Announcements

Call for papers for HNR2020

The Historical Network Research community is very pleased to announce the call for papers for the next Historical Network Research conference which will take place at the University of Luxembourg, from Wednesday 17 until Friday 19 June 2020. The conference will run over three days opening with a workshop day and two conference days.

Social network analysis theories and methods have emerged as a persuasive extension of purely metaphorical uses of network concepts in historical research. The HNR conference series explores the challenges and possibilities of network research in historical scholarship and serves as a platform for researchers from various disciplines to meet, present and discuss their latest research findings and to demonstrate tools and projects.

The Historical Network Research community has its roots in the year 2009 when the first in a series of workshops on the application of network analysis in the historical disciplines took place. In 2019, the thirteenth workshop on „Networks Across Time and Space: Methodological Challenges and Theoretical Concerns of Network Research in the Humanities“ was hosted by the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz, Germany. In 2013, the European Digital Humanities research network Nedimah enabled us to organize the first international conference on Historical Network Research in Hamburg. This was followed by conferences in Ghent 2014, Lisbon 2015, Turku 2017, and Brno 2018. From 2013 onwards, we organised sessions on historical networks at the International Sunbelt Conferences of the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA), and from 2014 on at the corresponding European Regional Conferences (EUSN). The year 2017 saw the publication of the inaugural issue of the Open Access Journal of Historical Network Research (www.jhnr.uni.lu). JHNR is devoted to the study of networks (social or otherwise) from a specifically historical perspective and encourages the exchange between different areas of historical research (in the broadest sense), the (digital) humanities at large as well as the social, information and computer sciences. These events and activities are supplemented by the website Historical Network Research (www.historicalnetworkresearch.org), which provides a bibliography, a calendar of events and an email newsletter.

For our 2020 conference, we welcome submissions for individual contributions discussing any historical period and geographical area. Authors may be historians, linguists, librarians, archaeologists, art historians, computer scientists, social scientists as well as scholars from other disciplines working with historical or archaeological data. Topics may include, but are not limited to: 

  • Cultural and intellectual networks
  • Geospatial networks                   
  • Citizen science, crowdsourcing and other forms of public engagement
  • Networks extracted from texts
  • Networks and prosopography
  • Methodological contributions with immediate relevance for Historical Network Research such as missing data, temporality, multilayer networks, ontologies, linked data 
  • Pedagogy, teaching, and digital literacy in Historical Network Research

Keynotes

The closing keynote will be delivered by Petter Holme, Specially Appointed Professor at the Institute of Innovative Research at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the speaker for the opening keynote will be announced in the near future.

 

Workshops

Participants are invited to take part in one or two of three half-day-workshops:

  • Introduction to Social Network Analysis (Matthias Bixler, Independent Researcher)
  • Exponential Random Graph Models for Historical Networks (Antonio Fiscarelli, University of Luxemburg)
  • Analysis of Two-Mode Networks with Python (Demival Vasques Filho, Leibniz Institute of European History Mainz)

Formats

For HNR 2020 we welcome three types of proposals: (1) individual papers; (2) software/tool demonstrations and (3) posters. Abstracts should clearly state the title, name and affiliation of the authors and the presenters; if you have one please include your Twitter username, too. 

1) Individual papers:

abstract (500-1000 words maximum, plus 3 citations) will be required for 20-minute papers (presentation 15 mins + 5 minutes for questions). The content of your abstract should be appropriate for the nature of the paper you intend to present. Your abstract should include:

  • Background – an overview of the topic and the research questions that will be addressed by your paper
  • Methods and data – an overview of the data used and the methods employed in your research
  • Findings – a description of the results of your research

You may also include a single figure that shows the key results or main argument of your paper. Figures should be submitted in a format that can be displayed in a standard web browser and should have a minimum resolution of 300 DPI. Citations should use the Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition Author Date style. 

2) Software/tool demonstrations:

HNR provides an opportunity for demonstrations of software and tools for historical network analysis. Accepted demonstrations and tools will be presented within a main conference session (presentations 15 mins + 5 minutes for questions) and at demo booths during the poster presentations. Abstracts (200-500 words maximum) will be required and should include information on the novel contribution it makes, its state of development and licensing.

3) Posters:

Abstracts (200-500 words, plus 3 citations) will be required for posters. Your abstract should include:

  • Background – a brief overview of the topic or research questions addressed by the poster
  • Methods and data – a description of the data used and the methods employed
  • Discussion/findings – a discussion of the wider implications of your research for network analysis in history. 

Submissions

Please submit your abstract by Thursday 20 February, 2020 (23:59 CET) via EasyChair (https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=hnr2020#). Papers for presentation will be selected following a double-blind peer review procedure. Notifications of acceptance/rejection will be announced by 15 March 2020. The conference language is English.

