Jaargangen

Jaargangen is the plural of jaargang, a Dutch term used for the yearly volumes of periodical publications such as magazines, journals, and other serials. A jaargang groups all issues published within a single year, providing a convenient way to organize and reference the publication’s contents over time. Each jaargang typically contains multiple nummers (issues), released at regular intervals (monthly, quarterly, weekly, etc.).

In bibliographic and library contexts, jaargang is a common component of citations and catalog records. A typical reference might specify the jaargang and, when relevant, the nummer, for example: Tijdschrift X, jaargang 42 (2019), nummer 3. While jaargang often corresponds to a calendar year, some titles begin a new jaargang at a different point in their publication schedule, so the exact relationship between jaargang and year can vary by publication.

The concept aids readers and researchers in locating articles and tracking the publication history of a periodical. In online catalogs and databases, jaargang metadata enables year-based browsing and helps distinguish items from different years that share the same title. In practice, jaargang is sometimes used interchangeably with volume in English-language contexts, though the precise mapping to calendar years may differ depending on the title’s publishing schedule.