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The Medieval History Journal

The Medieval History Journal

Other Titles in:
History (General)

eISSN: 09730753 | ISSN: 09719458 | Current volume: 26 | Current issue: 2 Frequency: Bi-annually

The Medieval History Journal (MHJ) is a peer reviewed journal and derives its distinctive profile from encompassing the entire medieval world in scope and its multi-disciplinary foci. For the MHJ, `Medieval History` signifies open chronological and thematic boundaries to honour historical plurality. It is in this spirit that the MHJ also considers the separation between the medieval and the early modern merely on chronological grounds to be historiographically and thematically problematic. Therefore, the emphasis of the Journal is to encourage thematic, temporal or spatial transitions over the centuries comprising the medieval and the early modern epochs providing scope for comparative and transcultural conversations within scholarship.

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The Medieval History Journal (MHJ) is a peer reviewed journal and derives its distinctive profile from encompassing the entire medieval world in scope and its multi-disciplinary foci. For the MHJ, `Medieval History` signifies open chronological and thematic boundaries to honour historical plurality. It is in this spirit that the MHJ also considers the separation between the medieval and the early modern merely on chronological grounds to be historiographically and thematically problematic. Therefore, the emphasis of the Journal is to encourage thematic, temporal or spatial transitions over the centuries comprising the medieval and the early modern epochs providing scope for comparative and transcultural conversations within scholarship.

Founder Editor
Harbans Mukhia Formerly at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Editorial Collective
Sally K Church University of Cambridge, UK
Ranjeeta Dutta Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
Suraiya N Faroqhi Istanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, Turkey
Anne E Lester Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Pratyay Nath Ashoka University, Sonipat, India
Prasannan Parthasarathi Boston College, Boston, USA
Walt Pohl University of Vienna, Vienna
Amanda Power St Catherine's College, University of Oxford, UK
Samira Sheikh Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA
Kim Siebenhüner Historisches Institut der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Advisory Editorial Board
Aziz Al-Azmeh Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
Maurice Aymard Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Carlos Barros University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostella, Chile
Richard M Eaton University of Arizona, Tuscon, USA
Alisa Ginio Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Carlo Ginzburg Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa and University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Sumit Guha Rutgers University, USA
Irfan Habib Professor Emeritus, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
Chun-Chieh Huang National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Gabor Klaniczay Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
Christiane Klapisch-Zuber Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France
Gabrielle Spiegel Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
Peer de Vries University of Vienna, Austria
Caroline Walker Bynum Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, USA
Wang Zhenping Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • CCC
  • Clarivate Analytics: Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI)
  • DeepDyve
  • Dutch-KB
  • EBSCO
  • Indian Citation Index (ICI)
  • J-Gate
  • OCLC
  • Ohio
  • Portico
  • ProQuest: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
  • SCOPUS
  • UGC-CARE (GROUP II)
  • The Medieval History Journal

    This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics and strictly adheres to the guidelines set forth by COPE

    Manuscripts must be submitted online at https://peerreview.sagepub.com/MHJ 

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of The Medieval History Journal 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, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in The Medieval History Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere.

    If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal

    1. What do we publish?
    1.1 Aims & Scope
    1.2 Article types
    1.3 Writing your paper

    2. 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

    3. Publishing policies
    3.1 Publication ethics
    3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
    3.3 Open access and author archiving

    4. Preparing your manuscript
    4.1 Formatting 
    4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
    4.3 Supplemental material
    4.4 Reference style

    5. Submitting your manuscript
    5.1 Information required for completing your submission
    5.2 Permissions

    6. On acceptance and publication
    6.1 Sage Production
    6.2 Access to your published article
    6.3 Promoting your article

    7. Further information

    1. What do we publish?

    1.1 Aims & Scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to The Medieval History Journal, please ensure you have read the ‘Aims & Scope’ of the journal.

    1.2 Article types

    • Research Articles: only the research articles are refereed.
    • Book Reviews: vary from number to number invariably guided by limits to the size of the manuscript

    Full-fledged papers should preferably be of 10,000 words, including figures, tables and annexures. Brief write-ups may also be sent as Book Reviews.

    Points to note:

    • They should not be under consideration of any other publication at the time of submission.
    • A soft copy in the MS-Word format as well as in the PDF file if it contains diacritical marks or passages in non-European languages, should be sent. 

    1.3 Writing your paper

    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
    For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online 

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    2. Editorial policies

    2.1 Peer review policy

    Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

    •  The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors

    •  The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper

    •  The author has recommended the reviewer

    •  The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution). 

    2.2 Authorship

    All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

    If the named authors for a manuscript change at any point between submission and acceptance, an Authorship Change Form must be completed and digitally signed by all authors (including any added or removed) . An addition of an author is only permitted following feedback raised during peer review. Completed forms can be uploaded at Revision Submission stage or emailed to the Journal Editorial Office contact (listed on the journal’s manuscript submission guidelines). All requests will be moderated by the Editor and/or Sage staff.

