ABOUT RETROSPECTIVES

History of Retrospectives

Retrospectives was founded in early 2012 by Collin Lieberg, a history PhD student at the University of Warwick. The journal’s first volume was published in August 2012. The journal is now producing it’s third volume.

Focus and Scope

Retrospectives is a history journal designed for postgraduate students to gain experience in publishing, both as authors and reviewers. It will publish high quality original, double-blind, peer-reviewed articles.

It takes ‘history’ in the broadest sense of historical research, so those not traditionally considered ‘history’ will have a chance to have their work exposed to a wider audience. In fact, it will try to focus on these ‘non-traditional’ aspects as much as possible, in attempting to further the discipline of history academically.

Peer Review Process

Retrospectives uses a double blind peer review process. Articles are anonymised and sent to two postgraduate student reviewers with specialist knowledge of aspects of the article. These two reviewers make comments to the editors, who then forward these onto authors. We ask our reviewers to return articles with comments within three weeks of receiving them.

Reviewers look for research-driven arguments that challenge or shed new light on existing historiographies, or open up entirely new avenues for research. We also ask our reviewers to look for clarity and focus in an argument, along with a coherent and logical structure. Reviewers may also comment on tone, style and phrasing, to help authors make the most of their research.

We then ask reviewers to give detailed and involved commentary on articles. Wherever possible, we ask reviewers to offer solutions to any problems they identify, and to indicate where the article succeeds and where it could be most improved. All feedback is intended to be constructive, as Retrospectives is designed to be a resource for postgraduate authors, as well as a platform for their research. Reviewers may also provide marked up scripts, with tracked changes in Microsoft Word, if they have felt this is appropriate.

Publication Frequency

Retrospectives publishes one volume annually, which is published online between April/May each year. Each volume consists of a combination of peer-reviewed articles, and book reviews.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.