Illes i Imperis (Islands and Empires), the journal published by the Research Group on Empires, Metropolis and Extra-european Societies (GRIMSE), of the Department of Humanities, has been recently indexed in Scopus, the largest database of science literature-related abstracts and citations in the world. It is the first journal published by the University to do so.

This coincides with the publication of issue number 19 of  Illes i Imperis, currently an annual publication, whose goal is to promote the publication of studies on colonial and post-colonial societies.

Josep M. Delgado and Josep M. Fradera, full professors of History at the Department of Humanities and GRIMSE principal investigators are the journal directors:  “For us it is fundamental acknowledgement of our line of research into colonial history, begun 35 years ago; it is also a very positive result for UPF in its quest for research excellence and internationalization”. According to the directors, the idea is to go from publishing annually to biannually, “given the number of items that are coming in”.

Meanwhile, Claudia Contente, co-editor of the journal, together with Alexandre Coello, both lecturers with the Department of Humanities and GRIMSE members, highlights the quality of the publication and is of the opinion that Scopus indexation is merely the expression and recognition of the trajectory and activities of the research group.

The reviewer of the Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) at Scopus issued a favourable report for the inclusion of the journal in the database using these words:  “This is an impressive journal that seems to be in good health, from its editorial policy and home page to the production schedule and online access. The articles are well cited, which is an indication of the importance of the journal in his field of research. Therefore, we recommend it for inclusion in Scopus”.

The 19^th issue of the journal includes eight articles and six reviews of publications.  Within the first group, such topics are discussed as the Society of Jesus and the Rio Plata region; the indigenous rebellion of 1792-1793 in the planes of Valdivia and the treatment of non-combatants during the Spanish repression; the economic history of the Pacific; the indianos and their personal and business networks in the Spanish colonialism of the 19^th century, or Moroccan nationalist activism from 1927 to 1936. The bibliographical reviews include reflections on works that focus on the American federal war (1826-1829), the Cuban Wars (1868-1998) or pan-Asian sports and the emergence of modern Asia (1913-1974).

Nearly 22,000 indexed scientific publications by 5,000 publishers

Produced by the scientific publishing company Elsevier, Scopus includes around 22,000 scientific journals by more than 5,000 international publishers.

It provides access to more than 28 million abstracts (since 1966), that is approximately 80% of international expert peer reviewed publications.

With a total of 69 million documents, it includes a collection of abstracts, bibliographic references, information about the authors, and the impact indices of the main journals in the fields of science, technology, medicine and social sciences, in addition to books, conferences and a broad selection of patents and websites. Weekly updates ensure quality content.

A platform of academic studies on world history

Illes i Imperis promotes the publication of works of a historical nature, but also contributions from other areas of the social sciences. Hence, it provides studies, publishes texts and quantitative material; offers references and bibliographic reviews, as well as information about activities of interest to scholars of the history of societies in the colonial and post-colonial world.

GRIMSE focuses its interest on studies on Latin America, the Philippines and South-East Asia, North Africa and the Hispanic metropolitan world, from the 15^th century until the 20^th century. However, the journal also takes an interest in academic papers related to other areas and periods, in comparative perspectives and, in general, studies pertaining to world history.

The editorial team comprises nine people (including UPF professor Martín Rodrigo y Alharilla) and an Advisory Board made up of just over a dozen researchers from universities and international research centres, from the US, Central and South America, as well as Singapore, the UK, Spain or Germany.