Abstract
History journal articles constitute a large and diverse body of scholarly literature in history. This discussion frames the relative importance of articles as a communication ecology within the professionalization of historians and to the body of historical knowledge. Their discrete nature is examined and their particular characteristics are tied to the complex position they occupy in the dissemination of research and value to academic historians vis-à-vis promotion and tenure. The status of the article, its perceived purpose and value in relation to the importance of the monograph to academic historians, further frames this tension, characterising the political economy of academic historical scholarship. Examples of journals and specialization are discussed within academic history’s publishing ecosystem.
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For an instructive study of how the profession recognized, instigated and developed a need for the article, consult Margaret Stieg Dalton, The Origin and Development of Scholarly Historical Periodicals (University, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 1986).
For entrée to this phenomenon, consult Michael Mabe, and M. Amin, “Growth of Scholarly and Scientific Journals.” Scientometrics 51 (2001): 147–162; Mark Ware, Michael Mabe, The STM Report An Overview of Scientific and Scholarly Journal Publishing, https://www.zbw-mediatalk.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/STM-Report.pdf, 2015 STM: International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, Retrieved March 20, 2020.
See, Jean-Pierre V.M. Hérubel, and Edward A. Goedeken, “Trends in Historical Scholarship as Evidenced in The American Historical Review: 1896–1990.” The Serials Review 19 (Summer 1993): 79–83.
For an examination of this type of journal, consult Edward A. Goedeken, and Jean-Pierre V. M. Hérubel, “Periodical Dispersion in American History: Observations on Article Bibliographies from the Journal of American History.” The Serials Librarian 27 (1995):59–74.
For an examination of this journal see, Jean- Pierre V.M. Hérubel, Goedeken, Edward A. “Identifying the Intellectual Contours of a Historical Specialty: Geographical, Temporal, and Subject Emphases of the Journal of the History of Ideas.” Serials Librarian 55 (2008): 276–295; for the journal description, “JHI defines intellectual history expansively and ecumenically, including the histories of philosophy, of literature and the arts, of the natural and social sciences, of religion, and of political thought. It also encourages scholarship at the intersections of cultural and intellectual history—for example, the history of the book and of visual culture.” Retrieved April 2, 2010, https://jhi.pennpress.org/home/.
For such examples pertaining to history of sciences, consult, Marco Beretta, Claudio Pogliano, Pietro Redondi, Journals and the History of Science (Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, MCMXCVIII).
Unlike the stability of the monograph, “Indeed, it is important to recognize that print journals themselves have been undergoing significant changes. The increasing use of graphics, dedicated theme issues, review essays, roundtables, interviews, film reviews, printed exchanges, as well as computer technology in journal production have transformed the contents and dissemination of journals,” in Michael Grossberg, “HISTORY JOURNALS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.” Perspectives on History, May 1, 1997, Retrieved, April 4, 2020, https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/may-1997/history-journals-in-the-twenty-first-century.
See Edward A. Goedeken, Jean-Pierre V. M. Hérubel, “Two Sides of the same Coin? Trade and University Press Publishing of Revised Dissertations, 2007–2016: Some Observations,” Publishing Research Quarterly (2018): 1–37; Jean-Pierre V. M., Hérubel, “Disciplinary Permeability, Academic Specializations, and University Presses,” Publishing Research Quarterly (2020): 17–31.
For a cri du coeur for the support of the article among the options open to academic historians see Lara Putnam, “The Opportunity Costs of Remaining a Book Discipline.” Perspectives on History, April 1, 2015, https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/april-2015/the-opportunity-costs-of-remaining-a-book-discipline Retrieved March 3, 2020.
Margaret Stieg Dalton, The Origin and Development of Scholarly Historical Periodicals (University: University of Alabama Press, 1986), p. 17.
Such articles appear in Journal of Interdisciplinary History, or Social Science History: For examples of such social scientific approaches to historical research, see Steven Ruggles, Diana L. Magnuson. “The History of Quantification in History: The JIH as a Case Study.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 50 (Winter 2020): 363–381; Anne L. Buchanan, and Jean-Pierre V.M. Hérubel, "Interdisciplinarity in Historical Studies: Citation Analysis of the Journal of Interdisciplinary History." Libris: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal 4 (1994): 1–13; additionally, Social Science History privileges, “Social Science History seeks to advance the study of the past by publishing research that appeals to its interdisciplinary readership of historians, sociologists, economists, political scientists, anthropologists, and geographers. The journal invites articles that blend empirical research with theoretical work, undertake comparisons across time and space, or contribute to the development of quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis.” Retrieved April 3, 2020, https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/188.
