Editor Interview: Journal of the Society of Army Historical Research

British Army History

The material published in the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research is carefully vetted for its accuracy, rarity and clarity. It is, in almost all cases, fully referenced so that its accuracy can be checked. It is accompanied by relevant illustrations from a variety of sources, some of which have never been published before. It welcomes good, clear maps which include all of the towns or villages mentioned in the author's text. Maps must conform to the format of the Journal's page. Above all the JSAHR publishes new research about aspects of the British and Imperial/Commonwealth armies that has not appeared before. It covers a broad historical period essentially from the mid-seventeenth century to the late twentieth century.

Authors wishing to submit material to the Journal should familiarise themselves with its style and the nature of its content. Material should be freshly researched and, wherever possible, should derive from primary sources - archives - and not from secondary sources. There is little point in repeating what is already well-known. Unusual subjects - veterinary work, communications, the work of non-combat corps, amphibious operations, interesting portraits, medical and nursing work, the work of women within the Army, fortifications, siege warfare, the history of regiments that existed only for very short periods of time - all such subjects are of interest. Articles based on 'family archives', letters, diaries and photographs that throw light on the service of an individual and his unit are certainly of interest. Material must be about the British Army or British or Imperial forces in the colonies/Empire/Commonwealth.

About 9,000 words, fully referenced with relevant and clear illustrations or maps. Maps must be produced in black and white only.

They embed illustration or maps in their text. Tables, maps or any illustrative material must be supplied as separate files with a 'marker' in the text indicating the 'ideal' position of such material ... Please place Table 1 approximately here. ... Please insert the map of XYZ approximately here.

If material is accepted for publication the Journal requires a brief autobiographical note on the contributor. This will appear at the back of each Journal. It should mention, briefly, academic achievements, publications, military service or other relevant work. Ideally, it should not exceed 6 or 8 lines of text.

At least half and probably more unless it is clear, more or less from the start, that the piece is irrelevant, inaccurate or so badly written as to be unpublishable.

The editor always submits requests for clarification, further explanations or queries of various sorts to the author at first reading. Subsequent versions are treated in the same way until an acceptable, clear, readable, comprehensible version is achieved. Authors currently in an academic post will require that their work is submitted to independent peer review and other authors, not academics, may request such review. The editor will always arrange such review if required or requested once an acceptable version has been produced. These pieces are designated as Articles. Authors may submit Communications, which are not peer reviewed, but they go through exactly the same editorial process as Articles. The same rigourous 'quality control' procedure is followed with both types of submission.

Busy and interesting.

Extensively. Authors, even 'accepted', well-known authors almost always welcome constructive editing even down to a minute level. Clarity, quality, grammatical accuracy and comprehensibility are essential elements of a good article, though they do take time to achieve. Authors are, of course, invited to approve final edits and always receive type-set proofs to check before publication.