In 1998, the more substantive, award-winning quarterly IFAR Journal replaced IFARreports. While the popular Stolen Art Alert continued inside each issue of the Journal, IFAR's new Website and Journal signified a shift in focus away from stolen art registration and searches to emphasize education and research regarding the ethical, legal and scholarly issues concerning art objects. In addition to news stories and book reviews, the Journal contains feature articles on art authenticity and attribution; forgery and fraud; art law and ethics; World War II-era art restitution issues; conserving, restoring and caring for art; and art theft.
Periodically, IFAR devotes an entire Journal or part of a special double issue to an important topic in the news. Both the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, involved the destruction and disappearance of art works. IFAR responded with two double issues of the IFAR Journal. The first included the edited proceedings from IFAR’s symposium, September 11th: Art Loss, Damage and Repercussions. The eight articles were also published online. The other, "Art Loss in Iraq," was published in 2003 and five articles were also placed online. IFAR will continue this tradition of publishing double issues for significant, topical issues.
