Journal profile · Multiple
Discourse Processes
ISSN 0163-853X · eISSN 1532-6950 · Taylor & Francis
Discourse Processes: CAS Zone 2 · Psychology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.68; hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 80 days (first decision after review, publisher); acceptance rate 19% (journal website); 44 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Discourse Processes is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 2 of Psychology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Language, Metaphor, and Cognition, Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies and Reading and Literacy Development, together about 36.5% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Discourse Processes is an international multidisciplinary journal that publishes work related to comprehension, production, and processing of text and discourse, and related methodologies. Papers presenting either empirical data or theoretical ideas related to timely scientific and/or societal issues are welcome, especially multidisciplinary work that makes connections to real-world applications. We also welcome papers supporting different methodological (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods traditions) and statistical advances as they are relevant to the field of text and discourse. We encourage submissions from scholars across the globe engaging in these types of work. Discourse Processes is associated with the Society for Text and Discourse, although authors are not required to be members of the Society to publish in the journal. Types of Papers Discourse Processes publishes regular articles, brief reports, brief reviews, pre-registered reports, commentaries, and letters to the editor. Regular articles present novel empirical data, theoretical work relevant to scientific research, methodological advances, computational modeling, replication studies, and systematic and/or meta-analytic reviews. Length should be commensurate to the contribution, but manuscripts should generally not exceed 35 manuscript pages (double spaced, including abstract and references). Author affiliations, acknowledgments, tables, figures, and figure legends are excluded from the page limit. Brief reports present novel empirical data, computational modeling, and methodological advances that relate to text and discourse. The maximum length of the brief report is 3000 words, excluding title, abstract, references, author affiliations, acknowledgments, figures and figure legends. Brief reviews summarize recent empirical, theoretical, or methodological work on a specific topic. The maximum length of the brief review is 3000 words, excluding title, abstract, references, author affiliations, and acknowledgments. Pre-registered reports present empirical work for which methods and proposed analyses are pre-registered and peer-reviewed prior to research being conducted. Protocols are then provisionally accepted for publication before data collection. This paper format is especially suitable for replication but also for novel studies. The first submission of a preregistered report contains: (1) an Introduction that motivates the research question(s) and hypotheses; (2) a Method sectio
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multiple
Editor-in-chief W. Sid HortonPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Language, Metaphor, and CognitionPsychology13.4%
- Language, Discourse, Communication StrategiesArts and Humanities12.6%
- Reading and Literacy DevelopmentPsychology10.4%
- Neurobiology of Language and BilingualismNeuroscience6.9%
- Discourse Analysis in Language StudiesArts and Humanities6.2%
- