About

Focus and Scope

Essays in History (EiH) is an open access journal for emerging historians. Established in 1954, EiH is the world’s oldest, ongoing student-run history journal. Edited by graduate students at the University of Virginia, EiH publishes peer-reviewed articles and historiographical essays in all areas of historical inquiry, as well as reviews of the most recent scholarship. EiH aims to be a resource to students, teachers, researchers, and enthusiasts of historical studies. With its focus on emerging scholars, the journal frequently provides graduate students, early career scholars, and occasionally an accomplished undergraduate their first chance to publish a book review or peer-reviewed article or to serve as an anonymous reviewer or editor. As such, we hope to provide a supportive, caring experience for our editors, authors, and anonymous referees. We are committed to ensuring that equity, anti-racism, and accessibility are at the heart of who we are, how we operate, and the work we publish.

Publication Frequency

The journal is published online as a continuous volume and issue throughout the year. Articles are made available as soon as they are ready to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays in getting content publically available.

Special collections of articles are welcomed and will be published as part of the normal issue, but also within a separate collection page.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content. There is no embargo on the journal’s publications. Submission and acceptance dates, along with publication dates, are made available on the PDF format for each paper.

Authors of articles published remain the copyright holders and grant third parties the right to use, reproduce, and share the article according to the Creative Commons license agreement.

Journal Archiving

The journal’s publisher focuses on making content discoverable and accessible through indexing services. This journal is indexed by Google Scholar and content is LOCKSS enabled.

Advertisement policy

The journal only displays advertisements that are of relevance to its scope and will be of interest to the readership (e.g. upcoming conferences). All advertising space is provided free of charge and the editor and publisher have the right to decline or withdraw adverts at any point. Adverts will include a text heading to make it clear that they are adverts not related to the journal.

If you wish to propose a potential advert then please contact the editorial team. All advert images will have to be provided to the publisher.

Exceptions to CC License

EiH's CC license applies except as otherwise noted.

Journal History

In 1954, scholars at the University of Virginia created Essays in History as a way to make the best historical scholarship in “any particular field of history” available to “historians and to the general public.” Almost seventy years later, the journal continues to publish scholarship in all fields of historical inquiry and be a resource to students, teachers, researchers, and enthusiasts of historical studies. Yet, as the University of Virginia has changed significantly since 1954, the same year as the Supreme Court ruled in favor of school desegregation, so has Essays in HistoryEiH’s founders conceived of a printed history journal as a way to highlight the scholarship of UVA’s undergraduates and graduates, almost all of whom were elite white men. In 1990, EiH began publishing an electronic version of the journal alongside its print version. By the mid-1990s, the journal had transitioned to a fully online journal publishing work by emerging scholars from institutions across the globe. After a period of dormancy in the early 2000s, the journal was revived in 2009. Today, the Editorial Team of Essays in History is committed to ensuring that equity, anti-racism, and accessibility are at the heart of who we are, how we operate, and the work we publish.