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Journal Submissions

If you have plan to submit an article to one of our journals, please use our online submission system (submissions to Environmental Values are handled by SAGE). This can be accessed using the ‘submissions’ link on the journal’s home page. Submissions are handled using the Open Journal System online management system. You need to register as a user and follow the instructions to upload your submission. The Open Journal System has detailed style guides and a list of conditions to be checked before a paper can be considered. Online help is available, and in case of difficulty please feel free to contact James Rice for assistance.

Please remember that journal submissions should be original research, not have been published elsewhere, nor should they be under consideration by another journal.

Authors publishing with us are free to re-use their material in other works written or edited by themselves, with the usual acknowledgements. More details.

We welcome the use of appropriate illlustrations, but if your article is accepted, we will require written permissions if you are using any copyright material such as text, tables or illustrations. Download our useful factsheet for guidance, including limits of ‘fair use’, and a sample picture licence with appropriate wording permission requests.

There are no submission fees for our subscription journals. We offer Open Access publication for articles in our subscription journals for a fee per article of £1800 (or £1600 with a confirmed subscription), payable on publication. We are prioritising the Subscribe to Open model to fund Open Access for most of our journals. Subscribers to our ‘Environment and Society’ Package enjoy an ‘Open Access Guarantee’ for all five package journals, as well as an exclusive discount on APCs in ‘Environment and History’ (£1400).

To ensure fair peer-review, requests for open access in gated journals will only be dealt with after the article has been finally accepted. The majority of articles are available only to subscribers – this is how we can publish without demanding page fees, and we appreciate authors’ help in recommending library subscriptions.

Metadata for Searchability

Academic Search Engine Optimisation (ASEO) refers to optimising scholarly literature for academic search engines and databases like Google Scholar and PubMed. There are a few tips that you can use to boost your discoverability, especially in regard to setting your title, abstract and keywords. We encourage you to do this, where possible:

Title
Place important/key terms at the beginning of your title.
Use a concise and descriptive title; consider how your titles appear on different screen sizes and what may get cut off.Avoid special characters and abbreviations.

Keyword
Consider a searcher’s perspective; what keywords would they be looking for?
Use synonyms of important words.

Abstract
Use short informational sentences.
Place important/keywords at the beginning of your abstract.
Use synonyms of important keywords and mention these a few times.

Learn more about ASEO here: Increasing visibility and discoverability of scholarly publications with academic search engine optimization

Language Editing

If you need help with English language editing before or after submitting a paper, The Charlesworth Group offers expert language editing services for non-native English-speaking authors. Exclusive discounts are available for authors planning to publish in White Horse Press journals.

Academic Language Experts help English Second Language (ESL) scholars by providing translation, editing, and writing assistance to help prepare their research for publication. A 5% discount is available to WHP authors on all services that ALE offers. These include editing, translation, book proposal preparation, and grant application writing. They offer language experts specialised in all major academic disciplines (all with a Master’s or higher degree) and match projects with translators and editors familiar with your field.

Open Access and Posting Articles Online

Authors and grant awarding bodies increasingly demand the right to publish Open Access versions of papers that appear in scholarly journals, either freely or on payment of a one-off charge. White Horse Press is working hard to transition to a fully Open Access publishing model for the long term. We have made good progress already through the help of our supporters. We are prioritising the Subscribe to Open model to fund Open Access publication for most of our journals.

RoMEO Logo

The White Horse Press works with SHERPA/RoMEO, a database of publishers’ Open Access policies that is used worldwide by repository managers, administrators and academics to check what publishers do and do not allow to be archived.

GOLD OPEN ACCESS

If your funding body requires permanent public open access to the publisher’s online version of your article, we can arrange this for a fee per article of £1800, payable on publication. Authors from institutions subscribing to our ‘Environment and Society’ package enjoy an ‘Open Access Guarantee’ for all five package journals, as well as an exclusive discount on APCs in ‘Environment and History’ (£1400). To ensure fair peer-review, requests for open access will only be dealt with after the article has been finally accepted. Gold Open Access articles are published under the Creative Commons CC BY licence. Please contact us by email or at the address below for further details.

