The purpose of this paper is to present the two-dimensional linear stability analysis considering the fluid flow in both full film and cavitation regions for a plain cylindrical journal bearing. The Lund's infinitesimal perturbation procedure is applied to Elrod's universal equation for evaluation of unsteady pressure gradients. Based on JFO theory, the pressure distribution, film rupture, and reformation boundaries can be obtained using Elrod's universal equation, for a given operating position of the journal. In this work, it is assumed that for infinitesimal perturbation of a journal about the equilibrium position, the film rupture and film reformation boundaries are the same as those obtained for steady state. However, the unsteady pressure gradients in the full film region are evaluated taking into consideration the perturbed flow parameters in the cavitation region, i.e., at both rupture and reformation boundaries. The linearized stiffness and damping coefficients, whirl frequency ratio, and threshold speed for various values of eccentricity and L/D ratios are obtained for a plain cylindrical journal bearing with an axial groove along the load line. Measured data of dynamic coefficients for a 120° partial arc bearing are chosen for comparison with this work. Results show good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results.