EDITORIAL POLICY_Background
Background
The journal was first published in 1991 as the Noticiario de Historia Agraria (ISSN 1132-1261), being replaced in 1998 by Historia Agraria (ISSN 1139-1472). It has evolved according to the objectives specified at each moment by the professional association behind it. Like other scientific organisations and the journals published in Spain in response to the needs of a specialised audience during the last two decades of the 20th century, they both turned out to be insufficient: while SEHA expanded as an association Noticiario grew as a journal. Over these years, the former has maintained its acronym, SEHA, gradually imbuing it with a more ambitious meaning. Its first articles of association, approved in September 1990 in Ciutadella (Menorca), used the name Seminario de Historia Agraria [Seminar of Agrarian History], reflecting its foundational mission of critical debate, then in 2004 it adopted the name Sociedad Española de Historia Agraria [Spanish Society of Agrarian History], and then in 2016, as the outcome of its decision to reach out beyond our frontiers made at its 15th Congress held in Lisbon, it became the Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria [Society of Studies on Agricultural History].
One might say that the journal’s rise and consolidation has faithfully reflected the trajectory of its own parent association, which from its very modest origins in symposia held in Pamplona (November 1987) and Murcia (September 1989) for divulging and discussing research into agricultural history has evolved into the organiser of intercontinental congresses (Badajoz 2013, Lisbon 2016, and Santiago de Compostela 2018), and since 2010 it has become one of the mainstays of the European Rural History Organisation (EURHO).
The first issue, No. 0, of the newsletter Noticiario de Historia Agraria was published in Murcia in September 1990, and following a brief presentation its 40 pages featured a list of scholars and research streams, a catalogue of recent publications and PhD dissertations defended since 1986, a directory of 61 members and some news items on scientific encounters. In this presentation, which could be considered a founding manifesto, a number of objectives were set out that would later become defining hallmarks, such as interdisciplinarity (which was actually defined as “the need for collaboration among historians, economists, geographers and sociologists”), an interest in theoretical and methodological innovation, and a focus on publications produced both domestically and beyond our frontiers.
From a newsletter providing information on meetings, activities, group research programmes, bibliographies, sundry reports on regional agricultural history and a smattering of studies, by the third issue (January-June 1992) its structure had rapidly transformed into that of a journal, with the standard features of academic and scientific scholarship. Without completely forgoing its informative nature, the Noticiario embarked upon an upward trajectory that by the middle of the 1990s had turned it into a recognised publication with an international scope, not only according to its ‘visibility’ in databases, but also because of its positive reception among scholars both in Europe and the Americas. Out of a total of 164 articles published between 1991 and 2000 (22 issues), 29 of them (17.7%) were original contributions from non-Spanish authors. This was undoubtedly helped by an open editorial policy and the application of quality criteria for the publication of materials. Accordingly, the journal soon appointed an Editorial Board, an Advisory Committee, and furnished itself with publishing rules and regulations (issue no. 4, July-December 1992). The figure of correspondent created with the first issue was maintained in order to uphold the journal’s informative nature and provide an annual section on the Bibliography of Agricultural History in Spain. Its external appearance reflected this consolidation process, adopting a format with more attractive covers as of issue number 9 (January-June 1995) and shortening its name to Historia Agraria in issue number 15 (January-June 1998). The following year it changed its frequency from twice a year to every four months, and since number 20 (April 2000) it has added the subtitle Revista de agricultura e historia rural [Journal of agriculture and rural history].
The consolidation of the journal Historia Agraria during its initial stage (1991-2006) was inextricably linked to the name of its first editor: Professor José Miguel Martínez Carrión. In the journal’s issue no. 39 (August 2006), the then chair of SEHA, Ricardo Robledo, was responsible for listing his achievements under the telling title “El ojo del amo engorda el caballo” [It’s the master’s eye that makes the mill go]. The journal’s prestige had been built up over these years thanks to its precise regularity, demanding quality standards, a broadening of its temporal and thematic boundaries, and “the higher rates of institutional openness measured by the contributions from abroad in its pages”. The editors that followed him – Carmen Sarasúa (2006-2010), Juan Pan-Montojo (2011-2015), and Vicente Pinilla (2015-2019) – have managed to uphold the publication’s essence while also propelling it toward more ambitious goals.
In April 2008, the journal adopted a new external appearance as a sign of its intent to transcend the ambit in which it had thrived until then. Number 44 in the series therefore opened with an introduction significantly headed “From the past to the future”, in which Professor Robert Allen welcomed it “as a truly international journal” that not only catered for the field of agricultural history but also included environmental history. The following year saw five articles published in English (26% of those featured in the year). Issue no. 56 (April 2012) announced the journal’s inclusion in the Web of Science, within the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and from that year on it has had an impact factor computed by the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). By then it was already being rated in other scientific databases such as Scopus-SCImago, ERIH, Latindex, RESH, DICE, In-RECS, In-RECH, and CIRC. In 2013, the journal received the seal of quality awarded by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), which was renewed in 2016. In October 2017, it adopted the use of DOI identification codes for the articles it published and chose to become an Open Access Journal, which came into effect on 1 January 2018.