The Book Review, India’s first review journal in English, was started in 1976 by Chitra Narayanan, Uma Iyengar and Chandra Chari . It provides critical, in-depth reviews of books published in India and abroad on a variety of subjects — social sciences, humanities, fiction, management, environment, art, culture, science and children’s literature thus rendering a signal service to book lovers and scholars all over the country, including the small mofussil towns where access to the latest publications is difficult.

Editors

Chandra Chari

89 NMC Shankar Chowk Gurgaon Haryana-122002
Email: chandrachari44@gmail.com

Uma Iyengar

23,Good Earth ,Palm Grove, Dodda Aldaman Road, Kumbhalgodu, Kengeri ,Bangalore-560074, Karnataka
Email: uma.iyengar@gmail.com

Consultant Editor
  • Adnan Farooqui
Advisory Board Founder Members
  • K.R. Narayanan
  • Nikhil Chakravartty
  • Meenakshi Mukherjee
  • S.Gopal
  • Raja Ramanna
  • K.N. Raj
Editorial Advisory Board
  • Romila Thapar
  • Ritu Menon
  • Mallika Joseph
  • Narayani Gupta
  • Chitra Narayanan
  • Girish Karnad
  • T.C.A. Srinivasa Raghavan
About The Journal

The website provides complete instructions to authors/reviewers. The reviewers are requested to review the books with objectivity and an open mind, without any bias or prejudice. The reviews are required to be jargon free and easily accessible to students and scholars. The journal has a well-defined peer-review and publication policy. The journal has had an eminent editorial advisory board since its inception in 1976 and the members of the board have a policy of rigorous peer review of all submissions to ensure high standards of excellence in content and style.

The journal has a well-defined Ethics policy. The Book Review is a non-political, ideologically non-partisan journal which tries to reflect all shades of intellectual opinions and ideas. The views of the reviewer sand authors writing for the journal are their own. All reviews and articles published in The Book Review are exclusive to the journal and may not be reprinted without the prior permission of the editors.

The journal has a declared frequency of publication each year. The journal is published regularly and in time following its declared frequency It has been a monthly for the last 28 years. It  has a postal concession from the Department of Posts and copies are posted regularly on the 10th/11th of each month.

The journal is indexed in a given database, the Archives of The Book Review which is updated every month.

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The journal levies no submission/publication charges.Review copies of books are sent to reviewers by the journal.Paid advertisements from publishers are carried in the print and the web edition.

No review may be posted on any website without prior permission. If a review or part thereof is found published on a website or on the social media, the editorial board will withdraw the review and not publish it in The Book Review.

Any judicial dispute, in case there is one, with The Book Review Literary Trust, can only be settled in a Delhi court.

The Book Review (TBR) was set up as a non-partisan, non-ideological forum to:

  • Promote Indian publications and Indian authors, particularly those in the Indian languages
  • Develop a culture of critical in-depth reviews, leveraging the expertise of the best in a given field
  • Promote awareness of studies in special areas of concern such as South Asian issues and gender issues
  • Encourage and develop high-quality translations of works in the Indian languages
  • To attract a wider audience for the areas, subjects and issues of the journal’s focus

Since its inception, TBR has attained many of its objectives, quickly becoming the benchmark, across the world, for critical reviews of works published in South Asia. The focus on Indian languages, South Asian studies, gender issues and children’s books, has remained unwavering, with numerous special issues, seminars and publications. Globally, the leading experts in fields as diverse as international relations, Gandhian studies, and ancient Indian history regularly contribute to the journal. Covering a very broad array of subjects, this pioneering venture has rendered a unique service to the literary and academic community and the reading public. The main goal of TBR is now to reach out to a wider audience.

History

The Book Review, India’s first review journal in English, was started in 1976 by Chitra Narayanan, Uma Iyengar and Chandra Chari. From the beginning, an Advisory Board was set up with founding members K.R. Narayanan ,V.P. Dutt, Dr S. Gopal, Meenakshi Mukherjee and Dr. Raja Ramanna and Romilla Thapar.

In 1980, the journal was temporarily handed over to Nikhil Chakravartty of Perspective Publications as all three founding editors were no longer in Delhi. The Book Review Literary Trust was founded in 1989 to significantly expand the activities of the organization to seminars, translations, publications and lectures. The three founding editors also became the Trustees and took back control of the journal.

In 1990, the journal started being published in its unique tabloid format, with a characteristic contents page and page layout that was widely emulated by other magazines in the same space. TBR’s periodicity became monthly in 1993. Since then, TBR has gone on to widen the range and increase the frequency of its special issues, including issues on South Asia, the Indian languages, gender issues, environment, education and Children’s Literature. 1998 saw the introduction of Book Fair Specials. From 1999 every November issue became Children’s book Special. South Asia bumper specials was started in the year 2000.