Content Last updated: 2020
Author Guidlines
Do you have a paper that”s been rejected from a peer-reviewed journal in the historical sciences but deserves to be seen? Submit an Article to Rejecta Historia! Have you read a paper in Rejecta Historia that has moved you to respond? Do you have insight that can elevate that paper to a positive research contribution, or at least help others avoid the same mistakes? Submit a Commentary to Rejecta Historia!
How to Submit: Article
Article submissions consist of a research manuscript and an open letter from the authors explaining the reason for rejection. Submitted research manuscripts must have been previously rejected from a peer-reviewed journal in the social sciences or humanities.
Rejecta Historia places no conditions on the original reasons for a paper”s rejection; all papers that can be legally published will be considered. If you hold the copyright to your paper (as is typically the case if it has never been published elsewhere), you may submit the unaltered manuscript for consideration in Rejecta Historia.
However, at your option, you may choose to make revisions addressing some of the original reviewer comments or improving basic readability (grammar, spelling etc.). If you do make any revisions, please indicate this in your open letter. Since you’ve already done the work and written the paper, submitting to Rejecta Historia is fairly easy.
Please submit separate electronic copies of the research manuscript and the open letter. Once you have prepared separate electronic copies of your open letter and manuscript, please email them to rejectahistoria@gmail.com.
You may also include a typical cover letter that will be read by the editors but not published. You can use this cover letter to include any additional information that will be helpful in evaluating your manuscript for publication. In particular, you must reveal to the editors the name of the journal that originally rejected the manuscript if it has not already been named in your open letter.
Preparing a Manuscript
Documents submitted to Rejecta Historia must conform to standard formatting (Times New Roman, Size 12, Double Spaced) and Chicago Style formatting for the footnotes and the bibliography. The following electronic formats are preferred: .tex, .odt, or .doc. Please contact the editors in advance if you would like to use a different format.
Preparing an Open Letter
As an author, you are generally expected to address two main points in your open letter:
- Discuss the original review process, including the apparent reason for the paper”s rejection.
- State the case (in spite of the rejection) for the paper”s value to the History community.
Additionally, you must reveal:
- Any known errors in the paper (or accidental rederivations of earlier work)
- Any changes you have made since the paper was previously rejected
You may name the original journal from which your paper was rejected. You must disclose this information to the Rejecta Historia editors, but it will not appear in print unless mentioned in your open letter. Shorter letters are of course acceptable.
We understand that many authors may be frustrated with the review process in general, or the reviews of their paper specifically. We encourage candid discussion of the review process in the open letter if the author maintains at least a facade of civility and respect. In particular, we ask that profanity only be used when technical so that Rejecta Historia can be enjoyed by the whole family.
We acknowledge that technical paper review is a difficult and often thankless job necessary for peer-reviewed journals to function. In that light, we want to respect the anonymity of the original review process and ask that you do not reveal any details that may be used to discern the identities of the reviewers.
Additionally, while we encourage you to share quotes of especially priceless nuggets contained in your original reviews or editorial communications, we ask that you refrain from quoting long passages that might not comply with the commonly accepted definitions of “fair use”.
How to Submit: Correspondences
In addition to rejected papers, follow-up correspondences (referring to papers previously published in Rejecta Historia) are encouraged from the community at-large and will be considered for subsequent publication. We especially encourage comments that may correct a mistake in a research paper (technical or otherwise) that would make it acceptable for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Additionally, we encourage insightful comments that may help others avoid the mistakes seen in the original paper. Non-constructive criticism will generally not be accepted for publication. To submit a correspondence, please email the document to rejectahistoria@gmail.com.
Editorial Policies
The editors may consult with experts in a specific field on a case-by-case basis to determine the interest of a particular topic to the History community. The editors may request certain corrections to better format and structure the rejected article.
Due to the unique format of this journal, the editors reserve the right to accept/reject papers on the basis of several nontraditional and loosely defined criteria. Due to the lack of a formal review process, the authors may not expect to receive any specific feedback or criticism of their paper.
Copyright Information
Rejecta Historia follows an open access publishing model; all papers appearing in Rejecta Historia are immediately made freely available via this website. The authors retain the copyright to their work, and users are free to download, read, distribute, and modify the work as long as the original authors and source are properly attributed.
For an example of peer-reviewed journals following the open-access model (along with a detailed discussion of the importance of open-access), we encourage you to visit the Public Library of Science (PLoS).
Works are published in Rejecta Historia under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license. You can view a human-readable summary of the license here and the full legal license here.