Journal of Humanistic Psychology

Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Title	Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Discipline	Humanistic psychology
Abbreviation	J. Hum. Psychol.
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Country	United States
Frequency	Quarterly
History	1961–present

Contents

Journal of Humanistic Psychology is a peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on humanistic psychology, existential psychology, phenomenology, and related human-centered approaches influenced by Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Rollo May, Viktor Frankl, and Erich Fromm. The journal has published interdisciplinary work connecting psychotherapy, philosophy, literature, cultural studies, and the arts, engaging figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Paul Tillich.

History

Founded in 1961 amid the rise of humanistic movements associated with Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, the journal emerged alongside organizations like the Humanistic Psychology Institute and conferences influenced by the American Psychological Association debates of the 1950s and 1960s. Early issues featured contributions or responses to thinkers such as Rollo May, Viktor Frankl, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan, and commentators on the works of Wilhelm Reich and Friedrich Nietzsche. Over the decades the journal intersected with intellectual currents represented by Existentialism, Phenomenology, and the Counterculture movement, engaging authors who also published with presses like Harper & Row and Random House. Editorial leadership has included scholars affiliated with institutions such as Ohio State University, University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University, Harvard University, Yale University, New York University, and University of Michigan.

The journal covers topics ranging from clinical practice influenced by Carl Rogers and Irvin D. Yalom to theoretical work drawing on Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Simone de Beauvoir, and Emmanuel Levinas. It publishes research on psychotherapy modalities linked to Viktor Frankl's logotherapy, Rollo May's existential analysis, and psychodynamic perspectives related to Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, and Donald Winnicott. Cultural and literary analyses reference authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Emily Dickinson, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Franz Kafka, and Virginia Woolf, while interdisciplinary pieces engage with art and music figures like Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Igor Stravinsky. Thematic issues have examined trauma studies in conversation with Judith Herman, identity and race with scholars like Frantz Fanon and W.E.B. Du Bois, and social critique informed by Herbert Marcuse, Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas, and Theodor Adorno.

The editorial board traditionally comprises scholars from universities including University of California, Los Angeles, University of Chicago, King's College London, University of Oxford, University of Toronto, University of Melbourne, and University of Edinburgh. Editors have included clinician-scholars connected to training programs at Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University Medical Center. Peer review is double-blind or single-blind depending on submission pathways, drawing reviewers who publish with presses such as Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Routledge. The journal adheres to ethical guidelines promoted by organizations like the Committee on Publication Ethics and follows standards similar to those of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors for reporting empirical studies.

The journal is abstracted and indexed in major databases and citation services including PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, and ProQuest. It appears in library catalogs associated with institutions such as the Library of Congress, British Library, Bodleian Library, New York Public Library, and university systems at Harvard University and University of California. Its articles are discoverable through academic aggregators used by researchers at centers like the American Psychological Association and institutes affiliated with National Institutes of Health and National Endowment for the Humanities.

Notable articles have engaged debates initiated by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers on self-actualization and person-centered therapy, responded to existential analyses from Rollo May and Viktor Frankl, and offered critiques influenced by Michel Foucault and Herbert Marcuse. Influential empirical and theoretical pieces have been cited by scholars at Harvard Medical School, Yale School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and Mayo Clinic, and have informed curricula at New School for Social Research and Columbia University Teachers College. Special issues addressing trauma, race, and identity contributed to interdisciplinary dialogues involving bell hooks, Cornel West, Angela Davis, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Ibram X. Kendi.

The journal has been praised by proponents of humanistic and existential traditions including Rollo May and Irvin D. Yalom for maintaining a platform for narrative and phenomenological methods, while critics aligned with positivist or behaviorist perspectives—referencing figures like B.F. Skinner and E.O. Wilson—have questioned its empirical rigor. Debates have invoked philosophers and critics such as Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Richard Rorty, and Slavoj Žižek. Discussions in venues like The New York Times, The Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, and academic journals at Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press reflect ongoing contention over the journal's balance between clinical relevance and theoretical breadth.

Category:Psychology journals