Journal of Asian Studies

Journal of Asian Studies
Title	Journal of Asian Studies
Discipline	Asian studies
Abbreviation	JAS
Publisher	Duke University Press
Country	United States
History	1941–present
Frequency	Quarterly
Issn	0021-9118

Journal of Asian Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering Asia and related diasporas, publishing research on historical, cultural, political, and social developments. It appears quarterly and is associated with the Association for Asian Studies, featuring scholarship that engages topics from South Asia to East Asia and Southeast Asia. Contributors have included scholars connected to institutions such as Harvard University, University of Oxford, University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University, and University of Tokyo.

History

Founded in 1941 as the Journal of Asian Studies, the journal emerged amid a broader expansion of area studies during and after World War II, paralleling the growth of centers like the School of Oriental and African Studies and the Institute of Pacific Relations. Early editorial networks linked scholars at Yale University, Princeton University, Cornell University, University of Chicago, and Stanford University. Over decades the journal intersected with major events and institutions including research arising from Indian independence, the Chinese Civil War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the opening of Japan’s postwar era. The publication adapted through debates sparked by works associated with figures at Columbia University such as those influenced by Edward Said’s critiques, and through dialogues with scholarship from Peking University, Kyoto University, National University of Singapore, and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Scope and Content

The journal publishes articles on topics spanning premodern to contemporary periods across regions such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and diasporic communities in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and France. Thematically, pieces engage with primary sources on figures like Ashoka, Akbar, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Qin Shi Huang, Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, Emperor Meiji, and Rabindranath Tagore; they also analyze institutions such as the East India Company, British Raj, Sino-Japanese War, Treaty of Nanking, Treaty of Tientsin, Treaty of Versailles, Treaty of San Francisco, Treaty of Portsmouth, Treaty of Shimonoseki, and international bodies like the United Nations and ASEAN. Literary studies engage with authors including Murasaki Shikibu, Du Fu, Tagore, Lu Xun, B.R. Ambedkar, Rabindranath Tagore, Kenzaburo Oe, Prafulla Chandra Ray, and Haruki Murakami. Social and political analyses converse with work on movements such as Indian independence movement, May Fourth Movement, Taiping Rebellion, Indian Rebellion of 1857, Cultural Revolution, Meiji Restoration, Boxer Rebellion, Sino-Indian War (1962), and Korean independence movement.

Editorial and Publication Information

Published by Duke University Press on behalf of the Association for Asian Studies, the journal maintains an editorial board drawing members from Princeton University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Chicago, London School of Economics, Australian National University, Seoul National University, and Tsinghua University. Past editors have been affiliated with Columbia University, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Michigan, and Brown University. Submission guidelines require anonymized peer review; reviewers have included scholars connected to SOAS University of London, University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan University, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and University of Sydney. The journal issues special sections and forums responding to events such as the Partition of India, the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), the Korean War, Tet Offensive, and debates arising from conferences at Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, and ANU.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is indexed in major databases and services used by researchers affiliated with JSTOR collections, Project MUSE, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, and library catalogs such as those at Library of Congress, British Library, National Diet Library, and National Library of China. It is discoverable via platforms utilized by scholars at Yale, Stanford, MIT, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Toronto, McGill University, and Ecole Normale Supérieure.

Reception and Impact

Scholars at institutions like Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, UCLA, Peking University, Seoul National University, and University of Delhi cite the journal widely in monographs and textbooks published by presses such as Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge, Harvard University Press, and Stanford University Press. Debates published in its pages have influenced policy discussions in capitals including Washington, D.C., Beijing, New Delhi, Tokyo, and Seoul and have shaped curricula at SOAS, ANU, JNU, Hitotsubashi University, and National University of Singapore. Citation metrics place it among leading area studies journals alongside titles affiliated with Modern Asian Studies, Asian Survey, and China Quarterly.

Notable Articles and Special Issues

Notable contributions have addressed topics such as the archaeology of the Indus Valley Civilization, philological studies of Sanskrit and Classical Chinese, political analyses of Mao Zedong and Nehru, and cultural critiques examining Buddhism in Japan and Hinduism in South Asia. Special issues have focused on events and themes including Partition of India, the Cultural Revolution, Meiji Restoration, Asian diasporas in the Americas, Colonialism and nationalism in Asia, and environmental histories tied to the Ganges, Yangtze River, Huang He, Mekong River, and Brahmaputra River. Landmark articles engaged debates around sources such as the Mahayana Sutras, Vedas, Analects, Talmud-comparative studies, and archival materials from collections in London, Paris, Beijing, New Delhi, and Tokyo.

Category:Asian studies journals