The Journal of American Folklore is a peer-reviewed

Peer review

Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...

 academic journal

Academic journal

An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...

 published by the American Folklore Society

American Folklore Society

The American Folklore Society is the US-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world. It was founded in 1888 by William Wells Newell, who stood at the center of a diverse group of university-based scholars, museum anthropologists, and men...

. Since 2003 this has been done on its behalf by the University of Illinois Press

University of Illinois Press

The University of Illinois Press , is a major American university press and part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic projects...

. The journal has been published since the society's founding in 1888. It publishes on a quarterly schedule and incorporates scholarly articles, essays, and notes relating to its field. It also includes reviews of books, exhibitions and events.

Former editors

The following persons have been editor-in-chief of the journal:

• William Wells Newell
  William Wells Newell
  William Wells Newell was an American folklorist, school teacher, minister and philosophy professor.Newell was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After trying his hand at ministry, he was a faculty member at the new philosophy department at Harvard University for a few years. However, the bulk of...
  
   (1888-1899), vols. 1-12
• Alexander Francis Chamberlain
  Alexander Francis Chamberlain
  Alexander Francis Chamberlain was a Canadian anthropologist, born in England. Under the direction of Franz Boas he received the first Ph.D. granted in anthropology in the United States from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. After graduating, he taught at Clark, eventually becoming full...
  
   (1900-1907), vols. 13-20
• Franz Boas
  Franz Boas
  Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
  
   (1908-1924), vols. 21-37
• Ruth Fulton Benedict (1925-1939), vols. 38-52
• Gladys Reichard (1940), vol.53
• Archer Taylor (1941), vol. 54
• Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
  Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
  Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin was an anthropologist, folklorist, and ethnohistorian.She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1923, and returned there after working for a newspaper in Florida, to pursue a master's degree in anthropology...
  
   (1942-1946), vols. 55-59
• Wayland Debs Hand (1947-1951), vols. 60-64
• Katharine Luomala (1952-1953), vols. 65-66
• Thomas A. Sebeok (1954-1958), vols. 67-71
• Richard M. Dorson (1959-1963), vols. 72-76
• John Greenway
  John Greenway
  John Robert Greenway is a former British politician who sat as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Ryedale from 1987 until the constituency's abolition in 2010.-Early life:...
  
   (1964-1968), vols. 77-81
• Américo Paredes
  Americo Paredes
  Americo Paredes was a Mexican-American author born in Brownsville, Texas who authored several texts focusing on the border life that existed between the United States and Mexico, particularly around the Rio Grande region of South Texas. His family on his father’s side, however, had been in the...
  
   (1969-1973), vols. 82-86
• Barre Toelken (1974-1976), vols. 87-89
• Jan Harold Brunvand
  Jan Harold Brunvand
  Jan Harold Brunvand is an American folklorist. A professor emeritus of the University of Utah, he best known for spreading the concept of the urban legend, a form of modern folklore...
  
   (1977-1980), vols. 90-93
• Richard Bauman
  Richard Bauman
  Richard Bauman is a folklorist and anthropologist who recently retired from Indiana University Bloomington. He is presently Distinguished Professor emeritus of Folklore, of Anthropology, and of Communication and Culture...
  
   (1981-1985), vols. 94-98
• Bruce Jackson
  Bruce Jackson
  Bruce Jackson is the president of the Project on Transitional Democracies.-Professional Positions :* President, Project on Transitional Democracies 2002–Present* Served as the Vice President for Strategy and Planning at Lockheed Martin, 1993–2002....
  
  (1986-?), vols. 99-?