Selected papers and posters will be invited to prepare a submission  for a peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of Historical Network Research (https://jhnr.uni.lu/).

Please do not hesitate to contact the organising team for any questions you may have at HNR2020@historicalnetworkresearch.org. Additional information on workshops, keynotes, and programme together with further practical information will be available shortly on the conference website.

Key dates

  • 20.02.2020: deadline for submissions via Easychair
  • 15.03.2020: notification of acceptance
  • 01.04.2020: registration opening
  • 15.06.2020: latest possible registration for participants
  • 17-19.06.2020: conference (1 day workshops, 2 days sessions)
  • 15.07.2020: invitation of selected articles to JHNR

Further information on the workshops will be provided on the conference website shortly. 

Travel bursaries

Scholars without access to sufficient travel funds may apply for a travel bursary in parallel to submitting a paper or poster. A bursary will cover travel and accommodation costs for the duration of the conference. Please email a motivation letter together with a CV to HNR2020@historicalnetworkresearch.org. Only authors of accepted papers are eligible for bursaries.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

With best wishes,

The HNR 2020 Organisers:

Tom Brughmans (Aarhus University)
Aline Deicke (Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz)
Marten Düring (University of Luxembourg)
Antonio Fiscarelli (University of Luxembourg)
Ingeborg van Vugt (University of Utrecht)

  • JHNR moves to a new publishing platform

    2023-11-29

    We are happy to announce that JHNR has partnered with Ubiquity Press as our new hosting service. This marks an exciting new chapter in JHNR’s history and we warmly thank the Digital Research Infrastructure department at C2DH for their continued support from the journal’s start in 2017 until 2023.

    For future submissions please go to https://jhnr.net/. Whilst we have already succesfully transferred published content, we are still in the process of transitioning our workflows and DOIs.

    Read more about JHNR moves to a new publishing platform
  • JHNR welcomes new editor and introduces new publication workflow

    2022-10-17

    In brief: We are excited to announce that Dr Ingeborg van Vugt has joined the team of JHNR editors and announce that from now on, articles will be published on an individual basis as they complete the editorial process, no longer in form of volumes. Finally, we are thrilled to announce the publication of seven new articles which will become available in the next few weeks.

    Read more about JHNR welcomes new editor and introduces new publication workflow
  • Call for Articles

    2020-07-16

    The Editorial Board is inviting submissions of papers to be considered for publication in the fifth issue of the Journal of Historical Network Research, which will be published in spring 2021. We welcome proposals for papers centred on historical networks of any period of the recorded human past, from Bronze Age civilisation to contemporary history. Given the current extraordinary circumstances amid the global CoViD-19 pandemic, we particularly welcome papers that deal with historical pandemics from a network perspective. n order to foster reproducibility and transparency in historical network research, we encourage authors to provide their code and data sets in addition to the manuscripts for publication. We also encourage expressions of interest for book reviews on relevant recent literature and articles, which introduce and discuss relevant and innovative digital tools for network research, or interesting new databases and data sources.

     

    Read more about Call for Articles
  • CfA - Call for Articles

    2020-07-16

    The Editorial Board is inviting submissions of papers to be considered for publication in the fifth issue of the Journal of Historical Network Research, which will be published in spring 2021. We welcome proposals for papers centred on historical networks of any period of the recorded human past, from Bronze Age civilisation to contemporary history. Given the current extraordinary circumstances amid the global CoViD-19 pandemic, we particularly welcome papers that deal with historical pandemics from a network perspective. n order to foster reproducibility and transparency in historical network research, we encourage authors to provide their code and data sets in addition to the manuscripts for publication. We also encourage expressions of interest for book reviews on relevant recent literature and articles, which introduce and discuss relevant and innovative digital tools for network research, or interesting new databases and data sources.

     

    Read more about CfA - Call for Articles
  • Call for Articles

    2020-07-16

    The Editorial Board is inviting submissions of papers to be considered for publication in the fifth issue of the Journal of Historical Network Research, which will be published in spring 2021. We welcome proposals for papers centred on historical networks of any period of the recorded human past, from Bronze Age civilisation to contemporary history. Given the current extraordinary circumstances amid the global CoViD-19 pandemic, we particularly welcome papers that deal with historical pandemics from a network perspective.

    In order to foster reproducibility and transparency in historical network research, we encourage authors to provide their code and data sets in addition to the manuscripts for publication. We also encourage expressions of interest for book reviews on relevant recent literature and articles, which introduce and discuss relevant and innovative digital tools for network research, or interesting new databases and data sources.

     

    Full CfA

    Read more about Call for Articles
  • Call for Articles

    2020-07-16

    Dear all,

    We are inviting submissions of papers to be considered for publication in the fifth issue of the Journal of Historical Network Research, which will be published in spring 2021.

