In the period between 1903 and 1905 he published a book and a scientific magazine in which he affirmed the existence of a Macedonian national identity separate from other Balkan nations, and attempted to codify a Standard Macedonian language based on the central Western Macedonian dialects. A survey conducted in the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) found Misirkov to be "the most significant Macedonian of the 20th century". For his efforts to codify a standard Macedonian language, he is often considered "the founder of the modern Macedonian literary language". Though, the 2007 discovery of his diary written during the Balkan Wars, where he advocated pro-Bulgarian views, sparked off a controversy in Skopje.