History, the study of the human past, stands at the nexus of the humanities and social sciences. Its scholars must address the quintessentially human forms of expression found in the arts and how their practitioners have approached them. At the same time, however, because historians study people in groups, they cannot ignore developments in the social sciences. Additionally, increasing interest in environmental history requires that those scholars who seek to explore the changing relationships between human societies and their surrounding physical environs must be familiar with the methodological practices of the natural sciences as well.

The editors of the Journal of Imperial and Post-Colonial Historical Studies (JIPCHS) seek to combine traditional historical approaches with more contemporary methods used by scholars from a wide array of disciplines. We have chosen the themes of imperial and post-colonial studies because they lend themselves readily to a broad range of perspectives and approaches, and, significantly, because they are applicable to every region where a human society has developed at some point in time. They encourage discussions of state formation and diplomacy, yet do not preclude issues of race, gender, or class.

JIPCHS is a new semi-annual journal for recent Ph.D.'s and graduate students to expand the limits of colonial and post-colonial studies by incorporating interdisciplinary methods into their works. Comparative approaches are especially encouraged. JIPCHS welcomes a wide range of academic inquiry from scholars around the world. Contributors address issues of statecraft, social change, cultural interaction, and economic relations within the historical context of imperialism and colonialism in any region of the world and in any time period, from antiquity to the present. Topics for consideration include, but are not limited to: colonization and decolonization, domination and resistence, film/cinema, foreign policy, information media (print and/or electronic), intellectual movements/history, literature, medicine/medical history, methodologies, migration, missionaries and/or religious change, servitude, state formation and expansion, women and states/law.

Manuscripts should be based on primary sources or a wide range of relevant literature; approximately 6,000 words (25 pages) exclusive of endnotes; typed, double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12-point font, with one inch margins. Footnotes should conform to the 14th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (especially Chapter 15), and should be references to cited material only, not textual or bibliographic commentaries. Manuscripts that have been published elsewhere or that are under consideration for publication elsewhere will not be considered.

In an effort to include the works of scholars whose native language is not English, or who are multilingual, JIPCHS will accept manuscripts submitted in any language. The author, however, must provide a copy of an English translation. JIPCHS will publish the English language text in the journal and post the original language text on its web site. Foreign language manuscripts must meet the same criteria stated for articles submitted to JIPCHS.

JIPCHS is a fully-refereed publication that uses a double-blind (i.e., anonymous) process to evaluate manuscript submissions. Evaluations, accordingly, will require three to five months, although in some exceptional cases they may take longer. Copies of manuscripts will be returned only to those authors who provide self-addressed, stamped envelopes. If a manuscript is accepted for publication it will be edited for organization, clarity, and consistency. Copy-edited versions will be sent to the authors for approval before the finished article goes to press.