Instructions to Authors

How We Publish

Art History is a peer-reviewed journal publishing 5 issues per year online and in print. After copyediting and review of the final proof, papers are published on the Advance Access page. This is considered the Version of Record of the paper. The Version of Record requires a correction notice for any changes after it is published, even if it is not yet placed in an issue. See the definitions of the Version of Record and other versions of the paper for more details. The Version of Record will be removed from Advance Access after it is published into an issue.

Scope of the Journal

Art History is an international, refereed journal that promotes world-class art-historical scholarship from across the globe. It publishes essays and critical reviews that foreground methodological self-reflexivity and highlights specific areas of concern and interest to the field through its special issue programme. It represents the diversity of the discipline at large and welcomes submissions from both established and emerging scholars. Art History stands at the forefront of disciplinary challenges and is a model of excellence for original and innovative research.

Peer Review Process

The Journal operates double-anonymized peer review, meaning that the identity of the authors is hidden from reviewers, and the reviewers’ identities are hidden from the authors. The editors know the identity of both the reviewers and the authors. The Managing Editor and journal Editors make a desk review of the paper before deciding whether to send the paper out to peer review. After peer review, as a team, they make the final decision on a paper. During the peer review phase, your manuscript is typically sent to two reviewers. The Journal will not consider author-suggested reviewers. If your manuscript is accepted for publication, the reviewer comments will not be published alongside the paper. For full details about the peer review process, see Fair editing and peer review or OUP author FAQs.

Appeals and complaints

Authors may appeal an editorial decision. To do so, please contact the editorial office, providing as much specific detail as possible about why the original decision should be reconsidered. Every appeal will receive a response within a reasonable timeframe. Please do not resubmit your manuscript in the interim. To register a complaint regarding non-editorial decisions, the Journal’s policies and procedures, editors, or staff, please contact us. Complaints will be taken seriously and will be carried forward following COPE guidelines and processes. Sanctions will be enacted if deemed appropriate.

Publication and Research Ethics

Authorship

The Journal does not allow ghost authorship, where an unnamed author prepares the article with no credit, or guest/gift authorship, where an author who made little or no contribution is listed as an author. The Journal follows Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidance on investigating and resolving these cases. For more information, please see the OUP Publication Ethics page.

After manuscript submission, no authorship changes (including the authorship list, author order, and who is designated as the corresponding author) should be made without the approval of the editor. All co-authors must agree on the change(s), and neither the Journal nor the publisher mediates such disputes. If individuals cannot agree on the authorship of a submitted manuscript, contact the editorial office. The dispute must be resolved among the individuals and their institution(s) before the manuscript can be accepted for publication. If an authorship dispute or change arises after a paper is accepted, contact OUP’s Author Support team. COPE provides guidance for authors on resolving authorship disputes.

If you intend to use Read and Publish funding to publish your manuscript under an open access licence, note that changing the corresponding author to access those funds is not permissible. For more information on Read and Publish funding, see the open access charges section.

ORCID

Authors are encouraged to provide their ORCID iDs (Open Researcher and Contributor IDs) at submission and take advantage of the benefits of participating in ORCID. If you do not already have an ORCID iD, you can register for free via the ORCID website. As ORCID identifiers are collected, they are included in papers and displayed online, in the HTML version of the publication, in compliance with recommended practice issued by ORCID. ORCID functionality online allows users to link to the ORCID website to view an author’s profile and list of publications. ORCID iDs are displayed on web pages and are sent downstream to third parties in data feeds, where supported. If you have registered with ORCID, you can associate your ORCID iD with your submission system account by going to your account details, entering your ORCID iD, and validating your details. Learn more about ORCID and how to link it to your account.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

Authors

The Journal requires all authors to disclose any potential conflict of interest at the point of submission. Conflicts of interest should be clearly labeled and included in the cover letter. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that conflicts of interest of all authors are declared to the Journal.

A conflict of interest exists when the position, activities, or relationships of an individual, whether direct or indirect, financial or non-financial, could influence or be seen to influence the opinions or activities of the individual. For more information, refer to OUP’s definition of conflict of interest. The Journal follows the COPE guidance for any undisclosed conflict of interest that emerges during peer review, production, or after publication.

