In over five decades of yearly publication, Analele Universității de Vest din Timișoara. Seria Științe Filologice/ The Annals of the West University of Timișoara. Humanities Series (AUT) has become a landmark journal in the field of Romanian philology.
The first issue was published in 1963, upon the initiative of the Head of the Romanian Language and Literature Department and non-voting member of the Romanian Academy, Prof. G. Ivănescu, who became the journal’s first editor-in-chief, with Prof. G.I. Tohăneanu acting as editorial secretary. Among the personalities who contributed articles to this issue are the founders of Timișoara’s school of philology: G. Ivănescu, Eugen Todoran, G.I. Tohăneanu, Ștefan Munteanu, Victor Iancu, Lucia Jucu-Atanasiu and others, alongside household names of Romanian philology in a general sense: Ovidiu Bîrlea and P. Miclău. Conceived to cover broadly all the research areas in the humanities, the journal initially had two main sections: The History of Language and Literature and The Grammar and Theory of Language. A special section in the same first issue contained reviews of Eugenio Coseriu’s and Carlo Tagliavini’s works, two renowned linguists.
After Prof. G. Ivănescu left for the University of Iași, his project was continued by his younger colleagues and former students, who took over the journal: Victor Iancu (1969), Ștefan Munteanu (1976), Vasile Șerban (1986), Simion Mioc (1988), Ileana Oancea (1995), Vasile Frățilă (2007),
Claudiu T. Arieșan (2011).
Published without interruption, the oldest journal at the Faculty of Letters of the West University of Timișoara has hosted primarily scientific contributions from the members of the Departments of Romanian Language and Literature, Modern Languages (French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Serbian-Croatian) and Classical Languages (Latin and Ancient Greek). The history of the institution and the history of the journal go hand in hand, every generation of Timișoara’s humanities scholars enhancing the journal’s prestige with studies in a range of fields:1:
• Romanian language and linguistics: G. Ivănescu, G. Giuglea, G.I. Tohăneanu, Ștefan Munteanu, V. Șerban, Francisc Kiraly, I. Muțiu, V. Frățilă, Ionel Stan, V. D. Țâra, Doina David, D. Crașoveanu, Al. Metea, Felicia Giurgiu, Rodica Popescu, Crișu Dascălu, Sergiu Drincu, Ionel Funeriu, L. Vasiluță,
Mirela Borchin, Simona Constantinovici, Florina Băcilă, Adina Chirilă, G. B. Țâra, G. Bărdășan, Nadia Obrocea, Ana-Maria Radu-Pop, Monica Huțanu,
Emina Căpălnășan;
• Romanian for foreign learners: Cristina Sicoe, Eliana Popeți, Irina Dincă;
• Romanian literature: Eugen Todoran, Victor Iancu, Lucia Jucu-Atanasiu, Iosif Cheie-Pantea, Simion Mioc, Rodica Bărbat, V. Vintilescu,
Cornel Ungureanu, A. Ruja, D. Vighi, Marcel Tolcea, Dumitru Vlăduț, Pompiliu Crăciunescu, Gh. Secheșan, D. Tucan, Florin Oprescu, Radu Pavel Gheo;
• comparative literature: Corneliu Nistor, Ilie Gyurcsik, Carmen Blaga, A. Babeți, Gabriela Glăvan, Roxana Rogobete, Elena Crașovan;
• literary theory: Doina Comloșan;
• ethnology: I. V. Boldureanu, Otilia Hedeșan;
• Romance linguistics: Ileana Oancea;
• translation studies: Georgiana I. Badea;
• French language: Eugen Tănase, Adela-Mira Tănase, Aurelia Turcu, Maria Țenchea, Eugenia Arjoca, Ilie Minescu, Mariana Pitar, Adina Tihu,
Eugenia-Mira Tănase;
• French Literature: Livius Ciocârlie, Margareta Gyurcsik, Elena Ghiță, Vasile Popovici, Mihaela Pasat, Ramona Malița;
• Italian language: Daniele Pantaleoni, Iulia Cosma;
• English language: Aba Pârlog, Constantin Chevereșan, Luminița Frențiu;
• English literature: Pia Brânzeu, Sorin Ciutacu, Mihăiță Horezeanu;
• German language: Ștefan Binder, Petru Kottler, Marianne Marki;
• German literature: Yvonne Lucuța, Roxana Nubert, Eleonora Ringler-Pascu, Laura Cheie, Kory Beate Petra;
• Spanish literature: L. Vleja, Ilinca Ilian;
• Russian language: M. Bucă, I. Evseev, Richard Sârbu, Maria Kiraly, Maria Andrei, Daniela Gheltofan;
• Serbian-Croatian language: Jiva Milin, Mihai N. Radan;
• Latin language: Al. Belu, M. Subi, Elena-Tia Sandu;
• Latin literature: Dan Negrescu, C. T. Arieșan, Valy Ceia, Elena Burdușa, Gabriela Radu, R. Feraru.
The radical change of political regime in December 1989 has led to contacts with personalities from well-established Romanian universities:
Florica Dimitrescu, Gheorghe Chivu, Mircea Borcilă, Alexandru Gafton, Traian Diaconescu, Alexandra Cuniță, Mariana Neț, Emilia Parpală, and to collaborations with Western European institutions, which have resulted into articles signed by Academy Member Michael Metzeltin, Alexandru Niculescu, Sanda Golopenția, Alain Vuillemin, Gabriel Bergonioux, Nelly Flaux, Jan Goes, Giuseppe Picillo, Teresa Ferro, Maria Luisa Lombardo, José Manuel González Calvo, Adolfo Rodríguez Posada and so on.
The journal’s basic structure, consisting of linguistics, literature and reviews sections, has been extended in recent years with research on the diversity of cultural aspects.
The main objective of The Annals of the West University of Timișoara. Humanities Series is to support research in the humanities, to explain, analyse and interpret the directions, theories and practices in this research area, and thus to provide readers with the most relevant and up-to-date findings in the field. The journal has been published regularly and reaches out to national and international publics. Before its indexation in international databases (CEEOL, MLA, EBSCO), the journal was included in the collections of the Central University Libraries in Bucharest, Iași, Cluj and Timișoara, and of the university libraries in Craiova, Constanța and Suceava. Via the scientific publications exchange system of the Central University Library “Eugen Todoran” in Timișoara, the journal has been sent to over 80 university libraries in the US, UK, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, the Republic of Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Spain and so on.
Through studies written in Romanian or in international circulation languages, The Annals of the West University of Timișoara. Humanities Series has made consistent contributions to the dissemination of findings in the humanities research carried out in Timișoara and, implicitly, to the integration of the scholars whose work it has published into Romanian and universal databases and library systems.