Aims, Scope, and Editorial Policies
Aims & Scope
Asian Musicology (https://www.peterlang.com/journal/48/)is an international peer-reviewed journal devoted to the advancement of scholarly research on music in Asia and the Asian diaspora. The journal publishes original, high-quality studies that contribute to musicological knowledge of Asian musical cultures, repertories, practices, theories, histories, and contemporary transformations within local, regional, transnational, and global contexts. The journal’s ISSN is 1229–9413 (Print) and 2832–1197 (Online).
The journal welcomes submissions that address music in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and transregional Asian networks, as well as Asian diasporic communities worldwide. It particularly encourages research that situates Asian musical traditions in dialogue with broader international scholarship while remaining attentive to linguistic, historical, cultural, and methodological specificity. The manuscript should conform to The Chicago Manual of Style and should be submitted to the editor via email at info@asianmusicology.org (or hyu@wesleyan.edu). Contributors need not be members of the Council.
The scope of the journal includes, but is not limited to, the following areas: historical musicology; ethnomusicology; music theory and analysis; indigenous theoretical systems; performance studies; music and philosophy; music and religion; music and society; music, media, and technology; intercultural and transcultural musical exchange; popular music studies; diaspora and migration studies; and digital musicology, including computational approaches to music research and music information retrieval in Asian contexts.
Asian Musicology especially values contributions that engage critically with Asian-language sources, underrepresented repertories, local knowledge systems, archival materials, oral traditions, and interdisciplinary approaches. The journal seeks to promote theoretical, historiographical, and methodological innovation and to strengthen the international visibility and academic impact of musicological research relating to Asia.
In addition to full-length research articles, the journal publishes review essays and, where appropriate, themed issues on topics of major significance to the field.
Author Fees and APC Policy
Asian Musicology currently does not charge authors any fees at any stage of the publication process. The journal does not require submission fees, article processing charges (APCs), publication fees, or any other author-side payments. Submission, peer review, editorial handling, and publication are provided without cost to contributors.
Peer Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to Asian Musicology undergo a structured double-blind peer review process designed to ensure academic quality, originality, and scholarly relevance.
The editorial team first assesses submissions to determine whether they fall within the journal’s scope and meet basic standards of academic quality, presentation, and originality. Manuscripts that pass this initial screening are then sent for peer review by specialists in the relevant field. Based on the reviewers’ reports, the editor may reach one of the following decisions: accept, accept with minor revisions, invite major revisions and resubmission, or reject.
The journal is committed to maintaining a fair, rigorous, and transparent review process. Final editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, originality, clarity of argument, methodological soundness, and contribution to the field of musicology.
To further demonstrate the integrity of the editorial and review process, each published article should include the following manuscript history dates where applicable: Received, Revised, Accepted, and Published. Including these dates makes the peer-review process and the journal’s editorial turnaround workflow more visible.
Open Access Policy
Asian Musicology is a fully open access journal. All articles are free to read and download immediately on publication, with no charge to readers or their institutions, so that research can circulate as widely as possible.
Copyright and Licensing
Authors retain copyright in their articles and grant the journal a non-exclusive right of first publication. Unless otherwise stated, all articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Anyone may read, download, copy, distribute, translate and reuse the content, including for commercial purposes, as long as the original authors and the journal are credited. The licence is stated on the journal website and in each published article.
Self-Archiving
Authors may reuse their own work, translate it, and deposit it in institutional repositories and other academic platforms at any time and without restriction. We ask that they cite the original publication in Asian Musicology and link to the published version where possible.