All articles in The Journal of Population and Sustainability are Diamond Open Acccess. For terms of publication please see the journals’ submission pages.

Restrictions on copying and republication do not apply to Gold Open Access articles. See our copyright guidelines for further details.

GREEN OPEN ACCESS

Since 2007, White Horse Press has offered ‘green’ open access to all journal articles.

We allow authors to post their own electronic versions of their papers (pre-copyediting) without embargo, before or after acceptance for publication, subject to the conditions below.

For book publications, we allow authors to self-archive an individual book chapter from a multi-authored collection, or up to 10% of a monograph for which they are sole author, subject to the same conditions.

GREEN OPEN ACCESS CHECKLIST

1 Articles posted before acceptance should give the journal name and the date of submission. Accepted articles sent to non-profit institutional or thematic repositories should include a credit line of the form ‘This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced version of an article accepted [date] following peer review for publication in [journal name, including DOI, volume number, page range if available].’

2 E.g., ‘The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online, DOI: [insert DOI from page 1 of the published article]’.

If required by funding bodies, self-archived articles can use a CC BY licence. Authors must ensure that they have appropriate permission to use any third-party material such as illustrations under a CC BY licence; otherwise such material should be removed from the self-archived version and replaced by descriptive text or a link to the original source.

BRONZE OPEN ACCESS

Articles that are free to read online, but which are not published under a Creative Commons license allowing unlimited copying and republication, are sometimes referred to as ‘bronze’ open access. These include the editorials, book reviews, society pages, etc. in our subscription journals.

Book Proposals

We are interested in high quality proposals for monographs and edited volumes broadly in the field of environmental history (including cultural history with an environmental flavour, conservation history, and the history of environmental ideas). If the subject meshes with those explored in our journals, we could well be interested; and if not, we might be open to persuasion. Although authors should not expect all the prestige and distribution power of a larger press, what we do guarantee is intelligent, flexible and personal treatment from editors with academic backgrounds and writing experience. The same person will see your book through from proposal to printing, and we aim always to treat authors with fairness and friendliness. You can download our book proposal form here as a Word document or PDF, or contact Sarah Johnson to discuss your idea.

We do not normally charge any fees for publication, but are open to offers of subvention for certain highly specialised works or works requiring extensive or high quality illustrations.

We are also happy to consider proposals for Open Access books. Naturally, we charge publication fees, which will depend on the length and complexity of the particular work.

Publishing Standards

The White Horse Press is a small family business, but we aspire to standards of academic quality and fair dealing as high as those of the best international scholarly publishers. Here we offer brief guidance for authors, editors and reviewers regarding what we expect from them, and what they can expect from us.

AUTHORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Authors must not submit a manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously.

The corresponding author must ensure all named co-authors consent to publication and to being named as a co-author. All persons who have made significant scientific or literary contributions to the work reported should be named as co-authors. The corresponding author is responsible for approval of copyedits and final proofs.

All authors must warrant that their article is their own original work and cannot be construed as plagiarising any other published work, including their own previously published work. Authors should not submit previously published work, nor work which is based in substance on previously published work, either in part or whole. (Authors should be aware that editors may use CrossCheck or other search engines to screen articles for unoriginal material.)

Authors must avoid making statements in submitted articles which are defamatory or which could be construed as impugning a person’s reputation.

Authors should appropriately cite all relevant publications. Permission must be obtained for the use of any copyrighted material such as diagrams or illustrations (e.g. from libraries, published sources or the internet), and copies of such permissions may be required by the publishers before publication.

Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, should be fully cited, and the permission of the third party should be obtained. Written consent for publication should normally be obtained from people who might recognise themselves or be identified by others (e.g. from case reports, interviews or photographs).

When papers are submitted, full disclosure must be made of any financial or other relationship between authors (or their employers or sponsors) and other organisations or individuals that might give rise to a conflict of interest.

