European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH)

The aim of the European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH) is to enhance the global visibility of high-quality research in the Humanities across all of Europe.

ERIH has been under development under the leadership of the ESF Standing Committee for the Humanities (SCH) since 2002. In 2001, 29 researchers and representatives of 17 ESF Member Organisations (MOs) met in Budapest to discuss the problem of the low visibility of much European humanities research, which was largely caused, it was agreed, by the inadequacy of existing bibliometric databases. The conclusion of the meeting was that it was essential to create ERIH as a tool which would present the full range of high-quality published activity of European humanities researchers. The creation of ERIH had two main goals: to be both a bibliographic and a bibliometric tool, i.e. to facilitate both access to and assessment of humanities research. A further key aim was to raise the threshold standards of editorial practices of journals throughout Europe.

The ERIH is the only Reference Index created and monitored by European scientists both for their own purposes and in order to reveal their ongoing research achievements to the rest of the world in a systematic way. It is a unique peer-review project that is subject to continual revision and development. In particular, in the context of a world dominated by publication in English, it highlights the vast range of world-class research published by humanities researchers in the European languages.

Fifteen disciplines were identified as central to the European humanities community and fifteen Expert Panels in these disciplines were set up to review journals which had been proposed by the various ESF Member Organisation countries. In the next phase of ERIH’s work, it is intended to include monographs and edited volumes in the project.

ERIH belongs to European researchers and the bodies that fund and support them. It is a highly complex project, as befits the complexity and richness of Europe’s humanities landscape. It is still in its early stages but has every prospect of representing that richness to all who are committed to the future of scientific research in the humanities in Europe.