Submission Guidelines — Federal History
Manuscripts can be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word to the journal editors at federalhistory@gmail.com. They should contain the author’s name at the top of the first page only, as they will be sent to reviewers. Texts must be no more than 6,500 words in length (not including notes and charts) and follow style conventions of the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition. History articles must be based primarily on research in federal records and be fully documented. They should examine aspects of the history of the U.S. federal government, or the U.S. military, or of societal changes that affected or were affected by the federal government, 1776 to the present. Methodological articles must examine, in depth, contemporary issues of concern to the federal history community in such areas as research and writing, public history, museum studies, archival science, web–based history, or other topics. Authors should also send an abstract, brief biographical information, and information on available images.
The journal is published annually in April. To receive proper consideration and allow for the editorial process, drafts should be submitted by February 15 of the year prior to publication.
The editors will provide an initial response on the status of submissions within four weeks of receipt. Manuscripts accepted for publication will be reviewed by peer reviewers. Authors should not submit a manuscript that has been published or is under consideration elsewhere for publication in either article or book form. The editors will not consider submissions that duplicate published works in either wording or substance. The text citations should be formatted as footnotes or endnotes and numbered sequentially. The editors reserve final authority in matters of style, grammar, and length after consultation with the author. Published articles become the property of the SHFG and the authors. The journal retains the right to reissue articles published in the online journal at a later date in an electronic or printed journal version. An author can freely reprint an article after sufficient time has elapsed through written request from the editors.
Authors, particularly those at military and intelligence agencies, must have their draft articles cleared and approved for publication in writing by their respective offices, where required, prior to full acceptance by the editors.
Images
We can include up to four or five images per article. Authors are encouraged to recommend and submit prospective images. Digital files must be scanned at a minimum of 300 dpi at full size. For images not in the public domain, the author must secure full worldwide Internet reproduction rights in writing for both online posting and the print edition. The author must also provide full caption and citation information for the images.
Copyright
By submitting a text, the author agrees to share copyright with the journal and the Society for History in the Federal Government (SHFG). A copyright form will be sent to all authors accepted for publication. The author retains full rights to reprint the article elsewhere with full citation to original publication in Federal History. The journal likewise retains the right to republish the article in any future SHFG anthology, in either electronic or print format. Articles cannot be reprinted elsewhere without permission of the author.
Back Issues
The contents of all issues will be maintained on the SHFG web site, www.shfg.org.
Article Reviewers
If you are interested in serving as a reviewer for articles, please send a cv and letter expressing professional and topical interests to the editors at
Contact Information
Send materials or inquiries to the editors at federalhistory@gmail.com