A fundamental strength of Atla’s research tools is the applied expertise of Atla’s team of metadata editors and analysts. Atla’s metadata analysts and editors synthesize research from a wide range of academic resources and make decisions about the most relevant subjects to include in the records in our databases to support discovery by our community of researchers and students. Their depth of knowledge ensures that Atla’s research tools support the successful discovery of relevant research from a highly diverse range of academic sources.
This month we feature Metadata Editor, Lianghao Lu
Lianghao was born in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi. He spent his early childhood there until the age of seven when his family moved to Beijing. He grew up in the capital city and remained there for his undergraduate studies, majoring in Philosophy and Religious Studies at Renmin University near his family home. After completing his degree there, Lianghao was accepted into the master’s/PhD program for Religious Studies at the University of Pittsburgh and moved to the United States in 2011.
Lianghao spent his next eight years at the University of Pittsburgh completing his master’s and then doctorate by 2019. Near the end of the completion of his doctorate, he found himself running into technical issues while completing his dissertation. Frustrated at his inability to solve it, he began a course of self-study in computational skills. He decided to take this study further and earned a second master’s degree in information science from the University of Pittsburgh, which he completed in 2020.
During his time earning his graduate degrees, Lianghao was an active user of Atla’s research tools. Serendipitously, just as he had completed his studies and was ready to enter the workforce, an acquaintance who was a librarian at the East Asia Library at the University of Pittsburgh saw a listing Atla posted for an opening on their Metadata team and thought of Lianghao as someone who would be perfect for the position. Lianghao, though an avid user of the databases, did not possess much knowledge of Atla as an organization or the specifics of metadata work as it relates to the company. Despite this, his vast knowledge of the subject matter he would be tasked to index was more than enough to earn the position. He credits his fellow Atla colleagues on the metadata team with bringing him up to speed on the ins and outs of the role and putting him in a position to succeed in what would be the very first job of his post-graduate career.
Lianghao’s areas of coverage include scholarship on Asian religions and philosophy. This includes journals on Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and many other indigenous and folk religions in Asia. He also specializes in journals covering topics on Christianity in China and Japan. He mostly indexes journals in Chinese and Japanese, as well as English. He is currently learning Italian as well, as he indexes journals from Italy and has a personal interest in learning the language.
Outside of his work with Atla, Lianghao continues to pursue religious studies. One personal passion in this field is the study of the intersection of Buddhism and modern media. This includes examining the role that digital communications play in shaping the contemporary landscape of Buddhism in both Asia and the West. After spending more than ten years living in Pittsburgh, he has recently relocated to San Francisco with his wife and is enjoying acclimating to and exploring his new environment on the opposite side of the country. According to Lianghao, it is the perfect location for studying another of his favorite topics: how Asian religions localize and adapt to the religiously pluralistic environment of a region.
When asked to describe Atla’s role in the theology and religion space, Lianghao said, “I believe Atla is the hub of information gathering and dissemination for scholarships in Religious Studies and Theology in the world. First, we cover a great range of topics from the latest academic journals and index some of them in their entirety, meaning from Volume 1, Issue 1. Therefore, some of the materials Atla provides are more than scholarly references but potentially the primary source of research.”
“Second, by providing both scholarly works and publications by religious organizations, Atla bridges two communities together: academic scholars and religious practitioners. The flow of information contributes to the mutual understanding and scholarly development of these two fields.”
“Third, the inclusion of a variety of religious traditions, in my field, the Asian religions, in Atla’s products helps connect the relatively isolated research community with the broader academic field. It also presents scholarships from lesser-known traditions in under-represented regions to the wider research community.
“For our metadata team, each of my colleagues has their own field of specialty and area of focus, and we constantly follow the trend in academic research which allows us to respond to the latest research with updated indexing practices. In turn, this will help our users to learn about the newest research in a timely manner.”
We asked Lianghao to highlight some titles in Atla’s research tools that he has indexed
He chose the following, in his words:
- Journal of Chinese Religions, published by Johns Hopkins University Press: It is the longest-standing journal in the field of Chinese religions. It is a peer-reviewed, bi-annual academic journal that publishes research articles, book reviews, and other communications on all aspects of Chinese religions. It covers a wide range of topics related to Chinese religious traditions, including but not limited to Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, folk religions, and new religious movements in China. The journal promotes interdisciplinary approaches, the exploration of primary sources, and critical analysis within the field of Chinese religions and covers research subjects of the past and the present. For a scholar in Chinese religions or those with general interests in religions in China, this journal presents up-to-date scholarships. Indexed in Atla Religion Database®, full text available in Atlas®.
- Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, published by Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture: This bi-annual journal covers a wide range of topics within the field of religious studies, including but not limited to Buddhism, Shinto, folk religions, and new religious movements, as well as religious texts, rituals, beliefs, art, architecture, social dynamics, and emerging religious phenomenon in Japan. It presents scholarships on Japanese religions from the perspective of historical studies, textual analysis, anthropology and ethnology, political science, and sociology of religion. I particularly appreciate that it always contains studies on religion in modern and post-war Japan. Atla has indexed it beginning with its inaugural issue with full-text access. Indexed in Atla Religion Database, full text available in Atlas.
- Journal of Hindu Studies, published by Oxford University Press: The Journal of Hindu Studies is committed to a critical approach to Hindu Studies, focusing on themes that address overarching issues within the field. The journal encourages interdisciplinary approaches, welcoming contributions from various disciplines such as religious studies, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, history, art history, and more. Primarily focusing on Hinduism, the journal also presents scholarships on the intricate relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, and Hinduism and other South Asian religious traditions. It also publishes research situating Hinduism within the global context, focusing on the transnational perspective and Hindu immigrant communities in other parts of the world. Atla also indexes it from its first issue with full-text access. Indexed in Atla Religion Database, full text available in Atlas PLUS®.
Find more information about coverage and how to access Atla’s trusted research tools on religion and theology.
View our full title lists, updated monthly.
Read more information on how content is evaluated and how to recommend a title for inclusion in Atla’s research tools.
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