• General information to authors
• instructions to authors
• article publication charges
• proofs

General information to authors

Acta Historica Tallinnensia publishes peer-reviewed research papers and review essays in English and in Estonian. The papers should be written in clear, proper language and meet the following requirements. We publish only articles dealing with the history of the Baltic Sea region and the Baltic States.

Submission, review and resubmission processes

1. The manuscripts must be submitted in the format outlined in the Instructions to authors.
2. The manuscript will be sent to at least two reviewers and to all editors.
3. If it is established that the article is likely to be acceptable for publication after revision, it will be returned to the corresponding author for correction.
4. The authors of accepted articles must then revise the manuscript according to the comments of the reviewers and return it to the editorial office.
5. When the manuscript has been revised it will be accepted for publication, or passed for re-reviewing to reviewers for asking their opinion on the acceptability of the paper for publication.
6. After receiving the re-review(s) the editor-in-chief and the editors of the journal will make the final decision on the acceptability of the article for publication.

All papers to be published in the journal are double-blind peer reviewed internationally. The duration of the reviewing process is variable, depending on numerous factors. However, typically the entire process from the submission of the first version of the manuscript to publication takes 4 to 6 months.

Instructions to Authors

publication types

Research articles should adhere to the structure of research articles. The length of the manuscript (including tables, illustrations, references, and summary) should preferably be no more than 9,000 words.

Review essays should summarise existing research in the field, critically evaluate the current state of knowledge, identify gaps, and suggest future research directions. The length of the manuscript should preferably be no more than 8,000 words.

manuscript elements

Title
The Title should be concise but informative. The arrangement and selection of words is important for indexing purposes. A short running title should be provided.

The name(s), including one forename in full, affiliation(s), full address(es), and e-mail address(es) of the author(s) should be included. In the covering letter the corresponding author should be indicated.

Abstract
A brief Abstract (100 words in maximum) should be a self-contained summary of the paper, presenting concisely the objectives of the work reported, results, and conclusions. Citations in the Abstract are not allowed.

Keywords
The Abstract should be followed by Keywords (max eight).

References
The documentary-note or humanities style is used for bibliographic references. The references and notes are provided in footnotes. Notes should be numbered consecutively throughout the article with superior numerals used for note reference numbers in the text. We accept also references in Cyrillic. Authors are required to include Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for all references where available, ensuring accurate and efficient access to the cited sources.

Form of references in footnotes:

a) Books: initial(s) and surname(s) of the author(s), book title, publisher, publication place and date, page number(s).

D. G. Anderson. Identity and Ecology in Arctic Siberia. Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, 103.

b) Articles in books: initial(s) and surname(s) of the author(s), title of the article, book title preceded by en dash, initials and surname(s) of the editor(s) preceded by Ed. by, publisher, publication place and date, page number(s).

S. Watrous. The Regionalist Conception of Siberia, 1860 to 1920. – Between Heaven and Hell: The Myth of Siberia in Russian Culture. Ed. by G. Diment, Y. Slezkine. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1993, 118.

If the book is not published in English, the information about the editor(s) should be in the original language, e.g.:

T. Jaago. Narrationen von Heimat und Abstammung: Esten und ethnische Minoritäten in Estland erzählen. – Erzählen zwischen den Kulturen. Hrsg. von S. Wienker-Piepho, K. Roth. Waxmann, Münster, 2004, 173–185.

E. Piirimäe. Keeleline pööre. − Humanitaarteaduste metodoloogia: Uusi väljavaateid. Koost. ja toim. M. Tamm. Tallinna Ülikooli Kirjastus, Tallinn, 2011, 33–58.

В. Шалда. Латышские беженцы в России и революция 1915–1921 гг. – Россия и Балтия 2. Эпоха перемен (1914–1924). Отв. ред. А. О. Чубарьян. ИВИ РАН, Москва, 2002, 63-75.

c) Articles in journals: initial(s) and surname(s) of the author(s), title of the article, en dash, title of the journal, publication date, volume number, issue number, page numbers.

A. Kasekamp. Right-Wing Movements in the North-East Baltic. – Journal of Contemporary History, 1999, 34, 4, 587–600.

In the case of quotations, give the page number(s) where the quotation occurs, not the total number of pages in the work cited.

d) In the case of multiple citations of the same source full bibliographic details should be given when it is first cited. Subsequent citations should be in an abbreviated form with the initial(s) and surname(s) of the author(s), short title of the source and page number(s) given.

S. Watrous. The Regionalist Conception of Siberia, 120.

e) Archival documents: cite the specific source referred to in the work (creator, title, date, if known), arrange information about the source from the general to the specific: repository, its location, collection, fonds, series, item. On the first occasion, provide the official abbreviation of the archive and use it in subsequent references.

Political information of the Estonian Foreign Ministry to envoys posted abroad, 30 April 1927. Rahvusarhiiv (National Archives of Estonia, RA), Tallinn, 957-13-12, 2.

Data availability statement
Data Availability Statement, if relevant, should be placed in a separate section before Acknowledgements and should describe where the research data associated with a paper is available, and under what conditions the data can be accessed.

