The International Bibliography of Historical Sciences (IBOHS) is a long‐standing publication that has been produced annually since 1930. It is a survey of yearly international progress in the field of history. A brief glance at the long list of the members of the Advisory Board and the Contributing and Consulting Editors at the beginning of this volume indicates that most individuals involved with this project are associated with European universities. The annual (with, as yet, no electronic equivalent) has the feel of being a distinctly (and distinctively) European product. This is in contrast to the rival publication Historical Abstracts produced in America by ABC‐CLIO. This is now available electronically but does not extend as far back in terms of publications cited as IBOHS, only covering material published from 1954 to the present.
IBOHS describes itself as a “selective and descriptive” bibliography as opposed to a critical and analytical one. The foreword to the 1998 volume indicates that its producers see the elements of criticism and analysis as more appropriate to specialised bibliographies (pp. ix‐x). Unlike Historical Abstracts, entries in the IBOHS do not contain an abstract. Titles of entries in most European languages are provided only in their original form, whereas, titles in Russian and Chinese have been both transliterated and translated. The coverage of Historical Abstracts is also international and includes historical works in over 50 languages, although, in contrast to IBOHS, it particularly emphasises the inclusion of English‐language titles published around the world. Formats covered by IBOHS include historical monographs, journal articles, book reviews and theses and dissertations. This is very similar to the formats covered by Historical Abstracts although, because it is available electronically, there is the additional option of limiting a search to a specific format type. The current volume of IBOHS here under review contains 8,701 entries. This contrasts with Historical Abstracts, which adds 20,000 entries a year to its database.
IBOHS is also quite distinct from Historical Abstracts because of the broad subject period that it covers. It aims to list publications that deal with history from the earliest to the most recent, from prehistory to the modern period. Historical Abstracts on the other hand, only covers works dealing with the period from 1450 to the present. In terms of aspects of history covered, both the IBOHS and Historical Abstracts include political, constitutional, religious, cultural, economic and social aspects of history. Both bibliographies include international relations, reflecting the aspiration of both to be completely up to date in the subject period covered. Because of the larger subject period covered by the IBOHS, it consequently places greater emphasis on “sciences” allied to history, such as palaeography, diplomatics, history of the book, genealogy, heraldry, numismatics, linguistics, historical geography and iconography. With this extensive subject coverage, the geographical range of IBOHS is likewise large. It includes: the Ancient East, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Oceania. This geographical range clearly does not apply to Historical Abstracts because of its more limited date coverage. In addition, Historical Abstracts does not cover the USA and Canada (although these are covered by a companion source entitled America: History and Life).
Because IBOHS exists in print form only, the order in which works are cited is important. Arrangement is according to period, region or historical discipline, the scheme used being a longstanding one originally established by the Bibliographical Commission of the International Committee of Historical Sciences. In addition to the main sequence there are name and geographical indexes. IBOHS is thus distinctive on a number of counts. It is truly international without a particular English‐language emphasis. Its function should not be confused with the more limited remit of national bibliographies of history, such as the Royal Historical Society's Annual Bibliography of British and Irish history. Its subject and geographical coverage is comprehensive.
Probably its single main drawback when one looks at the way in which the market for abstracting and indexing tools is developing, is the fact that there seem to be no plans for the development of an electronic version. Even national bibliographies of history are appearing in electronic form, for example, the Annual Bibliography of British and Irish History is both accessible through the Internet and on CD‐ROM. Web versions of databases frequently offer a current awareness alerting service which is provided, for instance, by Historical Abstracts. These functions have generated an expectation in the market that, in turn, has created a lack of patience with the more traditional bibliographic tools that are less easily manipulated and customized. The move towards an electronic format seems to be an almost irresistible and irreversible trend. Is it only a matter of time before IBOHS follows suit?
