L. P. Andersen, “The Development of the Genres: The Danish Ballad,” Sumlen (1981), 25-35. [Argues that Danish ballads appealed first to wealthy farmers in the Middle Ages, then to the aristocracy in the Renaissance, and then to the peasantry in the 19th century.]

O. Andersson, Folkvisor: Den äldre folkvisen (1934). [Basic collection of Finnish-Swedish ballads with excellent analysis of the music.]

J. Bang, ed., Synspunkter på folkevisen (1972). [Collection of most significant articles in Scandinavian ballad scholarship from the 16th century to the 20th.]

Å. G. Blom, Norsk legendevisematerial – En muntlig overlevert diktning (1983). [Argues that oral tradition has been the most important factor in the development of the Norwegian ballad.]

D. W. Colbert, The Birth of the Ballad: The Scandinavian Medieval Genre (1989). [Study of the medieval origins of the genre of the Scandinavian ballad.]
P. Conroy, ed., Ballads and Ballad Research (1978). [Twenty-four papers on ballads world-wide.]

E. Dal, Nordisk folkeviseforskning siden 1800. Omrids af text- og melodistudiets historie og problemer især i Danmark (1956). [A history of Scandinavian ballad scholarship.]

L. E. Frandsen, Folkevisen. Studier i middelalderens poetiske litteratur (1935). [Essays on manuscripts of Danish ballads, emphasizing the medieval influence on meter.]

J. Harris, ed., The Ballad and Oral Tradition (1991). [Collection of seminal essays, most of which were originally delivered at a symposium in Denmark. Two of them are standard references in discussions of the definition of the Scandinavian ballad.]

L. Heggstad and H. Grüner Nielsen, Utsyn yver gamall norsk folkevisediktning (1912). [Indispensable research tool for Nordic ballad scholarship that contains prose summaries of Norwegian ballads and references to parallels in the other Scandinavian languages.]

K. -I. Hildeman, Politiska visor från Sveriges sen-medeltid (1950). [Argues for the aristocratic rather than peasant origin of many political ballads.]

_____________, Tillbaka till balladen (1985). [Argues that the historical ballads were composed by individuals and reflect popular tradition about history.]

O. Holzapfel, Det balladeske. Fortællemåden i den ældre episke folkevise (1980). [A study of formulas and metaphors typical of the ballad genre.]

_____________, Folkevise und Volksballade (1976). [Study of the relationship of the Danish to the German ballad.]

S. B. Hustvedt, Ballad Books and Ballad Men (1930; repr. 1970). [History of ballad collecting and scholarship in the US, UK, and Scandinavia.]

A.-M. Häggman, ed., Visa och visforskning (1974); Magdalena på källebro: En studie i finlandsvensk vistradition med utgångspunkt i visan om Maria Magdalena (1992). [Detailed study of SMB 43, its historical background, and its importance in a Finnish-Swedish ballad-singing community.]

S.-B. Jansson, Den levande balladen: medeltida ballad i svensk tradition (1999). [Examines how the medieval ballad has been both illuminated and transformed by contemporary ballad singing practice.]

B. R. Jonsson, Svensk balladtradition (1967). [Analysis of the sources for the Swedish ballads.]

B. R. Jonsson, S. Solheim, E. Danielson, The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad (1978). [Develops the standard typology of the ballad that is now applied to all Scandinavian ballads.]

I. Piø., Nye veje til folkevisen (1985). [Argues that the Danish ballad has both popular and aristocratic origins.]

J. Steenstrup, The Medieval Popular Ballad (Danish original 1914/ English trans. 1968). [Surveys ballad scholarship in Scandinavia from beginnings to end of 19th century and argues for the medieval origin of the ballad and the influence of dance on it.]

L. Syndergaard, English Translations of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballads: An Analytical Guide and Bibliography (1995). [Useful tool that can be used in conjunction with the digitized SMB.]