The Historian (journal)

• 1. Introduction

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  The Historian is a history journal with roots going back to 1938, published on behalf of Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society. Four times a year, it brings original articles and book reviews to readers across every area of historical scholarship. The questions worth asking are: what makes this publication distinct, who stands behind it, and how does it connect the world of academic history to a broader community of scholars?

• 2. Phi Alpha Theta and the Journal

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  Phi Alpha Theta is the history honor society that sponsors The Historian, giving the journal a particular institutional identity among academic publications. Taylor and Francis handles the physical publication, carrying the journal to libraries and subscribers around the world. The arrangement reflects a long tradition of scholarly societies founding their own periodicals to serve their membership and the wider discipline. Phi Alpha Theta's involvement means the journal is tied not just to professional historians but to students and faculty who have earned recognition within the field.

• 3. Scope and Scholarship

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  Original articles and book reviews make up the two pillars of every issue of The Historian. The journal's scope covers all areas of historical scholarship, which is a deliberately broad mandate. That breadth means a reader might encounter work on ancient civilizations alongside studies of twentieth-century political movements in a single issue. Book reviews give the journal a second function: a running assessment of new historical writing that helps scholars keep pace with a rapidly expanding literature.

• 4. Reach Through Indexing

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  The Historian is abstracted and indexed in a range of major databases, including EBSCO, the Arts and Humanities Citation Index, the ATLA Religion Database, Current Contents/Arts and Humanities, Historical Abstracts, InfoTrac, ProQuest, and Worldwide Political Sciences Abstracts. Each database extends the journal's reach into a different corner of academic research. The presence in the Arts and Humanities Citation Index, in particular, signals that articles published in The Historian are tracked when other scholars cite them, which is one measure of a journal's influence within its field.