History of the Human Sciences
History of the Human Sciences
History of Human Sciences is an international journal of peer-reviewed scholarly research, which provides an important forum for contemporary research in the social sciences, in the humanities, and in human psychology and biology. It is especially concerned with research that reflexively examines its own historical origins and interdisciplinary influences in an effort to review current practice and to develop new research directions.
Critical Examination
In recent years we have witnessed a significant convergence of interest between the social sciences and the humanities - as well as in relation to the psychological and biological sciences. Scholars are critically examining their traditional assumptions and preoccupations about human beings, their societies and their histories in light of developments that cut across disciplinary boundaries.
An Interdisciplinary Approach
History of the Human Sciences aims to expand our understanding of the human through a broad interdisciplinary approach. The journal publishes articles from a wide range of fields - including sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, philosophy, literary criticism, critical theory, art history, linguistics, and the law - that engage with the histories of these disciplines and the interactions between them.
The journal does not restrict its remit to any particular theoretical, historiographical or methodological orientation, but rather seeks to expand the analytical frameworks used to understand the histories and epistemologies of the human sciences.
That said, a successful article will typically:
• address at least one of the modern human sciences broadly conceived (including psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, history/historiography, medicine, sociology, anthropology, economics, geography, political economy, human biology, neuroscience, critical theory, linguistics, literary theory). By 'modern', we generally mean post-Cartesian, though we are not averse to submissions on ancient human sciences (e.g., Ancient Greek psychology, medieval medicine) if the approach has significance for modernity or is interpreted from a modern point of view (as in, for example, Foucault).
• take an intellectual-historical or an interdisciplinary approach (or in the best-case scenario, both of these) to open up epistemological and/or historiographical questions relating to the chosen topic or problematic.
• address questions of method.
In general, we avoid publishing:
• Strictly disciplinary histories and/or case studies that focus on one human science and do not open up wider epistemological questions of interest to those working on other human sciences.
• Articles that use methods that are unusual in the humanities and interpretive social sciences without explicitly reflecting on the epistemological implications of such methods.
• Articles that address fields outside of the human sciences without considering the implications of the argument for the history of the human sciences.
Editors
The Editors are: Professor Felicity Callard (University of Glasgow) [Editor-in-Chief], Dr Rhodri Hayward (Queen Mary University of London), Dr Sarah Marks (Birkbeck, University of London), Dr Chris Millard (University of Sheffield), Dr Amanda Rees (University of York), and Professor Chris Renwick (University of York). Dr Hannah Proctor (University of Strathclyde) is the Book Reviews Editor and the Web and Social Media Editor of the journal's para-site Histhum.com
The editors come from a range of disciplines - geography, history, German/ comparative literature, sociology - and all have strong cross-disciplinary interests. They continue the journal's rigorous interdisciplinary investigation of the human condition. Their incoming editorials can be read here and here.
Regular Special Issues
The journal provides comprehensive coverage of a range of themes across the human sciences. Special issues and sections have been devoted to:
Normality: A Collection of Essays
Histories of Sexology Today: Reimagining the Boundaries of Scientia Sexualis
Knowing Savagery: Humanity in the Circuits of Colonial Knowledge
The Future of the History of the Human Sciences
The Total Archive: Data, Subjectivity, Universality
Psychopathological Fringes: Knowledge Making and Boundary Work in 20th Century Psychiatry
Psychology and its Publics
Psychotherapy in Historical Perspective
The Frankfurt School: Philosophy and (Political) Economy
Social and Human Sciences across the Iron Curtain
Visibility Matters: Diagrammatic Renderings of Human Evolution and Diversity in Physical, Serological and Molecular Anthropology
Vygotsky in His, Our and Future Times
Norbert Elias and Process Sociology– Across Disciplines
Historians in the Archive: Changing Historiographical Practices in the Nineteenth Century
Inventing the Psychosocial: Stress and Social Psychiatry
Relations between Psychical Research and Academic Psychology in Europe, the USA and Japan
Foucault Across the Disciplines
Neuroscience, Power and Culture
Intimacy in Research
Sociology and its Strange ‘Others’
Reflexivity in the Human Sciences
Holocaust Studies
Glimpses of Utopia
The Archive
The New Art History
Coverage of the Latest Literature
History of the Human Sciences publishes review essays and review symposia.
Regular book reviews are now published on our complementary and freely accessible para-site Histhum.com. Reviews receive the same levels of editorial oversight as they did when published in the journal.
"History of the Human Sciences has become essential reading for anyone interested in those intersections linking theory, critical history and the human sciences as disciplines. The articles are distinctive and stimulating, and the reviews are indispensable." William Connolly
History of the Human Sciences is available on SAGE Journals Online.
