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)
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 invite you to a short and practical webinar entitled “Getting Started,” where we will introduce the new interface of the Index Religiosus.
Webinar Details:
Date: March 13, 2025
Time: 16:00 (Brussels) / 10:00 (Eastern Time, USA)
Duration: 10 minutes, followed by a Q&A session
During this session, we will walk you through the features and functionalities of the new interface. This will help you and your patrons make the most of these valuable resources.
To register for the webinar, please fill out the form below:
Please note that you need to register in advance to participate in the webinar. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email with further details.
We are excited to announce that the new and improved interface is now available as default setting in the Index Religiosus. This update is designed to enhance user experience, and to provide more intuitive access to our extensive bibliographic databases.
Fig. 1: Search PageFig. 2: Result Page (incl. facets on the left-hand side)
Key features of the new interface:
User-Friendly Design: The new interface boasts a modern, clean design that simplifies navigation and improves accessibility.
Enhanced Search Capabilities: Advanced search functions allow for more precise and efficient retrieval of bibliographic records.
We believe these enhancements will significantly benefit our users by making it easier to access and utilize our bibliographic resources. We invite you to explore the new interface and experience the improvements firsthand.
3,291 records were added to the database Index Religiosus. With over 688,000 bibliographic records, the IR is the reference bibliography for Theology, Church History and Religious Studies. As a reminder, it is already possible to use the new version of Index Religiosus’ interface. This new interface (still a beta version) offers many advantages, which are summarized in this post.
Since February 2024, the beta version of the new interface is also available. In order to use the new version of the interface of BREPOLiS bibliographies, use the link available on the homepage of your favourite bibliography.
Furthermore, if you want to know more about the enhancements brought to our bibliographies, you can have look at our short intro.
The International Bibliography of Humanism and the Renaissance, The International Medieval Bibliography and the Bibliographie de civilisation médiévale -> Intro PDF.
