Overview

The Historian is the journal of the Historical Association that is for all our general members and for teacher members who want a little bit of extra subject knowledge.

Containing a mixture of themed articles, regular features and general interest, the journal comes out four times a year. Articles are written by and submitted from academics, public history contributors, heritage organisations and HA members who are passionate about history.

We welcome submissions on any period, topic or area of history.

We have regular features that are also open for submission – see below for further details.

Synopsis

The editorial board welcome a synopsis of an article in advance which will be shared among the board before agreeing to see a full article.

Authors' Information

The Historian is the magazine for members of the Historical Association. Its aim is to promote the membership, a breadth of historical interests’ local history and educational interests of the Association. Authors' contributions will be assessed on the basis of certain criteria including membership interest, the utility of the subject matter and academic merit. Please note there is no remittance for articles submitted for publication in the Historian.

General Information

All articles submitted for consideration should be written in an accessible fashion and should come under one of the following sections:

Feature (3000 words)

Well-illustrated pieces on broad historical theme or historical question of interest to the general reader based on the author’s original research. Up to 8 images may be included.

Doing History (1500 words)

Short article on local or family history which might include ‘how to’ guides for using different historical sources or write ups of history projects. They should showcase how the author has undertaken the process of research as well as its results. Up to 5 illustrations may be included.

History Out and About (1500 words)

Local history article about a particular location, heritage site or area. Up to 5 illustrations may be included.

Real Lives (1000-1500 words)

Short article focussing on an unfamiliar historical figure or figures. This could include family history if it contained an aspect that related to wider historical trends or events. Up to 5 illustrations may be included.

From Our Branches (1500 words)

Short article focussing on branch activities such as trips, special events, excellent lectures, new branches or new approaches to running a local HA branch. Up to 5 illustrations should be provided.

Update (1000-2000 words)

Short overview of historiographical developments in a particular field to bring readers up to date with current thinking and highlight changes.

Guidelines for authors

Manuscripts:

Manuscripts should be saved in Word for Windows and either emailed to: thehistorian@history.org.uk or send on USB to: the editorial: The Historian,

The Historical Association, 59a Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4JH

If authors have any queries or problems with the above they should contact the Publications Officer at the address below.

Section headers:

Section headings should be used wherever possible to break up articles and aid accessibility.

Quotations:

Quotations should be clearly indicated and should start on a separate line and be indented (unless they are to appear in the body of the text). Single quotes should be used throughout.

References:

References should be used sparingly (not normally more than 12 per article at most) but should be provided for direct quotations. For details see below under House Style.

Further Reading:

Three or four titles of articles or books included after references, where interested readers can find more information on the topic.

Captions:

Please provide captions for illustrations at the end of the manuscript. Captions should assist in the observation and interpretation of each illustration.

Author information:

The author's full details (i.e. name, professional designation and professional/home address) should be given at the end of the manuscript, along with a short 4-5 line summary of personal details (including recently published books/articles).

Illustrations:

Illustrations should be carefully integrated into the text and accompanied by explanatory captions. Contributors are invited to submit illustrations/ideas for illustrations. Photocopies of anything but cartoons and line drawings will not reproduce to a sufficiently high quality for publication.

Picture research is undertaken but can be a lengthy and expensive process. It is the Association's responsibility to get permission for reproduction, clear the copyright and pay any fees involved to the appropriate picture libraries/museums (our budget for such fees is limited). It would therefore be of considerable help if clear reference/source details can be provided (usually found in Acknowledgments/Permissions section at the back of books). Photocopies without the above information cannot be accepted.

Proofs:

Editors and authors will be sent proofs prior to publication.

Complimentary copies:

All authors will be sent a maximum of 5 copies of The Historian in which their article appears.

A brief outline of The Historian house style

Capitals: No full points between capitals (i.e. TV; BBC; ITV; MP).

Commas: However,... Nevertheless,... Moreover,...

Dashes or Em-lines: All dashes should be em-lines with a space either side.

Numbers: Numbers below 10 in full. Above 10 in arabic numerals. 1941/2 write 1941-2.

Hyphens: No hyphens in words such as rediscover, reimpose. No space either side of a hyphen.

Accents: No accents in Anglicized foreign words (e.g. elite, regime, role).

Spelling: Where a word can be spelt with a consonant or a double consonant e.g. focuses, benefiting, use single consonant. Where there is a choice of using s or z in a word (e.g. recognise), use the s.

References: The author's (s') name as printed on the text cited.

The title of the work in italics as follows: Curzon: The Last of the Moguls

Publisher and place and date of publication in brackets as follows: (Routledge, London, 1990)

Title before author's name for edited works as follows: The Common People, ed. T. Scott

Journals as follows: Tom Scott, ‘The Common People', Historical Journal, 34 (1989), 182-5.

Ibid. should be used if the same source is cited successively.

Use shortened titles (after first, full citation) in subsequent notes.

House style reference books: J. Butcher, Copy-editing: the Cambridge Handbook (Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1992); J. Grimond, The Economist Pocket Style Book (The Economist Publications Limited, London, 1986);
K. Waterhouse, Newspaper Style (Penguin, London, 1991)

The Editorial Board

The editorial board of the Historian is made up of volunteers, who meet regularly to review submitted articles and to set the themes for upcoming articles. If you would like to join the board or discuss an article in advance please e-mail thehistorian@history.org.uk

The Editorial Board reserve the rights to reject articles at any stage of the submission, reviewing and editorial process.

Addresses

Articles to:

Manuscripts should be saved in Word and emailed to: thehistorian@history.org.uk

or sent on USB to:

Editor: The Historian, The Historical Association, 59a Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4JH

Tel: 0300 100 0223

Contributions and general queries can also be sent to the above.