Letter from the Editor
I am frequently asked to describe History Compass to those who have never used it. It is an electronic journal, I say first. One that has the advantages of endless amounts of space, search engine integration, and continuously updated features. Indeed, there is no feature of a print journal that can compare to the analogous feature of an electronic journal. Articles are published within weeks of being accepted which is not only attractive to authors but also means that the newest ideas and arguments are available to readers when they are still fresh.
Secondly, I tell people that History Compass is a journal that covers the history of world. Ordinarily even journals with comparative perspectives can only hope to emphasize one part of the historical record. Either they cover particular parts of the globe, particular historical ages, or a single kind of history. History Compass takes all of the past as its purview and solicits articles from every kind of historian. There are no restrictions in terms of geography, time period, or historical methodology. Compass not only embraces this diversity, it insists upon it. Section editors are specialists in all of the separate fields of history and their editorial boards act as semi-autonomous journal editors to ensure peer reviewed quality in every section of Compass. This allows readers to launch their own investigations by searching disparate parts of Compass all at once. Regions can be studied across time or can be compared across continents. Thematic searches can yield works on similar subjects in North America, Africa, and Australia, all complete with bibliographies and links to analogous works.
Finally, I tell people that History Compass is a teaching tool of incomparable value. Articles are not traditional reports on historical research but rather surveys of recent historiography, on going interpretive debates, of suggestions for fresh directions of inquiry. They are aimed at a mixed audience of undergraduates, graduates and faculties. Whether it is a student looking for reliable information for a paper topic, or practicing historians attempting to become familiar with a subject outside of their specialty, articles in History Compass are targeted at a broad audience. It allows historians of all levels of accomplishment to indulge their curiosity, to browse new subjects or new approaches, and to find the results of the latest research and argumentation in a single convenient place.
There has never been a journal quite like History Compass. So, finally I say, it is the future of the past.
Mark Kishlansky
Harvard University