Publishing and Open Access

The Royal Historical Society is actively engaged in ongoing debates about the future of arts and humanities publishing. Overseen by its Publications Committee, the Society is both a publisher of scholarly history and a leading participant in debates over Open Access publishing — with reference to the benefits and limitations for individual researchers and learned societies.

The Society’s Publications Committee is chaired by Professor Jane Winters (School of Advanced Study, University of London).

Open Access Policy Work

The RHS engages closely with wider debates about Open Access publishing, and the implications of OA policies for historians and learned societies:

UKRI and Open Access for those receiving research funding

Plan S and its implications for historians

  • October 2019: RHS Guidance Paper Plan S and the History Journal Landscape. This report is designed to assist History and broader Humanities & Social Sciences stakeholders to understand and navigate the current policy frontiers of open access publishing for peer reviewed scholarly journals.
  • July 2019: Interim Working Paper Plan S and the Hybrid History Journal Landscape: a preliminary mapping of current preparedness for Plan S open access implementation among UK and international ‘hybrid’ History journals and designed to elicit further evidence, feedback and corrections for a more comprehensive analysis to be published in October 2019.
  • May 2019: response to the Updated Guidance on Plan S, available here.
  • April 2019: RHS published a Working Paper assessing the implications of Plan S compliance for history researchers, focusing particularly on those with Wellcome funding.
  • February 2019: we submitted a response to the consultation on the ‘Plan S’ open-access initiative, which is available here.
  • January 2019: publication of a briefing paper, call for evidence and interim report, available here.

Publishing and the Research Excellence Framework

In early 2018, the government announced that for REF2027 policies on open access journal articles would be extended to include monographs.

Data management and scholarly communications

 

Society’s journal ‘Transactions’ now fully Open Access

From 21 August 2024, the Society’s journal, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, becomes fully Open Access.

This means that all articles accepted for publication in the journal will now be automatically published with a Creative Commons licence and freely available to read online. This will ensure that content published in Transactions can be shared, circulated and read by the widest possible readership.

There will be no charge to the author for publishing an article in this way. The costs of open access publication will be covered through agreements between the journal’s publisher, Cambridge University Press, and the author’s institution; or by payment of Article Processing Charges (APCs) from grant or other funds held by the author; or else waived entirely by the publisher, ensuring every Transactions author can publish and receive the benefits of having their work available Open Access.

We very much hope this initiative will encourage a growing range of submissions from authors, worldwide, including those who practice history outside Higher Education, in related sectors or as independent researchers.


To accompany Transactions‘ move to full Open Access, the editor — Jan Machielsen — writes for the RHS blog about his experience of editing the journal, and looks ahead to forthcoming content.


Submitting an article to Transactions

Transactions is the flagship academic journal of the Royal Historical Society. First published in 1872, Transactions has been publishing the highest quality scholarship in History for more than 150 years.

Today’s journal publishes a wide range of research articles and commentaries on historical approaches, practice and debate. In addition to traditional 10-12,000 word research articles, Transactions also welcomes shorter, innovative commentary articles. In 2023, we introduced ‘The Common Room’—a section of the journal dedicated to commentaries and think pieces by academic historians and history practitioners.

The journal welcomes submissions dealing with any geographical area, from the early middle ages to the very recent past. We also invite articles from authors at every career stage. In line with the Society’s commitment to supporting postgraduate and early career historians, the journal seeks to engage constructively and positively with first-time authors.

The journal’s editorial team provides prompt responses and peer review. Articles are published with Cambridge University Press, online via CUP’s FirstView, and in an annual volume.

If you’re currently researching an article or a think piece, please consider Transactions as the journal in which to publish your work. Articles may be submitted here.

 

Society submits response to REF2029 Open Access Consultation

The Royal Historical Society has today submitted a response to the Research Excellence Framework 2029 open access consultation.

The consultation, launched in March 2024, proposes the extension of open access requirements for eligible publications for REF2029. The proposals relate both to journal articles and, now, what REF terms ‘longform’ publications, principally monographs, edited collections, book chapters and scholarly editions. These formats are a very significant part of History, and Humanities publishing, and comprised 55% of publication submissions for History for the previous REF (2021).

