International Journal of Forgery Studies

ISFS

The Society

The International Society for Forgery Studies is a scholarly network that promotes and facilitates research into forgery in its many forms — from forged texts, documents, and objects to invented histories and fabricated news — and connects scholars working across different disciplines, periods, and geographical regions.

Read the current issue → Vol. III, No. 1 · Autumn 2026

Meetings

  • Leiden

    Inaugural lecture — the Society is launched

    The society will be launched with an inaugural lecture on forgery, genealogy, and the invented past.

    Attendance is by personal invitation and places are limited.

Closed meetings are announced here without further detail. Enquiries may be sent to the society address below.

The society and the journal

The International Journal of Forgery Studies is published by the International Society for Forgery Studies, founded in 2024 to bring together the disciplines that study forgery: textual criticism and philology, book and archival history, diplomatics, forensic document examination, media history, and law. The journal has appeared twice yearly since.

Editorial decisions rest with the editors and the editorial board, independently of the society and of the institutions that host them. The working language is English. The society is registered as a non-profit association in Leiden.

  • The issues Journal

    Peer-reviewed articles, research notes, and source publications, published each spring and autumn.

  • The symposium Society

    An annual meeting each May. Selected papers appear in the following issue of the journal.

  • Working groups Society

    Standing groups on diplomatics and the forged charter, invented traditions and national histories, and the teaching of document examination. Their registers appear in the journal’s Notes & documents section.

The register

A register of those working on forgery — their fields, periods, and current questions — is among the most useful things a society of this kind can keep, and the society intends to maintain one.

It is in preparation. Whether the register is open to readers or reserved to members, and what each entry records, are still under discussion.

Correspondence