The journal “Center and Periphery” was founded in 2003 by the decision of the Academic Council of the Research Institute of the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia as a scientific and publicistic almanac, that year the first issue was published. In 2004 - 2005, the almanac was not published. In 2006, it resumed its activity with the interregional status (the heads and leading specialists of scientific institutions and universities of the Volga region entered the editorial board), and in 2007 another issue was published. The same year the Research Institute of the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia as the founder with editorial status and the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences came to an agreement to publish jointly the scientific and publicistic journal “Center and Periphery”.

   Since 2008, it has been published as a scientific periodical in order to popularize regional historical science. In this regard, the sections of the journal were determined, which covered relevant problems of history, cultural studies, political science, ethnography, art history, etc.

    Since 2014, the Regional Branch of Russian Military Historical Society in the Republic of Mordovia has been supported the publication of the journal.

   In 2017, the journal “Center and Periphery” was included in the List of peerreviewed scientific periodicals, in which the main scientific results of dissertations for the degree of Candidate of Sciences and for the degree of Doctor of Sciences should be published.