Starting December 2025, Brepolis Bibliographies include citation information through a new citation plugin. This tool is available in the hitlist and on the record page, providing the total number of citations along with the bibliographical details of the citing publications.
Although the number of citations included in this initial release is still limited, this is expected to increase significantly in the coming months. For now, most citations will be drawn from journals and books published between 2020 and 2024. Newly registered citations will be added monthly.
For a short presentation of the plugin:
The citation data are sourced from Perspecti, Brepols’ upcoming database on research in the Humanities. For more information on Perspecti, see Perspecti plugin – Perspecti
Since the launch of the citation plugin in December 2025, the number of citations included in Brepolis bibliographies has increased by 76%.
In his recent article, Charles Guérin, “L’Année philologique, une source pour l’histoire de la philologie ? — L’exemple de Sénèque le Père,” the author demonstrates how a bibliography can be used in innovative and unexpected ways. The article is available here: https://books.openedition.org/irht/1287.
We are pleased to highlight this study, which offers a compelling example of how bibliographic resources can serve not only as discovery tools but also as sources for analytical and historical research. Thanks to the bibliometric features developed by Brepols, L’Année Philologique can be approached in a different light. Rather than simply locating publications on a given topic, the database can be read “in reverse”: mined as a dataset that reveals long-term shifts in classical scholarship and, more broadly, the evolving history of philology.
The bibliometric module is accessible directly from the search interface of the BREPOLiS bibliographies (L’Année Philologique, International Medieval Bibliography, Bibliographie de Civilisation Médiévale, International Bibliography of Humanism and the Renaissance, Bibliography of British and Irish History and Index Religiosus) via the dedicated “Bibliometrics” tab.
view of the interface of L’Année Philologique featuring the Bibliometric Module
You have also access to the Bibliometric information from the record view:
view of a bibliographic record of L’Année Philologique
As BREPOLiS marks its 25th anniversary, we are pleased to announce a range of exciting enhancements to our online databases. From a completely redesigned interface for the Library of Latin Texts to enhanced accessibility and search functionalities in our bibliographic databases, the platform continues to evolve to meet the needs of scholars worldwide.
Highlights include:
A new data model and interface for Latin databases
The launch of the Perspecti Citation Plugin for bibliographies
Accessibility upgrades across all platforms
A special extended trial subscription offer for institutions starting in autumn 2025
By introducing new features and continuously enhancing its functionalities, BREPOLiS remains a trusted gateway to high-quality research tools. Download the Newsletter here (PDF, 4 pages)
Each month, we shine a spotlight on a specific research area, in parallel with our main website, www.brepols.net. This month’s focus is History of Science.
How can BREPOLiS databases support scholars interested in History of Science? Our bibliographies offer a comprehensive overview of literature related to the History of Science. Publications on the History of Science in Classical Antiquity are covered by L’Année Philologique, while the Medieval & Early Modern periods History are respectively covered by the International Medieval Bibliography and the International Bibiliography of Humanism and the Renaissance. The Bibliography of British and Irish History is also an excellent resource for research in this field.
How to count the number of publications related to History of Science in our Bibliographies?
Thanks to their new interface, along with solid indexing and a well-structured data model, it’s easy to isolate publications devoted to the History of Science. Let’s take a look at how it works in the International Bibliography of Humanism and the Renaissance. To find bibliographical records dealing with History of Science, first select ‘Subject Tree’ as search field (1) and click on ‘Scienceand Medicine’(2). The number of records (7,543) will be displayed in the search button (3).
Please note that the subject tree allows you to search for more specific topics like Mathematics and Astronomy:
Another way to search for the publications related to the History of Science in the International Bibliography of Humanism and the Renaissance is by using the ‘Themed Search‘ filter (4). This allows you to combine your search for History of Science (Science + Technology) with a specific geographical area and a century (5).
For instance, you can search for the bibliographical records dealing with Science or Technology in Italy during the 16th and 17th centuries (6).
Please note that BREPOLiS other bibliographies also cover the ‘History of Science’:
Database
Search terms
# bibliographical records
L’Année Philologique
‘Science and Technology’
32,766 (sept 2025)
International Medieval Bibliography
‘Science and Medecine’
9,569 (sept 2025)
Bibliographie de Civilisation médiévales
‘Science and Medecine’
1,275 (sept 2025)
International Bibliography of Humanism and the Renaissance
To mark the 25th anniversary of the launch of our first online database, we are pleased to announce an extended one-year trial subscription at half price, available from September 2025 through the end 2026. Start your subscription in September, pay for just 6 months, and enjoy 16 months of full access !
This offer is limited to new subscriptions and does not apply to renewals of current subscriptions.
Following the death of Pope Francis on 21 April 2025, the papacy is currently sede vacante. A conclave to elect a new pope is scheduled to be held starting today in the Sistine Chapel of Vatican City.
Today’s conclave has its roots in the thirteenth century. Following the death of Pope Clement IV on 29 November 1268, the cardinals who had gathered in Viterbo could not agree on who should be the new pope. It took exactly two years, nine months and two days before the new pope, Gregory X, was elected on 1 September 1271, making this election the longest papal election in the history of the Catholic Church.
The new pope was elected more than a year after the magistrates of Viterbo locked the cardinals in, reduced their rations to bread and water, and removed the roof of the Palazzo dei Papi di Viterbo where the election took place.
As a result of the length of the election, during which three of the twenty cardinal-electors died and one resigned, Gregory X decreed during the Second Council of Lyons in 1274 that the cardinal-electors should be locked in seclusion and not permitted to leave until a new pope had been elected.
If you are interested in Gregory X’s papal letters and documents, the database Ut per litteras apostolicas… Papal Letters Online will be useful for your research. Ut per Litteras Apostolicas provides the complete collection of papal letters from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and enables powerful software searches.
Of course, we cannot talk about the subject of the pope and leave out theIndex Religiosus, an internationally renowned bibliography of academic publications in the fields of theology, religious sciences, and Church history. With more than 4,500 hits for the index term Papacy, the Index Religiosus not only covers the medieval period, but the entire history of the Roman Catholic Church.
We are excited to present the recording of our webinar titled “Getting Started,” where we introduced the new interface of the Index Religiosus.
During this session, we walked you through the features and functionalities of the new interface, which is shared across all three databases. This will help you and your patrons make the most of these valuable resources.
Time: 16:00 (Brussels) / 10:00 (Eastern Time, USA)
Duration: 10 minutes, followed by a Q&A session
During this session, we walked you through the features and functionalities of the new interface, which is shared across all three databases. This will help you and your patrons make the most of these valuable resources.