  • The Royal Historical Society’s statement on the consultation is available here. This Society’s response draws on answers provided by RHS members to a Survey (conducted in May 2024) on attitudes to open access and the REF more widely.
  • Further information on the REF2029 OA proposals is available here; these were the subject of a Society blog post published in March.

In its response to the consultation, the Society expresses concern about the scale and pace of the proposals, especially with regard to mandatory OA publication of books for which the necessary infrastructure, resources and financial support are absent.

The Society believes REF’s OA proposals for book publishing go too far, too fast. We are concerned that mandating these proposals will alienate humanities academics, and their support networks, and risks delegitimising REF as a measure and reward of research excellence in the opinion of those it seeks to assess.

We therefore recommend that REF’s OA proposals for books are not mandated for the next research exercise; rather the next cycle is used to explore sustainable future models that increase access to high-quality research.

The closing date for responses to the REF OA proposals is Monday 17 June 2024.


IMAGE HEADER: Credit: Natalie_ iStock

 

New and forthcoming titles in the Society’s Open Access book series

Now available, in print and online, Gender, Emotions and Power, 1750–2020 — edited by Hannah Parker and Josh Dyble — is the latest title in the Royal Historical Society’s New Historical Perspectives book series. This new collection offers a timely intervention into contemporary debates on emotions, gender, race and power by asking: ‘how are emotional expectations established as gendered, racialised and class-based notions’?

Chronologically and geographically broad, the essays cover settler colonies in southern Africa, post-unification Italy, Maoist China, the Soviet Union and British Raj, among others. Collectively the essays consider how emotional expectations have been generated, stratified and maintained by institutions, societies, media and those with access to power.

Gender, Emotions and Power, 1750–2020 is the 17th title in the Society’s New Historical Perspectives series for early career historians within 10 years of completing a PhD at a UK or Irish university. All titles are published online as Open Access editions and in paperback print with Open Access fees covered by the series partners: the Royal Historical Society, Institute of Historical Research and University of London Press. For more on the series, and how to submit a proposal, please see here.

 

 

 

Forthcoming titles in the series, available in 2024, include Martin Sypchal’s Mapping the State. English Boundaries and the 1832 Reform Act and Rachel E. Johnson’s Women’s Voices and Historical Silences in South Africa. Young Women and Youth Activism in the Anti-Apartheid Struggle.

Full online access to all of the titles is available via University of London Press.

 

 

Research Excellence Framework 2029

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the current evaluation system for assessing research in UK Higher Education institutions (HEIs). It was first conducted in 2014 and again in 2021. The REF is undertaken by a dedicated team on behalf of, and reporting to, the four UK higher education funding bodies: Research England, the Scottish Funding Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland.

REF outcomes inform the allocation of around £2bn of block-grant research funding to HEIs each year.

The last REF took place in 2021 (with outcomes published in May 2022). For REF2021, History was one of 34 ‘Units of Assessment’. The next REF was originally intended to take place in 2028. Following an announcement in December 2023, this date has now been put back to 2029. Planning for REF 2029 is now underway. Interpreting, commenting on, and communicating the remit and structure of REF 2029 is a central focus of the Royal Historical Society’s Research Policy Committee in the months to come.

This page provides further information on current planning for the next assessment, REF 2029. In addition, it summarises the Society’s responses to consultations and guides for historians on behalf of the discipline.

The structure of the remainder of this page is broadly chronological as next stages of REF2029 are opened up for discussion or are announced. Not all REF developments since 2023 are listed here; for this we recommend REF2029’s own timetable and website. Further information will be added as planning progresses and further information becomes available.


About REF2029

In June 2023, the REF team announced its high-level design for this next exercise. This included important changes to the model employed for REF2021. Principal among these changes are:

1. Composition of those included in a Unit of Assessment

REF 2029 will break the identification of research outputs with individual researchers submitted to the exercise within their Units of Research. Instead a so-called volume measure of all researchers and research-enabling staff with significant responsibility for research will be calculated as the average FTE within the Unit for eligible staff, taken at two census dates. Units will be required to submit 2.5x outputs for every 1.0 FTE of volume-contributing staff. There will be no minimum or maximum contribution from any individual within the Unit.

