Journal of Early Modern History

Journal of Early Modern History
Title	Journal of Early Modern History
Discipline	Early modern history
Language	English
Abbreviation	J. Early Mod. Hist.
Publisher	Brill
Country	Netherlands
History	1997–present
Frequency	Bimonthly
Issn	1385-3783
Eissn	1570-0666

Journal of Early Modern History is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on the early modern period roughly from the late fifteenth to the late eighteenth centuries. It publishes articles and reviews that engage with subjects such as political developments, social transformations, religious movements, and cultural exchanges across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The journal situates scholarship in relation to major events, figures, institutions, and texts of the era.

History

The journal was established in 1997 amid scholarly debates surrounding the legacies of the Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, the Glorious Revolution, and the aftermath of the Age of Exploration, with early editorial projects referencing work on Martin Luther, Philip II of Spain, Louis XIV, Oliver Cromwell, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Founding editors sought to bridge historiographies influenced by studies of the Dutch Republic, the Ottoman Empire, the Ming dynasty, and the Mughal Empire, while engaging comparative approaches exemplified in scholarship on the Peace of Westphalia, the Treaty of Tordesillas, and the Council of Trent. Over successive editorial boards the journal responded to methodological shifts from the Annales School debates to microhistorical studies of figures like Giovanni Boccaccio and institutional analyses of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Scope and Coverage

The journal covers political, diplomatic, religious, intellectual, social, legal, and cultural history connected to personalities such as Henry VIII, Catherine de' Medici, Peter the Great, Frederick the Great, and Akbar. Regional foci include the histories of England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, China, Japan, India, Ottoman Empire, Safavid Iran, Ethiopia, Brazil, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Thematic topics embrace study of institutions like the Jesuits, the East India Company, the Spanish Armada, the Hanseatic League, and the Portuguese Empire, as well as works on texts such as Don Quixote, Paradise Lost, The Prince, and The Social Contract. Comparative and transregional analyses engage migrations, trade networks, legal codes like the Code of Justinian antecedents, and conflicts including the Nine Years' War and the Seven Years' War.

Editorial Structure and Peer Review

The editorial board has included scholars affiliated with institutions such as Harvard University, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Leiden University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, and University of Toronto. Submissions undergo double-blind peer review with external referees drawn from specialists in topics ranging from studies on John Calvin and Jean Bodin to analyses of archives like the Archivo General de Indias and the Vatican Secret Archives. The journal adheres to ethical standards promoted by organizations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics and collaborates with scholarly societies like the American Historical Association and the German Historical Association for conferences and panels.

Publication Details

Published by Brill on a bimonthly schedule, the journal issues special thematic numbers focused on subjects such as the Atlantic World, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific. Contributors have included specialists in microhistory, quantitative history, and intellectual history who work on figures like Niccolò Machiavelli, Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, and Adam Smith. The journal produces original articles, review essays, and book reviews engaging monographs published by presses such as Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Princeton University Press, and Manchester University Press.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is indexed in major databases and services including Scopus, Web of Science, Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life, JSTOR, and EBSCOhost. It appears in library catalogs of institutions like the British Library, the Library of Congress, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and national libraries of Germany, Spain, and Italy. Citation metrics are tracked alongside comparable periodicals such as The Economic History Review, Past & Present, The Journal of Modern History, and The English Historical Review.

Notable Articles and Impact

Noteworthy contributions have addressed topics including revisionist readings of the Columbian Exchange, reinterpretations of the Little Ice Age, archival discoveries in the Mercantile archives of Genoa, and debates over the nature of early modern state formation referencing cases like the Spanish Habsburgs, the Ottoman centralization under Suleiman, and the administrative reforms of Qianlong Emperor. Influential essays have shaped discourse on religious toleration linking studies of Edict of Nantes, the Peace of Augsburg, and the Diet of Worms, and have reframed trade histories involving the Dutch East India Company, the British East India Company, and the Transatlantic slave trade.

Reception and Criticism

Scholars have praised the journal for interdisciplinary reach engaging specialists on figures such as Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, Molière, and Cervantes, and for fostering cross-regional dialogue between studies of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, South Asia, and East Asia. Critiques have noted perceived Eurocentric emphases and called for broader inclusion of research on regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and indigenous polities of North America and Mesoamerica, prompting special issues and editorial shifts toward global history perspectives.

Category:History journals Category:Early modern history