Dionysius

About Dionysius

Dionysius — Journal Profile

Dionysius is a scholarly journal published by the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Established in 1977 and renewed in a new series from 1998, it publishes articles on the history of ancient philosophy and theology, including Patristic theology and their later reception, with a special interest in the Aristotelian and Neoplatonic traditions. The Journals World record for the journal (post 35311, slug dionysius) carries ISSN 0705-1085 and a stored H-index of 5. This profile is anchored on that live record and on information published by Dalhousie University and the journal's own online home in the Dalhousie Open Journal Systems, with OpenAlex figures attributed to OpenAlex at the time of checking and the Directory of Open Access Journals position reported exactly as found.

At a Glance

What the Journal Is

Some journals are named for a place or a method; Dionysius is named for a thinker. Dionysius the Areopagite — the pseudonymous, probably sixth-century author whose writings carried the philosophical and theological heritage of late antiquity into the Christian world — is the presiding spirit of a journal whose central concern is exactly that transmission: how ancient philosophy, above all the Platonic and Aristotelian traditions, was received, transformed and argued with in theology, literature and later thought. Dalhousie University's Department of Classics, which publishes the journal, says that Dionysius boasts a strong international profile and that the department's own standing rests in part on it. For a journal produced by a single university department in Atlantic Canada, that international reach is the essential fact about it.

The journal's own statement of scope, carried in its online archive, is precise. Dionysius publishes articles on the history of ancient philosophy and theology, including Patristic theology, and their afterlife — their Nachleben. It has a special interest in the Aristotelian and Neoplatonic traditions. It considers philosophy's relation, both negative and positive, to Christian belief in both ancient and modern times. And alongside philosophical articles it publishes work on classical and later literature and history, and on Hellenic, Christian, Jewish and Islamic religion, especially when those subjects connect to philosophical questions. That final clause is the key to the journal's identity: the centre is philosophy, but the door is open to any disciplined enquiry that meets philosophy on its way through antiquity and its long aftermath.

The contents of past volumes show what this means in practice. A single published volume may move from Asclepius's interpretation of Aristotle's Metaphysics, through Apollonius of Tyana, Proclus's interpretation of Plato's Parmenides and Plotinus on providence, to Anselm's Proslogion, Emerson, and Heidegger on Heraclitus — with a review essay on Neoplatonism after Derrida to close. Another volume ranges across the Athenian Platonic Academy's commentaries, Parmenides, Philoponus, Augustine, Eriugena and Plotinian metaphysics. This is a journal where a paper on a late-antique commentary tradition and a paper on a nineteenth-century reader of Plato can belong in the same conversation, because the conversation is about a tradition, not a period slice.

History of the Journal

Dionysius was established in 1977. Its original editors-in-chief were J. A. Doull, R. D. Crouse and A. H. Armstrong, and Armstrong's study Form, Individual, and Person in Plotinus appeared in the first volume — a founding statement of the journal's Neoplatonic seriousness. The early editorial circle set a tone that later volumes maintained: contributors in the journal's formative years included Werner Beierwaltes, Mary T. Clark, J. N. Findlay, Hans-Georg Gadamer and George Grant, writing on Eriugena, Augustine, Plato, Nietzsche and the ancients. A journal that could publish Gadamer on Plato's Parmenides and Grant on Nietzsche alongside technical Plotinus scholarship had found its register early: rigorous, tradition-focused, and unafraid of large questions.

In 1998 the journal began a new series, under the editorial guidance of Robert Crouse, J. P. Atherton and Wayne Hankey, as Dalhousie records. The renewal kept the founding scope while regularising the journal for a new generation of readers. A second, practical renewal came with the move online: beginning with the thirty-first issue, Dionysius has been published online as well as in paper, and since December 2013 it has been accessible through Dalhousie Open Journal Systems (OJS), where its archive, submission guidance and editorial information now live. Dalhousie also notes the journal's younger sibling: Pseudo-Dionysius, founded in 1999 and run by undergraduate and graduate students of Dalhousie and the University of King's College — a naming joke with a serious purpose, giving students a first venue while the senior journal keeps its scholarly register.

The Dalhousie Classics context matters. The department has a long-standing strength in ancient philosophy and Patristic and medieval thought, and the journal both reflects and sustains that strength, as the journal's own archive statement puts it: Dionysius reflects the established character of the department's work. Journals of this kind — department-based, editor-driven, tradition-focused — survive by being genuinely useful to a worldwide circle of specialists, and the contributor list across five decades shows that Dionysius has been exactly that.

Scope and Subject Coverage in Detail

Prospective authors should read the scope statement as a set of concentric circles. At the centre stand the history of ancient philosophy and the history of ancient theology, including Patristic theology. Around them sit the two named special interests: the Aristotelian tradition — Aristotle himself, his Greek commentators, and his Arabic, Latin and later readers — and the Neoplatonic tradition, from Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus and Proclus through their Byzantine, Islamic and Latin medieval heirs to their modern reception. The journal is one of the comparatively few venues where late-antique commentary culture is treated as philosophy in its own right rather than as a footnote to classical Athens.

