Hmmm I’ve known a few, typically the title is ‘independent researcher.’

If you’re willing to pay fees then there are plenty of predatory journals out there who could care less about anything but taking your money. These often involve no peer review and might not involve anyone in academia running the journal. They prey of the need for young academics to have a CV of publications before event being considered for tenure; this is perhaps worse off in the sciences than the humanities.

Reputable journals in history or the humanities writ large will not charge you anything to publish, but will subject your article to review; first by a member of the editorial staff or review board who decides if the piece fits in with the journals subject matter and style. Then if the piece is accepted it would be sent out for blind review to typically 3 or more specialists/people who know the topic and are associated with the journal who offer comments, opinion on accept/decline for publications, and minor/major revisions to make.

The only exception, when you would have to pay, is some large publishers do have payment schemes if you want to maintain copyright over your material, as otherwise you assign copyright over to them as part of the publishing agreement. Though there are journals who freely allow you to keep it as long as you respect their right to exclusivity for a period.

The process, acceptance rate, and time table for an article once submitted can vary a lot between journals.

I’ll say there are not many independent researchers with no connection at all to academia; often times they did masters or PhD but went on to other fields. Or, were at some point involved in academic projects as outside specialists and then decided to publish on their own account. The difficulty is often mastering the historiography and having the institutional support— especially a great library. Living in a bit city with a great expansive public library or archive can help or living near a university that allows free library access to the public can make it a bit easier.