Jostein Børtnes (born 16 April 1937) is a Norwegian literary historian and Slavist with emphasis on Russian. He was born in Hovin, Telemark. He took the Russian training in the Norwegian Armed Forces, then graduated with the cand.philol. degree in Russian from the University of Oslo in 1965. He was a NAVF research fellow from 1966 to 1969, research fellow at the University of Oslo from 1970 to 1972, visiting fellow at Clare Hall from 1971 to 1972, and then lecturer at the University of Oslo. After taking the dr.philos. degree at the University of Oslo in 1976 he was promoted to first lecturer. He spent the years 1979 to 1982 at Sidney Sussex College.