Brussels, Nov. 24 (CNA) A print version of the world's first English-language encyclopedia dedicated to Taiwan studies is set to be released in 2026, its Dutch publisher told CNA in a recent interview.

Brill, an international academic publisher, said the Encyclopedia of Taiwan Studies (ETS) in print will compile and expand upon its online editions, which have been released incrementally since 2022, according to Uri Tadmor, the project's lead at Brill.

Tadmor expressed optimism about the prospects of the encyclopedia, noting that many libraries around the world have already subscribed to its digital version.

According to Brill, the ETS offers a comprehensive overview of the wide-ranging field of Taiwan studies, a discipline that emerged in Taiwan and further afield in the 1990s.

The encyclopedia introduces the multifaceted aspects of Taiwan's past and present through nearly 600 entries authored by over 400 scholars worldwide who specialize in 15 fields, Tadmor said. Five sections are already available online.

The complete collection will cover a variety of topics, including archaeology, history, international relations, Indigenous studies, literature, music and art, according to the publisher.

Tadmor identified history as the most challenging theme, citing the complexity and multifaceted nature of Taiwan's past and the difficulty of maintaining academic neutrality and objectivity.

Hsiao Hsin-huang (蕭新煌), an adjunct research fellow at the Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology and the editor-in-chief of the encyclopedia, said the ETS underscores Taiwan's increasing academic recognition and the maturity of Taiwan studies, as there are sufficient research and scholars to support such in-depth work.

Hsiao also said that the global attention on Taiwan studies has a non-academic motivation -- the desire to preserve, support, and cherish Taiwan's democracy.

"This is very important -- on one hand, supporting Taiwan, and on the other, studying Taiwan," he said.