The MLA International Bibliography is a subject index for books, articles and websites published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. It is produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA), an organization dedicated to the study and teaching of language and literature.
The electronic version of the Bibliography dates back to 1925 and contains over 2.2 million citations from more than 4,400 periodicals (including peer-reviewed ejournals) and 1,000 book publishers.
Coverage includes literature from all over the world--Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Folklore is represented by folk literature, music, art, rituals, and belief systems. Linguistics and language materials range from history and theory of linguistics, comparative linguistics, semantics, stylistics, and syntax to translation. Other topics include literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater), and history of printing and publishing.
While the most common materials listed are books and book and journal articles, the bibliography also lists electronic materials and selected electronic journals, reference works, citations of dissertations, critical monographs and scholarly websites.
It is compiled by the staff of the MLA Department of Bibliographic Information Services with the cooperation of more than 100 contributing bibliographers in the United States and abroad. Such international coverage is represented by literature from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America, and while the majority of records are from English-language publications, at least sixty other languages are represented including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Portuguese, Norwegian, and Swedish.
The indexing and editing of the bibliography are done by multilingual specialists with advanced degrees in literature, language, folklore, and linguistics. Combined, the staff has more than two hundred years of indexing experience. A large percentage of the MLA staff have PhDs. Scholars in the field also contribute material in their areas of expertise. All work is then reviewed by in-house editors, who are responsible for the overall scope and consistency of each division within the bibliography.
The database also has an identifiable subset of more than 100,000 records that constitute the JSTOR subfile. This consists of citation records for documents in JSTOR's Language and Literature Collection as well as relevant articles from their Asian Studies collection. The documents date back as far as 1881 and contain direct links to the full-text articles on the JSTOR website, available to subscribers of JSTOR.
Your subscription to the MLA International Bibliography also includes access to the MLA Directory of Periodicals database, a complete and searchable directory of over 7,000 journals with full details on publishers, contact details and submission guidelines.
Full text links to Project Muse journal and ProQuest Digital Dissertations are also included in this database.
Update Frequency
Nine times per year; with over 66,000 records added annually.
Tutorial videos for MLA are available via Vimeo.
MLA indexers review books and journals for material that relate to all forms of human communication. Coverage includes literature from all over the world--Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Folklore is represented by folk literature, music, art, rituals, and belief systems. Linguistics and language materials range from history and theory of linguistics, comparative linguistics, semantics, stylistics, and syntax to translation. Other topics include literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater), and history of printing and publishing.
View the latest title list and publication coverage here. Please note that the link below will only work if you are authenticated to MLA. For alternative methods of authentication and links to MLA, please see the documents in the Additional Materials page.