The empirical study of literature is an interdisciplinary field of study that encompasses the psychology, sociology, and philosophy of texts, as well as the contextual study of literature and the history of reading literary works.

The International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature and Media (IGEL) is a scholarly organization that unites professionals in this subject. Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, the Media, and the Arts, Poetics Today: International Journal of Theory and Analysis of Literature and Communication, and Scientific Study of Literature are the leading publications in the area.

The empirical study of literature gets scholarly attention primarily in the fields of reception and audience studies, as well as cognitive psychology when it concerns reading-related issues. In these two domains, framework-based research and studies are expanding steadily. In addition to (comparative) cultural studies and education, the framework in its multiple altered and enlarged versions draws study in other domains.