The Journal of Genealogy and Family History, a new open access peer-reviewed genealogy journal, published by the Register of Qualified Genealogists, is launching in April 2017 at Who Do You Think You Are? Live.
Here is the official press release I received:
Here is the official press release I received:
Media release - The Journal of Genealogy and Family History
Launching in April 2017, the new Journal of Genealogy and Family History (JGFH) will address the current need for a high quality, peer reviewed publication, covering broad scholarly research in genealogy and family history in a 21st century online format. The journal will be offered to readers and contributors for free, on an open-access, non-commercial basis, with content available under a Creative Commons Attribution License. The scope of the journal will include any field or academic discipline associated with genealogy or family history research such as heraldry, demography, education and record conservation.
Articles will offer the reader insights into current thinking and practice and provide an outlet for theoretical and speculative ideas within genealogy and family history. Topics will be wide ranging, and include for example:
- Family histories which demonstrate new and innovative approaches and analytic techniques;
- Locational studies
- The use of new technologies
- Software applications and databases
- The use of DNA analyses to better understand kinship
- Ancestry and populations Micro histories which may focus on personal, local, community and social histories.
The journal will attract authors from around the world who wish to have their genealogical and family history work published in a credible form and made available to anyone who chooses to read it. All articles submitted for publication will undergo anonymous peer review, which will provide a rigorous and robust process of close scrutiny.
- Ethical and legal issues surrounding the practice of genealogy
The Editor, Jessica Feinstein, says: "I am very excited to be part of the great team involved in this venture, and look forward to enabling authors in our field to publish academic articles that will advance genealogical research in many areas."
The editorial board will include prominent individuals from within the field of genealogy and family history as well as associated disciplines.
The Journal of Genealogy and Family History is registered at the British Library with ISSN 2399-2964.
The journal was initiated and designed by the Register of Qualified Genealogists and will be published via their website at: http://www.qualifiedgenealogists.org/jgfh
The Register of Qualified Genealogists will be at Who Do You Think You Are Live, Birmingham NEC from Thursday 6 – Saturday 8 April 2017 on table number 2. Come and find us for a chat and to see a preview of the first issue..............The names of the Editorial Board were not included in the press release and were not available on the website. However, the Editor has kindly given me a list of the names:
http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com
Nick Barratt
Caroline Brown
John Cleary
Bruce Durie
Marjory Harper
Ian G Macdonald
Tahitia McCabe
Rebecca Probert
David Rencher
Michael Tobias
John Tunesi
The biographies of the editorial board members should be up on the website soon.Comment
The Journal of Genealogy and Family History is published under the auspices of a relatively new organisation called the Register of Qualified Genealogists. The RQG is set up as a private company. To qualify for membership it is necessary to have completed one of a very limited range of postgraduate genealogical courses offered by UK institutions. The full list of qualifying courses can be seen here. Members are required to adhere to a professional code. There are a number of other organisations that professional genealogists can join. AGRA (the Association of Genealogical Researchers in Archives) is the premier organisation in England and Wales. Membership of AGRA is not contingent on the completion of a course but potential members are required to submit a research portfolio for scrutiny and have to attend an interview. In Scotland there is the Association of Scottish Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (ASGRA). Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) is the equivalent organisation in Ireland. The Association of Professional Genealogists is a US-based organisation but accepts members from anywhere in the world. Members are required to abide by a code of conduct and must commit to a programme of continuing education. The APG operates as a not-for-profit business organisation. In addition there are a number of different professional organisations in other countries. For details see the AGRA FAQs and Cyndi's List for details. Given that so many other professional organisations already exist, there have been questions about the need for a new organisation.
While it is common practice in academia for writing and research to be subjected to the process of peer review it is rare in the world of genealogy. There are a number of genealogy journals that accommodate the publication of lengthy scholarly articles with citations. In the UK the Genealogists' Magazine has been published by the Society of Genealogists since 1925. There are a number of scholarly journals in the US such as the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, the New England Historical and Genealogical Society Register and The American Genealogist. For descriptions of the US journals see this article by Kimberly Powell on five genealogical journals you should be reading.
There is also the newly re-launched Journal of Genetic Genealogy (JOGG) which is published online and is open access. JOGG has an editorial board and all the articles go through a formal peer review process. The articles are indexed by Google Scholar, and as a result some of these articles have been cited in academic journals.
The big limitation with all these scholarly genealogy journals, with the exception of JOGG, is that they are essentially a closed shop. They are not picked up by indexing services such as Google Scholar, so unless you are a member of the society in question you are likely to be unaware of any interesting articles on your subject of interest. The Society of Genealogists have commendably made back issues of the Genealogists' Magazine available on CD. It is now also possible to search for articles in PERSI (the Periodical Source Index), which provides a subject index to over 11,000 historical and genealogical journals. This index is freely available courtesy of Findmypast. A growing number of images is being added to the collection, but the images are only available to Findmypast subscribers. There is an excellent guide to using PERSI in the FamilySearch Wiki. If you find an article of interest that is not included in the image collection it might be possible to order a copy for a small fee from your local library or to purchase a copy using the British Library's On Demand Service or an equivalent service in other countries, provided that copies of the journal have been sent to one of the legal deposit libraries.
The whole point of publishing is so that others can build on our research, and we are not constantly re-inventing the wheel. If our work is not easily accessible then other researchers are less likely to find it. I therefore welcome the launch of this new open access peer-reviewed genealogy journal which has the potential to bring scholarly genealogical articles to a wider audience. However, the journal will live or die on the quality of the articles published. It will be interesting to see how the journal develops in the months and years to come.
Update 21st May 2017
A short presentation about the journal given by Ian Macdonald and Jessica Feinstein at Who Do You Think You Are? Live is now available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YYpIHAk0FHc
This article was updated on 18th February 2017 to include information about additional professional genealogy organisations, and to correct the details about the RQG in the light of comments received below.
