Editorial Policy

Effective date: October 31, 2026

I Know History publishes original history essays by students from around the world, most of them submitted through competitions run with libraries, museums, universities and history programs. Our goal is a growing, trustworthy library of student scholarship. This policy sets out what we publish and how we review it.

1. What we publish?

Analytical or narrative essays on any period, region or theme in history.
Work grounded in evidence: an argument supported by primary and secondary sources.
Work in English.

We don’t publish opinion pieces on current politics that have no historical analysis, advertising, fiction (unless a competition asks for it), or work that has already appeared elsewhere under an exclusive license.

2. Standards

Accuracy. Facts, dates, names and quotations must be correct and checkable.
Evidence. Claims must be supported, and every quotation, paraphrase, statistic and idea taken from someone else needs a citation. We prefer Chicago style (notes and bibliography), but MLA or APA is accepted if used consistently.
Sources. Use reputable sources: archives, scholarly books and journals, museum and library collections, and reliable reference works. Wikipedia and AI chatbots can be a starting point but aren’t citable sources.
Fairness. Represent historical actors and debates in their context. Contested interpretations are welcome as long as they’re argued with evidence. Engaging with perspectives from many cultures and regions is encouraged.
Sensitive subjects. Essays may examine violence, oppression, genocide and other difficult histories. Write about them with care, and give quotations containing slurs or graphic material only where they’re needed to the analysis. We don’t publish denial or glorification of well-documented atrocities.

3. Original work and academic integrity

Every essay must be the author’s own work. Plagiarism includes copying text without quotation marks and a citation, close paraphrase, reusing someone else’s structure or argument without credit, and having someone else write the essay. We may check submissions with plagiarism-detection tools. If we find plagiarism or fabricated sources, we’ll reject the essay, may disqualify it from competitions and may close the account. When a student enters through a school, we may notify the partner institution.

4. Use of AI tools

Allowed, if disclosed: brainstorming topics, finding sources to read yourself, checking grammar and spelling, and translation help for non-native English writers.
Not allowed: generating any part of the essay’s text, argument or analysis, or making up or summarizing sources you haven’t read.
Every submission includes a short AI-use statement. If none was used, write “None.”
We may use detection tools and ask an author to show drafts or notes. Detection results alone are never the sole basis for a finding of misconduct.

5. Review process

Screening. An editor checks eligibility, length, citations and originality.
Editorial review. An editor reviews the essay against these standards and may accept it, ask for revisions or decline it.
Editing. We may make light edits for clarity, grammar, formatting and length. We won’t change an author’s argument or conclusions without their approval. Substantial edits are shared with the author before publication.
Publication. The essay is published with the author’s chosen byline, the date and its competition details, if any, and is tagged by region, period and theme.

Competition entries follow the timeline in that competition’s Official Rules.

6. Bylines and student privacy

By default, we show the author’s first name and last initial. Authors can choose to show their full name, school, region or grade level. We never publish students’ contact details. Photos from award ceremonies are published only with the consent the partner institution collects.

7. Corrections and removal

If a published essay contains a factual error, we’ll correct it and add a dated correction note. Report errors to admin@iknowhistory.org. Authors can ask to have their essays unpublished as described in the Terms of Use. Competition winners stay in the official results archive. We may remove an essay that’s later found to break this policy.

8. Independence

Partner institutions co-host competitions and may help pick judges and topics. Editorial decisions about what IKH publishes rest with IKH editors. Sponsors and donors have no say over which essays are published or how they’re judged.

9. Questions section

Our editors write and fact-check the daily and weekly questions and the mastery-level questions, using reputable sources. If you think an answer is wrong, use the “Report question” button and we’ll review it.

10. Contact

Editorial questions and corrections: admin@iknowhistory.org