    The Editorial Board welcomes proposals for papers centred on historical networks of any period of the recorded human past, from Bronze Age civilisation to contemporary history. Given the current extraordinary circumstances amid the global CoViD-19 pandemic, we particularly welcome papers that deal with historical pandemics from a network perspective.

    In order to foster reproducibility and transparency in historical network research, we encourage authors to provide their code and data sets in addition to the manuscripts for publication. We also encourage expressions of interest for book reviews on relevant recent literature and articles, which introduce and discuss relevant and innovative digital tools for network research, or interesting new databases and data sources.

    We accept submissions in the form of short and long articles as well as reviews of books, projects and datasets. A short article is suitable for the publication of ongoing research and may be more exploratory in nature whereas long articles are expected to present substantive and original findings. Short articles ideally run to no more than 20,000 – 30,000 characters (including spaces and footnotes); long papers between 60,000 and 90,000 characters. Reviews should not exceed 15,000 characters.

    Articles can be submitted in English, German or French. All articles (but especially those articles written in a language other than English) should be accompanied by an English-language abstract of no more than 300 words which contains the salient points and arguments. Please follow the Author Guidelines and use the journal template to ensure that your submission is formatted correctly.

    Articles for the fifth volume should be submitted via the journal homepage (https://jhnr.uni.lu/index.php/jhnr/about/submissions) by 30 November 2020. In the interest of better preparation, we ask you to submit a short abstract by September 30th.

    Please direct any questions you may have to the editors at JHNR-editors@historicalnetworkresearch.org. For further information on Historical Network Research in general, we advise you to visit www.historicalnetworkresearch.org.

    About the journal

    The Journal of Historical Network Research (https://jhnr.uni.lu) publishes outstanding and original contributions which apply the theories and methodologies of social network analysis to historical research, helps advance the epistemological and theoretical understanding of social network analysis in the historical, social and political sciences, and promotes empirical research on historical social interactions.

    The journal promotes the interplay between different areas of historical research (in the broadest sense), social and political sciences, and different research traditions and disciplines, while strengthening the dialogue between network research and “traditional” historical research. The journal serves as a meeting place for the traditional hermeneutics of historical research and its concomitant emphasis on contextualisation and historical source criticism (as present in traditional academic historical journals) on the one hand, and the theory-heavy and/or sometimes overly technical discussion of methodological and technological issues (which predominates in publications focused on “pure” or sociological network research) on the other. All contents are made available free of charge to readers and authors following Open Access principles.

    Best wishes,

    The editors,

    Christian Rollinger, Marten Düring, Robert Gramsch-Stehfest & Martin Stark

    Read more about Call for Articles
  • Call for Articles

    2020-07-16

    Dear all,

    We are inviting submissions of papers to be considered for publication in the fifth issue of the Journal of Historical Network Research, which will be published in spring 2021.

    The Editorial Board welcomes proposals for papers centred on historical networks of any period of the recorded human past, from Bronze Age civilisation to contemporary history. Given the current extraordinary circumstances amid the global CoViD-19 pandemic, we particularly welcome papers that deal with historical pandemics from a network perspective.

    In order to foster reproducibility and transparency in historical network research, we encourage authors to provide their code and data sets in addition to the manuscripts for publication. We also encourage expressions of interest for book reviews on relevant recent literature and articles, which introduce and discuss relevant and innovative digital tools for network research, or interesting new databases and data sources.

    We accept submissions in the form of short and long articles as well as reviews of books, projects and datasets. A short article is suitable for the publication of ongoing research and may be more exploratory in nature whereas long articles are expected to present substantive and original findings. Short articles ideally run to no more than 20,000 – 30,000 characters (including spaces and footnotes); long papers between 60,000 and 90,000 characters. Reviews should not exceed 15,000 characters.

    Articles can be submitted in English, German or French. All articles (but especially those articles written in a language other than English) should be accompanied by an English-language abstract of no more than 300 words which contains the salient points and arguments. Please follow the Author Guidelines and use the journal template to ensure that your submission is formatted correctly.

    Articles for the fifth volume should be submitted via the journal homepage (https://jhnr.uni.lu/index.php/jhnr/about/submissions) by 30 November 2020. In the interest of better preparation, we ask you to submit a short abstract by September 30th.

    Please direct any questions you may have to the editors at JHNR-editors@historicalnetworkresearch.org. For further information on Historical Network Research in general, we advise you to visit www.historicalnetworkresearch.org.

    About the journal

    The Journal of Historical Network Research (https://jhnr.uni.lu) publishes outstanding and original contributions which apply the theories and methodologies of social network analysis to historical research, helps advance the epistemological and theoretical understanding of social network analysis in the historical, social and political sciences, and promotes empirical research on historical social interactions.

