Contemporary Southeastern Europe
The first issue of the new peer-reviewed open-access academic journal 'Contemporary Southeastern Europe' has just been published by the Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz.
Contemporary Southeastern Europe (CSE) is an international scholarly journal that published peer-reviewed articles open-access and online. It serves as a platform for interdisciplinary, scientific understanding of societal issues and processes in South Eastern Europe. The disciplinary foci of CSE are political science, history, law, sociology, economics, cultural studies, gender studies and anthropology; preferring the interdisciplinary social science research. The core area of interest for the journal is South Eastern Europe, broadly defined to include Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. The journal especially welcomes the analysis of those countries put in broader inter- and transnational contexts. CSE is focused on the contemporary to cover the period since the end of Communism and particularly concerns itself with current developments. Nevertheless, the journal appreciates research on historical background and linkages to current developments in selected societies. CSE welcomes equally all different schools of thought in social sciences; supports the diversity of analytical approaches; as well as exploration of well reflected thematic fields, but also of uncharted scientific waters in Southeast European studies. In doing so, the journal hosts empirical analyses, comparative empirical research and social theory conceptualizations linked to societies in Southeastern Europe.
CSE publishes research articles, election and event analyses and book review essays, while simultaneously providing a platform for deeper understanding and lively debates. In doing so, the journal offers short video interviews with authors of the research articles on their central arguments, approaches and research outcomes; supplemented with space for the exchange of ideas on each publication – a debate forum. The establishment of a CSE community has its purpose in creating a new, additional level of academic debate about Southeastern European Studies. The journal has therefore decided to offer an option to authors and reader alike to engage in an interactive form of intellectual exchange. Through the framework of a moderated comment section for each published contribution, CSE aims to present an addition to traditional forms of academic critique and debate, which are generally restricted to peer-reviewed responses in academic journals. The forum will hence enable CSE community members to engage in a more contemporary form of debate; characterized by a quicker, more direct and more concise reaction located in a widely spread and easily accessible medium.