2. Redesign and re-weighting of the elements of assessment, as follows

  • People, Culture and Environment (25% weighting), replacing the environment element of REF 2014 and 2021, and will be expanded to include an assessment of research culture.
  • Contribution to knowledge and understanding (50% weighting), broadening the ‘outputs’ element of REF 2014 and 2021. Assessment will continue to be largely based on submitted outputs, but at least 10% of the profile will be based on evidence of broader contributions to discipline.
  • Engagement and impact (25% weighting), replacing the ‘impact’ elements of REF 2014 and 2021, and combining both impact case studies and an accompanying statement on engagement activity beyond case studies.

Planning for REF 2029: responding to the Future Research Assessment Programme (FRAP, October 2023)

In June 2023, the REF team invited responses to its high-level design for the next assessment exercise. This design and review phase is the Future Research Assessment Programme, known as FRAP. Responses were invited to specific questions on aspects of the design, while noting that many aspects of REF 2029 (including those set out above) were not open for discussion. The June 2023 call for responses to FRAP is available here.

In October 2023, the Royal Historical Society issued its response which is available in full here. This response includes commentaries from, and is supported by, the Institute of Historical Research, the Economic History Society and the Past & Present Society. The RHS response also follows discussions with other UK historical organisations and learned societies.

 

 

In addition to the full response, the Society has produced an overview and commentary (‘Preparing for REF 2029’ available on the RHS blog) on the high-level design for REF 2029. This overview is co-written by Professor Jonathan Morris (RHS Vice-President for Research, to November 2023) and Professor Barbara Bombi (RHS Secretary for Research, from November 2023) who were responsible for the Society’s response to the FRAP consultation.


Initial update on the outcomes from the consultation (December 2023)

On 7 December the REF team issued a first update on its decisions after the Summer 2023 consultation exercise. In addition to postponing the date of the next REF to 2029, this update noted the following:

  • HESA data will be used to determine Volume Measure in the manner set out in the recent consultation exercise
  • breaking the link between individual staff member and unit submission, including removing minimum and maximum outputs submitted by specific individuals, will go ahead.
  • further guidance will be issued on the ‘demonstrable and substantive link’ between an eligible output and the submitting institution within the REF period.
  • outputs sole-authored by PGR students, including PhD theses, will not be eligible for submission, nor will those produced by individuals employed on contracts with no research-related expectations. 
  • the overall Unit of Assessment structure for REF 2029 will remain unchanged from REF 2021. 
  • the minimum number of Impact Case Studies that an institution can submit per disciplinary submission will be reduced to one, with the removal of the 2* quality threshold. 

Consultation on Open Access requirements for REF2029 (March 2024)

On 18 March 2024, the four UK higher education funding bodies opened a consultation concerning the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029 Open Access Policy. The purpose of the REF 2029 Open Access Policy is to outline open access requirements for the exercise.

This consultation outlines the proposed Open Access policy for REF 2029. The ‘policy aims to embed progress in the sector for open access submission for journal publications. It also introduces an open access requirement for longform publications’. The consultation seeks ‘to gather a deeper understanding of sector perspectives on key issues and impacts in relation to our policy proposals.’

On 12 June 2024, the Society submitted its response to the consultation on Open Access mandates: available here.


Early decisions made on REF2029 Open Access Policy (August 2024)

On 14 August 2024 it was announced that, following consultation, there would be no change to the existing Open Access Policy for REF2029. This means the proposed extension of OA requirements to take in books will not apply in 2029. In the words of the REF statement:

Open access for longform outputs remains a key area of policy interest for the funding bodies but in response to sector concerns, and in recognition of the broad set of challenges currently facing the sector, there will be no longform open access mandate for REF 2029.’ 

An open access requirement for submission of longform outputs will be in place for the next assessment exercise, with implementation from 1 January 2029.

The August 2024 statement also noted that the final terms and conditions for OA compliance, for journal articles and conference proceedings, would be communicated by 1 January 2026.


People, Culture and Environment (PCE) Indicators Survey (June 2024)

On 24 June 2024 REF opened a survey as part of its work to develop indicators to be used for the assessment of the People, Culture and Environment (PCE) element of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029.

The Society did not submit a response to this survey (which closed on 13 September). A response was submitted and published by the British Academy and is available here.


PCE Pilot, includes History as a case study (December 2024)

2025 will see work on developing the People, Culture and Environment (PCE) element of REF2029. A PCE pilot project will assess the feasibility of selected indicators of a department’s research culture, broadly defined. On 4 December REF defined this work in the following terms.

