Global Expertise in Reference Book Editing

There were many difficult tasks in the constructing and editing the Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History.  Because there was no model for the work, constructing a synoptic outline proved a challenge and because the number of accomplished women is enormous, choosing a brief list of biographical subjects took some hard thinking.  The most arduous task, however, involved finding authors with sufficient expertise to cover more than one national field in general entries such as those on literary theory, religion, motherhood, etc.  Because historical training remains nationally based, expertise in writing on global topics is limited.  Some historians will stretch themselves, taking time to catch up to global developments, while others believe it unprofessional to leave their field of training to accomplish a somewhat more global coverage.  We devised several solutions to this quandary but would like the roundtable possibly to invent and discuss others.