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Guidelines for Manuscripts

Manuscripts and proposals are welcome. Please send your contribution as word file with preferably little formatting of your own.

  • Text: The main text should have a minimum length of 20,000 characters and the total length should not exceed 90,000 characters including spaces. The typical HSR article has a length from 35,000 to 65,000 characters, which corresponds to 14 to 24 pages (approximately 2,800 characters per page). When possible, the title of the article is to be submitted in English and German. In addition to the main text, every submission must include (1) an abstract, (2) a reference address, (3) 3-8 keywords, and (4) a reference list.
  • Abstract: Articles are to be prefaced by an English abstract briefly outlining the article’s content and composition. The length of the abstract should be 900 to 1,300 characters, including spaces.
  • Reference address: Every article needs to have the author’s complete institutional postal and e-mail addresses.
  • ORCID iD (Open Researcher and Contributor iD): When available, please include your ORCID iD. Authors are recommended to register for an ORCID iD (www.orcid.org) as it allows for the possibility to clearly assign them to their publications and research outputs.
  • Keyword list: Every articles needs 3 to 8 English keywords.
  • Reference list: Due to the coverage of all HSR articles in the Social Science Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics), JSTOR (ITHAKA), SCOPUS (Elsevier), and SocINDEX (EBSCO), a consistent citation and reference is necessary. The bibliographical references at the end of the text and the in-text citations should roughly follow the Chicago Manual of Style. HSR uses the author/date style of references, but it also allows notes for substantive commentary. Every citation in the text or substantive notes must have a corresponding reference entry, and every publication listed in the reference list must be mentioned in the text or notes. Please be sure that your reference list is arranged in alphabetical order. Please find examples for compilation below. Important note: Only literature directly referenced in the text should be included in the References at the end of the contribution.
    ! If you use Zotero,or EndNote, please use the style "Historical Social Research." If using Citavi, please select the updated version, called "Historical Social Research 2018"!
  • DOIs: If available, please include the DOIs of articles in the reference list. See "Article, Online with DOI" below for an example.
  • Composition: Contributions are to be divided into sub-chapters using the decimal classification system (1. - 2. - 2.1 - 2.2 - 3. etc.). Subdivision should be at the most two decimal points.
  • Tables, graphics, and figures: The HSR format is 5.8 x 8.3 inches. When compiling tables, graphics, and figures it should be considered that the type area is 10.7 cm (width) x 17.1 cm (height). Tables, graphics, and figures should be numbered consecutively as they appear in the text. HSR does not print color graphics and figures. However, you can still send a color version for the digital issue. Please ensure that these graphics work also as black-and-white print.
    Please send us original files (e.g., *.xls) so that we can work on the format according to our HSR layout.
  • Language: English
  • Editorial: An HSR Special Issue and an HSR Focus require an adequate introduction. Special Issue and Focus editors are responsible for a programmatic editorial of at least 10 pages including references.
  • Empirical Data: In case empirical data are used in the article, the author is obliged to offer the opportunity for replication. Upon request, HSR authors grant the right towards a third party to access data and program routine.
  • Citations: The in-text citations and the bibliographical reference list at the end of the text should roughly follow the Chicago Citation Style. In-text citations should be formatted as (Author Year, page), whereby multiple citations are separated by a semicolon. Eg. (Dennis, Smith, and Johnson 2005, 62-8; Thompson 2004, 2006). [Chicago Manual of Style Quick Guide]
    ! In case you work with EndoNote, Citavi or Zotero, please use the template "Historical Social Research"!

References are to be compiled as follows:

Book, one author:
Doniger, Wendy. 1999. Splitting the Difference. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Book, two authors:
Cowlishaw, Guy, and Robin Dunbar. 2000. Primate Conservation Biology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Chapter of a book:
Wiese, Andrew. 2006. “The House I Live In”: Race, Class, and African American Suburban Dreams in the Postwar United States. In The New Suburban History, ed. Kevin M. Kruse and Thomas J. Sugrue, 99–119. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Book, electr.:
Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. 1987. The Founders’ Constitution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press <press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders> (Accessed January 6, 2004).
Article, Print:
Smith, John Maynard. 1998. The Origin of Altruism. Nature 393: 639-40.
Article, Online:
Hlatky, Mark A., Derek Boothroyd, Eric Vittinghoff, Penny Sharp, and Mary A. Whooley. 2002. Quality-of-Life and Depressive Symptoms in Postmenopausal Women after Receiving Hormone Therapy: Results from the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS) Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association 287, no. 5 (February 6): <jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n5/rfull/joc10108.html> (Accessed January 7, 2004).
Article, Online with DOI:
Salais, Robert. 2016. Quantification and objectivity: From statistical conventions to social conventions. Historical Social Research 41 (2): 118-134. doi: 10.12759/hsr.41.2016.2.118-134.
Magazine:
Martin, Steve. 2002. Sports-Interview Shocker. New Yorker, May 6.
Newspaper:
Niederkorn, William S. 2002. A Scholar Recants on his “Shakespeare” Discovery. New York Times, June 20, Arts section, Midwest edition.
Dissertation:
Amundin, Mila. 1991. Click Repetition Rate Patterns in Communicative Sounds from the Harbour Porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, PhD diss., Stockholm University.
Conference Paper:
Doyle, Brian. 2002. Howling like Dogs: Metaphorical Language in Psalm 59. Paper presented at the annual international meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature, June 19-22, in Berlin, Germany.
Website:
Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees. Evanston Public Library Strategic Plan, 2000–2010: A Decade of Outreach. Evanston Public Library <www.epl.org/library/strategic-plan-00.html> (Accessed February 6, 2012).

Please see also our Final Checklist for HSR Submission (411 kB).

For further questions, see also our FAQs.