjournal.com.
Research articles and scholarly review or critical essays require two independent external reports, normally under double-anonymous review. Book reviews, editorials and shorter commentaries are labelled and ordinarily receive editorial assessment. Founder- or editor-authored papers require a qualified independent handling editor with control of the decision.
Authors retain copyright. The standard article licence is CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. It permits noncommercial sharing of the unadapted work with attribution; additional uses may require permission. Our first issue is in preparation. Independent preservation deposits are planned, and no preservation-service membership or indexing is claimed.
Scope, article types, word limits, submission files, declarations, revision and proof approval.
Review model, independent handling, conflicts, decisions, appeals and complaints.
Authorship, evidence, research ethics, AI disclosure, misconduct, corrections and retractions.
No-fee policy, copyright, CC BY-NC-ND, repositories, personal information and preservation plans.
Confidentiality, assessment criteria, conflicts and a reusable reviewer report.
A blank form to complete after acceptance, confirming author approvals and publication rights.
These are the journal’s own policies, informed by Oxford University Press guidance and recognised publishing-ethics principles. Material changes will carry a new version and date. Preservation plans remain plans until deposits and recovery checks are completed.
Read the journal’s published articles, explore their questions and download the final PDFs.
No articles have been published on this website yet. Accepted papers will appear here after peer review, revision and final proof approval.
Read the author guidancePublished records are also available in a structured catalogue. This contains public article details and links to the final PDFs.