The Network of Baltic and Balkan Cultural Researchers operates within the International Society for Balkan and Baltic Studies. The International Society for Balkan and Baltic Studies brings together researchers from various countries who study these regions and present their research at conferences entitled "The Balkan and Baltic Countries in a United Europe: History, Religion and Culture". The founders of the society are scholars from Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, who maintain mutual relations through joint projects and conferences and conduct comparative research on the Balkan and Baltic regions, covering ethnology, folklore studies, sociology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, history, religious studies, cultural studies and other related fields. Researchers from the Lithuanian Institute of History are also actively involved in the activities of this association and have published several comparative ethnological studies on Lithuanian and Bulgarian culture. The main structure that brings the society together is the conference "The Balkan and Baltic Countries in a United Europe: History, Religion and Culture", which is held every few years. The first and second conferences were held in Sofia in 2008 and 2014. The third was held in Vilnius. The idea for a periodical publication was born at the 3rd international conference "The Balkan and Baltic Countries in a United Europe: History, Religion and Culture", held at the Lithuanian Institute of History on 9-11 October 2017. The first two volumes (2019 and 2020) consist of articles based on the presentations given at this conference.
The Yearbook of Balkan and Baltic Studies is a peer-reviewed annual journal published in English. ISSN (print) 2613-7844; (online) 2613-7852. https://www.folklore.ee/balkan_baltic_yearbook/YBBS. The publication is a joint publication of the Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian Academies of Sciences, the Estonian Studies Competence Centre, the Bulgarian MA Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Studies with the Ethnographic Museum, the Estonian Literary Museum, the Lithuanian Institute of History, and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the University of Latvia. The journal is included in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and Scopus (since 2020). Its editorial board brings together researchers from 14 countries in the Balkans and the Baltic region. The main editors are Ekaterina Anastasova (editor), who died in 2025 and was succeeded by Milena Lyubenova (Bulgaria), Mare Koiva (Estonia), Inese Runce (Latvia) and Žilvytis Šaknys (Lithuania). Guest editors are sometimes invited to compile individual volumes. The eighth volume of this publication, Lithuanian Ethnology and Folklore, is currently being prepared in memory of the renowned researchers Irena Regina Merkienė and Bronislava Kerbelytė. Its editors are Skaidrė Urbonienė and Žilvytis Šaknys. On 3-5 October 2025, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research and the Ethnographic Museum hosted a conference of the International Balkan and Baltic Research Society entitled "The Balkan and Baltic Countries in a United Europe – History, Religion and Culture. Magic, Holiness and Mountains" at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies and the Ethnographic Museum. The next conference is scheduled for October 2027 in Vilnius, at the Lithuanian Institute of History.
Contact persons: Dr. Žilvytis Šaknys (shaknys@gmail.com ), Dr. Irma Šidiškienė (irma.sidiskiene@istorija.lt ), Dr. Rasa Paukštytė-Šaknienė (rasa.sakniene@gmail.com)