The format of submitted articles should conform to the Instructions for Authors published on the journal’s website, and articles should be in clear English.

Except in the case of Open Access journals, authors must agree to assign copyright to The White Horse Press on publication. For further details see individual journals and our copyright web page.

PUBLISHER’S COMMITTMENT

Authors are entitled to expect their submissions to be dealt with courteously and in a reasonably timely manner, according to the Guidelines for Editors and Referees below.

Research Articles are subject to Peer Review (as indicated in more detail on each journal’s home page), and acceptance for publication will often require revisions as advised by the referees. Authors of Research Articles will have the chance to review their papers during copyediting and again at the final proof stage. We make a practice of sending proofs to all named authors.

Book (or other media) Reviews will be edited as necessary by the Reviews Editor and will not necessarily be returned to authors for correction.

Authors are entitled to receive PDF copies of the final versions of their articles; these can be supplied to colleagues as offprints but must not be posted publicly online. For further details see our permissions and copyright web page.

There is no automatic ‘Right of Reply’ to published criticisms, but concise responses to Research Articles which clarify or correct misconceptions or offer substantive responses will often be welcomed as Discussion Articles. A word limit must be agreed in advance with the Editor. Normally the original author(s) will be invited to reply to any points raised. Discussion Articles will be edited as necessary by the journal editors; they are not normally subject to Peer Review, though this is at the Editor’s discretion. Replies to Book (or other) Reviews are not normally considered.

The publishers are committed to making the whole publication process a pleasant experience for authors – from initial submission to copyediting and final proofs. We will try to respond promptly and personally if you need help at any stage or are seriously dissatisfied in any way.

EDITORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Journal editors should treat all submissions equitably regardless of race, religion, nationality, sex, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the author(s).

Journal editors may reject a submitted manuscript without resort to formal peer review if they consider it to be inappropriate for the journal, or if it fails to meet the standards prescribed in the journal’s Instructions for Authors.

Journal editors should keep the peer review process confidential; information or correspondence about a manuscript should not be shared with anyone outside of the peer review process.

Journal editors should make all reasonable effort to process submitted manuscripts in an efficient and timely manner.

Journal editors should arrange for the peer review of any original research article authored by themselves to be delegated to a member of the editorial or advisory board as appropriate.

If a journal editor learns that an article published in the journal contains material errors, they should consult the publishers about publication of an appropriate correction.

Any work presented in a submitted article should not be used in a journal editor’s own research except with the consent of the author and appropriate referencing.

The Committee on Publication Ethics offers further guidelines for editors. Download COPE GUIDELINES (PDF).

REFEREES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

Referees should should treat all submissions equitably regardless of race, religion, nationality, sex, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the author(s).

Referees should keep the peer review process confidential; information or correspondence about a manuscript should not be shared with anyone outside of the peer review process.

Referees should provide a constructive, comprehensive, substantiated and appropriately substantial peer review report.

Referees should avoid making statements in their report which might be construed as impugning any person’s reputation. They should avoid any ad hominem remarks.

Referees should make all reasonable effort to submit their report and recommendation in a timely manner, informing the editor if this is not possible.

Referees should call to the journal editor’s attention any significant similarity between the manuscript under consideration and any published paper or submitted manuscripts of which they are aware.

Any work presented in a submitted article should not be used in a referee’s own research except with the consent of the author and appropriate referencing.

The Committee on Publication Ethics offers further guidelines for referees. Download COPE GUIDELINES (PDF).

USE OF AI TOOLS

In view of the rise of generative AI tools, we have developed guidelines covering their use by authors, editors and reviewers. Please read our policy here.

COMPLAINTS

We are proud to have received almost no complaints about any aspect of our publishing process or output in over 30 years. But we recognise that mistakes can happen. In the event of any problem, please contact Sarah or James (sarah@whpress.co.uk; james@whpress.co.uk), and you will receive a prompt and personal response.