Author Guidelines

Environment and History is an interdisciplinary journal bringing scholars in the humanities and sciences closer together, with the deliberate intention of constructing well-founded perspectives on past and present-day environmental problems. While the journal welcomes work involving or reflecting other academic disciplines, its focus is on studies that advance environmental history, now a well-established field.

The White Horse Press is a small family-run business, but we aspire to standards of academic quality and fair dealing as high as those of the best international scholarly publishers. Please read our guidelines for authors, editors and reviewers regarding what we expect from them, and what they can expect from us.

We encourage all authors to consider the following points:

• First and foremost, research articles should interpret an original body of evidence in the form of archival research or oral history testimony. This interpretation should be presented as historical prose in a similar format to our previously published articles.
• Authors should make sure they are familiar with papers published in recent issues of Environment and History, particularly those that are relevant to their topic. Recent articles that are freely available under Open Access may be found here.
• Manuscripts should show engagement with ongoing intellectual debates, awareness of the current literature in environmental history and be explicitly targeted towards Environment and History.
• The journal’s readership is global. We encourage authors to relate their research to the scholarly literature on their topic defined thematically outside their specific geographical focus. (This applies to articles on all regions, including Britain and North America.)
• Authors should avoid excessive quotation from their own previous works: failure to do so can result in work being classified as self-plagiarism.
• All quotations must be acknowledged and fully referenced.
• Contributors are advised to think carefully about language and inclusivity in preparing their submissions, paying particular attention to prose and terminology in terms of gender, racial, socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, sexual orientation, ageist and ableist frames of reference.
• We actively encourage a citation practice in which authors emphasise the most recent research in the field (instead of more general canonical works) and foreground the contribution of scholars from underrepresented and/or marginalised groups.
• Authors should familiarise themselves with the expectations outlined in the White Horse Press publishing standards.

PLEASE FOLLOW THE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS IN OUR STYLE GUIDE.

The following three points are of particular importance:

• Word Limit. Unless otherwise agreed, submissions should aim to be around 8,000 and no more than 10,000 words in length, including references. Manuscripts of excessive length will not be considered.
• Footnotes. Please use footnotes (not endnotes or in-text citations) and follow the referencing system explained in the Style Guide. Footnotes should only be used for references, not text.
• English. Manuscripts should be in clear, correct English. If in doubt, please have a native speaker read your manuscript prior to submission.

WE DO NOT PUBLISH:

• scientific reports
• historiographical review articles
• heavily theoretical social science or geography articles
• previously published work
• articles under consideration for publication elsewhere. 

Snapshots

Alongside research articles, we regularly publish Snapshots, 2,000-word essays that focus directly on the environmental challenges of the twenty-first century and look to historical perspectives to inform a more sustainable world. Please visit Snapshots for more information on how to submit a proposal for a Snapshot.

Peer Review

Peer-reviewed articles in Environment and History undergo a double-blind review by no fewer than two external, independent experts (in some cases members of the general editorial board, but never members of the journal's executive editorial team).

Reviewers are requested to consider the following points in their evaluation:

1. Key argument
2. Theoretical and/or empirical contribution
3. Robustness of the evidence vis-à-vis the arguments presented
4. Problematic gaps or sources of confusion or misunderstanding in the light of the current international scholarship in the field
5. Suggestions for strengthening the paper
6. Language and presentation
7. Awareness of equality, diversity and inclusivity considerations.
8. We also ask reviewers to adhere to our guidelines for peer review and within the limits of our policy on the use of AI.

The normal timeline for peer review is 6 months or less. When the editor requests revisions based on the reviews received, authors should aim to be prompt in addressing these and submitting a revised version of the paper.

The final decision about acceptance of submitted papers rests with the Editor and Deputy Editor.