Wenceslao E. Retana, a famous Filipino journalist and Filipinologist defined FILIPINIANA publications as follows :

1. Those that were printed in the Philippines irrespective of the subject they treat of, because all of those are indispensable for the accurate study of the typography of the Archipelgo;

2. Those that are about the Philippines, no matter in what language they were written or the place where they were printed because they are more or less necessary for the study of the country ; and

3. Those that were written by Filipinos on any subject, regardless of their imprint, because they are of great use to measure the intellectual capacity, laboriousness, taste, ambitions, etc. of Filipinos.