This bibliography strives to reflect the variety of research about community currencies. The editors pursue a pluralist approach and assemble literature from different languages irrespective of theoretical background. Contributions with racist, sexist or other discriminative content will remain excluded. Every title is subject to a review by one of the editors and / or their collaborators. This, however, does not imply an assessment in respect of the quality of a contribution. The editors strive to overcome language obstacles and delegate the review process whenever necessary and possible. Although the bibliography specifically addresses the needs of scholarly work, it is committed to bridging the gap between theory and practice. The collection also comprises non-academic sources. Newspaper reports and articles in non-academic magazines only become part of the collection if they provide novel and / or unique information.

The concept of this project implies that the different community currencies have something in common. Whether it is a contribution about a historic system, a small facility focused on social relations or the aspiration to create a regional economy; whether it takes up the experiences in the global South or in the northern hemisphere — reflections about these and many other community currencies are assembled in this bibliography. The project aims to overcome the boundaries, which exist between scholars who write and read in different languages, who belong to different faculties, or who are interested in different types of community currencies. In order to achieve this objective only sources that deal directly with community currencies are included. Background literature is not included in the databank; a small selection of relevant titles are available on this website.

The universal approach implies that the (English) term “community currencies” used in the title of the bibliography should be considered only as one among many “entrance gates” to this area of research. The focus of this bibliography is not “money”. The term “trueque” or “Tausch” (best to be translated as “barter” emphasises the original meaning of the word with with “reciprocity” as a salient feature of these organisations) is equally important. The mere existence of parallel currencies is not sufficient to understanding these circuits of production and consumption. Usually, these systems are defined as non-profit organisations. In fact, many authors consider these as part of the “solidarity economy”. So far, literature about the commercial barter industry plays a marginal role. However, the example illustrates the policy of the editors to define this domain with an open-minded attitude. In principle, the development of this area of research will be defined by the authors.