We welcome contributions from historians as well as scholars working in adjacent disciplines, including STS, sociology, anthropology, legal studies, and related areas. Unless otherwise specified, submissions may address any geographical region or historical period. HoPP welcomes submissions from both established and emerging scholars.Upcoming themed issue topics (see below for more information about each):
Potential contributors are encouraged to interpret these themes broadly. We are particularly interested in work that situates pharmaceuticals, medicines, and drugs within larger questions such as those involving power, regulation, consumerism, activism, identity, inequality, and everyday experience.
If you have a manuscript that fits one of these themes, you are invited to submit it through our submission manager between now and September 1. Scholars working on projects in progress are also welcome to submit abstracts for consideration by July 15. The editorial team will review abstract submissions on a rolling basis and follow up with additional guidance and potential full submission timelines. Please indicate in your cover letter which themed issue you are responding to.
Visit hopp.uwpress.org/page/info/submissions for more information about the journal and our submission guidelines.
At the moment of America’s 250th celebration, we feel it is an appropriate time to celebrate, challenge, and reexamine the history and cultural politics of drug development and regulation within the United States. Drugs and policies governing them are rapidly evolving. HSS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy challenged the role of SSRIs in modern society; President Donald Trump issued two Executive Orders that impacted access to, and the regulation of, cannabis and the psychedelic drug categories; new classes and old classes of pharmaceuticals products, such as GLP-1s and reproductive medicines, generated significant debate at the state and federal levels. Because of cost and frictions, many Americans are seeking out unapproved and off-patent medicines through social media advertising, which itself remains unregulated. Lack of trust in mainstream medicine and lack of access both drive consumers to seek out alternative remedies.
This themed issue seeks to interrogate broad debates over state power and the regulation of substances shaping American citizens’ bodies and minds. We are particularly interested in scholarship that explores how pharmaceutical drugs and pharmacy practice have been shaped by law, bureaucracy, expertise, activism, commerce, and public debate. Possible topics include systems of drug approval and regulation, pharmaceutical advertising, professional boundaries and gate-keeping, roles and boundaries of health professions, drug (de)criminalization and scheduling, innovation and access, relationships between industry and government, and systems of pharmaceutical regulation.
More than 1 billion people are living with mental health disorders, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO), with conditions such as anxiety and depression inflicting immense human and economic tolls. These WHO findings also noted that there are significant gaps in addressing mental health conditions across the globe.
At the same time, the modern mind is mediated through the production and sale of brain-altering chemicals, often right from the pharmacy shelf. Whether by sipping your morning cup of coffee or taking your daily ADHD medication, or even when doomscrolling through advertisements on your phone for various consumer health products, these substances saturate daily life.
In the realm of pharmacy and pharmaceuticals, current herbal or chemical understandings developed in the 19th century, which saw the rise of scientific pharmacology and molecularization – as different natural compounds began to be isolated, studied, and synthesized in labs. In the realm of business, multiple corporations have sought to target the brain in precise ways, what historian David Courtwright has called “limbic capitalism.”
This themed issue explores the historical relationships between pharmacy and pharmaceuticals and psychiatry, mental health, and emotion and perception broadly conceived. We welcome submissions examining how pharmacy and pharmacists have shaped the mind, especially in the provision of treatment and the production of medicines themselves; everyday experiences of consuming varied products; constructions of selfhood, distress, productivity, and normalcy. Possible topics include psychopharmaceuticals, antidepressants and anxiolytics, addiction medicine, psychedelics, sleep and stimulant drugs, psychopharmaceutical advertising, patient activism, neurochemistry and identity, and the intersections of psychiatric medication with race, gender, disability, and sexuality.
In addition to individual submissions, the editors at HoPP also welcome proposals for relevant Special Issues. Special Issues in HoPP are collections of papers centered around a subject of special interest and are led by subject experts, who take on the role of the Guest Editor/s of the Special Issue. Aside from disseminating findings from ongoing research, Special Issues can also be used to commemorate a special event, showcasing papers from an academic conference, workshop, or symposium. In both cases, Special Issues serve as an effective means of bringing authors together and giving readers easier access to articles in one place. For reference, we encourage potential guest editors to consult past special issues in HoPP. Some examples include Special Issues on colonialism and plant-based pharmaceuticals, psychedelic medicines, and reproductive health and pharmaceuticals.
To propose a Special Issue, please forward a written proposal to HoPP’s Managing Editor, Dr. Jamie Banks (jamie.banks@lshtm.ac.uk). Your proposal should include: 1) a title, 2) a provisional timescale, 3) a 400 word summary (max), and 4) a list of potential authors (making explicit note of the intended Guest Editor/s). It is also desirable that proposals include a short (200 word) abstract for each of the article-length contributions. Our editors will respond within 14 business days. In special cases, the HoPP editorial team will support expenses that assist ECRs and graduate students in publishing manuscripts in the proposed issue. Please identify if you require modest financial support, the rationale, and the amount requested.
History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals publishes original scholarly articles about the history of pharmacy and pharmaceuticals, broadly defined, including (but not limited to) the history of: pharmacy practice, pharmacy science, pharmacy education, drug regulation, social and cultural aspects of drugs and medicines, the pharmaceutical industry—including the history of pharmaceuticals, drugs, and therapeutics—and facets of the related medical sciences. HoPP publishes major research articles, interviews, shorter pieces based on images (the section is called “Visual Pharmacy”), and book reviews.
Who can serve as a Guest Editor?
