Freie Universität Berlin Relaunches “1914 1918 online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War”

Freie Universität Berlin has relaunched the international open-access encyclopedia "1914-1918-online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War." Ten years after its inaugural publication and 110 years after the beginning of the First World War, the platform now features a new interface with advanced functionalities for researchers.

Screenshot from the encyclopedia "1914-1918-online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War"
Image Credit: Freie Universität Berlin/Friedrich Meinecke Institute

The renewal of the encyclopedia, which was carried out in cooperation between the Friedrich Meinecke Institute and the University Library of Freie Universität Berlin, offers comprehensive insights into current research on the First World War with over 1,600 articles. It now links more than 3,700 images to the articles and contains an expanded bibliographic database with over 26,000 entries.

Since its launch in 2014, the encyclopedia has been a source of in-depth historical knowledge. Its vast number of articles provide comprehensive coverage of current research on the First World War. The platform also allows for transparent version control when updating previously published articles, making it easy to continuously integrate new findings and corrections. "1914-1918-online" has a transnational focus and deals particularly with the global dimensions of the war, drawing on a network of over 1,000 experts from more than fifty countries.

The relaunch brings a number of new features and information to the encyclopedia. For example, a database of over 3,700 images has been added. The images are linked to the articles, allowing exploratory access to the content of the encyclopedia. In addition, the collaborative bibliography of the International Society for First World War Studies has been integrated and merged with the extensive bibliographic references from "1914-1918-online," boosting the encyclopedia's bibliographic database to over 26,000 titles.

Behind the scenes, the redesign has simplified workflows and editorial processes for the platform's editorial office and the newly appointed managing editors, who continue to develop the encyclopedia and oversee the peer review process for new articles. Some steps in the peer review and editorial processes have even been automated with the relaunch.

The objective of the redesign is to ensure that "1914-1918-online" remains an indispensable resource for researchers, students, and history enthusiasts worldwide.

This flagship project at Freie Universität Berlin is coordinated by Professor Oliver Janz (Friedrich Meinecke Institute, Department of History and Cultural Studies) and Dr. Dennis Mischke (University Library/Ada Lovelace Center for Digital Humanities).