We named the journal spontaneously ROMANO DŽANIBEN which can be translated into Czech in many different ways: science focused on Roms, knowledge about Roms, discovering(getting to know) the Roms, Romani knowledge (what the Roms know)...  The width of the title’s semantic field is an advantage since it covers many semantic nuances all of which should contribute to the character of the journal.

Milena Hübschmannová
foreword in the first issue of Romano džaniben 1/1994

The journal Romano džaniben is currently the only Czech peer-reviewed Romani Studies journal in the Czech Republic. It systematically focuses on the language, history and culture of the Roms and their related groups worldwide in the past and present time, concentrating espacially on studies and data from field research. The peer-reviews section of the journal is complemented by a section dedicated to the presentation of life-story accounts by Roms, historical documents, portraits of Romani personalities, literature and visual arts by Romani authors,  as well as reviews of literature on and by the Roms.

 
The journal is published by the organization Romano džaniben, twice a year. Since 2010, the journal is included on the list of Czech academic peer-reviewed journals established by the Czech governmental Board for Research, Development and Innovation.[H1]

History of the journal
The journal was established in 1994 in Prague by a group of Czech Romani studies experts, including Hana Šebková, Edita Žlnayová, Zbyněk Andrš, Ruben Pelar, and Milena Hübschmannová, the founder of Romani Studies as a university program in CR (Charles Universtiy, Prague, since 1991) and the prominent figure of Czech post-war Romani studies as an academic discipline. Hübschmannová became the leading figure in the development of the journal (she hold the post of the editor-in-chief since 1994 until her death in 2005). Since then a number of Hübschmanová’s disciples were involved in leading the edition office of the journal, including Peter Wagner, Jana Kramářová and Eva Zdařilová, other key members of the staff included Lada Viková and Anna Žigová.
 

Sutructure of the journal
While keeping its prestige as a respected academic journal, Romano džaniben strives to remain the information, referential and discussion platform for a whole range of professional groups, including practitioners and Roms themselves.
Since 2009, the journal is divided into two sections:
peer-reviewed section
- academic texts submitted for publication undergo a review by two independent reviewers who suggest (or not) the text for publication (if needed after rewriting).
- we prefer texts based on data from field research
- contributions are published in Czech (or Slovak), with an abstract and key-words in English

revue
- published texts include: essays and non-academic texts; interviews with Romani narrators and personalities, historical documents and other field work material (for example collected transcribed oral material such as songs and tales), portraits of Romani personalities, literary and visual arts authors, etc., including interviews and examples of their works
- highly appreciated are materials (interviews, narrations, literary works) in Romani
- the contributions are published in Czech (or Slovak) or in the Romani original (if available) and Czech translation

The search engine (available currently only through the Czech version of the web site) enables searching (by individual issues, authors, topic and country) and browsing all issues of Romano džaniben. Printed copies of current issues as well as of the archive are available through subscription or on demand at dzaniben(at)email.cz.