Episode 105: Joshua Piker, How Historians Publish History

by Liz CovartOctober 25, 2016

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What do historians do with their research once they finish writing about it?

How do historians publish the books and articles we love to read?

This episode of our Doing History: How Historians Work series, takes us behind-the-scenes of how historians publish their writing about history.

Our guide through the world of history publications is Joshua Piker, a Professor of History at the College of William and Mary, and the Editor of the William and Mary Quarterly, the leading journal of early American history and culture.

About the Series

Doing History episodes will introduce you to historians who will tell you what they know about the past and reveal how they came to their knowledge.

Each episode will air on the last Tuesday of each month in 2016.

This series is part of a partnership between Ben Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.

Episode Summary

In this 10th episode of our Doing History: How Historians Work series, we investigate how historians publish the history books and articles we love to read with Joshua Piker, a Professor of History at the College of William and Mary and the Editor of the William and Mary Quarterly, the leading journal of early American history and culture.

During our conversation, Josh reveals an overview of why historians view history as a process; Different publication opportunities for historians and how publication fits within the process of history; And a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to publish in the premier journal of early American history and culture, the William and Mary Quarterly.

What You’ll Discover

The process of history
Publication opportunities for historians
What historians mean by “popular” and “scholarly” history
The William and Mary Quarterly
What makes the William and Mary Quarterly different from other history journals
The work Josh performs as the editor of a history journal
The submission-to-publication process at the Quarterly
The 3 must-haves of WMQ essays
Peer review: what is it and how it works
Why the WMQ uses a double-blind peer review process
How book publishers use peer review
Publishing a journal article from an author’s perspective
How historians use peer review to make their work better
The time investment in each article
The OI Reader and how it adds a digital component to printed articles

Links to People, Places, and Publications

Joshua Piker
Josh’s William and Mary webpage
William and Mary Quarterly
Subscribe to William and Mary Quarterly
The OI Reader app
Kirsten Fischer’s blog post
Joshua Piker, The Four Deaths of Acorn Whistler: Telling Stories in Colonial America
Joshua Piker, Okfuskee: A Creek Indian Town in Colonial America
Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture

Complementary Episodes

American History Journals

Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what will the landscape of publication opportunities look like for historians 25 and 50 years from now? Will printed books and journals be dead? Will historians still publish history in the written word? 