Sunday, April 17, 2011

Open access online journals of medieval art

More and more journals are available in an open access format on the web - and more and more are only published in this format, without a printed version. The advantages of speedy publication at a lower cost are obvious, and the publications can potentially reach a much larger audience. Editorial work and peer-review can of course be maintained for online publications just as for traditional outlets.

When it comes to medieval art, there is a generous selection of such journals on the web, to supplement such print (+ restricted online access) journals as Gesta. What follows is a selection of such journals, with a brief description lifted from the introductory pages of the respective journals.




Peregrinations
is published by t
he International Society for the Study of Pilgrimage Art, which was founded in 2000 to bring together scholars who explore the art and architecture of pilgrimage in the late Middle Ages. The journal "provides a forum for themes and topics related to that subject, and to share current research. [...] The artistic expressions which were created to give form to the cults are the objects of our investigation.
The journal is edited by Sarah Blick, and the latest issue is Volume 3, Issue 1 (2010). The journal also maintains a photo-bank.






The journal is "a web-based, open-access, peer-reviewed annual, devoted to progressive scholarship on medieval art. Different Visions seeks to fill a significant gap in current publishing venues by featuring articles employing contemporary postmodern and poststructuralist theoretical frameworks to examine medieval visual culture. Authors are encouraged to explore the application of such approaches as feminist and gender analysis, historiography, semiotics, post colonialism and queer theory to works produced during the period from the fourth through the fifteenth century. The journal will also consider essays on medieval visual culture that emerge from multiple disciplinary perspectives." The editor-in-Chief of the Journal is Rachel Dressler, and Issue Two is the most latest on the site.





"Vidimus is the only on-line magazine devoted exclusively to stained glass. We hope to encourage interest in medieval and later stained glass, and to promote the work of the CVMA (GB), the national survey of medieval stained glass. A vidimus (‘we have seen’) was the approved design for a window in medieval times." The journal, which has just published its fiftieth (!) issue, has just received a new format. It is edited by Anna Eavis and Roger Rosewell (News and Features).





"JNHA is the electronic journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. Every summer and winter, the journal publishes issues of peer-reviewed articles that focus on art produced in the Netherlands (north and south) during the early modern period (c. 1400-c.1750), and in other countries and later periods as they relate to Netherlandish art. Submissions are encouraged on painting, sculpture, graphic arts, tapestry, architecture, and decoration, from the perspectives of art history, art conservation, technical studies, museum studies, historiography, and collecting history." Latest issue available is Volume 3, Issue 1.


Concilium Medii Aevi online

One of the oldest medieval journals online, Consilium medii aevi has been avaible since 1998, and has developed into an interdisciplinary journal of Medieval Studies. It publishes studies and reviews in all fields of the Middle Ages, including naturally art history. Most studies are in German, but several are in English. The yearly publications can also be ordered in print format.







TMR: The Medieval Review

"Since 1993, The Medieval Review (TMR; formerly the Bryn Mawr Medieval Review) has been publishing reviews of current work in all areas of Medieval Studies, a field it interprets as broadly as possible. The electronic medium allows for very rapid publication of reviews, and provides a computer searchable archive of past reviews, both of which are of great utility to scholars and students around the world. TMR operates as a moderated distribution list. Subscribers receive reviews as e-mail; TMR posts each review as soon as the editors have received and edited it. There is no paper TMR. Once posted, reviews are archived and available for viewing, searching, printing, etc."





"Marginalia is an online, peer-reviewed journal for medievalists, which aims to fill a gap in the publishing world by creating a vehicle for graduate publication. It sprang out of, and continues to be closely associated with, the Cambridge-based Medieval Reading Group. The first issue of the journal came out in 2005, and since then two issues have been released each year: one yearbook issue, and a themed issue which invites submissions from graduate students working on the medieval period."







Hortulus: The Online Graduate Journal of Medieval Studies is a refereed journal devoted to the literature and cultures of the medieval world. Published electronically once a year, its mission is to present a forum in which graduate students from around the globe may share their work." Currently available: Volume 5, 2009.






"This electronically edited journal is published on the web by the Romanian Group for an Alternative History and it consists of a series of articles, notes, and commentaries. Most of the articles have already been published in various other scientific journals or will be soon disseminated otherwise. Studia Patzinaka's purpose is not to compete with these journals, but to provide a wider and easier access to the information hardly accessible in print." Edited by Ana Maria Gruia, the journal includes several studies on art history in various languages. Unfortunately, Number 7 from 2008 is the most recent issue available.



Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU

Published by the Department of Medieval Studies at the Central European University (Budapest), this is a print journal which started in 1994, and contains several art historical studies. "The volumes of the Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU offer a series of articles on various aspects of the history of medieval Central and Eastern Europe and gives an overview of the articles of the department in the academic years." The journal has recently been made available online, although the last five volumes are password-protected. It is thus not fully open access - but it includes studies on medieval Hungary, so I had to include it here.



To keep track of open access art history journals and articles, I recommend the Art History TOCs blog of Gábor Endrődi. Do you know of any other online journals I should have listed here? Let me know in a comment!

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