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International Medieval Bibliography
The International Medieval Bibliography (IMB) is a multidisciplinary bibliographic database covering Europe, North Africa and the Middle East for the entire period from AD 300 to 1500. It aims to provide a comprehensive, current bibliography of articles in journals and miscellany volumes (conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften) published worldwide in over 35 different languages. The organisation and publication of the IMB is a collaboration between the University of Leeds and the Belgian publisher Brepols.
As of 2024, the database comprised over 560,000 article records on every aspect of the Middle Ages, with over 16,000 new records being added annually in quarterly updates. A printed update of new records is published annually. The IMB's editorial staff are based at the Institute for Medieval Studies, supported by a worldwide network of academic contributors.
Around 2012, the IMB and Brepols joined forces with the Bibliographie de civilisation médiévale (BCM), based at the University of Poitiers, and it is possible to use a joint interface to search for articles in the IMB and monographs in the BCM.
The IMB was founded in 1967 by Peter H. Sawyer, then at the University of Leeds but visiting the University of Minnesota, with the support of the Medieval Academy of America and funding from the University of Minnesota and the McKnight Foundation of Minnesota. Early volumes appeared annually and each contained around 3,000 records.
Until the 1990s, the IMB was produced and its subscriptions managed entirely at Leeds University, with printing and distribution handled by the Leeds printing house Maney. Around 1987, however, the then editor Katie Cubitt decided that the bibliography should be digitised. The Belgian publisher Brepols won the tender, publishing a digitised version of the IMB on CD in 1995, and a close relationship between the IMB, Leeds's Institute for Medieval Studies, and Brepols formed; from 1996-97 Brepols took on both online and print publication of the IMB, with data creation remaining with the Institute for Medieval Studies.
From 1995 to 2020, the IMB was home to the Bulletin of International Medieval Research, edited by Alan V. Murray. In 2020, it was announced that the Bulletin and Leeds Studies in English would merge to become Leeds Medieval Studies.
While many disciplines, such as the sciences and medicine, publish their research predominantly online and in English, a very large proportion of research in the disciplines relevant to Medieval Studies is still published in print (or print plus electronic versions) and in a wide variety of languages. The IMB aims to include publications from all disciplines and languages, focusing on those which represent the newest research and which are not separately catalogued by libraries, i.e. articles in periodicals and essays or papers in conference proceedings, Festschriften and exhibition catalogues.
The geographical scope was originally restricted to Christian Europe, but has gradually been extended to include North Africa and the Near East for the entire medieval period, so that it now also forms an important resource for the Islamic heritage as well as the cultures of Christianity, Judaism and the various European pagan religions.
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International Medieval Bibliography
The International Medieval Bibliography (IMB) is a multidisciplinary bibliographic database covering Europe, North Africa and the Middle East for the entire period from AD 300 to 1500. It aims to provide a comprehensive, current bibliography of articles in journals and miscellany volumes (conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften) published worldwide in over 35 different languages. The organisation and publication of the IMB is a collaboration between the University of Leeds and the Belgian publisher Brepols.
As of 2024, the database comprised over 560,000 article records on every aspect of the Middle Ages, with over 16,000 new records being added annually in quarterly updates. A printed update of new records is published annually. The IMB's editorial staff are based at the Institute for Medieval Studies, supported by a worldwide network of academic contributors.
Around 2012, the IMB and Brepols joined forces with the Bibliographie de civilisation médiévale (BCM), based at the University of Poitiers, and it is possible to use a joint interface to search for articles in the IMB and monographs in the BCM.
The IMB was founded in 1967 by Peter H. Sawyer, then at the University of Leeds but visiting the University of Minnesota, with the support of the Medieval Academy of America and funding from the University of Minnesota and the McKnight Foundation of Minnesota. Early volumes appeared annually and each contained around 3,000 records.
Until the 1990s, the IMB was produced and its subscriptions managed entirely at Leeds University, with printing and distribution handled by the Leeds printing house Maney. Around 1987, however, the then editor Katie Cubitt decided that the bibliography should be digitised. The Belgian publisher Brepols won the tender, publishing a digitised version of the IMB on CD in 1995, and a close relationship between the IMB, Leeds's Institute for Medieval Studies, and Brepols formed; from 1996-97 Brepols took on both online and print publication of the IMB, with data creation remaining with the Institute for Medieval Studies.
From 1995 to 2020, the IMB was home to the Bulletin of International Medieval Research, edited by Alan V. Murray. In 2020, it was announced that the Bulletin and Leeds Studies in English would merge to become Leeds Medieval Studies.
While many disciplines, such as the sciences and medicine, publish their research predominantly online and in English, a very large proportion of research in the disciplines relevant to Medieval Studies is still published in print (or print plus electronic versions) and in a wide variety of languages. The IMB aims to include publications from all disciplines and languages, focusing on those which represent the newest research and which are not separately catalogued by libraries, i.e. articles in periodicals and essays or papers in conference proceedings, Festschriften and exhibition catalogues.
The geographical scope was originally restricted to Christian Europe, but has gradually been extended to include North Africa and the Near East for the entire medieval period, so that it now also forms an important resource for the Islamic heritage as well as the cultures of Christianity, Judaism and the various European pagan religions.