How publishing works in this field
Most area studies work lands in one of two places: a regional journal that assumes knowledge of the setting, or a disciplinary journal where the region is the case and the contribution must be framed as theoretical. The same manuscript rarely suits both without a rewrite of its framing, because the second asks “what does this change about the theory?” and the first does not.
Coverage is uneven. A large share of serious regional scholarship appears in journals indexed in the Arts and Humanities Citation Index or in Scopus but not in the Science Citation Index Expanded, and some influential regional titles are indexed nowhere international at all. That is a fact about the field rather than a measure of quality, and it matters when an assessment framework asks for a quartile that does not exist.
What slows papers down here
Sources in the language of the region are a recurring sticking point. Reviewers who cannot read them may treat them as unverifiable; editors may ask for translations, transliteration to a stated standard, or an explanation of why a source is authoritative. Deciding this before submission is far easier than after.
Framing is the other. Work grounded deeply in one setting is often read as “a case study” rather than a contribution, which is a positioning problem, not a quality one. It is fixed in the introduction and the discussion, by stating plainly what the case is a case of.
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Questions we are asked in this field
It depends on who you want to read it and who assesses you. A disciplinary journal reaches further and usually counts for more in assessment; a regional journal reaches the specialists who will actually use the work. The framing differs between them, so choose before you write the introduction, not after.
Check the journal's guidance. Many ask for a translation of quoted material with the original in a note, and for transliteration to a named standard. Where no guidance exists, providing it anyway removes a reviewer objection before it is raised.
It is common in area studies and in the humanities generally, where citation density is low and many strong titles sit in the AHCI or in Scopus without a JIF. If an assessment panel requires a quartile, find out which system they mean — a journal can hold a Scopus quartile and no Clarivate one.