[1] Established in 1929, the journal covers events from approximately 1500 to the present, with a geographical scope extending from the United Kingdom through the European continent, including Russia and the Balkans.

The Journal of Modern History is coedited by John W. Boyer, Jan E. Goldstein, and Fredrik Albritton Jonsson (University of Chicago).

[2] Previous editors include Sheila Fitzpatrick, Hanna Gray, William Hardy McNeill, and Bernadotte Schmitt.

[3] Upon his retirement, several of his former students established a trust fund to provide a cash prize for the best article published in the journal.

The prize is awarded during even-numbered years, and past winners have included Jan E. Goldstein, William W. Hagen, Susan Pedersen, and Heinrich August Winkler.