Each article is refereed before being published. In addition, a high level of professional competence is also guaranteed by the practice now firmly established in a series of issues of inviting well-known scholars to serve for one issue of the journal as Guest Editors. The Editors invite these to design a concept for an issue on a topic that involves their special research area and to supervise the carrying out of this design. The journal the world of music presents original articles concerning music, dance and theater from the perspectives of musicology, anthropology and folklore. By emphasizing particular regional and thematic aspects of music-making and documentation, the world of music focuses an the diversity and variety of musical traditions of the world.
Articles cover a broad range of interests, from methodological as well as ethnographic perspectives.
Normally, one of three issues a year concentrates an a theoretical or systematic topic, a second one is concerned with a specific geographic region, and a third is reserved for outstanding topical contributions from individual scholars. The Journal delves into descriptions of entire musical cultures and ethnic groups, as well as into particular paradigms of music, song, dance and theater. The world of music presents scholarly research from around the world, thus functioning as a forum for discussion from an intercultural viewpoint and furthering the development of scholarly dialogue concerning the musical cultures of the world. Each issue is richly illustrated by numerous photographs, graphics and musical examples. An overview of titles, tables of contents and abstracts to individual articles are provided.