American Music Therapy Association

The British are Coming—and it’s not the Beatles!

Historic Partnership with Oxford University Press Begins

The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) announces an historic partnership with Oxford University Press to publish its esteemed journals, the Journal of Music Therapy (JMT) and Music Therapy Perspectives (MTP). AMTA achieves its mission through high quality, peer-reviewed research published in JMT, first published in 1964 and MTP, first published in 1983.

Since the inception of both journals, AMTA has been its own publisher or what is known in the publishing business as "self-publishing." The move to partner with Oxford University Press will bring expanded services to readers, researchers, and subscribers; global reach across the world; and a highly developed, sophisticated online presence with increased functionality for AMTA’s journals.

Oxford University Press (OUP) is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. In 1586 the University of Oxford's right to print books was recognized in a decree from the Star Chamber. Delegates were first appointed by the University to oversee this process in 1633. The University also established its right to print the King James Authorized Version of the Bible in the seventeenth century. This Bible Privilege formed the basis of OUP's publishing activities throughout the next two centuries.

From the late 1800s OUP began to expand significantly, opening the first overseas OUP office in New York in 1896. Other international branches followed, including Canada (1904), Australia (1908), India (1912), Southern Africa (1914). Today OUP has offices in 50 countries, and is the largest university press in the world. Currently OUP publishes 6,000 books and 280 journals. These holdings include books on music therapy and related subjects. The Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology was published in 2011 and the forthcoming Handbook of Music Therapy is expected in 2014. OUP also publishes music and has listings in medicine, humanities, education, and science.

According to Dr. Bryan Hunter, AMTA Historian, "this new partnership with Oxford University Press is one of the top five advances for the music therapy profession in the past two decades." AMTA was honored (...or honoured) to welcome OUP Associate Editor Patrick McGinty to its midyear Board meeting in late June for finalization of the agreement.

AMTA Continues Its Commitment to Grow Journals

As a result of the historic partnership between Oxford University Press and AMTA, several exciting changes will take place over the next year. Our members and subscribers to JMT and MTP may look forward to numerous enhancements.

The journals will appear online through OUP’s partner with HighWire Press. HighWire is a division of Stanford University Libraries that works with influential scholarly societies, university presses, and other publishers to create a collection of the finest fully searchable research online.

Archival material will be updated and available online, eventually replacing AMTA’s flashdrive product. Retrospective digitization has already begun.

Mobile app and functionality will be available for both journals.

E-articles will support scholarly articles with properly permitted embedded multimedia files.

Manuscript submissions to the Journal of Music Therapy and Music Therapy Perspectives will take advantage of state of the art peer review software.

About AMTA’s Peer reviewed Journals

Journal of Music Therapy is a forum for authoritative articles of current music therapy research and theory. The Editor-in-Chief of JMT is Professor Sheri Lynn Robb, PhD, MT-BC, of Indiana University. The mission of JMT is to advance research, theory, and practice in music therapy through the dissemination of scholarly work. The Journal publishes all types of research and strives to present a variety of research approaches and topics, to promote critical inquiry, and to serve as a resource and forum for researchers, educators, and clinicians in music therapy and related professions.

Music Therapy Perspectives is designed to appeal to a wide readership, both inside and outside the profession of music therapy. MTP’s Editor-in-Chief is Professor Tony Meadows, PhD, MT-BC, of Immaculata University. MTP seeks to promote the development of music therapy clinical practice through the dissemination of scholarly work. The Journal publishes all forms of reports that have implications for music therapy practice. MTP focuses on clinical benefits of music therapy and serves as a resource and forum for music therapists, music therapy students and educators, and those in related professions.

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