Published since 1954, Historical Abstracts has long been recognized as the world's leading bibliographic database for historical study. Historical Abstracts currently covers over 1,700 journals [ Journal List ] published worldwide in over forty languages. The database comprises over 720,000 entries from periodicals, with full-text links to over 135,000 articles and dissertations and masters' theses.

Each year, the editors of Historical Abstracts add over 16,000 abstracts and citations, over 3,000 book citations, and over 1,200 citations of dissertations and masters' theses to the database from the current literature and publications. Additional bibliographical entries are also added to the database by editorial projects such as retrospective coverage of journal issues published prior to 1954.

Historical Abstracts is committed to covering every significant historical journal published anywhere in the world, as well as journals with historical content published in closely related social science fields. Most articles are abstracted by an experienced group of abstracters, many of who are historians and librarians and are experts in the content of the journals they cover and who possess the necessary language skills. Other abstracts are provided by the journals. In every case, abstracts are carefully edited for clarity and precision.

Historical Abstracts on the Web includes incomplete, in-process entries awaiting abstracts and, in some cases, title translations.