The Beatles now have their very own academic journal trends now

More than 60 years since they released their debut single, The Beatles now have their very own academic journal.  

'The Journal of Beatles Studies', published by Liverpool University Press, is the first journal to establish The Beatles as an object of scholarly research.

Articles in the first issue include 'Beatlemania: On informational cascades and spectacular success' and '80 at 80: Commemorating Paul McCartney’s eightieth birthday'. 

The biannual, peer-reviewed journal will publish original, rigorously researched essays and notes, as well as book and media reviews. 

Editors of the journal are Holly Tessler at the University of Liverpool and Paul Long at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. 

The editors pointed out that there's already been a wide range of scientific articles about the Beatles, linking them with a variety of subjects.

These range from mathematics to the computed tomography scanner and an AI-powered music composition machine.

But before now, they've all been published in different journals, despite having a common theme. 

'Beyond conferences, edited collections and fixed-term research projects, Beatles scholars have been working in comparative isolation, compelled to publish their findings for non-Beatles specialists and audiences,' say the editors in the journal's introduction. 

'It is a situation that raises the question, why isn’t there a field of Beatles studies?

'Furthermore, what would it look like, who would define its agendas, methods, quality and potential, and to whom would it speak? 

'This is a scholarly gap that the Journal of Beatles Studies seeks to redress.' 

The new journal is open access – which means it is be freely available online without being behind a paywall or requiring a subscription. 

There is also a limited edition commemorative paperback copy, priced at £16 and available from the Liverpool University Press website.