CIUS Launches New Online Scholarly Journal

by Volodymyr Kravchenko

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In 2014, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies will launch a new online scholarly journal, East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies, which will replace two venerable publications—Skhid/Zakhid, issued by the Kowalsky Eastern Ukrainian Institute in Kharkiv since 1998, and the Journal of Ukrainian Studies, published by CIUS since 1976.

Dr. Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, professor of Ukrainian literature in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta, has been appointed editor of the new journal. Dr. Ilnytzkyj has held the McCalla Professorship at the University of Alberta. He is the author of numerous studies on Ukrainian Modernism and culture formation in the Russian Empire and an expert in humanities computing specializing in the application of Internet technologies to Ukrainian studies. He was editor of Canadian Slavonic Papers for many years.

“My colleagues at CIUS have entrusted me with the exciting task of launching an online scholarly journal dedicated to advancing Ukrainian studies within an interdisciplinary and international context,” says Dr. Ilnytzkyj, commenting on his appointment.

The aim is to create an attractive venue for scholars, who will see their work published in timely fashion and disseminated widely, as well as a valuable resource for readers and researchers around the globe. Although this will not be an open-access journal, it will be inexpensive for individuals to access through the Internet on computers and mobile devices. Over the last decade, scholarly publishing has been moving online relentlessly for reasons of cost and convenience. And while these transformations are controversial, even painful, there can be no doubt that in the digital age an online presence is mandatory.

East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies anticipates being not only part of this general trend but also a leader, especially in the field of Ukrainian and Slavic studies. With the resources of CIUS as a basis and the assistance of scholars in several disciplines at the University of Alberta, EWJUS will be reaching out to the international community of researchers to establish editorial and advisory boards that can guide its activities and set its standards.

East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies will be a scholarly, peer-reviewed, online periodical publishing original research articles, reviews, and review articles. EWJUS will encourage the submission of previously unpublished work by academics, graduate students, and policymakers. The journal will welcome thematic issues organized by guest editors and original scholarship presented at conferences. It will be open to sponsoring online forums for scholarly debates and exchanges. The journal will accept research that incorporates web technologies and multimedia (e.g., audio and visual materials).

The projected focus and themes of the journal will include, among others, the following: Ukrainian humanities and social sciences in a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective; the early modern, modern, and contemporary periods; cultural geography and geopolitics; empires, regions, borders, and borderlands; dominant and subordinate cultures; collective identities, multiculturalism, nationalism; and the sociocultural foundations of modernization.

“I am very enthusiastic about this new project. At the moment, we are tackling a number of organizational, technical, and financial challenges, but I am optimistic that by early 2014 we will be in a position to unveil a product worthy of CIUS and of great service to the scholarly and academic community in both ‘East’ and ‘West,’” says the new editor.

It is my pleasure to congratulate Mr. Roman Senkus, the former managing editor of the Journal of Ukrainian Studies, on his excellent work during his many years with the journal. In fact, Roman has worked conscientiously on the many tasks he performs as director of CIUS publications and in the operation of the CIUS office in Toronto. He has worked hard and successfully to keep CIUS Press, the Journal of Ukrainian Studies, and the Encyclopedia of Ukraine operating successfully. Next year he will concentrate his efforts on the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, the CIUS website, and editing CIUS publications.

I would also like to thank all members of the CIUS Editorial Board for their contributions to the Journal of Ukrainian Studies (John-Paul Himka, Zenon Kohut, Andrij Makuch, David Marples, Marusia Petryshyn, Thomas Prymak, Marko Stech, Frank Sysyn, Maxim Tarnawsky, Myroslav Yurkevich), as well as the members of the Journal’s Advisory Board (Olga Andriewsky, Marko Bojcun, Yaroslav Hrytsak, Tamara Hundorova, Michael Moser, Marko Pavlyshyn, Serhii Plokhii, Maryna Romanets, Yuri Shapoval, Myroslav Shkandrij).

As a founder and former editor-in-chief of the journal Skhid-Zakhid, I would like to express my profound thanks to all my colleagues who worked hard to establish and maintain the high scholarly reputation of the journal in the course of the last fifteen years, especially Vil Bakirov, Hennadii Boriak, Mykola Diachenko, Andrii Domanovsky, Gelinada Hrinchenko, Yaroslav Hrytsak, Oleksander Kravchenko, Volodymyr Petrovsky, Vasyl Sheiko, Iryna Sklokina, Serhii Strashniuk, Oleksiy Tolochko, Mykola Vasylenko, Vasyl Ulianovsky, Natalia Yakovenko, Tetiana Zhurzhenko, Tetiana Dziadevych, Stephen Velychenko, as well as Jerzy Axer, George Grabowicz, John-Paul Himka, Andreas Kappeler, Zenon Kohut, David Saunders, Roman Szporluk, and Nikolai Vakhtin.

I hope that they will contribute to the new journal, whose title incorporates those of both its predecessors.

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Dr. Oleh Ilnytzkyj