The next circle is the relation between philosophy and Christian belief, in ancient and modern times, treated in both its positive and negative forms: appropriation and polemic, synthesis and refusal. This is where the journal's namesake belongs — the Dionysian corpus itself sits at the crossing of Neoplatonic metaphysics and Christian theology — and where Augustine, Eriugena, Anselm, Aquinas and their modern interpreters recur in its pages. Work on Jewish and Islamic religion and philosophy, and on Hellenic religion, belongs here too where it connects to philosophical questions, as the scope statement provides.

The outer circle — classical and later literature and history — is genuinely open but honestly conditional. A literary or historical paper needs its connection to philosophical questions to be visible, not decorative. Authors with a paper on, for example, a modern novelist's reading of Plato, a Renaissance dialogue's use of Proclus, or Emerson's Platonic ladder of ascent — all subjects the journal has in fact published — will find the connection requirement easy to meet and worth stating explicitly in the opening pages. Authors with a purely literary paper and no philosophical thread should choose a different journal first.

Editorial Practice and Peer Review

The journal's submission pages in the Dalhousie OJS describe a conventional scholarly process with a few distinctive local features. Contributions, in English or French, are sent to the Secretary of Dionysius — named in the author guidelines as Dr Eli Diamond — by email or regular post, at the Department of Classics, Dalhousie University, Halifax. Submission of an article implies that it has not been previously published and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Where a submission is to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, authors must follow the journal's instructions for ensuring a blind review, preparing the manuscript so that the review can be conducted without the author's identity.

The guidelines preserve the habits of a print-born journal, and authors should honour them literally. Manuscripts should be double-spaced, prepared in accordance with the University of Chicago Manual of Style tradition the guidelines specify — cited there as the University of Chicago Style Manual — with footnotes numbered consecutively. Authors may either place a full citation in the first footnote or use an alphabetically organised bibliography with author-and-short-title citations in footnotes, following models the guidelines identify in published articles. Greek text requires particular care: the guidelines call for a Greek font family for Greek in electronic copy and a hard copy with correct Greek at submission — a requirement that tells classicists the journal takes the physical accuracy of Greek as seriously as the argument built on it. Accepted articles are submitted in both hard copy and electronic form. Manuscripts are not returned, and contributors of articles receive two copies of the issue and twenty-five off-prints, a traditional arrangement the guidelines still record.

Editorial correspondence goes to the journal at the Department of Classics, Marion McCain Building, Dalhousie University, Halifax, with the journal's published email addresses given on its Dalhousie and OJS pages. Because editorial personnel change over time, authors should confirm the current secretary and address on the OJS site immediately before submitting, rather than relying on any secondary profile — including this one.

Metrics and Indexing — Reading the Numbers Carefully

The Journals World stored record gives Dionysius an H-index of 5. At checking time, the OpenAlex ISSN endpoint for 0705-1085 resolved to source S4306508068, which OpenAlex lists with 410 works, 831 citations and an H-index of 18, and with leading topics that match the journal's declared scope closely: classical philosophy and thought, medieval philosophy and theology, and medieval and classical philosophy. The gap between the two H-index figures is not an error to be resolved by choosing one; the figures come from different databases with different coverage. A Scopus-derived H-index counts citations within a curated journal set, while OpenAlex counts across a much wider graph that includes books, chapters and uncurated venues — a difference that matters greatly in classics and philosophy, where much citing happens in monographs. Both figures are reported here, each attributed to its source, and authors should quote the figure from the database their own institution uses.

What the metrics agree on is the shape of the journal's influence: a small, durable specialist readership rather than a large fast-moving one. Papers in Dionysius are cited for decades because the questions — how Proclus read Plato, how Eriugena understood procession and return, how the Dionysian corpus travelled East and West — do not expire. Authors choosing the journal should weigh that longevity, and the journal's standing with the exact specialists who work on these traditions, more heavily than any single number.

A Directory of Open Access Journals search-API check for the stored ISSN returned no result in hand at the time of writing; because such a zero is not proof of non-listing, this profile records DOAJ status as could not be verified and makes no claim either way. On access, Dalhousie's published subscription information explains the journal's own model: recent years are available by subscription, while earlier issues may be read without subscription by registering and logging in through the OJS site — with online subscribers receiving the current year and the previous four years, and older material open to all readers, on the pattern Dalhousie describes. Authors and readers should check the current statement on the journal's site, since access windows move forward each year.

Subscriptions, Access and Fees

Dalhousie's published subscription page lists subscription costs in the journal's traditional print-era terms: institutional, individual and student rates, with back issues of many earlier volumes priced individually, and orders taken by the Department of Classics. The exact current rates are not reproduced in this profile because they are liable to change and should be taken from Dalhousie's current page; what is stable is the model — a department-published journal sustained by modest subscriptions and library holdings rather than by author charges. No article processing charge is published in the sources fetched for this profile; any fee position is recorded here as not publicly disclosed in those sources, and authors for whom cost is decisive should ask the journal's secretary directly.