The pilot project combines responses and reviews by 40 UK higher education institutions and 8 subject panels. History is one of the subjects included as a subject panel. The membership of the History PCE panel was released on 5 December 2024. The panel includes two serving and one former member of the Royal Historical Society’s governing Council.


Release of the final REF2029 OA Policy (December 2024)

On 11 December 2024, REF published its final statement on Open Access for the 2029 exercise.

As stated in August, books / longform publications will not be included in REF2029. Other headline changes include: a reduction of the embargo period for journal articles (in Main Panels C and D, including History), from 24 to 12 months, and a putting back of the implementation date for the new OA elements for REF2029 from 1 January 2025 to 1 January 2026.

 

The Society has published an overview of the statement, which also links to the full document released by REF. The release also includes REF’s summary of the OA consultation in summer 2024.


Calls for chairs, deputy chairs, and members of subject-level sub-panels (December 2024)

On 16 December 2024, REF issued a call for applications to join the subject level sub-panels. These panels (including History, Unit of Assessment, 28) will be responsible for the criteria of assessment (2025-26) and the work of assessing submissions (2026-30) by subject for REF2029.

Applications for chairs and deputy chairs close on 6 February 2025. Applications for panel membership close on 28 April 2025.

The chairs of the Main Panels were also announced in December, including that for Main Panel D (in which History sits).


We hope you find this page useful. If you have comments, or proposals for this page as a resource to support historians ahead of REF2029, please contact the Society’s Academic Director: philip.carter@royalhistsoc.org.

 

ECH – Publishing in a Journal

‘Printing: a three-quarter view of a press’, Engraving by W. Lowry after J. Farey, 1819, Wellcome Trust Collection, public domain

 

Once a journal has accepted your work, you still have some time to polish it up (e.g. by adding references to the most recently published work, or by tinkering with your prose, or by addressing lesser criticisms in your readers’ reports). Most journals now process accepted manuscripts through a software system that will let you upload your final manuscript and will subsequently lead you through the publication process.

If you are a UK author, you are now also required to upload your paper – the version that was accepted by the journal – into your institution’s online repository within three months of acceptance. You can still change the paper before the submission of the final manuscript to the publisher, and you may if you wish upload the later versions, but you must upload the version that the journal first accepted (what’s called the ‘accepted author manuscript’) within three months. This will make it eligible for the REF – but it doesn’t mean that it will be freely available (‘open access’) immediately. Your repository ought to allow you to impose an ‘embargo period’, during which the paper remains inaccessible to others, of up to two years, depending on your journal’s policy. This embargo period allows your journal to recoup a moderate subscription charge from readers who will have early access to your work; after the embargo period, your paper will be freely available to be read through the repository (the version that people need to cite will still only be available through the journal).

Different open-access requirements apply if your research has been funded by a research council (e.g. AHRC, ESRC). For more information on the technical requirements for research-council funded research, see the RHS’s Information Sheet on Open Access for RCUK-Funded Historians. The same sheet has information about the different open-access licences that you may be offered; these licences determine which of your rights as author you are willing to give up in order to extend use of your work by others.

Each journal has its own procedures for dealing with the final version of your paper after you’ve uploaded it. Normally they will ‘copy-edit’ it – a professional copy-editor will suggest changes for clarity, consistency, and conformity with the journal’s house style – and you will have an opportunity to respond to these suggested changes. They will, separately, ask you to ‘proofread’ it after it has been formatted for publication – at this stage, you should limit the changes you make to corrections of typographical errors and other small errors. Most journals are still paginated and more extensive correction messes up pagination. It may take up to a year between acceptance and publication, although many journals now put the final copy-edited, formatted and proofed texts on their websites in advance of the formal publication date. Again, this may appear to be slow to you – but at each stage, your paper is getting better.

 

 

2024 volume of the Society’s journal, ‘Transactions’, now available

This year’s volume of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, the Society’s academic journal, is now available from Cambridge University Press.

The volume (Seventh Series, Volume 2) was published online on 6 December and is available to read Open Access online. The print edition of Transactions will be posted to Fellows and Members of the Society, who choose to receive hard copies, in January.* The volume opens with a Welcome by the editor, Jan Machielsen.

