San José Studies, an interdisciplinary journal sponsored by San José State University, was published from 1975-1995. Issues were published three times a year — winter, spring, and fall — and included critical and creative prose, as well as poetry, interviews, and photographs. Content was directed to the educated reader, but provided resources for the scholar.

The scope of San José Studies was interdisciplinary, with a particular interest in Bay Area and California cultures. Past issues have included articles on topics as diverse as the social implications of genetic engineering, the sources of M. Butterfly, the need to enlarge the canon of American literature, and the letters of Williams James. Special issues have been devoted to Chicano culture, John Steinbeck, the American bicentennial, cultural diversity, Roberta Holloway, Charles Darwin, Ezra Pound, Emily Dickinson and H.D., and the letters of Margery Bailey.