In February of 1976 the American Historical Association published the first issue of Recently Published Articles. RPA is a current, comprehensive bibliography of scholarly historical articles in all fields, and replaces the bibliographical sections previously published in the American Historical Review under the same title. RPA is issued three times a year and, at present, lists nearly 15,000 citations annually, of which about one-eighth relate to Africa -- a number second only to that for the United States.

The creation of RPA resulted from the re-organization of the American Historical Association and its various services. A survey of American Historical Review subscribers revealed a desire by the majority for a more extensive and balanced book review section and most of the space left in the Review by the departure of the bibliography has in fact been filled by additional book reviews, including more in African history. Surprisingly -- and perhaps distressingly -- only a minority of those surveyed indicated that they consulted the bibliographical sections with any regularity. Because of this, and because the growth of the bibliographies during the 1970s (reflecting both increased output and better coverage) was adding steadily to the cost of producing the Review, it was decided to transfer these costs directly to the users -- a practice the reader will recognize as becoming more common. At the same time it was decided to intensify efforts at better and more extensive coverage, in particular to include more articles outside history proper which nevertheless have interest to historians.