Journal of Maritime History

Journal of Maritime History
Title	Journal of Maritime History
Discipline	Maritime history
Abbreviation	J. Marit. Hist.
Publisher	Routledge
Country	United Kingdom
Frequency	Triannual
History	2009–present
Issn	2053-3566

Journal of Maritime History is a peer-reviewed scholarly periodical examining the history of seafaring, navigation, ports, shipping, naval warfare, and marine culture. It publishes original research articles, review essays, and archival studies relating to maritime actors, institutions, and events from antiquity to the contemporary period. The journal serves historians, archivists, librarians, curators, and scholars working on topics such as exploration, imperialism, trade, port cities, migration, piracy, fisheries, and environmental change.

History

The journal was established amid an expanding scholarly interest in maritime studies influenced by figures and institutions such as Fernand Braudel, Eric Hobsbawm, E.P. Thompson, Immanuel Wallerstein, Cambridge University Press, and the Institute of Historical Research. Early editorial activity involved correspondence with scholars at King's College London, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics, and the University of Bristol. Founding contributors and reviewers included historians associated with the Age of Sail literature, naval historians referencing the Battle of Trafalgar, and economic historians working on the Atlantic slave trade. The journal grew alongside professional networks such as the North American Society for Oceanic History, the British Commission for Maritime History, and the International Maritime Economic History Association. Over time it published research engaging with archives at institutions like the National Maritime Museum, the British Library, the National Archives (United Kingdom), and the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, and drew on collections from the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, New York Maritime Museum, and Peabody Essex Museum.

Scope and Coverage

The journal's scope spans research on maritime phenomena connected to places and events such as Port of London, Le Havre, Rotterdam, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Seville, Venice, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Genoa, Malacca, Suez Canal opening, Panama Canal opening, and the Circumnavigation by Ferdinand Magellan. Thematic coverage includes studies of individuals and institutions such as Christopher Columbus, James Cook, Francis Drake, Horatio Nelson, Samuel Pepys, William Dampier, Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Dutch East India Company, British East India Company, Hudson's Bay Company, Royal Navy (United Kingdom), United States Navy, Spanish Armada, Ottoman Navy, and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Environmental and technical topics address shipbuilding in places like Chatham Dockyard, Bremen shipyards, Pula, and Toulon, maritime law referencing the Treaty of Tordesillas, Law of the Sea Convention, and labor histories including the sailors' strikes and IWW. The journal also embraces work on migration studies—articles exploring Irish emigration, Chinese coolie trade, Indian indenture system, and Jewish maritime migration—and histories of ports, canals, lighthouses such as Eddystone Lighthouse, and maritime museums.

Editorial Structure and Publication Details

Editorial boards have included scholars affiliated with University of Southampton, University of Exeter, University of Glasgow, University of Liverpool, University of St Andrews, University of Aberdeen, University of Hull, Merseyside Maritime Museum, National Maritime Museum Cornwall, and universities in United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The journal adopts double-blind peer review and issues are organized with sections for research articles, book reviews, and archival notes. Publication schedules have been set out by commercial publishers such as Taylor & Francis Group and academic partners including the Society for Nautical Research and special collaborations with the Institute of Historical Research. Contributors have ranged from early modernists citing Niccolò Machiavelli and Thomas More to modern historians dealing with World War I convoys, Battle of Jutland, Battle of Midway, Leyte Gulf, Gallipoli Campaign, and Cold War naval engagements.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in major bibliographic services used by historians and librarians, including Scopus, Web of Science, Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life, JSTOR, EBSCO Host, ProQuest, Directory of Open Access Journals, and library catalogues of the British Library, Library of Congress, and National Library of Australia. Its metadata are discoverable through aggregators such as CrossRef, OCLC WorldCat, Google Scholar, and research platforms associated with ORCID and ResearchGate.

Notable Articles and Special Issues

Noteworthy articles have focused on subjects including the Transatlantic slave trade, the Indian Ocean trade, the Columbian Exchange, the Age of Discovery, maritime insurance and the Lloyd's of London archives, port city studies on Liverpool, Bristol, Bengal Presidency, and Canton (Guangzhou), and biographical essays on sailors and captains such as John Cabot, Vasco da Gama, Hernán Cortés, Zheng He, Yermak Timofeyevich, and Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Special issues have addressed themes tied to events and anniversaries like the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, commemorations of D-Day landings, examinations of colonialism and decolonization in maritime contexts, and cross-disciplinary volumes with scholarship on maritime archaeology from excavations at Vasa, Mary Rose, and Batavia (ship).

Reception and Impact

Scholarly reception has highlighted the journal's role in advancing maritime historiography and fostering comparative work across regions such as Atlantic World, Pacific Islands, Indian Ocean worlds, and Mediterranean basin. Citations and reviews in outlets like The Mariner's Mirror, International Journal of Maritime History, Journal of Sea Research, Economic History Review, English Historical Review, and Past & Present reflect its integration into broader historiographical debates over topics including imperialism, globalization, trade networks, slavery, and technological change. Libraries at institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, University of Chicago, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley hold subscriptions, and the journal features in syllabi for courses on maritime law, naval history, colonial history, and environmental history.

Category:Maritime history journals