About the Journal

The Journal of Military History and Defence Studies is a bi-annual peer-reviewed open access online journal that publishes original research and contributions in military history and defence studies. In addition to publishing work by established authors and scholars, it has the particular aim of making available to a wide audience the best work completed by postgraduate students studying within these fields at Maynooth University, the Irish Military College and other similar institutions. The journal also aims to publish special editions that make available original research presented at conferences, research seminars etc. As the title suggests, the journal focuses on military history and defence studies, taking a broad view of these subject areas to include the history of war and of militaries, and also of the impact of these on wider society, in addition to the study of war, strategy, security and military organisation today and into the future. 

Submissions include 15,000 word articles derived from Master's theses. The journal provides an outlet for the best such work, providing an opportunity for very early career researchers to showcase their work, making accessible high quality original research that was previously hidden from public view. The theses retain their original conventions re-length, citations, footnotes etc. This has been done to facilitate participation by the widest possible range of participants, including those who have not chosen to pursue an academic career and those who might not normally have the time to revise their thesis to meet such demands. The latter include personnel serving in the Defence Forces.

The Journal will also publish orginal articles that should normally be between 7,000 to 10,000 words long (excl. references and bibliography). Such work should conform to the latest version of the  Chicago Manual of Style.

All work (including work derived from MA theses) is subjected to double blind peer review and only work that successfully negotiates that process is published.

The work published here is primarily the product of early career researchers. The journal's aim is to make this work available to a wide audience in order to provide such researchers with an outlet for their work, to give readers access to some exciting and original ideas, and to encourage discussion and debate. Our intent is to provide a useful platform and a supportive environment that will encourage contributors and others to undertake further research in miltiary history and defence studies. Readers are encouraged to approach the submissions with the same attitude. 

OPEN ACCESS AND COPYRIGHT: this is an open access journal, available to all free of charge. It uses an open access model of intellectual property. That means that the copyright of papers remain with the authors who provide the journal with a Creative Commons licence to publish the paper.  By "open access" to this literature, we mean it is free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, and use them for any lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited. See here for Maynooth University's policy on Open Access to Research. See here for details of the Creative Commons licence.

DISCLAIMER: the ideas and opinions presented in this journal are those of the authors alone and they do not represent the views of the Maynooth University or any other group or organisation.