The 2024 volume contains fourteen Research Articles. These have been organised roughly chronologically, stretching from Krisztina Ilko’s study of the presence of non-elite Christian women in 14th-century China, to James Baker’s survey of the impact of computerisation for museology and museum working practices in the 1960s-80s.

Other articles demonstrate our field’s geographic and thematic diversity, ranging from late imperial Russia (Sarah Badcock) via early modern Wales (Sarah Ward Clavier) to 1930s India (Abhimanyu Arni), and from the history of sport (Ollie Randall) to that of internationalism (Su Lin Lewis).

We are also very pleased to publish eight contributions to the journal’s Common Room. As part of CUP’s transition of the journal to full Open Access, submissions to the Common Room accepted after January 2024 are labelled or introduced as Comments or Brief Comments (rather than ‘common room’).

This year’s discussions within the Common Room include John Sanders’ reflections on his experience as a ‘latecomer historian’, David Stack on the intersection of wellbeing and history teaching, and early career work in Black British history, from the late 18th to the mid-19th century, by Kristy Warren, Annabelle Gilmore and Montaz Marché.


Submitting an article to Transactions 

The journal’s editor and editorial board welcome submission of research articles and commentaries for review. Transactions publishes new research on a wide range of historical subject areas, chronologies and geographies, and invites comment and opinion essays on approaches to historical study, within and beyond higher education.

We welcome submissions from historians at all career stages of academia and those working historically in related sectors, such as museums, heritage, archives and public history.

Since August 2024, all articles accepted for publication are published Open Access, with no charge to the author. and therefore accessible to the widest possible readership. TRHS editors offer a prompt, efficient and friendly review process, with all accepted content appearing initially online, via CUP’s FirstView, and then in annual online and print volumes.

For more on the Transactions, and how to submit an article for consideration, please see here. Articles for review may be submitted here to the editor and editorial board.


*This year’s posting of the print edition of Transactions is delayed by 4-6 weeks following a significant cyber attack experienced by our publisher, Cambridge University Press, in 2024, which affected all journal publishing.

The Society is very grateful to CUP who have worked very hard and efficiently to restore their systems, with the final phase of this recovery being the despatch of journal print copies.


The cover image for the 2024 volume of Transactions is ‘Angels transporting St Catherine’s body’, The Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, 1405–1408/1409, Tempera, gold, and ink on vellum, 23.8 × 17 cm. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 54.1.1a, b, fo. 20r. (Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access.). This image is further discussed in Krisztina Ilko’s article ‘Yangzhou, 1342: Caterina Vilioni’s Passport to the Afterlife’.

 

Apply for Fellowship

Closing date for next application round:

Monday 24 March 2025

 

Fellowships are awarded to those who have made an original contribution to historical scholarship, typically through the authorship of a book, a body of scholarly work similar in scale and impact to a book, the organisation of exhibitions and conferences, the editing of journals, and other works of diffusion and dissemination grounded in historical research.

Election is conducted by review and applications must be supported by someone who is already a Fellow. The Society is able to offer assistance for applicants who do not know an existing Fellow – please contact us for advice. Applications are welcome from historians working within or outside the UK.

In 2021 the Society introduced a new category of Associate Fellowship for historians from a wide range of backgrounds who may not yet have reached the stage of full Fellowship. Applicants are encouraged to consider this option as it may be the correct category for you given your career stage. 

To apply for the RHS Fellowship please use the Society’s Applications Portal, and select your chosen membership category.