    The journal promotes the interplay between different areas of historical research (in the broadest sense), social and political sciences, and different research traditions and disciplines, while strengthening the dialogue between network research and “traditional” historical research. The journal serves as a meeting place for the traditional hermeneutics of historical research and its concomitant emphasis on contextualisation and historical source criticism (as present in traditional academic historical journals) on the one hand, and the theory-heavy and/or sometimes overly technical discussion of methodological and technological issues (which predominates in publications focused on “pure” or sociological network research) on the other. All contents are made available free of charge to readers and authors following Open Access principles.

    Best wishes,

    The editors,

    Christian Rollinger, Marten Düring, Robert Gramsch-Stehfest & Martin Stark

    Read more about Call for Articles
  • Reminder: Call for Papers for Issue #2 of the Journal of Historical Network Research

    2018-03-06

    We are inviting submissions of papers to be considered for publication in the second issue of the Journal of Historical Network Research, which will appear in the autumn of 2018.  

    The Editorial Board welcomes proposals for papers centred on historical networks of any period of the recorded human past, from Bronze Age civilisation to contemporary history. In order to support the dissemination of the principles of reproducible research and to foster a new and transparent culture of discussion in network research in general, we encourage authors to provide their code and data sets in addition to the manuscripts for publication. We also encourage the submission of book reviews on relevant recent literature and articles, which introduce and discuss relevant and innovative digital tools for network research or interesting new databases and data sources.

    Articles can be submitted in English, German or French. All articles (but especially those articles written in a language other than English) should be accompanied by an English-language abstract of no more than 300 words which contains the salient points and arguments. Papers should also be indexed with no more than 5 keywords. Please follow the Author Guidelines and use the provided Word template to ensure that your paper is formatted correctly.  

    Articles for the second volume should be submitted via the journal homepage ( https://jhnr.uni.lu/index.php/jhnr/about/submissions) by May 1th 2018. Authors will be notified of acceptance as soon as possible. Please direct any questions you may have to the editors at JHNR-editors@historicalnetworkresearch.org   For further information on Historical Network Research in general, we would advise you to visit www.historicalnetworkresearch.org.  

    The editors,

    Christian Rollinger, Marten Düring, Robert Gramsch-Stehfest & Martin Stark  

    Read more about Reminder: Call for Papers for Issue #2 of the Journal of Historical Network Research
  • Call for Papers for Issue #2 of the Journal of Historical Network Research

    2018-01-17

    We are inviting submissions of papers to be considered for publication in the second issue of the Journal of Historical Network Research, which will appear in the autumn of 2018.  

    The Editorial Board welcomes proposals for papers centred on historical networks of any period of the recorded human past, from Bronze Age civilisation to contemporary history. In order to support the dissemination of the principles of reproducible research and to foster a new and transparent culture of discussion in network research in general, we encourage authors to provide their code and data sets in addition to the manuscripts for publication. We also encourage the submission of book reviews on relevant recent literature and articles, which introduce and discuss relevant and innovative digital tools for network research or interesting new databases and data sources.

    Articles can be submitted in English, German or French. All articles (but especially those articles written in a language other than English) should be accompanied by an English-language abstract of no more than 300 words which contains the salient points and arguments. Papers should also be indexed with no more than 5 keywords. Please follow the Author Guidelines and use the provided Word template to ensure that your paper is formatted correctly.  

    Articles for the second volume should be submitted via the journal homepage ( https://jhnr.uni.lu/index.php/jhnr/about/submissions) by May 1th 2018. Authors will be notified of acceptance as soon as possible. Please direct any questions you may have to the editors at JHNR-editors@historicalnetworkresearch.org   For further information on Historical Network Research in general, we would advise you to visit www.historicalnetworkresearch.org.  

    The editors,

    Christian Rollinger, Marten Düring, Robert Gramsch-Stehfest & Martin Stark  

    Read more about Call for Papers for Issue #2 of the Journal of Historical Network Research
  • Notice and Status Update

    2017-12-12

    Due to a software glitch, certain parts of the journal homepage, specifically the "ABOUT" section, are currently inaccessible from iOS devices. All other devices and desktop browser are working correctly. We are looking into this matter and hope to have it fixed soon. In the meantime, please contact the editors at JHNR-editors@historicalnetworkresearch.org if you have any questions or wish to discuss possible submissions, or go here, to directly submit your article. Please not that while the official Call for Papers for the second issue of JHNR will be published in January 2018, article submissions are welcome at any time! 

    Read more about Notice and Status Update
  • Launch of the inaugural issue of the Journal of Historical Network Research

    2017-10-14

    We are very happy to announce the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Historical Network Research. Behind us lie two years of preparations. At this stage we would like to thank our reviewers and members of the Advisory Board for their support and guidance and the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History for its ongoing support. Finally, we are especially grateful to our authors who shared their research for this very first issue.

    The next call for papers is just around the corner, and we look forward to preparing Issue #2.

    The editors.

    Read more about Launch of the inaugural issue of the Journal of Historical Network Research