Many historians in Taiwan have been concerned with the question of the contents, dimension, and foci of history works during the period 1945-2000. After 1945 three factors influence historiography in Taiwan: first, the Japanese legacy; second, approaches adopted by scholars from Mainland China; third, impact of Western historiography. Due to these three factors, the development of historiography in Taiwan shows diversity. Although some scholars have studied such development, a full-scale study is required.
As mentioned previously, because of the influence of those three factors, the historiography in Taiwan presents various facets. Studying individual scholars, academic institutions, monographs, master theses, doctoral dissertations and papers in historical journals reveals the trends of historiography over the years.
Due mainly to the unusual functions of historical journal in transmission of new concepts and exchange of ideas, this Artical focus on a survey on the topics and content of papers in history journals published by history department in universities and colleges during this period. I shall conduct quantitative, as well as qualitative, analyses in my research so that we can have a broader, deeper understanding of historical trends of historiography in Taiwan.