Significance of Scholarly Journal Articles and Academic Historians: Discussion, and a Necessary Tension?

History journal articles constitute a large and diverse body of scholarly literature in history. This discussion frames the relative importance of articles as a communication ecology within the professionalization of historians and to the body of historical knowledge. Their discrete nature is examined and their particular characteristics are tied to the complex position they occupy in the dissemination of research and value to academic historians vis-à-vis promotion and tenure. The status of the article, its perceived purpose and value in relation to the importance of the monograph to academic historians, further frames this tension, characterising the political economy of academic historical scholarship. Examples of journals and specialization are discussed within academic history's publishing ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]