An Introduction to the Humanities and Social Science Journal, Thought and Words
The humanities and social science journal, Thought and Words, was founded in 1963, by a group of young scholars who were concerned about national affairs and passionate about learning, and who raised funds to establish the publication independently. The journal introduced new knowledge and new tides of thought from overseas to Taiwan, and provided pure, fresh terrain for academic publishing, a diverse and open democratic forum, proposing social reform, providing oversight and encouragement to the process of reform in Taiwan, exercising far-reaching influence for many years. Many of these older generation scholars, moreover, are currently fellows of the Academia Sinica, and internationally preeminent scholars. Operating on a shoestring, with no financial assistance from universities, the journal has now been running for 48 years, never missing an edition. Unstinting from the outset, it could be called a miracle of Taiwan’s publishing world, and it is now Taiwan’s longest-standing humanities and social sciences journal.
Thought and Words is an academic journal in the humanities and social sciences. In circulation since February 1963 to the present, it has published 1900 works, as many as 40 million characters, 240 editions, 30,000 pages and more than 1,000 authors. The articles it has published have been pure academic works in the fields of literature, history, philosophy, language, sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, law, broadcasting, psychology, administrative studies, diplomacy and more. It is currently a quarterly periodical, published in March, June, September and December.
Thought and Words is an interdisciplinary journal emphasizing diversity and integration, and a holistic approach, frequently developing new topics in step with changing times, producing special editions or collections, making different perspectives compatible and stressing interdisciplinary and integrated thinking. For the number of fields that it covers, the breadth of areas on which it touches, and the vastness of its outlook, it might be called a leader in the academic world. The essence of Thought and Words is that it integrates diverse perspectives, unlike today’s many journals in specialist fields, whose weakness is that their analysis is too one-dimensional.
Thought and Words brings together the academic elite in the humanities and social sciences. Its history is the history of the development of the humanities and social sciences in Taiwan: among the young scholars who founded Thought and Words, some were already fellows of the Academia Sinica, and others were presidents of universities. Many of the students who read and seized academic nourishment from Thought and Words in those days went on to become outstanding scholars in the humanities and social sciences and in educational circles in Taiwan.
For its dedication and effort, Thought and Words has long enjoyed the recognition and acknowledgement of the academic world at home and abroad. It won the Ministry of Education’s annual prize for best periodical in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, and the annual best periodical grant from the Center for Humanities Research under the National Science Council in 2006 and 2007. The academic theory introduced byThought and Words stimulated Taiwan’s academic and research atmosphere, raising research standards. The articles it publishes are often cited in academic circles, and serve as reference sources that are essential holdings for any library in Taiwan or overseas.
The full text of each article from every edition of Thought and Words is held in the United Data Banks Data Center established by United Databanks Digital Publishing Inc. （http://www.greatman.com.tw/thought.htm, where an online search system is provided for those wishing to view any of the author-authorized articles from the entire 47 volumes. The full text of each article after volume 42 is also collected on the Chinese Electronic Periodical Services website created by Airiti（http://www.ceps.com.tw, and on the HyRead website created by Hyweb Technology Co., Ltd（http://www.hyread.com.tw）.
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