Abstrakt
Using bibliometric analysis, this article compares the first ten volumes of Historická demografie and Przeszłość Demograficzna Polski to investigate the formative trajectories of historical demography in Czechoslovakia and Poland. Drawing on an original
database of 135 articles, 69 unique first authors, 1,271 references, and 1,692 citations, it examines authorship patterns, referencing practices, analytical apparatus, and subsequent citation impact. The findings reveal asymmetries beneath the journals’ nearly parallel histories. Przeszłość Demograficzna Polski was associated with an older, predominantly male, and more methodologically consolidated scholarly milieu, with stronger reliance on domestic and German-language literature. Historická demografie, by contrast, reflected a younger, more gender-balanced community and a stronger orientation toward French historical demography. Despite these differences, both journals produced a broadly comparable long-term legacy.