    Important: Changes to the author by-line by adding or deleting authors are NOT permitted following acceptance of a paper.

    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.

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    2.3 Acknowledgements

    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.

    Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

    2.3.1 Writing assistance
    Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

    2.4 Funding

    The Medieval History Journal 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

    The Medieval History Journal encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway

    Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. 

    2.6 Research data

    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

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    3. Publishing policies

    3.1 Publication ethics

    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
    The Medieval History Journal 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 Medieval History Journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized 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

    The Medieval History Journal 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.

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    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    4.1 Formatting

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. A LaTex template is available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    The manuscript should be structured as follows:

    • Cover page, showing title of the paper, name of author, author’s affiliation and institutional address with pin code, email id and an abstract (set in italics) not exceeding 200 words. In case there are two or more authors, then corresponding author’s name and address details must be clearly specified on the first page itself.
    • The contributors should provide 4–7 keywords for online searchability.
    • Acknowledgements are also placed on the cover page
    • Text should start on a new page, and must not contain the names of authors.
    • References should follow the Chicago Manual of Style, in which all references are relegated to footnotes. Full publication details are to be given at the initial occurrence of citation. Important note: There is no limit on the number of references allowed.

    Please Note: For each text citation there must be a corresponding citation (a note cue in this case) in the reference list and for each reference list citation there must be a corresponding text citation.

    • Tables should be provided in editable format. Both tables and figures should be referred to in the text by number separately (e.g., Table 1) not by placement (e.g., see Table below).

    Please Note: All figures and tables should be cited in the text and should have the source (a specific URL, a reference or, if it is author’s own work, ‘The author(s)’) mentioned irrespective of whether or not they require permissions.

    • Figures, including maps, graphs and drawings, should not be larger than page size. They should be numbered and arranged as per their references in the text. All photographs and scanned images should have a resolution of minimum 300 dpi and 1,500 pixels and their format should be TIFF or JPEG. Permissions to reprint should be obtained for copyright protected photographs/images.
    • The language and spellings used should be British (UK), with ‘s’ variant, for example, globalisation instead of globalization, labour instead of labor. For non-English and uncommon words and phrases, use italics throughout the text. Meaning of non-English words should be given in parentheses just after the word when it is used for the first time.
    • Articles should use non-sexist and non-racist language.
    • Spell out numbers from one to nine. However, for exact measurement (e.g., China’s GDP growth rate 9.8 per cent) use numbers. Very large round numbers, especially sums of money, may be expressed by a mixture of numerals and spelled-out numbers (India’s population 1.2 billion).
    • Single quotes should be used throughout. Double quote marks are to be used within single quotes. Spellings of words in quotations should not be changed. Quotations of 45 words or more should be separated from the text.
    • Notes should be numbered serially and presented at the end of each page as footnotes. Notes must contain references.
    • Ibid. must be used in the footnotes.
    • Use ‘per cent’ instead of % in the text. In tables, graphs, etc., % can be used. Use ‘twentieth century’, ‘the 1990s’.
    • Number ranges should be truncated, for example, 1800–89 and 1800–989.
    • The initials must be separated by dots and spaces in case of proper nouns in the text.
    • Abbreviations are spelled out at first occurrence. Very common ones (US, GDP, BBC) need not be spelled out.
    • Website sources, that is, mere URLs with the last access date, as well as URLs (accompanied with titles) which do not have a year of publication can be retained in the footnotes. For example: “Barzani appoints Kosrat Rasoul as supreme leader of Peshmerga”, Iraq Today, accessed October 15, 2017, http://iraqtoday.com/ar/news/15266/
    • There is a choice for the use of diacritical marks for authors, though consistency is required. Italicised words can have diacritics as well. References in European languages other than English should be checked carefully for accents.

    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  

    • All photographs and scanned images should have a resolution of minimum 300 dpi/1500 pixels and their format should be TIFF or JPEG.
    • Due permissions should be taken for copyright protected photographs/images. Even for photographs/images available in the public domain, it should be clearly ascertained whether or not their reproduction requires permission for purposes of publishing (which is a profit-making endeavour).
    • All photographs/scanned images should be provided separately in a folder along with the main article.

    Please Note: All figures and tables should be cited in the text and should have the source (a specific URL, a reference or, if it is author’s own work, ‘The Author’) mentioned irrespective of whether or not they require permissions.

    • 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.

    4.3 Supplemental material

    This Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files

    4.4 Reference style

    The Medieval History Journal adheres to the Sage Chicago Manual style. View the Chicago Manual of Style guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    • References: Details must follow the ‘conventional’ system of referencing, in which all references are relegated to footnotes. Full publication details are to be given at the initial occurrence of citation.
    • Title case: In references, the titles of papers, books, journals, articles, etc. are put in title case (i.e., first letter of all words except articles and conjunctions are capitalized—e.g., Journal of Business Ethics). 
    • Italicize: Book and Journal titles are to be italicized.

