Mission Statement and History

The Journal of Belgian History (JBH) is the leading illustrated scholarly journal for Belgian contemporary history, published by the State Archives (CegeSoma) with the financial support of the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS) and the Universitaire Stichting (US). The journal is a fusion of the predecessor of the current JBH (Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis / Revue Belge d’Histoire Contemporaine, 1969-2011, published by the Jan Dhondt Foundation of Ghent University) and the Bijdragen tot de Eigentijdse Geschiedenis / Cahiers d’Histoire du temps Présents (BEG/CHP, 1996-2011, published by CegeSoma).

The BTNG has full Open Access status. All our articles and other contributions are available for free consultation shortly after publication on our website, where the entire digital archive since 1969 is accessible. Copyright rests with the publisher and no financial contribution is required of authors for publication.

The old JBH was a general journal for contemporary history, while BEG/CHP focussed on the history of the period around World War II. In 2011 CegeSoma and the Jan Dhondt Foundation reached an agreement on the fusion of both journals, and in 2012 the first renewed issue of the JBH appeared, published by CegeSoma (since 2016 the State Archives in Belgium). This fusion was accompanied by a new layout, a new website and the addition of (colour) illustrations. The first new editors-in-chief in 2012 were Chantal Kesteloot (CegeSoma), Bruno De Wever (UGent) and Nico Wouters (CegeSoma). Since 2016, the chief editors are Catherine Lanneau (ULg) and Nico Wouters (CegeSoma-Rijksarchief).

Through this website you can access the complete digital archive of the old JBH (1969-2011), the BEG/CHP (1996-2011) and the new JBH since 2012. However, this site also contains the complete digital archive of the Journal of the History of the Second World War (1970-1995), the scholarly in-house magazine of CegeSoma's predecessor for 25 years.

Since 2007, the JBH is integrated in the ISI Arts and Humanities Citation Index. The journal publishes articles, a debate section, reviews and an overview of PhD research. The journal publishes two to four issues per year (sometimes with a double issue). We publish contributions in Dutch and French, but also in German and in English. Our editorial board contains representatives of the history departments of all Belgian universities. Together with the editors in chief, the editorial board follows the anonymous peer-review of all articles.