The principles, standards, and responsibilities that govern everything we publish.
PublicPast is committed to maintaining the highest standards of editorial integrity, historical accuracy, and responsible publishing. These policies outline the principles that govern our editorial decisions, publication process, relationships with authors, and responsibilities to readers.
All articles published in PublicPast must be factually accurate and grounded in reliable historical evidence. Claims must be supported by primary sources, peer-reviewed scholarship, or credible secondary sources. Errors, once identified, are corrected promptly and transparently.
PublicPast operates free from commercial, political, or ideological influence. Editorial decisions are made solely on the basis of intellectual merit, historical relevance, and adherence to our scope. No advertiser, sponsor, or external party has any influence over what we publish.
We do not publish speculative or unsourced historical claims. All historical arguments must be grounded in evidence and engage honestly with the existing scholarly record. Where interpretations differ among historians, we expect authors to acknowledge this honestly.
PublicPast welcomes debate, disagreement, and revisionist argument, provided it is conducted with intellectual honesty and respect. We do not publish content that demeans individuals, communities, or cultures on the basis of identity, religion, ethnicity, or belief.
All submissions undergo a rigorous double-blind review process. Neither the author nor the reviewer is disclosed to the other at any stage of the review. PublicPast evaluates submissions for originality, historical accuracy, use of evidence, relevance, and quality of writing. Editorial decisions are made independently of the author's credentials, institutional affiliation, or identity.
Each submission is first assessed by the Editorial Board for suitability, completeness, and adherence to submission requirements including scope, formatting, and ethical standards. Submissions that do not meet these basic criteria are declined at this stage without proceeding to review. Submissions that pass initial screening proceed to a detailed editorial assessment, during which the Editorial Board evaluates the submission's originality, argument, use of evidence, and overall quality of writing.
Submissions that pass editorial assessment are sent for anonymous peer review. Neither the author nor the reviewer is disclosed to the other at any stage. Reviewers are selected on the basis of their subject expertise and their identities remain confidential throughout and after the review process. Following the first round of review, a submission may be rejected or returned to the author for revision. All submissions that pass the first round with or without requiring revision proceed directly to the second round of anonymous review. Following this stage, the Editorial Board will issue a final decision: acceptance, further revision, or rejection. Authors are notified by email at each stage of the process.
Accepted submissions proceed to the copyright and publishing agreement stage, after which the article enters the production pipeline and is scheduled for publication.
Following review, submissions are classified as accepted, accepted subject to revision, or declined. Authors are notified of the outcome by email. Accepted submissions proceed through the editorial pipeline and are scheduled for publication once all requirements including the Copyright and Publishing Agreement have been fulfilled. Declined submissions will receive a brief statement of the reasons where possible.
Upon acceptance, authors will be required to sign and return a Copyright and Publishing Agreement form before their article is scheduled for publication. Publication will not proceed without a completed agreement.
PublicPast's publication ethics are informed by the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and we seek to uphold widely accepted standards of editorial integrity, transparency, and responsible publishing.
All submitted work must be original. Authors must confirm that their submission has not been previously published, is not under consideration elsewhere, and does not substantially reproduce their own previously published work without clear attribution.
Plagiarism in any form is not acceptable. This includes copying text without attribution, paraphrasing another author's work without acknowledgment, and presenting others' ideas as one's own. All submissions are checked for originality. If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the article will be retracted and the author notified.
PublicPast does not accept articles that are substantially generated by artificial intelligence tools. The ideas, arguments, research, and prose of every article must be the author's own.
Artificial intelligence tools may be used for language editing, grammar correction, translation assistance, or formatting. Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, interpretation, citations, and conclusions presented in their work. AI tools must not replace independent historical research or scholarly judgment.
The named author of any article must be the person who conceived, researched, and wrote the work. Ghost-writing, where a person other than the named author substantially wrote the piece, is not permitted. Where articles are co-authored, all contributors must be named and their roles described.
Authors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived as influencing their work. This includes affiliations, funding sources, and personal connections to the subject matter. Undisclosed conflicts of interest discovered after publication may result in a correction notice or retraction.
Authors retain copyright over their own work. By publishing in PublicPast, authors grant PublicPast a non-exclusive licence to publish, archive, and distribute the article in digital form on publicpast.org and affiliated platforms.
All content published on PublicPast is freely available to read. However, reproduction of articles in full, in part, or in adapted form by third parties requires written permission from both the author and PublicPast. Brief quotation with clear attribution is permitted for review and educational purposes.
Unless otherwise stated, articles published on PublicPast are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0). This means others may share and adapt the material for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate credit is given and changes are indicated.
When a factual error is identified in a published article, PublicPast will investigate promptly. If confirmed, a correction will be appended to the original article with a clear date stamp and a description of what was changed. The correction will also be noted on the article listing where possible.
Articles may be updated to reflect significant new historical evidence or scholarship. Where updates alter the substance of the original argument, a note will be added to the article indicating the nature and date of the update.
An article may be retracted if it is found to contain serious inaccuracies that cannot be corrected, if plagiarism is confirmed, if the authorship is found to be fraudulent, or if publication is found to violate this ethics policy in a material way. Retracted articles are not deleted but are clearly marked as retracted, with a public retraction notice published in their place.
When a serious concern is raised regarding a published article but an investigation has not yet concluded, PublicPast may publish an Expression of Concern pending the outcome of its review. An Expression of Concern will be linked to the article in question and will clearly state the nature of the concern and that the matter is under active consideration. It will be updated or removed once the investigation is resolved.
The views, opinions, and interpretations expressed in articles published on PublicPast are those of the individual authors and do not represent the position of PublicPast, its editor, or its affiliated platforms. This applies particularly to opinion and editorial content, which is authored exclusively by the editorial board and clearly labelled as such.
History is an evolving discipline. Interpretations presented in articles reflect the state of historical knowledge and scholarship at the time of writing. As new evidence emerges, earlier interpretations may require revision. PublicPast is not responsible for the accuracy of historical claims that subsequently become contested or superseded by new research.
PublicPast may include links to external websites for reference and further reading. We do not endorse and are not responsible for the content, accuracy, or availability of any external site. Links are provided in good faith and may change without notice.
For any matters relating to publication ethics, copyright, corrections, or expressions of concern, please contact us directly. We aim to respond to all enquiries within five working days.
