Musical Quarterly

Aims & Scope

The Musical Quarterly, founded in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, has long been cited as the premier scholarly musical journal in the United States.

Over the years it has published the writings of many important composers and musicologists, including Aaron Copland, Arnold Schoenberg, Marc Blitzstein, Henry Cowell, and Camille Saint-Saens.

The journal focuses on the merging areas in scholarship where much of the challenging new work in the study of music is being produced.

Regular sections include 'American Musics', 'Music and Culture', 'The Twentieth Century and Beyond', and an 'Institutions, Industries, Technologies' section which examines music and the ways it is created and consumed.

In addition, a fifth section entitled 'Primary Sources' features discussions on issues of biography, texts, and manuscripts; reflections on leading figures; personal statements by noted performers and composers; and essays on performances and recordings.

Along with discussions of important new books, MQ also publishes review essays on a wide variety of significant new music performances and recordings.

View Aims & Scope

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Metrics & Ranking

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2025	0.4
2024	0.10

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	0.184

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q2

h-index

Year	Value
2024	23

Journal Rank

Year	Value
2024	22199

Journal Citation Indicator

Year	Value
2024	6

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Abstracting & Indexing

Journal is indexed in leading academic databases, ensuring global visibility and accessibility of our peer-reviewed research.

• Scopus
• Google Scholar
• Web of Science

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Subjects & Keywords

Journal’s research areas, covering key disciplines and specialized sub-topics in Arts and Humanities, designed to support cutting-edge academic discovery.

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Most Cited Articles

The Most Cited Articles section features the journal's most impactful research, based on citation counts. These articles have been referenced frequently by other researchers, indicating their significant contribution to their respective fields.

• THOUGHTS ON IMPROVISATION: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH

  Citation: 94

  Authors: BRUNO

• Machines, Music, and the Quest for Fidelity: Marketing the Edison Phonograph in America, 1877–1925

  Citation: 71

  Authors: Emily

• PRESCRIPTIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE MUSIC-WRITING

  Citation: 63

  Authors: CHARLES

• The Silence of the Silents

  Citation: 60

  Authors: R.

• Life and Work in Symphony Orchestras

  Citation: 57

  Authors: J., J. R., E. V.

• Music in Advertising: An Analytic Paradigm

  Citation: 56

  Authors: DAVID

• Musical Copyright and the U.S. Copyright Act of 1909

  Citation: 52

  Authors: L.

• Defining Phonography: An Experiment in Theory

  Citation: 52

  Authors: E. W., J. D.

• On Some Relationships between Music and Painting

  Citation: 45

  Authors: Theodor W.

• John Cage: Silence and Silencing

  Citation: 42

  Authors: D.

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