For readers, the practical route is the OJS archive, where the journal's volumes are listed and the access pattern described above applies. For librarians, the ISSN 0705-1085 and the Dalhousie Classics department are the stable identifiers for ordering and cataloguing.

How to Submit — Practical Guidance

Write for the tradition, not just the text. The papers this journal publishes characteristically do three things: they establish what an ancient or later author actually said, with the Greek or Latin handled accurately; they place that material inside its line of transmission — who read it, who commented on it, what changed in the reading; and they draw a philosophical consequence that a reader who cares about the tradition will recognise as a genuine advance. A submission that does only the first of these will read as a note; one that attempts only the third will read as ungrounded. The journal's own guideline models — it points authors to published articles for citation practice — reward authors who have read recent volumes and absorbed their register.

Practical points, gathered from the published guidelines: submit in English or French; observe the exclusivity requirement (not previously published, not under consideration elsewhere); prepare blind-review copy where the section requires it; follow the Chicago style tradition with consecutive footnotes; choose one of the two citation patterns the guidelines allow and apply it consistently; take the Greek requirements seriously, including correct Greek in the hard copy; and keep the journal's postal and email addresses from its current OJS pages, confirming the secretary's name at the time of submission. Because manuscripts are not returned, keep your own complete copies of everything sent.

Fit checks before submitting: Is your subject within ancient philosophy or theology, Patristics, the Aristotelian or Neoplatonic traditions, or the later reception of any of these? If your paper is literary or historical, can you state its philosophical connection in two honest sentences? If your paper concerns a modern thinker, is the ancient tradition doing real work in it — as it does in the journal's published papers on Emerson, Heidegger and Nietzsche — rather than appearing as background colour? If the answer to the relevant question is yes, Dionysius is a plausible and prestigious home; if not, the journal's editors will reach the same conclusion at first reading.

Similar Journals

Readers and authors working in this journal's territory commonly also follow The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition for Plato and Platonism, Studia Patristica and the Journal of Early Christian Studies for Patristic material, The Review of Metaphysics and Ancient Philosophy for ancient philosophy more broadly, Quaestio and Chôra for late-antique and medieval philosophy across linguistic traditions, and Dionysius's own student sibling Pseudo-Dionysius at Dalhousie for early-career work. What distinguishes Dionysius within this company is its combined hold on ancient philosophy, Patristic theology and their reception, edited from a department where that combination is the local research identity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the ISSN of Dionysius?

ISSN 0705-1085, as carried in the Journals World stored record and the journal's own published information.

Who publishes Dionysius?

The Department of Classics at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

When was Dionysius founded?

It was established in 1977, and a new series began in 1998, as Dalhousie University records.

What does Dionysius publish?

Articles on the history of ancient philosophy and theology, including Patristic theology and their afterlife, with a special interest in the Aristotelian and Neoplatonic traditions, together with related work on classical and later literature and history and on Hellenic, Christian, Jewish and Islamic religion where it connects to philosophical questions.

Who were the founding editors of Dionysius?

The original editors-in-chief were J. A. Doull, R. D. Crouse and A. H. Armstrong. The 1998 new series was guided by Robert Crouse, J. P. Atherton and Wayne Hankey.

Is Dionysius peer-reviewed?

The journal's submission pages provide for peer-reviewed sections with blind review preparation, and authors submitting to those sections must follow the journal's blind-review instructions.

How do I submit to Dionysius?

Send contributions, in English or French, to the Secretary of the journal — named in the guidelines as Dr Eli Diamond — by email or post at the Department of Classics, Dalhousie University. Confirm the current contact details on the journal's OJS pages before submitting.

What are the metrics for Dionysius?

The stored record gives an H-index of 5. OpenAlex, at checking time, listed its resolved source with 410 works, 831 citations and an H-index of 18. The difference reflects the different coverage of the two databases.

Can I read Dionysius online?

Yes, through Dalhousie Open Journal Systems. Dalhousie describes recent years as subscription access, with earlier issues readable after registering and logging in, and older material open to all readers; check the journal's current pages for the exact window.

Does Dionysius charge authors?

No author charge is published in the sources fetched for this profile; the position is recorded as not publicly disclosed in those sources.

Verification Notes

This profile is based on the live Journals World record for post 35311 (title Dionysius, slug dionysius, ISSN 0705-1085, stored H-index 5), on Dalhousie University's Classics and journal pages and the journal's Dalhousie OJS pages (scope, archive, submissions and subscription information), and on an OpenAlex ISSN-endpoint resolution made at the time of writing, whose figures are attributed to OpenAlex as at that checking time because OpenAlex source records can merge or split between checks. The DOAJ check is recorded as could not be verified. Editorial names are those published in the journal's guidelines as fetched; confirm them on the live OJS site before correspondence.