Concept
International Affairs is a 100-year-old peer-reviewed academic journal of international relations. Since its founding in 1922 the journal has been based at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs. It has an impact factor of 5.957 and a ranking of 6th in the world in International Relations journals, according to the 2021 ISI Journal Citation Reports. It aims to publish a combination of academically rigorous and policy-relevant research. It is published six times per year in print and online by Oxford University Press on behalf of Chatham House. In its 100-year history International Affairs has featured work by some of the leading figures in global politics and academia; from Mahatma Gandhi and Che Guevara to Joseph S. Nye and Susan Strange. In the wake of the First World War, the British (later Royal) Institute of International Affairs was established in 1920. It was based at Chatham House in London. Two years later the first issue of its journal was published. The founding editor, Geoffrey Malcolm Gathorne-Hardy, wrote in the first editorial that ‘the journal will, it is hoped... become a source of information and a guide to judgment in international affairs.’ For much of its early life the journal consisted of transcriptions of the major addresses and speeches given at Chatham House. In 1931 the journal was renamed International Affairs. During that decade a number of highly regarded authors were featured including Mahatma Gandhi, who visited Chatham House in 1931 to give a speech titled ‘The Future of India.’ The historian Arnold J. Toynbee also appeared several times in the journal. The onset of the Second World War in 1939 saw the journal suspended ‘until further notice.’ Activity did not completely cease during the war, however, as a comprehensive book review supplement – often consisting of as many as 60 or more reviews – was published three times per year for four years. Taken together these supplements formed the 19th volume of International Affairs when publication resumed in 1944.
