Publications

Publishing Art Historical Research – But How?

There is no single answer to the question of how best to publish research in art history because multiple factors determine what in a specific case has the most favorable prospect of achieving the desired results. Listing these factors could begin with the topic itself, but would then extend to the research question, to the length and form of the manuscript, to the geographical, linguistic, and social profile of the targeted audience, and to the structure and development of the research debate.

We are committed to crafting optimal solutions for the various research interests of the Institute and to modifying, if necessary, existing publication series and adapting them to specific requirements. In addition, we plan and organize publications in the respective publication organs and support the quality assurance of our research output. The complexity of these tasks is further increased by their multilingual nature; the international profile of the Institute and our work within it demands of us advanced proficiency in Italian, German, English, and (to a lesser degree) French in order to supervise texts and work together with their authors.

All manuscripts undergo an internal review process, and journal articles, conference proceedings, and many monographs are also subject to external review (in the form of double-blind peer review). We oversee the process from manuscript to book, coordinate the work of both author and publisher, check form and content, advise on book titles and cover design, and supervise the editing, layout, and print quality. We place high value on high-quality illustrations of the research objects. In total, we plan and oversee the process from the submission of the manuscript to the publication of the book and then, beyond this, support the communication of the published research via social media, newsletters, and media work.

Publishing in art history currently finds itself at the crossroads. While open access guarantees transparency and high international visibility, print publication retains value by encouraging and facilitating a deeper engagement with complex issues. We believe that cultivating both publication strategies still make sense for art history for various reasons. On the one hand, a print publication can be best suited to anchoring research in public discourse for publications that manage to strike a balance between scientific excellence and eloquence. On the other hand, the digital, open-access format has the advantages of fast and wide dissemination. Our aim is to identify the advantages of both formats and to assign each research output to the appropriate medium according to the needs of the respective scholar and the profile of the particular project. As for our print series, we carefully curate their aesthetic quality and, in doing so, honor the book as an object of pleasure and edification in its own right.