Significance of Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Historians: Discussion, and a Necessary Tension?
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Significance of Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Historians: Discussion, and a Necessary Tension? Jean‑Pierre V. M. Hérubel1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
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. Keywords Academia · Articles · Historians · Monographs · Tenure Professional historians, especially in the American higher education ecology find themselves confronted by the requirement to add significantly to the body of historical knowledge. It is not enough to possess an acknowledged teaching record, but to address the incessant demands of research leading to publication. Besides this intellectual anxiety, academic historians are aware of their standing among fellow specialists, where reputation and scholarly gravitas make the academic historian’s career. In the academy, this constitutes a professional imperative; this normative condition implies, propagates, and demands adherence to scholarly publication. Since academic historians publish both articles, as well as books, it is instructive to consider to what extent historians, especially department heads, what value publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals holds in their minds. If the book, not any book, but a sustained scholarly argument resulting in a highly honed monograph is the gold standard—what value does the journal article have as scholarly currency? * Jean‑Pierre V. M. Hérubel [email protected] 1
Libraries and School of Information Studies, Purdue University, HSSE, 504 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907‑2058, USA
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Publishing Research Quarterly
Granted there are far more articles appearing yearly than books, so why such production of article length scholarship? This political economy reverberates throughout academia, especially in Research I and Research II Universities; however, less research intensive institutions adhere to the monographic imperative to varying degrees. Generally, research and successful dissemination of historical knowledge results in publication. Except for 4 year colleges and institutions with graduate programs, this strong impetus toward and indeed, requirement to publish one’s research is nonexistent, or not required at community colleges, where teaching is the order the day.
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