History of the Human Sciences is an international journal of peer-reviewed scholarly research that expands our understanding of the human through an interdisciplinary approach. The journal publishes articles from a wide range of fields — including sociology, psychology, psychoanalysis, the neurosciences, anthropology, political science, philosophy, literary criticism, critical theory, art history, linguistics, and law - that engage with the histories of these disciplines and the interactions between them. We do not restrict our remit to any particular theoretical, historiographical or methodological orientation, but rather seek to expand the analytical frameworks used to understand the histories and epistemologies of the human sciences.
| Felicity Callard | University of Glasgow, UK |
| Rhodri Hayward | Queen Mary, University of London, UK |
| Sarah Marks | Birkbeck, University of London, UK |
| Chris Millard | University of Sheffield, UK |
| Amanda Rees | University of York, UK |
| Chris Renwick | University of York, UK |
| Hannah Proctor | University of Strathclyde, UK |
| Sabine Arnaud | Centre Alexandre-Koyré, France |
| Peter Barham | University of the West of England, UK |
| Heike Bauer | Birkbeck, University of London, UK |
| Gillian Beer | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Peter Beilharz | Sichuan University, China |
| Claude Blanckaert | Melun, France |
| Cornelius Borck | Universität zu Lübeck, Germany |
| Jamie Cohen-Cole | The George Washington University, US, USA |
| Alan Costall | Portsmouth University, UK |
| Kurt Danziger | York University, Toronto, Canada |
| Sarah Dunstan | University of Glasgow, UK |
| Matthew Eddy | University of Durham, UK |
| Stephen Engelmann | University of Illinois at Chicago, US, USA |
| Des Fitzgerald | Cardiff University, UK |
| Marion Fourcade | University of California-Berkeley, USA |
| Steve Fuller | The University of Warwick, UK |
| Isabel Gabel | University of Chicago, USA |
| Stefanos Geroulanos | New York University, US, USA |
| James Good | Durham University, UK |
| Sarah Igo | Vanderbilt University, USA |
| Joel Isaac | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Junko Kitanaka | Keio University, Japan |
| Rebecca Lemov | Harvard University, US, USA |
| Geoffrey Lloyd | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Angus Nicholls | Queen Mary, University of London, UK |
| Thomas Osborne | University of Bristol, UK |
| Michael Pettit | York University, Canada |
| Hannah Proctor | University of Strathclyde, UK |
| Sadiah Qureshi | University of Birmingham, UK |
| Paul A. Roth | University of California-Santa Cruz, USA |
| Barbara Herrnstein Smith | Duke University, US, USA |
| Roger Smith | Independent Scholar, Moscow, Russia |
| Marianne Sommer | Universität Luzern, Switzerland |
| Carolyn Steedman | University of Warwick, UK |
| Arthur Still | University of Durham, UK |
| Marilyn Strathern | University of Cambridge, UK |
| John Tresch | The Warburg Institute, UK |
| Stephen Turner | University of South Florida, USA |
| Neil Vickers | King’s College London, UK |
| Fernando Vidal | Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Spain |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: History of the Human Sciences
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hist_hum_sci to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of History of the Human Sciences will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.
If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research Data - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Before submitting your manuscript to History of the Human Sciences, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope and Description.
History of the Human Sciences aims to expand our understanding of the human world through a broad interdisciplinary approach. The journal publishes critical articles from sociology, psychology, anthropology and politics and links their interests with those of philosophy, literary criticism, art history, linguistics, psychoanalysis, aesthetics and law.
The journal publishes original scholarly articles as well as review essays and review symposia.
If you are interested in reviewing a recently-published book for our journal please contact our reviews editor, Dr Hannah Proctor hannah.proctor@strath.ac.uk. Our book reviews, to a maximum of 1,200 words, are published open access online at our journal's website http://www.histhum.com. Review Articles which examine two or more books on a related topic are published in the print edition of the journal, and are usually between 4,000-6,000 words (including references in house style). Please contact us to discuss potential topics in advance.
The journal welcomes proposals for special issues. Please send queries concerning special issues to one or more of the editors, including the following:
- a succinct description of the problems that the special issue will investigate and how these relate to the aims and scope of History of the Human Sciences (250-500 words),
- brief bios of the editor(s) for the issue (100 words each),
- a brief list of possible authors,
- a set of abstracts, if at all possible.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online
History of the Human Sciences operates a double-anonymized peer review policy.
Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.
The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:
- Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
- Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
- Approved the version to be published,
- Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
History of the Human Sciences requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
History of the Human Sciences encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway
3.1.1 Plagiarism
History of the Human Sciences and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway
3.3 Open access and author archiving
History of the Human Sciences offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
- Articles should be no more than 12,000 words long (including notes and references, and any other text). In the exceptional case, longer articles may be considered for publication.
- We will also require an abstract; five keywords; and a biographical note of no more than 50 words.
- Your name and details of your institutional affiliation should be provided, to facilitate the reviewing procedure.
Finally, it is important that you furnish us with a word-count of your paper.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
This journal does not currently accept supplementary files.
Please ensure your paper conforms to the History of the Human Sciences reference guidelines.
4.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
History of the Human Sciences is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hist_hum_sci to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
For queries relating to manuscript submission and processes, contact the editorial assistant:
Mrs Sarah Thompson
For substantive editorial queries, contact one of the editors:
Prof Felicity Callard, Editor-in-Chief
University of Glasgow
Felicity.Callard@glasgow.ac.uk
Dr Rhodri Hayward
Queen Mary, University of London
Dr Amanda Rees
University of York
Dr Chris Renwick
University of York
Dr Chris Millard
University of Sheffield
Dr Sarah Marks
Birkbeck, University of London
For queries relating to book reviews and review symposia, contact the reviews editor:
Dr Hannah Proctor
University of Strathclyde
For queries relating to the journal's para-site Histhum.com, contact the web and social media editor:
Dr Hannah Proctor
University of Strathclyde