Benefits of Fellowship

  • Entitled to use the letters FRHistS after your name.
  • Print and online copies of the latest version of the RHS academic journal, Transactions.
  • Online access to the current issue and entire searchable back archive of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: the collection comprises 145 volumes and more than 2200 articles, published between the journal’s foundation in 1872 and the early 2020s.
  • Online access to all 385 volumes of the Society’s Camden Series of primary source material, including the latest titles published in 2024-25. Since 1838, the Camden Series has made primary records available in accessible scholarly editions, compiled and introduced by specialist historians. The Series is especially strong in material relating to British history, including the British Empire and Britons’ influence overseas.
  • All other RHS publications offered at a substantial discount: this includes print volumes for new and recent titles in the Camden Series and all titles in the New Historical Perspectives series.
  • Substantial discounts on the Society’s former title, the Bibliography of British and Irish History, which is available to Fellows at £25 per year.
  • 30% discount on all academic books (print only) published by Cambridge University Press.
  • 30% discount on History titles published by Oxford University Press.
  • 30% discount on purchases of print copies of the Society’s New Historical Perspectives book series, offering monographs and essay collections, and produced in association with the Institute of Historical Research and University of London Press.
  • 20% discount on print subscription to History Today, Britain’s leading history magazine (£52 per annum, usually £65 full price). 20% discount on online subscription to the archive of History Today (£56 per annum, usually £70 full price).
  • Receipt of the weekly ‘RHS News Circular’ (this example, October 2024): a regular update on RHS activities, plus listings of events / calls for papers from other UK historical societies and research networks.
  • Copies of RHS newsletters and the Society’s annual reports.
  • Eligible for RHS training and career development events / workshops reserved for Fellows and members of the Society.
  • Eligible to apply for the Society’s Research Funding programmes available to historians at all career stages.
  • Eligible to participate in the Society’s Annual General Meeting.
  • Eligible to vote in all RHS elections.
  • Eligible to stand for election to the RHS Council.
  • Access to the RHS Archive and Library collections, and RHS Library rooms, at University College London (UCL).
  • Eligible to join UCL Libraries as a library member.
  • Use of the Society’s Council Chamber at UCL for small group meetings (on application to the RHS office).
  • Become part of a thriving international community of historians, of all kinds and from many backgrounds.
  • Help us support and advocate for the study and practice of history in its many forms. Society income also supports our grants programme for historians at the start of their careers.

 

 

Annual Subscription

From July 2024, annual subscription rates for Fellows, payable on election, are: 

For Fellows within the UK or RoI:

  • With online access to Transactions and an annual print copy: £70.00 per annum
  • With only access to Transactions: £65.00 per annum

Retired Fellows within the UK or RoI:

  • With online access to Transactions and an annual print copy: £45.00 per annum
  • With only access to Transactions: £40.00 per annum

For Fellows outside of the UK or RoI:

  • With online access to Transactions and an annual print copy: £80.00 per annum
  • With only access to Transactions journal: £75.00 per annum

For Retired Fellows outside of the UK or RoI:

  • With online access to Transactions and an annual print copy: £55.00 per annum
  • With only access to Transactions: £50.00 per annum

The RHS subscription year runs July to June with renewals due on 1 July of each year. 


How to Apply

Before applying for election to the Fellowship please read the Frequently Asked Questions and arrange for a current Fellow to act as your referee using the guidance supplied in the FAQs.

To apply for the RHS Fellowship please use the Society’s Applications Portal, and select your chosen membership category.

Applications to join the RHS are welcome through the year. Remaining dates for applications in 2025 are as follows: Monday 24 March 2025, Monday 26 May 2025, Monday 11 August 2025 and Monday 13 October 2025.

Rejoining the Society as a Fellow

If your Fellowship has lapsed / has been cancelled, and you would like to re-join the Society, please contact our Membership department at membership@royalhistsoc.org in the first instance. We will be glad to assist you.


All applications are considered by our Membership Committee which meets five times a year. You can expect to hear the outcome approximately six weeks after the closing date for your application. Incomplete applications will be held on file until we have received all the necessary information.

All enquiries about applying for election to the Fellowship should be addressed to the RHS office: membership@royalhistsoc.org

 

Society launches new book series: ‘Elements in History and Contemporary Society’

The Royal Historical Society is very pleased to launch its new publishing series: ‘Elements in History and Contemporary Society’ and to invite proposals for forthcoming titles.

‘Elements in History and Contemporary Society’ explores the value, use, discourse, and impact of history in contemporary society and culture. It draws attention to the roles played by a variety of institutions and individuals in the making and use of historical knowledge.

The series is part of Cambridge Elements, a set of short monographs (20,000 to 30,000 words max), published online and in hard and paperback print editions by Cambridge University Press.

‘Elements in History and Contemporary Society’ is edited for the RHS by Richard Toye (University of Exeter) and Vivienne Xiangwei Guo (King’s College London). Its first commissioned title is by Catriona Pennell on the Anxiety of Forgetting.

The series editors now welcome proposals for future titles in the series. Proposals may be submitted via this form and sent to rhs.elements@royalhistsoc.org.


