The Royal Historical Society seeks to appoint new members to the editorial board of its academic journal, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, published by Cambridge University Press.
These new members will form part of a new-look single editorial board comprising Fellows of the Society who practice history in the UK and worldwide. The Society seeks to make up to eight appointments in this call; a similar call is expected to be made in December 2026.
This new-look Board will comprise RHS Fellows who reflect the breadth of historical interests and backgrounds within the Society and the wider profession, including gender, race, and career stage. Fellows who are precariously employed or working outside higher education are especially encouraged to apply.
Applicants must be current Fellows of the Royal Historical Society.
Further details of the role and how to submit an application are available here.
The Society welcomes applications from Fellows working across a wide range range of institutions, disciplines, and professional backgrounds. This includes Fellows who work outside higher education; for example, in sectors such as archives and heritage, and those who work independently and are not affiliated to education, or similar, institutions.
New members of the Editorial Board will work alongside the journal’s co-editors, Dr Jan Machielsen (Cardiff University) and Professor Paul Readman (King’s College London). Appointments will be made jointly by the Society and the Editors.
The new appointments will take effect from 1 March 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter. After an initial probationary period, the appointment will run for a minimum of two years (to March 2028) with the option to extend for a further two years (March 2030).
Applications may be made via the Society’s Applications Platform before the closing date of 11:59PM, Friday 6 February 2026.
Fellows of the Society who wish to discuss the board roles in advance of an application may contact the journal’s co-editors at [email protected].
About the journal
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society is the flagship journal of the Royal Historical Society (RHS).
Transactions is a generalist journal, including historical content on a wide range of subjects, chronologies and geographies from historians at all career stages and backgrounds. In addition to traditional 10,000-12,000 word research articles, Transactions also welcomes shorter, innovative comment articles on topics of historical approaches, practice and debate.
These commentaries appear in the ‘Common Room’ section of the journal, launched in 2023. From 2024, all articles accepted for publication in Transactions automatically appear Open Access, with no charge to the author, ensuring the widest possible circulation and readership for new work.
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 online and print edition, of the which the most recent is published in December 2025.