About the Journal

Since its founding in 1994, Romano džaniben is the only professional periodical in the Czech Republic that is systematically focused on the language, history and culture of the Roma in the broadest sense of the word. Romano džaniben publishes scholarly articles on Roma from around the world (including articles by Romani scholars) and reviews of current Romani literature; some of its issues are monothematic. At the same time, it pays attention to the voice of Roma, publishing memoirs, essays, profile interviews with Roma artists and other personalities, and samples of their work. It is published twice a year with a volume of approximately 180 pages in print (300 copies) and online.

Since 2022, it has been fully open access—all articles are available online for free in PDF format—and texts are published under a CC BY 4.0 license. 

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. Since 2011 the editorial office is headed by Pavel Kubaník and Helena Sadílková.

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.

Present of the journal

Romano džaniben is an open access journal as defined by the BOAI, with individual author texts subject to a CC-BY 4.0 public license. Texts are published in Czech, Slovak and Romani languages; the editorial office also accepts texts in English, but these are translated. More information in the section About the journal/ For authors.