ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by demonstrating the growth and increasing diversity of accounting history research with the role of interdisciplinarity in that process recognised. Concerns about the restricted coverage of historical studies in time and place are rehearsed, and the role of special journal issues in addressing the deficiencies, and in guiding the future direction of historical research, is recognised. Sources of evidence used to conduct accounting history research are discussed and the potential and limitations of written and oral sources are explored. Patterns of dissemination of research are analysed and possible explanations for an apparent decline in the role of generalist journals in that process are considered. The role of special issues in encouraging researchers to pursue greater diversity in terms of subjects, periods and places studied is, in principle, welcomed, but the idea that 'Special issues provide editors with the ability to guide the literature in distinct ways' is, potentially, a little worrying.