About the series

‘Elements in History and Contemporary Society’ covers a wide range of topics across geographical regions and historical periods, while addressing the following four principal themes:

  • Uses of the past in contemporary politics, ideology, or public policy
  • Contemporary institutions of historical knowledge
  • New technologies and historical knowledge
  • Memory, mass culture, and public opinion

Contributions to the series address questions of the use, understanding and value of history in contemporary society, and are open to discussion in any culture or region worldwide.

Similarly, the Series Editors also encourage contributions from those working in sectors beyond Higher Education (including heritage, public policy, politics, teaching, the media, and community history), where discussions of the value and application of historical knowledge are especially prominent.

Each book in this new Elements Series will be published free, Open Access on Cambridge Core, with no charge to the author. All costs for Open Access publication are covered by the Royal Historical Society.

To submit an application, please use the Author Proposal Form for ‘Elements in History and Contemporary Society‘.


I’m excited to be co-editing the Royal Historical Society’s new series, ‘Elements in History and Contemporary Society’. We hope that by addressing how historical knowledge is created, disseminated, and applied in contemporary society, books in the series will achieve influence across the discipline as well as of being useful to policy makers.

The Society’s commitment to Open Access will ensure that our authors’ insights are accessible to all, amplifying the impact of historical scholarship in addressing today’s pressing challenges.

Professor Richard Toye (Series Editor)

 

As Editors, we believe this new series will serve as a platform where the profession and practice of historical writing meet the most dynamic and pressing issues that concern our society and life today.

‘Elements in History and Contemporary Society’ will also provide a channel for historians, academics, policy makers, cultural specialists, artists—and, indeed, people from all walks of life—to exchange opinions regarding what the past means for our future.

Dr Vivienne Xiangwei Guo (Series Editor)

 

Ever since I was a student of History and Politics, I’ve championed the need to think about the two disciplines in dialogue. Doing so allows us to think about the relationship of past, present, and future and to understand them not as a fixed set of facts (moving in a linear, ever improving, direction) but as a problem to approach with curiosity and criticality.

The Royal Historical Society’s new series will shine a spotlight on some of the uses (and abuses) of history in contemporary society.

Professor Catriona Pennell (author of the forthcoming title, Anxiety of Forgetting)

 

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Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may forward our newsletter in the electronic form to others who may be interested in visiting our website.

5. Third-party property

Our website may include hyperlinks or other references to other party’s websites. We do not monitor or review the content of other party’s websites which are linked to from this website. Products or services offered by other websites shall be subject to the applicable Terms and Conditions of those third parties. Opinions expressed or material appearing on those websites are not necessarily shared or endorsed by us.

We will not be responsible for any privacy practices or content of these sites. You bear all risks associated with the use of these websites and any related third-party services. We will not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage in whatever manner, however caused, resulting from your disclosure to third parties of personal information.

6. Responsible use

By visiting our website, you agree to use it only for the purposes intended and as permitted by these Terms, any additional contracts with us, and applicable laws, regulations, and generally accepted online practices and industry guidelines. You must not use our website or services to use, publish or distribute any material which consists of (or is linked to) malicious computer software; use data collected from our website for any direct marketing activity, or conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities on or in relation to our website.

Engaging in any activity that causes, or may cause, damage to the website or that interferes with the performance, availability, or accessibility of the website is strictly prohibited.

7. Registration

You may register for an account with our website. During this process, you may be required to choose a password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of passwords and account information and agree not to share your passwords, account information, or secured access to our website or services with any other person. You must not allow any other person to use your account to access the website because you are responsible for all activities that occur through the use of your passwords or accounts. You must notify us immediately if you become aware of any disclosure of your password.

After account termination, you will not attempt to register a new account without our permission.

8. Idea submission

Do not submit any ideas, inventions, works of authorship, or other information that can be considered your own intellectual property that you would like to present to us unless we have first signed an agreement regarding the intellectual property or a non-disclosure agreement. If you disclose it to us absent such written agreement, you grant to us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, store, adapt, publish, translate and distribute your content in any existing or future media.