Peer reviewers

Individuals that have a conflict of interest relating to a submitted manuscript should recuse themselves and will not be assigned to oversee, handle, or peer review the manuscript. If during peer review an editor, reviewer, or author becomes aware of a conflict of interest that was not previously known or disclosed they must inform the Editor-in-Chief immediately.

Previously published material

You should only submit your manuscript(s) to the Journal if:

It is original work by you and your co-author(s).
It is not under consideration, in peer review, or accepted for publication in any other publication.
It has not been published in any other publication.
It contains nothing abusive, defamatory, derogatory, obscene, fraudulent, or illegal.

The submitting author must disclose in their cover letter and provide copies of all related or similar preprints, dissertations, manuscripts, published papers, and reports by the same authors (i.e., those containing substantially similar content or using the same, similar, or a subset of data) that have been previously published or posted electronically or are under consideration elsewhere at the time of manuscript submission. You must also provide a concise explanation of how the submitted manuscript differs from these related manuscripts and papers. All related previously published papers should be cited as references and described in the submitted manuscript.

For previously published materials including tables and figures, please see the Reusing copyrighted materials section.

Preprints

As an author, you retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels and this does not prevent submission to the Journal. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including adding your published paper’s DOI. For full details on allowed channels and updating your preprint, please see our Author self-archiving policy.

Reusing copyrighted material

As an author, you must obtain permission for any material used within your manuscript for which you are not the rightsholder, including quotations, tables, figures, or images. In seeking permissions for published materials, first contact the publisher rather than the author. For unpublished materials, start by contacting the creator. Copies of each grant of permission should be provided to the editorial office of the Journal. The permissions agreement must include the following:

Nonexclusive rights to reproduce the material in your paper in Art History
Rights for use in print and electronic format at a minimum, and preferably for use in any form or medium
Lifetime rights to use the material
Worldwide English-language rights

If you have chosen to publish under an open access licence but have not obtained open access re-use permissions for third-party material contained within the manuscript, this must be stated clearly by supplying a credit line alongside the material with the following information:

Title of content
Author, Original publication, year of original publication, by permission of [rightsholder]
This image/content is not covered by the terms of the Creative Commons licence of this publication. For permission to reuse, please contact the rights holder.

Our publisher, Oxford University Press, provides detailed Copyright and Permissions Guidelines, and a summary of the fundamental information.

Misconduct

Authors should observe high standards with respect to research integrity and publication ethics as set out by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Falsification or fabrication of data including inappropriate image manipulation, plagiarism, including duplicate publication of the author's own work without proper citation, and misappropriation of work are all unacceptable practices. Allegations of ethical misconduct, both directly and through social media, are treated seriously and will be investigated in accordance with the relevant COPE guidance.

If misconduct has been established beyond reasonable doubt, this may result in one or more of the following outcomes, among others:

If a submitted manuscript is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author.
If a paper has already been published online, depending on the nature and severity of the infraction, either a correction notice will be published and linked to the paper, or retraction of the paper will occur, following the COPE Retraction Guidelines.
The relevant party’s institution(s) and/or other journals may be informed.

Manuscripts submitted to the Journal may be screened with plagiarism-detection software. Any manuscript may be screened, especially if there is reason to suppose that part or all the of the manuscript has been previously published. COPE defines plagiarism as “when somebody presents the work of others (data, words or theories) as if they were their own and without proper acknowledgment.” COPE defines redundant/overlapping publication as “when a published work (or substantial sections from a published work) is/are published more than once (in the same or another language) without adequate acknowledgment of the source/cross-referencing/justification, or when the same (or substantially overlapping) data is presented in more than one publication without adequate cross-referencing/justification, particularly when this is done in such a way that reviewers/readers are unlikely to realise that most or all the findings have been published before.” COPE defines citation manipulation as “behaviours intended to inflate citation counts for personal gain, such as: excessive self-citation of an authors’ own work, excessive citation to the journal publishing the citing article, and excessive citation between journals in a coordinated manner.” Data fabrication is defined as intentionally creating fake data or misrepresenting research results. An example includes making up data sets. Data falsification is defined as manipulating research data with the purpose of intentionally giving a false representation. This can apply to images, research materials, equipment, or processes. Examples include cropping of gels/images to change context and omission of selected data. If notified of a potential breach of research misconduct or publication ethics, the Journal editor and editorial office staff may inform OUP and/or the author’s institutional affiliation(s).

