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Journal Policies

Editorial Oversight

The current editors were invited by the previous publishing house, who owns the rights to the journal's previous title. Future editors will be chosen by the existing editors in consultation with the Governing Board. Guest editors are invited by the editorial team based on professional networks and information about ongoing research projects.

The co-editors handle all submissions and communication with guest editors. The Governing Board is consulted for longer term strategic planning. RHETM's editors serve a term of five years which is renewable.

All decisions are made jointly by the co-editors, based on feedback received from referees whenever available. All editorial decisions made by the co-editors are final.

RHETM cultivates a broad and experienced Governing Board that contains members from across different nations, academic institutions, genders and demographics. Potential board members are approached by the editorial team while keeping this diversity in mind.

Peer Review Process

RHETM operates a single-anonymous peer review process, meaning that reviewers remain anonymous for the review process.

Submissions go through an initial assessment by the editorial team to ascertain whether they have the minimum quality to be considered for publication. Articles that pass this first round are then advanced to peer review and sent to referees who can offer more detailed feedback. Based on the advice of expert referees, the editorial team then decides whether a submission should be rejected, accepted or sent back to authors for revision. Editorial introductions and book reviews are the sole items that are not required to undergo peer review.

Since RHETM operates in a niche field, we believe the anonymity clause for authors is counterproductive: in most cases, reviewers can easily discover the identity of authors if they choose to. RHETM therefore uses single-anonymous peer review for submissions.

There are no variations to RHETM's peer review process, though adjustments may be required in extraordinary circumstances. The editors reserve the right to modify the peer-review process in extenuating circumstances. For example, if a previously invited piece from a well-respected author has been received immediately prior to publication of the relevant volume and there is insufficient time for a full review process, the editors may, in consultation with each other, make an executive decision about the paper.

The journal's co-editors select reviewers based on their knowledge of the field. RHETM does not allow submitting authors to recommend peer reviewers for their submission.

Peer reviewers are provided with review guidelines, the entire manuscript and any accompanying figures whenever they are invited to review; manuscripts are not anonymised as RHETM uses a single-anonymous peer review process.

RHETM does not publish peer review reports alongside articles, or the names of the peer reviewers who have undertaken review of the article. Anonymised peer review data is held securely and privately in the journal’s publishing platform for the author to access whenever they choose to.

Peer Reviewer Guidance

RHETM receives more submissions than can be accepted for publication. We seek to publish only articles displaying the highest standards of academic quality, intellectual integrity, and potential impact on the fields of history of economic thought and methodology. Therefore, we ask that our referees, whose wisdom we depend upon in making publication decisions, evaluate a paper against the very highest standards in the field.

We ask reviewers:

  • Does the submission make an important contribution?
  • Does it advance the relevant field?
  • How well does the submission stand up against the best work in the field?

However, to say that we aim to publish the best work does not mean that we wish to reject work that is not yet in its best form. We encourage reviewers to offer constructive, even substantial, suggestions for improvement of flawed, but otherwise publishable, manuscripts.

Organization and Governance

RHETM Bylaws

Art. 1: Review of the History of Economic Thought and Methodology is a community-owned and community-managed scholarly journal dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to a broad range of topics related to the history and methodology of economics and its relationship to other fields in the humanities and social sciences.

Art. 2: The Governing Board is the decision-making body responsible for the journal. Members of the Governing Board share a commitment to preserve the intellectual legacy of Warren Samuels, the founder of the journal.

Art. 3: The Governing Board should have at least 12 members and at most 18 members at any time. New members can be brought onto the board following a vote approved by a two-thirds majority of sitting members. Members can be removed from the board following a vote approved by a four-fifths majority of sitting members.

Art. 4: Responsibilities of the Governing Board include: 1) selecting the Editorial Team in charge of running the journal on a day-to-day basis; 2) representing and promoting the journal among the scholarly community; 3) serving an advisory role to the Editorial Team; 4) overseeing the quality, timeliness, and academic integrity of the publication.

Art. 5: To fulfill the above responsibilities, a quorum of the Governing Board should meet at least once every year.

Art. 6: The Editorial Team shall be composed of one or several editor(s)-in-chief who are responsible for managing the daily operational aspects of the journal. Its responsibilities include receiving and soliciting submissions, commissioning thematic symposia, identifying and communicating with peer reviewers, and handling ordinary communication with authors, readers, and publishers.

Art. 7: Members of the Editorial Team are selected by the Governing Board following a vote approved by a two-thirds majority of a quorum of sitting members.

Art. 8: The Editorial Team shall be appointed for a five-year renewable term and may resign from the Team at any time with three months advanced notice. Provided that there are openings on the Governing Board, past members of the Editorial Team may, upon retirement from the Editorial Team and a majority vote of the Governing Board, become members of the Governing Board with all the privileges and duties of other members of the Board, including voting rights. Governing Board members may be rotated out, asked to resign, as appropriate, in order to maintain a Governing Board of 12 to 18 members.

Art. 9: Individual members of the Editorial Team may be removed before the end of its appointed term following a vote approved by a two-thirds majority of the Governing Board.

Art. 10: These bylaws can be amended by the Governing Board following a vote approved by a four-fifths majority of sitting members.

Business Practices

Advertising

RHETM does not permit any advertising on the journal’s website and will never consider requests of any kind from other parties wishing to advertise in the journal or on its webpages.

Direct Marketing

RHETM does not engage in any direct marketing practices.

The publisher, the Open Library of Humanities (OLH), employs a Marketing Officer who undertakes general marketing activities for the publisher including the promotion of its journals. The Marketing Officer does not, however, engage in direct marketing for any OLH journals and this does not affect the editorial decisions of OLH journals in any way.

Other Revenue

This journal is funded by OLH’s Library Partnership Subsidy Model but does bring another form of revenue to the journal by asking submitting authors for a Voluntary Author Contribution (VAC) if they are able to do so. However, waivers will be given to authors who do not have such funds available.

Symposia

Each issue of RHETM features a mini-symposium guest edited by specialists in different topics.

The co-editors prospect for these symposia using their professional networks. We are also often approached by scholars familiar with our model.

The co-editors and guest editors work together to select peer reviewers for each contribution. The journal’s co-editors exert final editorial authority over everything published in the journal. Symposia are not subject to manipulation by guest editors. Papers submitted for the symposia go through single-blind peer review like all other peer-reviewed submissions to RHETM.