Investigating under the microscope of philosophy.
Analyzing through the telescope of history.

Founding Issue in Development · September 2026

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Research & editorial standards

Rigor must be visible to be accountable.

These founding standards define what The Liberty Articulator intends to verify, disclose, preserve, and correct. They are dated drafts until an editorial board formally ratifies them.

Status: Founding Draft for Public Scrutiny

Version 0.9 · issued 29 August 2026

Next review before submissions open.

Scope & balance

Three fields. One measurable commitment.

The founding portfolio uses a ten-article unit: five articles led by history, three by philosophy, and two by politics. Each interdisciplinary article receives one primary discipline at acceptance; secondary tags do not alter the count.

History
50%5 of 10
Philosophy
30%3 of 10
Politics
20%2 of 10

Analysis is a cross-cutting method, not a fourth allocation. The Liberty Articulator will publish an annual count of accepted research articles and explain any temporary deviation from the target.

Peer review

Review is a process, not a guarantee.

Research articles will normally receive two independent specialist reports. At launch, author and reviewer identities are concealed from one another; editors retain the information required to manage conflicts and accountability.

Identity transparency

Each record names the review model in standardized language and states any exception.

Conflict control

Editors and reviewers declare relevant relationships, interests, funding, and recent collaboration before assignment.

Recorded revision

Authors answer material objections point by point. Editors preserve reports, decisions, and manuscript versions.

Peer review can expose weaknesses and improve an argument; it does not certify truth. Editorials, news, reviews, and reader forums display their different review status plainly.

Ten accountable gates

From proposal to stewardship.

Every gate has an owner, an evidence requirement, and a dated decision. A publication cannot skip silently to the next state.

  1. Proposal & allocation

    Scope, originality, article type, primary discipline, and conflicts are declared before drafting.

  2. Research protocol

    The question, primary corpus, scholarship, method, translation or data practice, and anticipated limits are recorded.

  3. Integrity screen

    Editors check authorship, originality, permissions, source accessibility, ethics, funding, and competing interests.

  4. Editorial assessment

    The handling editor assesses fit, evidentiary sufficiency, and completion of the Bloch Lens.

  5. Independent review

    Normally two subject-qualified reviewers work under the published identity and interaction model.

  6. Revision & response

    Authors submit a versioned manuscript and a point-by-point response; every material objection is tracked.

  7. Verification

    Quotations, translations, dates, names, archive identifiers, citations, calculations, images, and rights are checked.

  8. Production

    Copyediting, accessibility, metadata, author proofs, and preservation outputs must all pass.

  9. Publication

    The version of record displays review status, sources, editorial dates, disclosures, and a stable citation.

  10. Stewardship

    Corrections, responses, retractions, and preserved prior versions remain visible after publication.

The Bloch Lens

Analysis in honor of Marc Bloch.

The rubric is inspired by Bloch’s practice of critical testimony, comparison, historical analysis, and causal inquiry. It is not presented as a definitive reconstruction of his unfinished method.

  1. What is the historical or conceptual question?

  2. What evidence survives, and through which institutions?

  3. What is absent, silent, translated, or otherwise mediated?

  4. Which comparison makes the problem clearer?

  5. What causal or conceptual inference is being made?

  6. What counterevidence or rival explanation remains?

  7. What finding would change the conclusion?

Verification

A retraceable evidentiary trail.

A

Source identity

Repository, collection, series, box, folder, page or folio, stable identifier, consultation date, and rights status where relevant.

B

Textual accuracy

Material quotations, names, dates, figures, translations, transcriptions, and image captions are checked against the cited object.

C

Claim support

Editors distinguish what a source states, what an author infers, and which rival reading or counterevidence remains.

D

Access & limits

Gaps, inaccessible holdings, selection effects, privileged access, permissions, and reproduction constraints are disclosed.

Corrections

The record is amended, never silently rewritten.

Typographical fixes that do not alter meaning may be logged in place. Material corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, and responses receive their own dated notice, stable URL, reciprocal link, and explanation.

  • Prior public versions remain preserved.
  • The current version identifies what changed and why.
  • A correction never removes the original editorial history.
  • Retraction marks the record; it does not make the record disappear.

Ethics & independence

Policies before prestige.

Before submissions open, The Liberty Articulator will publish ratified policies for authorship, AI use, conflicts, funding, permissions, complaints, appeals, misconduct, privacy, licensing, preservation, and editorial independence.

Founding draft

Authorship & contribution

Founding draft

Funding & competing interests

Founding draft

Research ethics & permissions

Founding draft

Complaints & appeals

Founding draft

Misconduct response

Founding draft

Content, code & metadata rights

Standards consulted

The policy has sources, too.

Consulted sources guide the draft; listing them does not imply endorsement or certification by their publishers.

  1. Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct

    American Historical Association

    Guidance on evidence, retraceable citation, uncertainty, counterevidence, funding, and the relation of primary to secondary sources.

    View standard

  2. Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, version 4

    COPE · DOAJ · OASPA · WAME

    The live record says these 2022 principles are under review. The journal will date and version any policy derived from them.

    View standard

  3. Standard Terminology for Peer Review, ANSI/NISO Z39.106-2023

    National Information Standards Organization

    Vocabulary for describing reviewer identities, interactions, review publication, and post-publication commenting without ambiguous labels.

    View standard

  4. Peer-Review Metadata Guide

    Crossref

    Metadata guidance for reports, decisions, responses, rounds, competing interests, and relations to the reviewed item.

    View standard

  5. Citing Records in the National Archives

    U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

    A repository-specific model for citations that preserve item, series, record group, repository, and location provenance.

    View standard