a/b: Auto/Biography Studies

a/b: Auto/Biography Studies
Disciplinebiographical scholarship, narrative analysis
LanguageEnglish
Edited byLisa Ortiz-Vilarelle
Publication details
History1985–present
Publisher
FrequencyTriannual
Hybrid
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4a/b: Auto/Biogr. Stud.
NLMAutobiogr Stud
Indexing
ISSN0898-9575 (print)
2151-7290 (web)
LCCN91658655
OCLC no.719444996
Links

a/b: Auto/Biography Studies is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal on biographical scholarship and narrative analysis, and is the official journal of The Autobiography Society. It is published on its behalf by Routledge.[1] journal of The Autobiography Society. It publishes scholarly essays, reviews of academic books, essay clusters, and scholarly work on topics in life writing studies. The journal covers a range of life narrative practices, including autobiography, biography, biofiction, and autofiction.[2] It does not publish personal essays, memoirs, or quantitative/empirical research.[3]

The journal was established in 1985, following a conference on auto/biography studies hosted by James Olney.[4] Its founding editors were Timothy Dow Adams, William L. Andrews, Joseph Hogan, Rebecca Hogan, and Barbara Sher.[5] As of October 2025 the editor-in-chief is Lisa Ortiz-Vilarelle (The College of New Jersey).[6]

Ruth Scurr, writing about autobiography studies in The Times Literary Supplement, described three journals in the field: a/b, Life Writing and Biography. Scurr characterizes a/b's spectrum of life writing studies as extending "beyond traditional conceptions of autobiography and biography to consider letters, diaries, scrapbooks, food memoirs and illness narratives, among other forms of testimony."[2]

In June 2025 the journal published a special issue to celebrate its 40th anniversary, with articles reflecting on its origins and development.[7] Volumes 24 (2009) through Vol. 28 (2013) are available on Project MUSE.[8]

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in the MLA International Bibliography,[9] International Bibliography of Periodical Literature,[9] and Scopus.[10]

References

  1. ^ "About the Journal". The Autobiography Society. 21 October 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  2. ^ a b Scurr, Ruth (26 October 2018). "The part and the whole". Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  3. ^ "Aims and scope". a/b: Auto/Biography Studies. Routledge. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  4. ^ Eakin, John (2015). "Remembering James Olney (1933–2015)". Biography. 38 (4): 465–478. doi:10.1353/bio.2016.0005. ProQuest 1783365722.
  5. ^ "About this journal". a/b: Auto/Biography Studies. Routledge. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  6. ^ "Learn about a/b: Auto/Biography Studies". Taylor & Francis. Routledge. Retrieved 2025-10-23.
  7. ^ "40 Years of Auto/biography Studies: An a/b Anniversary Issue". A/B: Auto/Biography Studies. 40 (2): 311–492. June 2025. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  8. ^ "Project MUSE - a/b: Auto/Biography Studies". muse.jhu.edu. Retrieved 2025-10-23.
  9. ^ a b "a/b: Auto/Biography Studies". MIAR: Information Matrix for the Analysis of Journals. University of Barcelona. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
  10. ^ "Source details: a/b: Auto/Biography Studies". Scopus Preview. Elsevier. Retrieved 19 October 2025.