• If your data are in a repository, include hyperlinks and persistent identifiers (e.g. DOI or accession number) for the data where available.
• If your data cannot be shared openly, for example to protect study participant privacy, then this should be explained.
• Include both original data generated in your research and any secondary data reuse that supports your results and analyses.

Acknowledgements
If the article has been supported by a research project or any other external funding, this information should be placed in a separate Acknowledgements section before the summary.

Summary
A Summary (approximately 700 words) presenting the aim and main results of the study should be included at the end of the article. If the article is written in Estonian, the Summary should be in English, and vice versa. Citations in the Summary should be avoided.

notations and abbreviations

Notations must be clear, compact, and consistent with standard usage. All notations and abbreviations should be defined in the text. The abbreviations in the title and abstract should be avoided.

The lettering (upper- and lowercase letters, italic, bold) should follow the usage in the text. Different parts of a figure should be marked by lowercase letters in parentheses. The size of symbols and lettering should not be smaller than 1.5 mm.

illustrations

Illustrations should be prepared in their final format (that is no enlarging or reducing will be necessary) and fit into the print area of the journal. The maximum size is that of one journal page. All illustration files must be clearly numbered and provided with the title and the name(s) of the author(s) in a separate file. The appropriate place for each illustration in the text should be indicated in the text (“insert here Figure no. XXX”). All illustrations must have self-explanatory captions. The captions should be listed separately. The text, tables, and illustrations should not repeat one another. Dense shading for background should be avoided. Illustrations should be provided in one of the following formats:

.ai (Adobe Illustrator)
.eps (Encapsulated Post Script)
.xls (Microsoft Excel, save as an Excel worksheet; should contain spreadsheet and embedded chart)
.tif (Tagged Image Format)
.psd (Adobe Photoshop)

Photographs (digital or scanned) should be saved as .tif or .eps files at a resolution of at least 300 dpi.

Colour illustrations are accepted if they are essential to the presentation and are printed in colour only in electronic version of the article. The images should be in CMYK mode (resolution at least 300 dpi).

Make sure that any artwork is at the appropriate, minimum, resolution: 300 dpi for halftones and greyscale, 600 dpi for combinations (line art and halftones together), and 600 dpi for line art.

If you wish to include any previously published figures or tables, written permission (for both the print and online formats) must be obtained from the copyright holder prior to submission, except for publications with open access licences. Identify previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference citation at the end of the figure/table caption.

Submission

Please take the time to read and follow the instructions, as doing so will ensure your paper matches the journal’s requirements.

Manuscripts and other relevant materials can be sent electronically by e-mail to the editor-in-chief (marek.tamm@tlu.ee) or submitted through our electronic submission system. For using electronic submission system, corresponding author should first register as a user.

The submitting author, who is generally the corresponding author, is responsible for the manuscript during the submission and peer-review process. The submitting author must ensure that all eligible co-authors have been included in the author list and that they have all read and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. The attachment(s) should not exceed 10 MB or should be send by using web transfer services. The submission has to include:

• the covering letter (.doc, .docx, .rtf);
• the text files of the paper in Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx, .rtf);
• the PDF file of the paper (text, illustrations and tables in one file);
• original files of illustrations (eps, tif, psd, ai, cdr, xls).

COVERING LETTER

A covering letter must be included with each manuscript submission. It should be concise and explain why the content of the paper is significant, placing the findings in the context of existing work.

A covering letter is required to include the statements:

• Author(s) confirm that neither the manuscript nor any parts of its content are currently under consideration or published in another journal.
• All authors have approved the manuscript and agree with its submission to the Acta Historica Tallinnensia.
• Author(s) must identify and declare any personal circumstances or interest that may be perceived as influencing the representation or interpretation of reported research results. If there is no conflict of interest, please state “The author(s) declare(s) no conflict of interest.”

We accept manuscripts already posted to a preprint server but kindly ask you to make us aware of that in the covering letter. Please include a link to the preprint, and as appropriate, state how the manuscript has been adjusted/updated between deposition and submission.

ORCID

The journal recommends that all authors submitting a paper register an account with Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID). Registration provides a unique and persistent digital identifier for the account that enables accurate attribution and improves the discoverability of published papers, ensuring that the correct author receives the correct credit for their work. As the ORCID remains the same throughout the lifetime of the account, changes of name, affiliation, or research area do not affect the discoverability of an author’s past work and aid correspondence with colleagues.

The journal recommends that all authors include an ORCID within their submitting author data. ORCID numbers should be added to the author data upon submission and will be published alongside the submitted paper, should it be accepted.

Authors will also need to follow these instructions on the ORCID website: https://support.orcid.org/hc/en-us/articles/360006896394-Auto-updates-time-saving-and-trust-building.

article publication charges

The journal does not charge any submission nor publication fee from the authors. The open access fee is partially covered by the Tallinn University.

Proofs

The author will receive a set of proofs for correcting eventual technical errors. No textual changes may be made and no new material inserted in the text at the time of proofreading.