For this journal’s definitional purpose, Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History—“Historical Methods reaches an international audience of historians and other social scientists concerned with historical problems. It explores interdisciplinary approaches to new data sources, new approaches to older questions and material, and practical discussions of computer and statistical methodology, data collection, and sampling procedures. In addition to its longtime interest in quantitative approaches to historical questions, Historical Methods also emphasizes a variety of other issues such as methods for interpreting visual information and the rhetoric of social scientific history.” https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=vhim20.
William Cronon, “HOW LONG WILL PEOPLE READ HISTORY BOOKS? Perspectives on History Oct 1, 2012, Retrieved April 3, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2020. https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/october-2012/how-long-will-people-read-history-books.
For a comparison and title output for history versus art history, see Jean-Pierre V. M Hérubel, “Professionalization, University Presses, Specializations, and the Ecology of Art Historical Scholarship, 1970–2009.” Journal of Scholarly Publishing 45 (April 2014): 289–314, especially p. 294.
According to a Midwestern university press Editor, “certainly, the ability to support a full-fledged journals program tends to mean the university press has “arrived;” that is, they’re now an established publishing house that has the infrastructure and credibility to maintain a very complex program. That’s why there’s only a handful of presses with this type of operation of course, because universities are not exactly pumping resources into these units these days (especially now).” Email retrieved April 6, 2020, and a Director of a R1. Research University Press, “From a financial point of view journals are fantastic: revenue is steady and reliable and they make more than monographs for less work.”And “if a press publishes a critical mass of journals in a field that they also actively publish books in, there’s a certain synergy that the press has a reputation in the field of X, as evidenced by their books and journals in that field. This is a plus, but not at all essential or anything. Just as with books, it always comes down to the quality and esteem of the journal you’re referring to. Simply having a journal is not at all a badge of honor for a press. It would never occur to me to think less of a UP just because it doesn’t do journals. I see it as another product in the scholarly ecosystem: textbooks or regional books or high-quality art books or fiction or memoir or whatever. Every press is known for this or that and it’s less the kinds of products they do than it is the quality of their output. Email retrieved April 7, 2020.
Per its preamble, “Civil War History is in its seventh decade as the leading scholarly journal of “the middle period”—covering the entire scope of the American Civil War era, from the genesis of the sectional crisis through Reconstruction and beyond, highlighting the ramifications of warfare on society.” And, “As the outstanding forum for studies in this pivotal period in American history, Civil War History belongs in every major library collection, including those for students, historians, buffs, and the interested general reader.” Retrieved April 5, 2020.
Bulletin of the History of Medicine Is “A leading journal in its field for more than three quarters of a century, the Bulletin spans the social, cultural, and scientific aspects of the history of medicine worldwide. Every issue includes reviews of recent books on medical history. Recurring sections include Digital Humanities & Public History and Pedagogy. Bulletin of the History of Medicine is the official publication of the American Association for the History of Medicine (AAHM) and the Johns Hopkins Institute of the History of Medicine.” Retrieved April 6, 2020.
See Jean-Pierre V. M. Hérubel, “To Honor Our Past: Historical Research, Library History and the Historiographical Imperative: Conceptual Reflections and Exploratory Observations.” (original in English, published in Serbian as У СЛАВУ НАШЕ ПРОШЛОСТИ: ИСТОРИЈСКА ИСТРАЖИВАЊА, ИСТОРИЈА БИБЛИОТЕКА И ИСТОРИОГРАФСКИ ИМПЕРАТИВ (КОНЦЕПТУАЛНИ ОСВРТИ И ИСТРАЖИВАЧКА ЗАПАЖАЊА)). In HERALD OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SERBIA (2106): 57–73, https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/lib_fsdocs/140/ .
These three English language journals are Information & Culture; Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, and Library and Information History. These venues constitute the critical mass for library history scholarship, besides the stated regional and state historical journals.
Matthew P. Long, Roger C. Schonfeld, “Supporting the Changing Research Practices of Art Historians,” ITHAKA (April 30, 2014). https://www.collegeart.org/pdf/SupportingTheChangingResearchPracticesOfArtHistorians.pdf.
For still an incisive reading of the situation, see Carlos J. Alonso, Cathy N. Davidson, John M. Unsworth, Lynne Withey, Crises and Opportunties: The Futures of Scholarly Publishing, ACLS Occasional Paper, No. 57 (American Council of Learned Societies, 2003). https://publications.acls.org/OP/Occasional_Paper_057_2003.pdf.
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Hérubel, JP.V.M. Significance of Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Historians: Discussion, and a Necessary Tension?. Pub Res Q 36, 446–458 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-020-09744-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-020-09744-y