Over the last few decades, around the world, and in multiple arenas, there has been a growing interest in Islam. Political, social, economic, or religious — all of these motivations have provoked global discussions on Islam, Islamic Studies, and other Islamic scholarship.
As part of our ongoing strategic initiatives, Atla has been continuously working to diversify our reach and inclusion of content, membership, and users. Similar to other regions and other religions, Atla is working to include in its research tools both scholarship about Islam, as well as religion and theology scholarship developed throughout the Islamic world.
By sourcing content on Islam and Islamic Studies from different parts of the Islamic world, our team is working to highlight different aspects of Islam (e.g., pastoral, academic) and cover different Islamic traditions (e.g., South Asian, Turkish, European, Arabic, North American, African).
In-House Expertise
Our team is able to seek out and index this content in large part because of its linguistic capabilities in Persian, Arabic, Urdu, and Turkish, to name a few. Having this in-house expertise is crucial to being able to accurately and robustly source, assess, index, and include this content in our research tools. In addition to these linguistic capabilities, our in-house team members are rigorous in developing an understanding of the cultural contexts of the vocabulary and terms in their own languages.
One of our in-house subject matter and linguistic experts, Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry, is diligent about examining the quality of potential journals for inclusion in our research tools, judging the format, style, and content to ensure its academic standard and contribution to our current offerings. Overall, our in-house subject-area specialists are also very careful to take a big picture view of each journal, analyzing the academic concerns and interests the journal reflects, as well as which and how users will engage with the content.
By conducting this thorough, dedicated analysis of the context and background of each journal, the Atla team is able to study the characteristics, patterns, and subject matter of the text. This in turn allows our team to better understand, anticipate, and serve potential readers, as well as their social and intellectual philosophies and projects.
Highlighted Journals in Atla Research Tools
Below are a few journals included within our research tools that cover various geographic regions, Islamic traditions, and academic philosophies:
- Cumhuriyet Ilahiyat Dergisi from Cumhuriyet Universitesi, Ilahiyat Fakultesi, Sivas (Turkey)
- Hamdard Islamicus: Quarterly Journal of Studies and Research in Islam from Bait al-Hikmat at Madinat al-Hikmat (Pakistan)
- Ijtimā’iyya: Journal of Muslim Society Research from State Institute on Islamic Studies, Purwokerto, Central Java, Indonesia (Indonesia)
- Ilahiyat Studies from Bursa İlahiyat Foundation (Turkey)
- Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization from University of Management and Technology (Pakistan)
- Journal of Shiʻa Islamic Studies from ICAS Press (UK)
- Journal for Islamic Studies from Centre for Contemporary Islam, University of Cape Town (South Africa)
Our team also seeks out a wide variety of scholarly journals that place Islam at an interdisciplinary intersection. Many of our journals address the contemporary reflections and relationships Islam has in the geopolitical arena, covering topics such as the integration of Islam into European educational systems, the Muslim Diaspora throughout Europe, and Muslim-Christian relations around the world.
Below are a few examples of interdisciplinary journals within our research tools:
- Hawwa: Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World from Brill (The Netherlands)
- Hikma from Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (Germany)
- Islamochristiana from Pontificio Istituto di Studi Arabi e d’Islamistica (Italy)
- The Muslim World from Wiley-Blackwell (UK)
Facts & Figures
The Islamic content included across all of Atla’s research tools includes:
- 90+ titles
- 40+ open access titles
- 70+ peer reviewed titles
- with 19 countries represented, including Turkey, Malaysia, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, South Africa, Italy
- in 11 languages: Turkish, Spanish, French, Arabic, Urdu, Malay, Persian, Russian, German, English, Indonesian
You can explore Islamic content in Atla Religion Database® (Atla RDB®), AtlaSerials® (Atlas®), and AtlaSerials PLUS® (Atlas PLUS®), all of which are available on EBSCOhost® or EBSCO Discovery Service™. Free trials of Atla databases are available.
This is an excerpt from a post which was originally published on Atla’s blog.