Acknowledging Clio's Lesser Children: The Importance of Journals for Historical Research and Scholarship

Abstract

History journals are a major force in historical research and scholarship. Publishing research in journals offers scholars greater intellectual flexibility, increased specialization, and opportunities to engage in more innovative approaches to historical research. Although a counterpart to the monograph, the journal is not a lesser component in the scholarly communication of historical scholarship but a necessary agent in maintaining and expanding the purview of historical research and intellectual evolution. Without the scholarly history journal, historical research and published scholarship would be impoverished, less capable of creative evolution vis-à-vis disciplinary evolution and the generation of newer vectors of research.