We accept submissions in three categories: essays or book reviews based on secondary sources, essays based on primary sources, and miscellaneous historical reflections. Essay submissions must be historical, academic pieces with a clear thesis, analysis and support. But for historical reflections, we also encourage students to submit reflective writing pieces on the study of history, or what history means to them. This section of the journal is particularly open-ended to students. You may submit pieces that were assigned as part of coursework or essays done independently if they fit the academic criteria.
How to submit your work
Submission deadlines will be announced during the spring 2024 semester. Articles should be submitted in a word document (.doc or .docx) should be sent to @email. The below guidelines are also available as a separate document here.
Review Process
Upon receiving each submission, the editorial board will decide on the appropriateness of the piece for the journal and will then solicit feedback from an outside reviewer. The author’s name and identifying information will be removed from the submission to allow the reviewer to concentrate only on the content. Based upon the feedback from the outside reviewer, whose identifying information will remain unknown to the author, the editorial board will decide whether to publish the piece. We will then send a notification to the author, indicating that their article will 1) be published as is; 2) require minor revisions; 3) require major revisions; 4) not be published in the journal at this time.
Article Length and Formatting
Writers are encouraged to limit articles to a maximum of 7,000 words, including footnote citations. The document must be set at the US letter, 8.5 x 11 standard, and should be double-spaced with 1-inch margins on each side. Please use a 12-point font, and preferably in Times New Roman font.
Cover Page
The cover page should provide the title of the article, complete contact information for the author (address, phone, and e-mail), author’s affiliation, and any acknowledgments that you wish to include. Please provide a total word count and indicate the number of tables and/or figures as included.
Abstract
The article must include an abstract of no more than 150 words. The abstract should not duplicate the text verbatim but include the research question, and clarify the sources, data and texts used throughout the work and give an indication of the overall conclusion or findings achieved.
Publication
Manuscripts that have been accepted for publication but do not conform to the style guide may be returned to the author for amendment. The Editors also reserve the right to alter usage to conform to the style guide issued by the Publishers. Authors may not supply new materials or request major alterations following the copyediting stage so please ensure that all text is final upon acceptance.
Mechanics
Quotation marks
- Double quotation marks should be used for in-text quotations, direct speech, and publication titles, and also for constructed terms or concepts, for ironic effect, or for authorial commentary. In all cases, a period or comma precedes the closing double quotation mark.
Citations and Bibliography
- Notes should be presented as footnotes and full bibliographic information should appear at first citation.
- Citations should conform to the Chicago Manual of Style citation system. Please consult the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide for reference.
- Any acknowledgments should be placed as an unnumbered note before the Notes section.
- Note reference superscripts should be in Arabic numerals (1,2,3 etc.) not Roman numerals.
- URLs should not be located in the main text when used in a bibliographical sense. URLs should be relocated to endnotes or the reference list.
- Please refer to the Purdue Online Writing Lab's guide to the Chicago Manual of Style for examples and detailed descriptions. See also this list of examples prepared by the UMass History Journal.
Pre-Submission Check List
- All text, including headings, sub-headings, notes, and references, is set in a standard 12-point type, such as Times or Times New Roman, and the text is double-spaced with a 1-inch margin on all sides.
- The piece is no longer than 7,000 words with footnotes and references included.
- The abstract is no more than 150 words.
- There are no URLs located in the main text when used in a bibliographical sense (although names such as Amazon.com are acceptable). URLs should be relocated to endnotes or the reference list.