    Reference Examples:

    • The details of the references are provided in the References section at the end of the article.
    • The citations of all the references are provided in the footnotes (marked with their cues in the text).

    Books:
    William of Newburgh. 1856. The History of William of Newburgh (1066–1194). London: Seeleys. (in the reference list)
    William of Newburgh, . The History of William of Newburgh (1066–1194) (in the footnotes as citations)
    Ibid.: 12 (in case the work cited in the preceding footnote is being referred to)

    Edited Books:
    William of Newburgh. 1884. ‘Historia rerum Anglicarum’, in Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, Volume 82.1:  Rolls Series, edited by Richard Howlett. London: Longmans. (in the reference list)
    OR
    Wattenbach, Wilhelm, ed. 1851. ‘Annales mellicenses Continuatio Zwetlensis Altera’, in MGH Scriptores in folio, vol.  9. Hanover: Hahn: 541–44. (in the reference list)
    William of Newburgh, ‘Historia rerum Anglicarum’: 213–30. (footnotes)

    Translated/Edited books:
    William of Newburgh. 1856. The History of William of Newburgh (1066–1194). Translated by Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeleys: 1–21. (in the reference list) 

    Journal articles:
    Neocleous, Savvas. 2012. ‘Financial, Chivalric, or Religious? The Motives of the Fourth Crusaders Reconsidered.’ Journal of Medieval History, vol. 38: 183–206. (in the reference list)

    Chapter from one’s own book:
    Le Goff, Jacques. 1980. ‘Merchant’s Time and Church’s Time in the Middle Ages’ in his Time, Work and Culture in the Middle Ages [English translation by Arthur Goldhammer]. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

    Anonymous or unknown author:
    Anonymous. 1975. Mirzanama, Br. Mus. MS. Add. 16,819, ff. 89b–95b. Translated by Aziz Ahmad as ‘The British Museum Mirzanama and the Seventeenth Century Mirza in India.’ Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, vol. XIII: 99–110.

    Forthcoming work:
    Gould, Rebecca. Forthcoming. ‘“I Bind Myself in the Belt of Oppression”: Khaqani’s Christian Qas#ida and the Prison Poetry of Medieval Shirwan’, Journal of Persianate Studies.

    Reprint editions and modern editions:
    Febvre, Lucien. 1941. ‘Comment reconstituer la vie affective d’autrefois ? La sensibilité et l’histoire’, Annales d’Histoire Sociale. Reprinted in L. Febvre, Combats pour l’histoire. Paris, 1953 [English translation by K. Folca: ‘How to Reconstitute the Emotional Life of the Past’, in Febvre, Lucien. 1973. A New Kind of History and Other Essays, edited by Peter Burke. New York: Harper & Row: 12–26].

    Books in other languages:
    Ariès, Philippe. 1960. L’enfant et la vie familiale sous l’Ancien Régime. Paris : Plon, 1960 (second édition, Paris: Le Seuil, 1973). [English translation by Robert Baldick. 1962. Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life. New York: Vintage (second edition, Harmondsworth Penguin, 1973)].

    PhD/MPhil Dissertations:
    Sarma, Pranab. 2007. Archaeology of Early Settlements of the Dhansiri-Doyang Valley. Unpublished PhD Thesis: Department of Archaeology, Deccan College PG & RI, Pune.

    Additional notes

    • In the footnotes, Ibid. should be employed to avoid repetition of detailed references.
    • A superscript number (not symbol) should adjoin the piece of text being referred to. The numbering of the note cues should be in the Hindu-Arabic numerals: 1, 2, 3, etc.
    • In the footnotes, complete details of references should not be provided. All sources, primary and secondary, published or unpublished, should be referred to in an abbreviated form, followed by a colon and the precise page reference, if applicable. Short titles should be capable of standing alone (e.g., Al-Azmeh, Muslim Kingship or Smits, ‘Poets in Their Place’).
    • If two or more references are cited in a single footnote, then the references should be separated by semi-colons (e.g., Rocher, ‘“Lawyers” in Classical Hindu Law’; Mathur, Medieval Hindu Law: 201; Kane, History of Dharmashastra, vol. 3: 288–90.).
    • Only the surnames of the authors should be provided in the footnotes.
    • Contributors are advised to use the abbreviations ‘bc’ and ‘ad’ rather than ‘bce’ and ‘ce’ for years of the Christian/ Common Era.

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    5. Submitting your manuscript

    Manuscripts should be submitted at https://peerreview.sagepub.com/MHJ

    Unless you follow the journal style, your essay will not be accepted. You should state in your submission cover letter that you have followed the journal style.

    5.1 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).

    5.2 Permissions

    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

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    6. On acceptance and publication

    6.1 Sage Production

    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.

    6.2 Access to your published article

    Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

    6.3 Promoting your 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.

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    7. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the The Medieval History Journal Editor of the journal at the following address:
    E-mail: ranjeeta.dutta@gmail.com; prayay.nath@ashoka.edu.in and hmukhia@gmail.com

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