Ethical research

The Journal follows Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on ethical oversight. We take research integrity seriously, and all research published in the Journal must have been conducted in a fair and ethical manner. Wherever appropriate, the Journal requires that all research be done according to international and local guidelines.

C4DISC partnership

The Journal and OUP aim to create a community that fosters diversity, equity, and inclusion. As part of our commitment to these principles, OUP is a proud partner of the Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC). C4DISC works with organizations and individuals within the scholarly communications landscape to foster equity, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility across the publishing industry and its published outputs. The Journal is proud to adopt the Joint Statement of Principles of C4DISC.

Inclusive language

As defined by the Linguistic Society of America, “Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities”. We encourage you to consider using inclusive language and images when preparing your manuscript.

Accessibility

Written, visual, and audio content in your submission should be accessible to all. Please see the C4DISC guidelines for making text, images, charts, tables, and audio and video accessible.

Availability of data and materials

Where ethically feasible, the Journal strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. Whenever possible, data should be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files or deposited in a public repository. Visit OUP’s Research data page for information on general repositories for all data types, and resources for selecting repositories by subject area. When data and software underlying the research article are available in an online source, authors should include a full citation in their reference list. For details of the minimum information to be included in data and software citations see the OUP guidance on citing research data and software.

Digital preservation

Content published in the Journal will automatically be deposited into digital preservation services, including CLOCKSS, the Global LOCKSS Network, and Portico. This ensures the long-term preservation of your work. Through LOCKSS, participating institutions can sustain access to content if the Journal were to otherwise be unavailable, even for a short period of time. Should the Journal ever cease to publish, or content would otherwise become permanently unavailable, long-term access to the archives of CLOCKSS and Portico would be triggered. Until such a trigger event were to occur, this content is not available to the public through CLOCKSS and Portico.

Self-archiving policy

Self-archiving refers to posting a copy of your work on a publicly accessible website or repository. Under certain circumstances, you may self-archive versions of your work on your own webpages, on institutional webpages, and in other repositories. For information about the Journal's policy, and to learn which version(s) of your paper are acceptable for self-archiving, please see our Author self-archiving policy.

Publishing Agreements and Charges

Authors, please read each section on the publishing agreement (also called a licence) and charges carefully.

Publishing agreements

After your manuscript is accepted, you will be asked to sign a licence to publish through the Journals Licencing and Online Payments portal. The Journal offers the option of publishing under either a non-open access (standard) licence or an open access (Creative Commons) licence. There is a charge to publish under an open access licence, which allows your paper to be freely accessible to all readers immediately upon online publication. Editorial decisions occur prior to this step and are not influenced by payment or ability to pay. The standard licence makes your paper available only to Journal subscribers and there is no licence charge. This licence grants OUP an exclusive licence to publish and distribute the content. There is no transfer of ownership of the copyright. You, the author, retain copyright for the content.

Please note that some funders require open access publication as a condition of funding. If you are unsure whether you are required to publish open access, please check with your funder or institution before selecting your licence.

Papers can be published under the following licence types:

Standard licence to publish (Oxford University Press (OUP) Journals, Standard Publication Model)
Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY)
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence (CC BY-NC)

Please see the OUP guidance on Licences, copyright, and re-use rights for more information regarding these publishing agreement options.

Complying with funder mandates

Please note that some funders require open access publication as a condition of funding. If you are unsure whether you are required to publish open access, please do clarify any such requirements with your funder or institution before selecting your licence. Further information on funder mandates and direct links to a range of funder policies.

