North Carolina Office of Archives and History
Historical Publications Section

Publication Guidelines

ARTICLES

The editors of the North Carolina Historical Review and the Advisory Editorial Committee seek to publish articles and annotated documents pertaining to the history of North Carolina and adjacent states. The editors and the committee consider originality of material and interpretation, sources, clarity of thought, style, and interests of readers. Materials primarily genealogical in nature, such as family histories, are not accepted.

Authors should submit for consideration two copies of their manuscripts and retain a copy for security. They should be mailed to Donna Kelly, Historical Publications Section, 4622 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4622. Text and notes must be double-spaced, and the latter should appear on separate sheets at the end of the essay. Footnotes should not be automatically generated by a computer. The author’s name should appear only on the title page of the manuscript. Authors should submit an additional copy of papers accepted for publication on a PC-compatible diskette or as an email attachment sent to the section administrator at donna.kelly@ncmail.net. The journal follows The Chicago Manual of Style, fourteenth edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), in matters of capitalization, punctuation, abbreviation, citation, and the like. The editors will provide an abbreviated guide upon request (also available on the section’s website at www.ncpublications.com.

BOOKS

The editorial staff of the Historical Publications Section of the Office of Archives and History solicits manuscripts that fit the mission of the section, which is to stimulate historical investigation, to promote knowledge of the history of the state, and to encourage the study of history in North Carolina’s schools. The agency insists upon high editorial and scholarly standards for the North Carolina-related books, papers, manuscripts, documents, and maps that it publishes. Small booklets and monographs are published on a variety of topics relating to the Tar Heel State and are usually illustrated and indexed. County histories, in particular, are published as required by the General Statutes.

The section’s editorial staff usually solicits manuscripts for book-length publications. Occasionally projects are submitted as proposals, which are subject to the availability of staff time and funding for publication. Sample chapters and an abstract are often submitted in lieu of an entire manuscript in order to determine the appropriateness of the subject matter. The guidelines for publishing an article, as outlined above, are also followed for publishing a book.

In the case of both articles and books, all copyright is signed over to the Office of Archives and History. Final editing, distributing, and marketing are the responsibility of the section. A contract is signed, outlining a publication schedule, and some monetary compensation is given to the author, depending on the length and type of publication and the availability of funds. In addition, the author/editor receives up to ten copies of the publication and henceforth receives a 20% discount on all publications produced by the section. No royalties are provided.