Self-Reflexive Research in Music Disciplines

A Routledge Book Series edited by Christopher Cayari, Ph.D.

Ever feel like traditional research forces you to edit your own voice out of your scholarship? Stop editing out your voice. Your identity, perspective, and musical journey belong in your work. It is time to bring YOUR perspective to the forefront of music research.

This series features research where music and self-reflexive methodologies act as the twin pillars. We publish books that move musical scholarship forward by challenging conventional boundaries and centering the researcher-self. Authors are expected to contextualize their chosen discipline within the wider musical landscape, advance self-reflexive methods through transparent scholarship, and demonstrate how unique positionality creates genuine academic rigor and innovation.

Guidelines | Proposal Template | Email Editor

Diverse Methodologies Welcomed

Your self-reflexive methodologies belong here. We welcome diverse, flexible, hybrid, and innovative qualitative frameworks, whether your project is handled individually, collaboratively, or with an active community.

We encourage submissions utilizing frameworks such as:

Autoethnography & Collaborative Autoethnography
Action Research & Team Action Research
Autobiography, Self-Narrative, & Collective Self-Narrative
Duoethnography & Dialogic Inquiry
Self-Focused Phenomenology & Heuristic Inquiry
Scholarly Memoir (ideal for established career professionals)

Open to Any Musical Discipline

This series is explicitly inclusive. Any musical discipline is welcomed into the collection, including, but certainly not limited to:

Music Education & Pedagogy
Musicology & Music History
Music Theory
Applied Music & Performance
Music Composition
Music Theater / Theatre
Music Therapy
Music and Media
Music Business & Industry
Sociology & Psychology in Music

Flexible Project Formats

Your project dictates the scale. Choose the scope, depth, and structure that best fits your narrative pathway:

Routledge Focus Titles (30,000–55,000 words) Ideal for solo autoethnographies, memoirs from established career professionals, compelling scholarly storytelling, research manifestos, or concise, targeted introductions to new topics, methods, and theories.
Full-Sized Manuscripts (55,000–70,000 words) Traditional academic books, monographs, and standard-length research studies.
Large Volumes & Textbooks (70,000–100,000 words) Comprehensive methodological guides, foundational texts, or collaborative, edited collections.

Submission & Next Steps

Your voice is data. Make sure it is seen and heard. If you are ready to submit a proposal or want to inquire about a project concept, follow these steps:

Read the SRiMD Proposal Guidelines
Download the Template: Access the official Routledge Publishing Proposal Form.
Submit Your Materials: Email your completed proposal form or initial inquiries directly to the series editor at ccayari@purdue.edu.

(If you do not hear back within 7 days, please check back and follow up. Institutional spam filters are notoriously bad and can occasionally misroute legitimate academic inquiries.)