Studies in People’s History
Asian History
Studies in People’s History journal would embrace all aspects of History under the broadest of definitions, but always bearing in mind their relationship with society at large. The journal is peer-reviewed and would aspire to a detailed level of research and theoretical discussion. Papers on the history of classes, and other social groups and gender history, and the National Movement would be especially welcome.
The journal will cover all periods of Indian history (i.e., the entire past of present-day South Asian nations plus Afghanistan), but would also include papers on other countries, especially such as may be concerned with world-wide movements that also affected India (e.g., language shifts: technology transfers, feudalism, capitalism, colonialism, genesis of modern ideas) or with comparative history (in e.g., spheres of political structures, forms of thought, trends in art). The journal could include surveys of work done on particular fields, reports or commentaries on textual sources including inscriptions, and archival documents.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Studies in People’s History is an established journal, in print and on–line, issued twice a year (June and December). All contributions are peer–reviewed and subject to copy–editing. It invites or accepts papers on all aspects of History, with insistence on adequate level of detailed research and reasoned analysis. Its focus is on Indian history, in the larger sense of the history of all South Asian countries. But it welcomes papers related to the history of other countries as well, since it deems this crucial for comparative studies and the appreciation of varying applications of the historical method. Moreover, it treats history in all its aspects, extending from the study of technology, economic conditions, social structures, to political history, ideological trends, and women’s history, as well as different aspects of culture and art. Archaeology is treated as part of History, and so too Numismatics and Historical Geography. The journal also publishes surveys of work done in particular fields of history as well as reports on textual and other historical sources. Further, it keeps its doors open to debates on particular historical themes or theories. Up to half of its issues have been devoted to specific historical themes. The journal has also a strong review section.
Special effort is made to publish papers quickly once they are accepted.
| Irfan Habib | Professor Emeritus, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India |
| Shireen Moosvi | formerly Professor at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India |
| A K Bagchi | Professor Emeritus, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, India |
| Faisal Devji | St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, UK |
| Richard M Eaton | University of Arizona, Tuscon, USA |
| Suraiya Faroghi | Professor of History, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey |
| Iqtidar Alam Khan | formerly Professor at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India |
| Xinru Liu | Professor Emeritus, College of New Jersey, USA |
| Aditya Mukherjee | formerly Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India |
| Prabhat Patnaik | Jawaharlal Nehru University, India |
| M N Pearson | University of New South Wales, Australia |
| Y Subbarayalu | Pondicherry University, Puducherry |
| Romila Thapar | Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India |
| Eugenia Vanina | Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia |
| M Witzel | Harvard University, Cambridge, USA |
Studies in People’s History
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
Manuscripts should be submitted to the Editor, Dr Shireen Moosvi, at aligarhhistorianssociety2010@gmail.com; shireen.moosvi@gmail.com; profirfanhabib@gmail.com
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Studies in People’s History will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere.
If you have any questions about publishing with SAGE, please visit the SAGE Journal Solutions Portal
1. What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper
2. Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research data
3. Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving
4. Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 Book Reviews
5. Submitting your manuscript
5.1 Information required for completing your submission
5.2 Permissions
6. On acceptance and publication
6.1 SAGE Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article
1.1 Aims & Scope
Before submitting your manuscript to Studies in People’s History, please ensure you have read the ‘Aims & Scope’ of the journal.
There could be three to five sections in the journal, though two sections remain unchanged.
Unchanged Sections
- Research Articles: only the research articles are refereed.
- Book Reviews: vary from number to number invariably guided by limits to the size of the manuscript
Changed Sections
- Colloquium
- Community or social development case
- Notes and interviews
- Perspectives
Full-fledged papers should be to a maximum of 7,000 words, including figures, tables and annexures. Brief write-ups may also be sent; these will be considered for inclusion in other sections.
The SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. SAGE Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online
1.3.2 Language requirements
The manuscript should be structured as follows:
- Cover page, showing title of the paper, name of author, author’s affiliation and institutional address with pin code, email id and an abstract not exceeding 100 words. In case there are two or more authors, then corresponding author’s name and address details must be clearly specified on the first page itself.
- The contributors should provide 4–5 keywords for online searchability.
- Text should start on a new page, and must not contain the names of authors.
- References should follow the ‘conventional’ system, in which all references are relegated to footnotes. Full publication details are to be given at the initial occurrence of citation.
Important note: There is no limit on the number of references allowed.
Please Note: For each text citation there must be a corresponding citation (a note cue in this case) in the reference list and for each reference list citation there must be a corresponding text citation.
- Tables should be provided in editable format. Both tables and figures should be referred to in the text by number separately (e.g., Table 1) not by placement (e.g., see Table below).
