About the journal

  1. Aims and Scope
  2. What we publish
  3. Editorial process and Peer Review
  4. Acceptance criteria
  5. Open Access and Licensing
  6. Article publication charges (APCs)
  7. Discoverability and Indexing
  8. Journal metrics
  9. Journal Details
  10. Contact and Community
  11. Journal archive

Aims and scope

The History Education Research Journal (HERJ) is an international, open-access, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the global significance and impact of history education. It covers all aspects of history education theory, practice, scholarship, and pure and applied research. Articles address contemporary issues, concerns, policies and practice, drawing upon the full range of research methodologies relating to history education research.

The journal particularly welcomes papers that include attention to the implications for policy and practice that arise from theoretical and empirical work. Themes of interest include (but are not limited to) curriculum, teaching and teachers, academic progression, didactics, historical consciousness, the intersection between education and public history, community history, national and international perspectives, historical literacy, disciplinary history and the history of history education.

The journal aims to be the leading forum for dissemination of research related to all aspects of history education. It will be of primary interest to anyone involved in history education research and will offer many insights to history educators.

Please note that while the journal accepts historical research on history education, it does not accept papers that are solely focused on the history of education in general or on history itself.


What we publish

We welcome a wide range of content formats, including:

  • Research articles
  • Review articles (e.g. systematic reviews)

Find out more about how to format and submit to the journal in our Author Guidelines:

Author guidelines

Editorial process and Peer Review

The History Education Research Journal operates double anonymised peer review, where both the reviewers and authors are anonymised during review. Authors should submit an anonymous version of the manuscript, removed of all identifying references to the author(s) for peer review.

Reviewers cannot be from the same institution as the author, based at any funding bodies connected to the paper and cannot be recommended by authors or anyone else connected to the paper. Author(s) should submit an anonymous version of the manuscript, stripped of all identifying references to the author(s) for peer review.

Further information regarding peer review can be found on the UCL Press editorial policy pages (https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/site/editorial_policy).


Acceptance criteria

We assess submissions based on:

  • Relevance to our aims, scope and mission.
  • Clarity and soundness of argument and findings.
  • Evidence of new knowledge and meaningful contribution to the field.
  • Responsiveness to reviewer and Editorial feedback.

Submissions are unlikely to be accepted if they:

  • Are primarily commercial or self-promotional.
  • Contain excessive self-citation.
  • Lack clear conclusions or conceptual rigour.
  • Provide minimal updates on prior work.
  • Are not suitable for peer review due to clarity or fit with the journal.

Articles accepted for full publication will be those where the Editorial Board has received at least two favourable peer reviews and is satisfied that all reviewer and Editorial comments have been adequately addressed.

Experience suggests that few submissions are accepted after a single review round. The Editorial Board may decline a submission at any stage if reviewer concerns cannot be addressed to the Board’s satisfaction. In some cases, Editors may request revisions before peer review to support review effectiveness.


Preprints

History Education Research Journal is happy to accept submissions of papers that have been loaded onto preprint servers or personal websites, have been presented at conferences, or other informal communication channels. These formats will not be deemed prior publication. Authors must retain copyright to such preprints and are encouraged to link any prior posting of their paper to the final published version within the journal, if it is editorially accepted.


Open Access and Licensing

All content is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. This ensures:

  • Free access for readers worldwide.
  • Retention of copyright by authors.
  • Maximum flexibility for reuse, adaptation and sharing.

We follow the Budapest Open Access Initiative and are committed to author rights and open scholarship. Our Author Contributor Agreement outlines full terms for publication:

Author Contributor Agreement

Article publication charges (APCs)

The History Education Research Journal is a Diamond Open Access journal, meaning that UCL Press does not levy any Article-Processing Charges (APCs) for submission or publication.

UCL Press covers all the costs to publishing every article and publishing is free at every stage:

  • No submission fees
  • No peer review fees
  • No publication fees

This reflects our commitment to equity and non-profit publishing, especially for authors with limited funding or from underrepresented sectors.


Discoverability and Indexing

UCL Press works with subject specific indexers to deposit published articles in relevant repositories and search databases. Articles published in the History Education Research Journal are indexed in:


Journal metrics

We are committed to the responsible use of metrics and strongly encourage all readers, authors, reviewers, and Editors to read through our statement about the use of metrics across the journal, available online at https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/site/editorial_policy/#METRICS.


Citation metrics
  • Scopus CiteScore (2025 tracking) 1.1
  • Scopus SJR (2025) Not yet released
  • Scopus SNIP (2025) Not yet released

Journal Details

ISSN: 2631-9713
Publication frequency: Continuous (as and when ready)
Average time to publication: ~25 weeks


Published by

UCL Press, University College London (UCL)
Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK

journals.uclpress.co.uk

uclpressjournals@ucl.ac.uk


Contact and Community

We are a community-led journal. Whether you’re submitting, reviewing, or simply reading, we invite you to be part of our network.

For pre-submission enquiries:
herj@ucl.ac.uk


Stay connected:

Bluesky: @histedresearch.bsky.social‬

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ucl-press-journals


Journal archive

HERJ was previously published under the title International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research. All editions published under this title – from 1(1) to 15(1) – are available through the Historical Association and can be accessed at https://www.history.org.uk/publications/categories/international-journal-of-historical-learning. HERJ articles published by UCL Press (and available on this website) begins from volume number 15(2).