The purposes of this study are to analyse the research accomplishments and trends
within the Korean Journal of Music Therapy from the first to current issue, and to
understand the subjects of development for future issues of the journal. For this data
gathered from 158 publications listed in journal issues from 1999 to August of 2016 were
statistically processed through cross analysis. Types of data gathered for the study
include: publication status, researcher, research type, topic, subject, research method, data
analysis method and reference. Results show that number of publications are distributed
equally among the journal issues and that most of the researches are conducted at
universities in the metropolitan area. Overall the frequency of quantitative researches
were greatly prevalent over qualitative researches but there were no specific trends
within the annual publications. In decreasing order, effectiveness, musical aptitude and
attitude, treatment process, research review, recognition/attitude, and vocational behaviors
categories were the most frequently published topics. Adults were the most common
research subjects, especially non-handicapped adults including music therapists and music
therapy major students. Researches in areas concerning emotion, preference and
awareness were shown to be more prevalent than researches from other areas of study.
In the analysis of data processing methods, for quantitative studies variance analysis was
most commonly used while phenomenological analysis was most common for qualitative
studies. The results of kai-square test showed that both research contents and methods
were dependant upon the research institution and that research contents were also
dependant upon the subject, method, or area of study. This study shows that the Korean
Journal of Music Therapy has been leading the scholastic contribution to the music
therapy in Korea since its creation. For the further growth, future studies should concern
subjects and contents appropriate to the identity of music therapy.