Please Note: All figures and tables should be cited in the text and should have the source (a specific URL, a reference or, if it is author’s own work, ‘The author(s)’) mentioned irrespective of whether or not they require permissions.
- Figures, including maps, graphs and drawings, should not be larger than page size. They should be numbered and arranged as per their references in the text. All photographs and scanned images should have a resolution of minimum 300 dpi and 1,500 pixels and their format should be TIFF or JPEG. Permissions to reprint should be obtained for copyright protected photographs/images.
- The language and spellings used should be British (UK), with ‘s’ variant, for example, globalisation instead of globalization, labour instead of labor. For non-English and uncommon words and phrases, use italics throughout the text. Meaning of non-English words should be given in parentheses just after the word when it is used for the first time.
- Articles should use non-sexist and non-racist language.
- Spell out numbers from one to ninety-nine. However, for exact measurement (e.g., China’s GDP growth rate 9.8 per cent) use numbers. Very large round numbers, especially sums of money, may be expressed by a mixture of numerals and spelled-out numbers (India’s population 1.2 billion).
- Single quotes should be used throughout. Double quote marks are to be used within single quotes. Spellings of words in quotations should not be changed. Quotations of 45 words or more should be separated from the text.
- Notes should be numbered serially and presented at the end of each page as footnotes. Notes must contain references.
- Ibid. must be used in the footnotes.
- Use ‘per cent’ instead of % in the text. In tables, graphs, etc., % can be used. Use ‘twentieth century’, ‘the 1990s’.
- Number ranges should be truncated, for example, 2017–18.
- The initials must be separated by dots and without space in case of proper nouns in the text.
- Abbreviations are spelled out at first occurrence. Very common ones (US, GDP, BBC) need not be spelled out.
- Website sources, that is, mere URLs with the last access date, as well as URLs (accompanied with titles) which do not have a year of publication can be retained in the footnotes. For example: “Barzani appoints Kosrat Rasoul as supreme leader of Peshmerga”, Iraq Today, accessed October 15, 2017, http://iraqtoday.com/ar/news/15266/
SAGE does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.
Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:
• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
• The author has recommended the reviewer
• The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
If the named authors for a manuscript change at any point between submission and acceptance, an Authorship Change Form must be completed and digitally signed by all authors (including any added or removed) . An addition of an author is only permitted following feedback raised during peer review. Completed forms can be uploaded at Revision Submission stage or emailed to the Journal Editorial Office contact (listed on the journal’s manuscript submission guidelines). All requests will be moderated by the Editor and/or Sage staff.
Important: Changes to the author by-line by adding or deleting authors are NOT permitted following acceptance of a paper.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
2.3.1 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
Studies in People’s History requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
Studies in People’s History encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway
Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.
At SAGE we are committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research. Where relevant, The Journal encourages authors to share their research data in a suitable public repository subject to ethical considerations and where data is included, to add a data accessibility statement in their manuscript file. Authors should also follow data citation principles. For more information please visit the SAGE Author Gateway, which includes information about SAGE’s partnership with the data repository Figshare.
SAGE is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the SAGE Author Gateway
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Studies in People’s History and SAGE take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the Journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a SAGE journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the SAGE Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
Before publication, SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. SAGE’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants SAGE the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than SAGE. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the SAGE Author Gateway
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Studies in People’s History offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. A LaTex template is available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit SAGE’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from SAGE after receipt of your accepted article.
This Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files
Studies in People’s History adheres to the Chicago Manual of Style. View the guide here to ensure your manuscript conforms to this style.
- References: Details must follow the ‘conventional’ system of referencing, in which all references are relegated to footnotes. Full publication details are to be given at the initial occurrence of citation. In articles concerned with archaeology, historical linguistics, cliometrics, etc., the ‘scientific’ method of reference, if found convenient, may be followed.
- Title case: In references, the titles of papers, books, journals, articles, etc. are put in title case (i.e., first letter of all words except articles and conjunctions are capitalized—e.g., Journal of Business Ethics).
- Italicize: Book and Journal titles are to be italicized.
Reference Examples:
Conventional Style
- Books:
Utsa Patnaik, The Long Transition: Essays on Political Economy, New Delhi, 1999, p. 63 (first occurrence)
Patnaik, The Long Transition: Essays on Political Economy, p. 63 (subsequent occurrences)
Ibid., p. 12 (in case the work cited in the preceding footnote is being referred to)
- Edited Books:
David McCutchion, ‘Hindu-Muslim Artistic Continuities’, in The Islamic Heritage of Bengal, ed. George Michell, Paris, 1984, pp. 213–30. (first occurrence)
McCutchion, ‘Hindu-Muslim Artistic Continuities’, pp. 213–30. (subsequent occurrences)
- Translated/Edited books:
Jahāngῑr, Tūzuk-i Jahāngῑrῑ, ed. Syed Ahmad, Aligarh, 1864, p. 15.
