Articles will normally be of 8-10,000 words, but longer ones may be allowed in exceptional cases. They may be submitted in either English or French (though the published article will be translated into English). Papers should be submitted electronically via the online submission website. Any editorial or submission queries should be sent to the Editor.
Neither the Editor nor the publisher accepts responsibility for the views of authors expressed in their contributions. Authors may not submit manuscripts that are under consideration for publication elsewhere.
2 LAYOUT.
Articles should be in Word and double-spaced with an unjustified right-hand margin. Each page should be numbered. Please note, however, that our online submission site does not yet accept ‘.docx’ documents. Please use Word's ‘Save As’ option to save your document as an older (.doc) file type (this should be straightforward); and upload in the earlier format.
Authors are asked to consider the broad readership of French History as they prepare their material for submission. In particular, they are encouraged to draft the openings of articles and review articles in such a way as to make their material accessible to readers who may not be specialists in their own field.
Footnotes
In articles, and review articles, footnotes should be numbered consecutively and placed together in double-spaced typing on a separate page or pages at the end, though they will be published at the foot of each page. In reviews of books, there should be no footnotes, all material being incorporated in the text.
Author affiliation
In articles and review articles, the author's name should appear at the beginning, immediately under the title of the piece. An asterisked footnote should be included, giving the author's present position, and an address sufficient for him/her to be contacted by readers, and (if so desired) brief acknowledgements. Degrees and other personal details should not be included.
Abstract
Authors should also submit a 150-word abstract of their article. This will appear at the head of the text and will serve to alert potential readers to the article on the journal's website.
Quotations and References
Any quotations from particularly difficult (or archaic) French sources should be given in French first, followed by an English translation; otherwise French quotations are acceptable without translation. If the translation is not the author’s, this should be referenced.
Quotation marks should be single and not double unless they indicate a quotation within a quotation.
Presentation of main textFrench History articles are normally divided into sections defined by Roman Numerals (I, II, etc.); usually there will be between 4 and 7 sections. Sub-headings are not normally used.
UK English: honour, colour, lling, lled, organize, centralization, analysing.
Use commas (and other punctuation) only to avoid ambiguity; do not use extraneous punctuation.
Do not use serial commas (the ‘Oxford comma’):
red, green and blue (not ‘red, green, and blue’)
In French terms or titles, always use accented caps rather than unaccented: État rather than Etat.
Use French spelling for names in French:
Lyon, Marseille, Reims, Henri, François
Spell out one to ninety-nine; 100 and above in figures; but for whole units words may be used:
an eleven-year-old boy; fifty years; 4000; 10,000
a crowd of some five thousand
Always use figures for percentages and measurements:
5 per cent; 34 per cent
Most institutions, movements, parties, etc. take roman:
Ligue du Midi; Préfecture de police; Société des Avocats
But there are some exceptions, notably Parlement de Paris, Chambre des Comptes.
Use italics for titles unless part of proper name: the préfet; Préfet Dubois
Use lower case unless part of a proper name:
the president; President Mitterrand; the general; General Mercier
It is preferable to use the French title for institutions or offices, rather than the English, but please be consistent whichever you choose. If strictly necessary, then gloss the French title on first mention.
juge d’instruction (examining magistrate)
ministre de l’Intérieur (Minister of the Interior)
président du conseil (President of the Council)
Style in italics if used in a general sense; roman if part of proper name.
References
Page references do not take p. or pp., whether in articles or books [NB this is a recent editorial change].
Unless absolutely necessary for clarity or further information, avoid using prefatory expressions such as ‘See, for example,’ and ‘For history of this, see,’; instead go straight to the reference.
Avoid giving references in parenthesis. Simply use a colon followed by the reference.
Primary sources
Avoid ibid.
For archival sources, use A[rchives] N[ationales,] etc. for first reference, not (AN hereafter); thereafter use abbreviation. Lay out information from an archive in order from the name of the archive itself down to the actual file, document or folio being referred to.
For correspondence, use the form: Paul-Boncour to Viviani, 30 Mar. 1907.
Secondary sources
Use ibid. rather than short title whenever appropriate.
‘XVIIe siecle’ with superscript always, not ‘xviie siecle’.
Use initials, not full author names: C. E. Dawn Jr and A. K. John.
Never use p. or pp. – NB this is a recent change in editorial policy.
Newspapers or other documents with dates: abbreviate the month: Le Temps, 22 Jan. 1903.
French titles, capitalize book titles up to and including the first noun.
Book, journal and newspaper titles in French: initial caps up to the first noun, including intervening articles:
Le Petit Méridional; Le Temps; À La Recherche du temps perdu
Publication details: give place of publication (even if Paris or London), followed by a comma and the date of publication. Do not give publisher name. (NB using Paris or London is now once more obligatory).
Capitalization in English titles: follow standard Oxford capitalization for book and article titles – volume number but not issue number for journals.Abbreviate only current, English journal titles:
J. Wright, The Regionalist Movement in France, 1890-1914: Jean Charles-Brun and French Political Thought (Oxford, 2003), 33-4.
J. D. Burson, ‘Theological renewal and Enlightenment confrontations at the Sorbonne (c. 1730-1750)’, Fr Hist, 23 (2009), 471.
Volume numbers:
If only one volume is cited in the article, reference only that volume:
C. Haton, Mémoires de Claude Haton, ed. L. Bourquin, vol. 1 (Reims, 2001).
If several volumes are cited, give the total number of volumes after the title, and the volume cited in lower case roman numerals followed by a full point, after the publication details:
C. Haton, Mémoires de Claude Haton, 4 vols (Reims, 2001–04), iii. 34–39.
For US state abbreviations use two-letter postal abbrev: MA (not Mass.).
Do not use a full point for contractions: edn, eds, vols, fos, etc.
Use full point for: ed., vol., ibid., et al., trans.
A style guide for authors may be downloaded here style guide, which authors are strongly encouraged to study.