Charges

Open access charges

Please see the details of open access licences and charges. If you select an open access licenxe, you must pay the open access charge or request to use an institutional agreement to pay the open access charge through the Journals Licencing and Online Payments portal.

Read and Publish

OUP has a growing number of open access agreements with institutions and consortia, which provide funding for open access publishing (also known as Read and Publish agreements). This means corresponding authors from participating institutions can publish open access, and the institution may pay the charge. Find out if your institution has an open access agreement.

To be eligible for one of OUP’s Read and Publish agreements, the corresponding author must provide their qualifying institution as their primary affiliation when they submit their manuscript. After submission, changing the corresponding author in order to access Read and Publish funding is not permissible.

After Publication

Changes to published papers

The Journal will only make changes to published papers if the publication record is seriously affected by the academic accuracy of the published information. Changes to a published paper will be accompanied by a formal correction notice linking to and from the original paper.

As needed, we follow the COPE guidelines on retractions.

For more information and details of how to request changes, including for authors who wish to update their name and/or pronouns, please see OUP’s policy on changes to published papers.

Promoting your work

As the author, you are the best advocate for your work, and we encourage you to be involved in promoting your publication. Sharing your ideas and news about your publication with your colleagues and friends could take as little as 15 minutes and will make a real difference in raising the profile of your research.

You can promote your work by:

Sharing your paper with colleagues and friends. If your paper is published open access, it will always be freely available to all readers, and you can share it without any limitations. Otherwise, use the toll-free link that is emailed to you after publication. It provides permanent, free access to your paper, even if your paper is updated.
Signing up for an ORCID iD author identifier to distinguish yourself from any other researchers with the same name, create an online profile showcasing all your publications, and increase the visibility of your work.
Using social media to promote your work. To learn more about self-promotion on social media, see our social media guide for authors.

Find out how Oxford University Press promotes your content.

Manuscript Submission

How to submit

Authors must submit their papers via our web-based submission system, ScholarOne. If authors have not published with Art History before, they will need to create an account. More information is available on the ScholarOne Manuscripts FAQ and help page. Questions about submitting can be sent to the editorial office.

Article types

This journal publishes several different article types:

Essay— word count: 8,000-12,000 (Inclusive of notes)

Each piece should include:

Unstructured Abstract—maximum word count: [150]
May include tables and figures—maximum of [16] images.

Book Review

The journal does not accept unsolicited book reviews. Those interested in contributing to this section of Art History should contact the Reviews Editor by email. Publishers wishing to provide review copies should send them to: Art History, 70 Cowcross Street, Clerkenwell, London, ECIM 6EJ.

Manuscript preparation instructions

General guidelines on preparing your manuscript for publication can be found on OUP’s Preparing and submitting your manuscript page. Specific instructions for Art History can be found below.

Pre-submission language editing

You may wish to use a language-editing service before submitting to ensure that editors and reviewers understand your manuscript. Our publisher, Oxford University Press, partners with Enago, a leading provider of author services. Prospective authors are entitled to a discount of 30% for editing services at Enago, through the OUP-Enago partner page. Enago is an independent service provider, who will handle all aspects of this service, including payment. As an author you are under no obligation to take up this offer. Language editing is optional and does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted. Edited manuscripts will undergo the regular review process of the Journal.

Title page

Please include the following:

The title of the paper
All author names and affiliations
Mailing address and email address of one corresponding author
A short running head of [50] characters or less
Optional items
- Acknowledgments section

Abstracts

Text abstracts must be written in English. Abstracts should be unstructured, have a maximum length of 150 words, and must not contain reference citations or abbreviations.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments should be clearly labeled and included under a separate subheading on the cover letter.

Funder Information

You must fully declare all funding information relevant to the study, including specific grant numbers, within the acknowledgments section at the end of your manuscript. If the funder is listed in the Crossref funder registry, the funder name should appear exactly as it appears in that database. Where grants were received by specific members of the author group, they should be identified by initial.

Style

The journal follows its own style. Please refer to these requirements when preparing your manuscript. More information on the style guide is available here. UK spelling should be used throughout, except in quotations and in references.

Abbreviations

Please define nonstandard abbreviations at the first occurrence.

