Editorial Policy

Editorial Goals

Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide by providing a free, reliable, impartial, and unbiased source of information. World History Encyclopedia is an independent non-profit organization that acts in the public interest. Our publication adheres to academic standards, but it is written in an easy-to-read manner with students and the general public in mind.

Editorial Integrity

All content published by World History Encyclopedia goes through a rigorous editorial process prior to publication. Submissions are reviewed by multiple members of our full-time editorial team to ensure quality, readability, and accuracy. 

To ensure academic standards, our authors are expected to use a wide range of works published by reputable academic publishers or journals. Accepted online sources include the websites of museums, universities, journals, research institutes, excavation projects, or reference libraries. Submissions without adequate bibliographies or those using unreliable sources are rejected.

Submissions should reflect the accepted scholarly consensus while also referring to current research and any ongoing scholarly debates on the subject. Published articles are regularly revised and improved by our editorial team in collaboration with the authors to ensure they remain up to date and in line with the current scholarly consensus.

Editorial Process

Every article submission to World History Encyclopedia goes through the following process:

1. The topic is extensively researched by one of our staff or volunteer writers.
2. The author writes and submits the article to our editorial team.
3. The editors check for AI-generated content and plagiarism, as well as the suitability of bibliographical sources.
4. The editors then copy-edit the article in line with our style guide, review the accuracy of its content and verify its citations. For editorial decisions not covered by our style guide, we consult the Chicago Manual of Style for guidance.
5. If necessary, the editors get back to the author with questions or requests for improvements.
6. The editors add illustrations including maps created by our in-house cartographer or images sourced from public domain or Creative Commons sources.
7. The finished article is double-checked and then published.
8. The article is translated into other languages and checked again by the translation team for accuracy as well as cultural sensitivity.

The above process is also viewable as a simplified flowchart.

After publication, only the editorial team is able to edit articles. Our publication is not a Wiki, and all edits are carefully considered by the editors.

Artificial Intelligence & Plagiarism

Articles must be written by humans; we do not accept AI-generated or AI-assisted writing. Finally, we take plagiarism very seriously. Every submission goes through a plagiarism check, and plagiarizing authors are banned for life.

Corrections

World History Encyclopedia values feedback from readers. We reply to every email, and we review any concerns brought to our attention. Should you find something that you think needs clarification or correction, please contact us. We will investigate the issue and, if necessary, make changes on the website.

Editorial Independence

The editorial team is independent of commercial concerns. We do not allow the commercial or executive side of our organization or any of our partners or clients to influence the editorial decision-making process.

We do not accept payment to publish third-party content on our website or to place links to other websites. All submissions are subject to our standard editorial procedure, regardless of who submitted them.