9. Termination of use

We may, in our sole discretion, at any time modify or discontinue access to, temporarily or permanently, the website or any Service thereon. You agree that we will not be liable to you or any third party for any such modification, suspension or discontinuance of your access to, or use of, the website or any content that you may have shared on the website. You will not be entitled to any compensation or other payment, even if certain features, settings, and/or any Content you have contributed or have come to rely on, are permanently lost. You must not circumvent or bypass, or attempt to circumvent or bypass, any access restriction measures on our website.

10. Warranties and liability

Nothing in this section will limit or exclude any warranty implied by law that it would be unlawful to limit or to exclude. This website and all content on the website are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis and may include inaccuracies or typographical errors. We expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, as to the availability, accuracy, or completeness of the Content. We make no warranty that:

  • this website or our content will meet your requirements;
  • this website will be available on an uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free basis.

Nothing on this website constitutes or is meant to constitute, legal, financial or medical advice of any kind. If you require advice you should consult an appropriate professional.

The following provisions of this section will apply to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law and will not limit or exclude our liability in respect of any matter which it would be unlawful or illegal for us to limit or to exclude our liability. In no event will we be liable for any direct or indirect damages (including any damages for loss of profits or revenue, loss or corruption of data, software or database, or loss of or harm to property or data) incurred by you or any third party, arising from your access to, or use of, our website.

Except to the extent any additional contract expressly states otherwise, our maximum liability to you for all damages arising out of or related to the website or any products and services marketed or sold through the website, regardless of the form of legal action that imposes liability (whether in contract, equity, negligence, intended conduct, tort or otherwise) will be limited to the total price that you paid to us to purchase such products or services or use the website. Such limit will apply in the aggregate to all of your claims, actions and causes of action of every kind and nature.

11. Privacy

To access our website and/or services, you may be required to provide certain information about yourself as part of the registration process. You agree that any information you provide will always be accurate, correct, and up to date.

We have developed a policy to address any privacy concerns you may have. For more information, please see our Privacy Statement and our Cookie Policy.

12. Export restrictions / Legal compliance

Access to the website from territories or countries where the Content or purchase of the products or Services sold on the website is illegal is prohibited. You may not use this website in violation of export laws and regulations of United Kingdom.

13. Assignment

You may not assign, transfer or sub-contract any of your rights and/or obligations under these Terms and conditions, in whole or in part, to any third party without our prior written consent. Any purported assignment in violation of this Section will be null and void.

14. Breaches of these Terms and conditions

Without prejudice to our other rights under these Terms and Conditions, if you breach these Terms and Conditions in any way, we may take such action as we deem appropriate to deal with the breach, including temporarily or permanently suspending your access to the website, contacting your internet service provider to request that they block your access to the website, and/or commence legal action against you.

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold us harmless, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses and expenses, relating to your violation of these Terms and conditions, and applicable laws, including intellectual property rights and privacy rights. You will promptly reimburse us for our damages, losses, costs and expenses relating to or arising out of such claims.

16. Waiver

Failure to enforce any of the provisions set out in these Terms and Conditions and any Agreement, or failure to exercise any option to terminate, shall not be construed as waiver of such provisions and shall not affect the validity of these Terms and Conditions or of any Agreement or any part thereof, or the right thereafter to enforce each and every provision.

17. Language

These Terms and Conditions will be interpreted and construed exclusively in English. All notices and correspondence will be written exclusively in that language.

18. Entire agreement

These Terms and Conditions, together with our privacy statement and cookie policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Royal Historical Society in relation to your use of this website.

19. Updating of these Terms and conditions

We may update these Terms and Conditions from time to time. It is your obligation to periodically check these Terms and Conditions for changes or updates. The date provided at the beginning of these Terms and Conditions is the latest revision date. Changes to these Terms and Conditions will become effective upon such changes being posted to this website. Your continued use of this website following the posting of changes or updates will be considered notice of your acceptance to abide by and be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

20. Choice of Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by the laws of United Kingdom. Any disputes relating to these Terms and Conditions shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of United Kingdom. If any part or provision of these Terms and Conditions is found by a court or other authority to be invalid and/or unenforceable under applicable law, such part or provision will be modified, deleted and/or enforced to the maximum extent permissible so as to give effect to the intent of these Terms and Conditions. The other provisions will not be affected.

21. Contact information

This website is owned and operated by Royal Historical Society.

You may contact us regarding these Terms and Conditions through our contact page.

22. Download

You can also download our Terms and Conditions as a PDF.