brycewang-stanford Submission Preflight (ahr-submission)
The last check before uploading to ScholarOne / Manuscript Central (mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ahrev).
The AHR is anonymous (double-blind), so the most common avoidable failure is an under-masked
manuscript. Verify volatile specifics on the official page before relying on them.
When to trigger
- "Submitting tomorrow" — last pass before upload
- Unsure which files/metadata ScholarOne expects
- Confirming length, notes, masking, and image requirements are met
Process facts (verify volatile items on the official page)
- Owner / publisher: American Historical Association (AHA) / Oxford University Press.
- Portal: ScholarOne / Manuscript Central (
mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ahrev); submit a Microsoft Word document — email submissions are not accepted. - Review model: double-blind / anonymous — mask the author's identity throughout. Roughly a quarter of submissions are sent out for full review; every article published in the AHR has been reviewed by at least six scholars.
- Decision timeline: a decision is targeted within about six to eight months.
- Acceptance: the AHR publishes roughly 8–10% of the ~360 manuscripts it receives per year — a reach for any author; lead with a first-order question, not an incremental one.
- Length: ideally ≤ 8,000 words of text, not counting notes, tables, and charts (treat as a strong target; see 待核实).
- Notes: Chicago Manual of Style footnotes/endnotes; guideline ~2:1 text-to-notes at
submission — a typical 8,000-word article carries ~4,500–5,500 words of notes, so budget notes
well above "half the text"; no bibliography, no in-text parenthetical (see
ahr-citation-and-style). - Formatting: 8½ × 11, Times New Roman 12 pt, double-spaced, numbered pages.
- Images: alt-text under each figure legend; author clears reproduction permissions/rights.
- Abstract: whether a separate abstract is required is 待核实 — check the ScholarOne prompts.
- Fees: no author processing fees; 50% discount on up to 10 print copies.
- Exclusivity: not under consideration, published, in press, or under contract elsewhere.
Preflight checklist
Length & notes
- Text ideally ≤ 8,000 words (notes/tables/charts excluded)
- Chicago notes; no bibliography; no in-text parenthetical; ~2:1 text-to-notes
- Archival citations specify collection, box/folder, archive
Anonymity (double-blind)
- No author name, affiliation, acknowledgments in the manuscript
- No self-revealing phrasing ("in my earlier book…"); self-citations neutralized
- Identifying file metadata stripped (document properties, comments)
Format & files
- Word document; 8½ × 11; Times New Roman 12 pt; double-spaced; numbered pages
- Figures with alt-text under each legend; permissions plan in place
- Separate (non-anonymous) title/contact info as ScholarOne requires
Compliance
- Original work; exclusivity declaration true (not under consideration elsewhere)
- Reproduction rights for all images identified and obtainable
Anti-patterns
- Leaving author identifiers in the text, acknowledgments, or file metadata (breaks anonymity)
- A works-cited list or in-text citations (the AHR uses Chicago notes only)
- Submitting by email or to the wrong portal
- Concurrent submission elsewhere
- Leaving image permissions and alt-text to the editorial stage
Output format
【Length】text ≤ ~8,000 words (notes excluded)? [Y/N]
【Notes】Chicago, no bibliography, no in-text parenthetical? [Y/N]
【Anonymized】text + self-refs + file metadata clean? [Y/N]
【Format】Word / 8.5x11 / TNR 12 / double-spaced / numbered? [Y/N]
【Images】alt-text + permissions plan? [Y/N]
【Exclusivity】declaration true? [Y/N]
【Next】await decision → ahr-revision-and-response on R&R
Supplementary resources
../../resources/external_tools.md— manuscript prep, masking, and image tooling../../resources/official-source-map.md— portal, format, length, notes, fees, exclusivity