The first issue of the new peer-reviewed academic online journal for Modern Irish studies, COMHARTaighde (www.comhartaighde.com) was launched on Tuesday 24th November. Dr Regina Uí Chollatáin, Head of the School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore in University College, Dublin, launched the journal in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.
COMHARTaighde is an annual periodical that will make scholarly work in the Irish language available across the world in particular areas of Modern Irish scholarship. In order to serve the widest readership, the journal is being published as an open-access journal through the internet. This is a new peer-reviewed forum for Irish language academic and researchers, and the project stems from the long tradition of the monthly magazine Comhar as a place for critical thinking. The basic philosophy of the magazine and the organisation, has always been to publish to the widest readership possible.
In order to reach the highest international standard, this project is being undertaken in conjunction with a team of scholars from various scholarly institutes in Ireland and from overseas. The first edition contains the work of five articles and a range of reviews of newly-published academic works. Amongst the authors in this issue, Deirdre Ní Chonghaile, Aingeal Ní Chualáin, Proinsias Ó Drisceoil, Tadhg Ó Dúshláine, John Walsh and Bernadette O’Rourke approach a variety of different topics including music scholarship within Modern Irish, contemporary literature, current research in sociolinguistics, and insights into the history in Irish language publishing in both the 19th and 20th centuries. Muilt-media material is available through the electronic nature of the journal which better enables the writer to demonstrate their speciality in the eyes of the reading public.
Each article in the journal can be read online as a web-page or can be downloaded in PDF format. The webpages can be read on types of electronic devices. COMHARTaighde is also indexed in a range of different electronic academic databases.
It is appropriate to acknowledge the role of Maynooth University in this innovative project, from both the editorial and technical consulting roles and the writing input with Dr Ó Dúshláine’s article, in addition to Professor Ruairí Ó hUiginn functioning on the international editorial advisory board.