Tables

Authors must number all tables (e.g., table 1, table 2, table 3) and reference them within the text. Tables should be supplied in an editable format (such as Microsoft Word), and not embedded as an image file. Authors must place all tables at the end of the main text. Avoid excessive formatting such as the use of colour and shading (which are not replicated in the published web version) and the use of tabbed spacing to indicate alignment. Ensure that any formatting or superscript symbols such as asterisks are explained in the table footnote. Provide units in column or row headers, rather than in the table body.

Figures

Figures should be submitted in one of the following file formats: .jpeg, .jpg, .tiff or .eps. Images prepared as .bmp, .gif, .doc/.docx or .pdf files will not be accepted. You must include figure titles, legends, and captions within the manuscript file—they should not be included in the image files.

Figure files should be named simply to match their citation, eg. fig1.tiff, fig2.eps. You must submit each figure as a single individual image file. Submit all panels of a multi-panel figure as one single figure file; each panel should be labeled with a letter (A, B, C, D, etc.) in the upper-left corner of each panel. Please also ensure you have permission to re-use or adapt any third-party image materials.

Images of maps, charts, graphs, shapes, and diagrams are best rendered digitally as geometric forms called vector graphics. Vector images use mathematical relationships between points and the lines connecting them to describe an image. These file types do not use pixels; therefore resolution does not apply to vector images. Save vector images as .eps or .svg files and embed the fonts.

Images of photographs, paintings, or scans can be provided as raster images. Raster images should be saved as uncompressed .tiff files to avoid quality loss; .jpg/.png file formats are acceptable for raster image but may result in a lower resolution. The resolution of raster files is measured by the number of dots or pixels in a given area, referred to as “dpi” or “ppi.”

Minimum resolution required for colour half-tones: 300dpi
Minimum resolution for grayscale half-tones: 600dpi
Minimum resolution for combination half-tones and line art: 600-900dpi
Minimum resolution for monochrome line art (complex or finely drawn): 1200dpi

Please also consider accessibility when designing your figure, so that your images can be easily understood by colour-blind and visually-impaired readers. Guidelines for preparing different image-types, including recommendations for colour palettes, colour contrast, image layout, and text accessibility.

Figure accessibility and alt text

Incorporating alt text (alternative text) when submitting your paper helps to foster inclusivity and accessibility. Good alt text ensures that individuals with visual impairments or those using screen readers can comprehend the content and context of your figures. The aim of alt text is to provide concise and informative descriptions of your figure so that all readers have access to the same level of information and understanding, and that all can engage with and benefit from the visual elements integral to scholarly content. Including alt text demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and enhances the overall impact and reach of your work. 

Alt-text is applicable to all images, figures, illustrations, photographs, and it isn’t required for tables and large datasets (unless the tables are provided as figures).

Alt-text is only accessible via e-reader and so it won’t appear as part of the typeset article.

Detailed guidance on how to draft and submit alt text.

References

Authors may format references in any readable style at submission. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of reference information.

Supplementary material

You must submit supplementary data or supplementary material at the same time as the main manuscript. Supplementary material should enhance the written article without being necessary to understand it and must be cited in the text of the main manuscript.

Supplementary material will be available online only and will not be copyedited or typeset.
Style and formatting of supplementary material should be consistent with that of the manuscript.
Supplementary material should be formatted to function on any internet browser.
Supplementary items should be submitted as clearly-labeled files that are separate from the main article file(s).
- Documentation and online appendices should be submitted in PDF file format.
- Data files should be submitted in a .zip file format.
Supplementary material may be hosted on OUP’s website or at one of our preferred partner sites, such as Dryad. Material hosted elsewhere (e.g. the author’s personal or institutional website, Google Docs, YouTube) is not allowed as links may expire.

Contact Us

For questions regarding submission and review, including appeals, you can reach the editorial office by email at journal@forarthistoy.org.uk. After your paper has been sent to production, you can contact oupsupport@scipris.com for questions regarding the production process or publication. Please see the Changes to Published Papers section if you need to request a substantive correction to your published paper.