Dear members of the community of historians and methodologists of economics,

We are delighted to announce the founding of Review of the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, a new open-access online journal that will begin publishing later this year under the auspices of the Open Library of Humanities (OLH).

As you know, for the last decade, we have co-edited Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, a book series originally founded by Warren Samuels in 1983 and most recently published by Emerald Insight. We have long struggled to sustain the series, given the peculiarities of impact-factor considerations, which rate book series differently than (i.e., below) journals, and the concomitant difficulties involved in competing as a book series with the journals in the field. After several frustrating and ultimately fruitless negotiations with Emerald intended to transform the book series into a journal, we sought alternative publishing options.

Here’s a bit about OLH’s unique and compelling publication model:

[OLH] is an award-winning, academic-led, diamond open-access publisher of 28 journals based at Birkbeck, University of London. As part of an international community of scholar-led, community-owned and non-profit publishers, the OLH plays a leading role in a growing publishing ecosystem that explores innovative business models and novel approaches of open access publishing. […] 

[T]he platform currently covers its costs by payments from an international library consortium, rather than author-facing fees (also known as Article Processing Charges). This funding mechanism enables equitable open access in the humanities disciplines, releasing readers and authors from the prohibitive costs of publishing open access. […]

Our journals benefit from the latest advances in online journal publishing – with high-quality presentation, annotative functionality, robust digital preservation, strong discoverability and easy-to-share social media buttons. 

Our mission is to support and extend open access to scholarship in the humanities – for free, for everyone, for ever. 

For more information about OLH, please visit https://www.openlibhums.org

We should have an online submission system established later this spring and we aim to publish the first volume of Review of (née Research in) the History of Economic Thought and Methodology before the end of 2024. 

So, in effect, RHETM is dead. Long live RHETM!

The new journal will feature the same format as the old book series. Each volume will include a guest-edited, monothematic, symposium, as well as general research articles and new archival discoveries. We also hope to re-establish the traditions you’ve come to associate with RHETM, like our annual Warren Samuels Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, and the more recent Student’s Work-In-Progress Competition. We hope to extend the legacy commenced by Warren Samuels over 40 years ago. 

Suffice it to say, we hope that you will submit your own work and encourage submissions from friends, colleagues, and students to the new RHETM. We will need all the help we can get over the next few years, as we seek to develop an audience and grow our impact factor. 

We are available to answer any questions you might have. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. 

Luca Fiorito – [log in to unmask]

Scott Scheall – [log in to unmask]

Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak – [log in to unmask]