Dr Holly Tessler, programme lead for the University of Liverpool's new The Beatles: Music Industry and Heritage MA, is launching The Journal of Beatles Studies – a brand new open access journal published by Liverpool University Press.
The Journal of Beatles Studies is the first journal to establish The Beatles as an object of academic research, and will publish original, rigorously researched essays and notes, as well as book and media reviews.
It establishes a scholarly focal point for critique, dialogue and exchange on the nature, scope and value of The Beatles as an object of academic enquiry and seeks to examine and assess the continued economic value and cultural values generated by and around The Beatles, for policy makers, creative industries and consumers. The journal also seeks to approach The Beatles as a prism for accessing insight into wider historical, social and cultural issues.
Co-edited by Dr Holly Tessler and Paul Long at Monash University, the journal will be published twice a year, with the inaugural issue being in September 2022. The journal is sponsored by the University of Liverpool library.
Dr Holly Tessler and Paul Long said: "We are really excited to launch The Journal of Beatles Studies.
"We intend the journal to be a hub for research, discourse and debate about the Beatles, with an emphasis on new ideas and emerging perspectives.
"Sitting alongside the University of Liverpool's new MA degree, The Beatles, Music Industry and Heritage, as well as its new Yoko Ono Lennon Centre, The Journal of Beatles Studies is another exciting new space for the academic and cultural study of the Beatles that they and their legacy so richly deserve.
It is sometimes daunting to consider how interest in the Beatles continues unabated, nurtured by new books, films and of course the endurance of the band's music itself and its presence across radio, film, television and the digital sphere.
"Equally prodigious is the range of scholarly attention to the meaning of the Beatles and responses to their cultural legacy and continued creative inspiration which is truly global in its reach.
"A desire to map and make sense of this field of production prompts the founding of The Journal of Beatles Studies which provides an international, inclusive, interdisciplinary focal point for ideas, exchange and quality research."
Clare Hooper, Head of Journals at Liverpool University Press said: "We are really excited to be launching The Journal of Beatles Studies.
"The journal will be an extremely valuable resource for all scholars with an interest in the subject and it's fitting that the first interdisciplinary journal dedicated to the study of the Beatles will begin life in Liverpool."