Minhaj Siraj, Tabaqāt-i-Nāṣirῑ, tr., Major H. G. Raverty, Calcutta, 1885, reprint: 1995, Vol. I, pp. 559–60.
- Translated works (With different title):
Francisco Pelsaert, ‘Remonstrantie’, c. 1626, tr. W.H. Moreland and P. Geyl, Jahangir’s India, Cambridge, 1925. Reprint, Delhi, 1972.
- Journal articles:
‘Some Aspects of Indian Village Society in Northern India during the Early 18th Century’, IHR 1(1) (1974), p. 58.
- Official documents and Unpublished works:
Revenue Department, Miscellaneous, G.O. 2013, dated 6 June 1899, p. 6, Revenue department, Miscellaneous G.O. No. 2677 dated 20 July 1899, pp. 4–5. Jagjῑvandās, Muntakhabu’t Tawārῑkh, MS, British Lib., Add. 26,253, ff 21a-22b. [Note: MS = Manuscript; ff. = folios]
Scientific Style
- Scientific Style Citations: (Jarrige 2000); (Castleden 1993: 72–73); (Jansen 1989: 189; 1993: 119); (Jansen 1989; Castleden 1993)
References listed at the end of the articles:
- Books: Castelden, R. Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete, London, 1993.
- Chapter in an edited book: Jarrige, C. ‘The mature Indus phase at Nausharo’, in M. Taddei and G. de Marco, eds, South Asian Archaeology 1997, Rome, 2000, pp. 237–58.
- Translated books: Ghosh, Ishan Chandra, transl. Jataka, Kolkata, 2001.
- Journal article: Jansen, M. ‘Water Supply and Sewage Disposal at Mohenjo-Daro’, World Archaeology, 21(2), 1989, pp. 178–92.
Additional Notes
- In the footnotes, Ibid. and op. cit. should be employed to avoid repetition of detailed references.
- Transliteration should be according to a uniform system throughout an article.
- The Epigraphia Indica system for Sanskrit, Prakrit and Tamil and other Indian languages is recommended. In case a contributor wishes to follow the conventional system of Sanskrit/Prakrit transliteration (thus reading ‘ṣ’ instead of ‘sh’ and ‘c’ instead of ‘ch’), this should be followed uniformly in the contributed article, and not sporadically. For Arabic and Persian the system followed in F. Steingass’s Persian-English Dictionary is recommended. Modern personal and place names should have their usual spellings in English, without diacritical marks.
- The name ‘India’ should normally be used, in all pre-1947 contexts, for the territories now comprised in the Indian Union, Bangladesh and Pakistan, the expressions ‘North India’, ‘South India’, etc., to be used accordingly. ‘South Asia’ should be used for pre-1947 times only when Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives or any of these countries is also included in the territory being considered. In post-1947 contexts ‘Indiaʼ should stand for the Indian Union only.
- Contributors are advised to use the abbreviations ‘bc’ and ‘ad’ rather than ‘bce’ and ‘ce’ for years of the Christian/ Common Era.
- Should contributors use long quotations (which, in any case, must occur only in very exceptional cases), they should obtain permission from the authors/copyright owners. This would apply also to illustrations, diagrams or maps, if they are reproduced from copyright material. We recognise that words reproduced from another text, without quotation marks and explicit acknowledgement, amounts to plagiarism and must be avoided
Copies of books for review may please be sent to Professor Shireen Moosvi, Co-editor, Studies in People’s History, Zahra Cottage, 4/80 J, Kabir Colony, Aligarh 202002, India.
- The title of these must contain the name of the author and the book being reviewed, the place of publication and the publisher details (name and location), year of publication, number of pages, price and binding (hardbound/paperback) set as follows:
Bikash Nath, Tea Plantation Workers of Assam and the Indian National Movement, 1921–1947 (New Delhi: Primus Books), 2016, xx + 360 pp., Rs. 1,950 (Hb).
- Reviewer’s name must be provided at the end of the book review.
Manuscripts should be submitted to the Editors at aligarhhistorianssociety2010@gmail.com; shireen.moosvi@gmail.com; profirfanhabib@gmail.com
Copies of books for review may please be sent to Professor Shireen Moosvi, Co-editor, Studies in People’s History, Zahra Cottage, 4/80 J, Kabir Colony, Aligarh 202002, India.
5.1 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the SAGE Author Gateway
6. On acceptance and publication
Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal SAGE Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the SAGE Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
SAGE provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The SAGE Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Editor of the journal at shireen.moosvi@gmail.com