Pacific Historical Review

For Authors

Submit Manuscript

The editorial offices of Pacific Historical Review are located at 487 Cramer Hall, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97207-0751; telephone: (503)725-8230; email: msr4@pdx.edu.

Articles should be submitted electronically in Scholastica. Other editorial correspondence and books for review may be sent to the above address. Scholars with disability may contact our editorial office for any accomodations to these procedures.

Submitting an Article:

  • Submit your article using our online portal. You will receive an automatic confirmation email once your article is successfully submitted. If you do not receive this email, please contact phr-articles@pdx.edu to check on the status of your submission

  • Include your article, a 125-word abstract, a cover letter, and any illustrations. If your article is a revised version of a previous submission to PHR, include this information in your cover letter

Formatting Instructions for Text:

  • Articles can be a maximum of 10,000 to 12,000 words for all text, including main text, notes, abstract, captions, etc. Additionally, the word-count of the notes should be no more than 1/2 the word-count of the main text

  • Follow the Chicago Manual of Style

  • Submit articles in MS Word, using Times New Roman, 12-point, double-spaced font.

  • No PDF submissions.

  • If an individual endnote contains both discursive material and citations, all discursive material must appear at the beginning of the note, and all citations at the end

  • Use endnotes rather than footnotes

** To facilitate the blind review process, do not list your name anywhere in the article—not even on the title page. Do not include acknowledgements, and do not cite your own work except in a way that does not reveal your identity**

Formatting Instructions for Illustrations (Pictures, Charts, Maps, and Tables):

  • All illustrations must be provided as separate documents.

  • Tables must be in MS Word format.

  • Pictures, charts, and maps must attached as TIFs or JPGs at 300+ dpi at the size they will appear in print
    Tip: Divide pixels by 300 to determine an image’s maximum print size. (An image of 1200 x 1500 pixels prints at 4 x 5 inches max; 900 x 1200 pixels prints at 3 x 4 inches; 300 x 600 pixels prints at just 1 x 2 inches, which is probably too small)

  • Every illustration must have a corresponding callout in the main text indicating approximate placement

  • Every illustration must have a caption. Provide a list of captions as a separate document in MS Word

  • Authors are solely responsible for paying reproduction fees and obtaining the correct permissions for copyrighted materials. However, the editors will gladly write supporting letters to the holders of copyrights for authors seeking remission of the fees.

The Article Review Process

  • Initially, the editors read each submission to verify its suitability to the PHR and to identify experts to serve as external referees. Depending on the nature of the particular piece, the editors will seek anywhere from two to five referees. Some articles, that are not a fit for the journal, will be rejected at this point.

  • The review process is double-blind and each stage of the review may take anywhere from three to six months to complete–note that the time to review an article may vary based on the annual ebb-and-flow of referees’ academic calendars, term breaks, and teaching responsibilities.

  • Referees are asked to include, and go beyond, a recommendation about publication.

  • Once all referee reports are returned to the PHR, the editors generally reach one of several decisions:

  • An article may (rarely) be accepted outright

  • It may be conditionally accepted if the author succesfully completes specific changes

  • It may be returned to the author with encouragement to revise and resumbit

  • It may be rejected without further consideration

  • Many articles that eventually are published are initially sent back for at least one round of further revision.*Most articles that eventualy are published are sent back for several rounds of revision.

** Note to Authors**

  • Authors should not interpret a decision to revise and resubmit as a polite rejection but, rather, as an indication that the referees recognize the manuscript’s promise and that the editors hope the author will undertake the recommended revisions and resubmit the article to the PHR.

  • Some articles will undergo several rounds of peer review. This is quite common for first time authors, graduate students, and even established scholars. The goal is to publish the best version of the article and this can take time.

  • The editors expect that manuscripts submitted to the PHR are not under consideration by other journals or previously-published in whole or substantial part (as a book chapter, for example).

  • University of California Press holds the copyright of articles published in the PHR. Authors who wish to reprint their PHR article, in whole or substantial part, will need the Press’s permission to do so.

Book Reviews

Every issue of the Pacific Historical Review features an extensive section devoted to book reviews. PHR also publishes longer review essays. If you are interested in writing book reviews for the PHR please email phr-books@pdx.edu. In your letter, identify the fields in which you are qualified to review and include a listing of your significant publications. Book reviewers are expected to have a record of refereed publication in the area in which they review.

Author Agreement

Please note that all authors whose papers are accepted for publication are required to sign an Author Agreement.

Publishers may mail books for review to Book Review Editor, Pacific Historical Review, 487 Cramer Hall, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97207-0751