Bibliometric tools and especially content analysis of all 393 articles published in Journal of Music Theory (up to issue 48/1) help to investigate the development of the content of this journal. The articles were classified according to their type, the theoretical aspect, the period of repertoire discussed, and major composers or theorists they were devoted to. Among the major findings, one can trace in a precise manner the centripetal process toward focus on Schenkerian and set theories (and the more recent opposite process), the almost total separation of discussions of tonal and posttonal music, the more recent inclusion of neo-Riemannian theory, the para-academic nature of some earlier areas of interest, the correlation between an established method and the repertoire discussed, the general solid focus on hard-core theory with very few glimpses to interdisciplinary studies, and the slow and partial change that involves metatheoretical approaches. Other aspects include the growth of the journal, its importance, and its editors and contributors.
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