About the Journal

Focus and Scope

BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review was founded in 1877 and is the leading academic journal for the history of the Netherlands, Belgium and their global presence. The journal publishes articles and review articles which explore broad and important issues in the history of the Low Countries and seeks to do so in a wider comparative and international context. In creating discussion fora and publishing book reviews, the journal aims to enliven historical debate among both professional historians and a wider interested public. Rigorously peer-reviewed and published in print and in Open Access, BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review seeks to present the best historical scholarship of both junior and senior scholars. The journal accommodates all historical subdisciplines, covers the history of the Low Countries since the Middle Ages, and accepts contributions in Dutch and English.

Publisher

BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review is the flagship journal of the Royal Netherlands Historical Society / Koninklijk Nederlands Historisch Genootschap (KNHG). The KNHG was founded in 1845 and is the oldest and largest professional organisation of historians in The Netherlands. This learned society aims to promote the study of history and the dissemination of historical research with special regard to the history of the Low Countries. The KNHG serves more than 1000 history professionals: academics, students, teachers, and historians working in museums, archives, libraries and the heritage industry. The KNHG offers a platform for discussion and debate to its members and to the historical community at large. It plays an important role as a leader and public advocate for the field.

BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review is published by the KNHG as a printed journal and as an Open Access journal on the journal platform of Openjournals. The KNHG works closely with the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands (Huygens ING), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and the International Committee of Historical Sciences (ICHS).

Publication Frequency and Archive

BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review publishes four issues a year in print and online. Book reviews are published on a rolling basis and appear continuously online at www.bmgn-lchr.nl, where also the journal archive (1970-2020) and special collections can be found.

Open Access Policy

As BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review publishes research that is financed with public funding, the journal provides immediate open access to its content. This policy is also grounded on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Journal History

BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review in its current form exists since 1969 when two Dutch historical journals merged: Bijdragen voor de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden (BGN, 1946-1969) and Bijdragen en Mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap (BMHG, 1877-1969). Both the BGN and BMHG had several predecessors themselves. The new journal was named Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden. Since 2006, due to the decision to accept articles both in Dutch and English, it transformed into Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden / The Low Countries Historical Review and from 2012 onwards the journal is known as BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review.

Archiving Policy

Journal Archiving

All issues since 1970 are online available in open access. This journal utilises Portico and the PKP Preservation Network to create permanent archives for the purposes of preservation and restoration.

Self-archiving

This journal is registered as a Sherpa Romeo journal.
Authors are explicitly encouraged to deposit their article in their institutional repository.

Impact Factor, Ranking, Abstracting and Indexing Services

From 2011 onwards BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review is indexed by Thomas Reuters for inclusion in its annual Journal Citation Reports (impact factor 2020 0.439, ranking 71/101 in History), and by Scopus in its SCImago Journal Rankings indicator (SJR 2020 0.17).

The journal is covered by the following abstracting/indexing services:

  • BASE search, Bielefeld Academic Search Engine
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS)
  • Google Scholar
  • H-Soz-u-Kult
  • JournalTOCs
  • OAister
  • Historical Abstracts (until 2010)
  • Historical Abstracts with full text
  • Scopus
  • recensio.net
  • Worldcat


All BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review content is indexed with CrossRef and assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). In addition, the journal is available for harvesting via OAI-PMH. The book reviews published in this journal are indexed and made available through recensio.net.
If the BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review is not indexed by your preferred service, please let us know by emailing info@openjournals.nl.

Membership 

Support our journal

BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review is an APC-free Open Access journal published by the KNHG, so for authors there are no article processing charges. As a not-for-profit learned society we need your support: join us and become a member so that we can continue to work for the discipline and produce this journal. With your help we will be able to disseminate knowledge and education about the history of the Low Countries as widely as possible. Although many colleagues contribute to the journal on a voluntary basis, the editorial process and the realisation of the digital journal require funding.

You can join the KNHG by filling out the form at https://knhg.nl/knhg-membership/?lang=en. The subscription fee for the Regular membership (age 31-70) including the printed version of BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review is €80, for the Student and Young (age up to 30 years) membership it is €45, and €55 for the Senior membership (age 71+). The subscription fee for institutions is €125 per year for 4 issues (postage and administrative fees are additional: €25 inside the Netherlands; €40 within the EU; €45 outside the EU). KNHG offers booksellers a 25% discount. Individual issues are €27,50 excluding handling fee (theme issues: €35). Subscriptions and individual issues can be ordered from the KNHG at www.knhg.nl, by e-mail: info@knhg.nl, or by writing to KNHG, a/o Caroline van Vliet, PO Box 10855, 1001 EW Amsterdam, The Netherlands. All rates are VAT included.

The subscription terms can be found in English and in Dutch on the website of the KNHG.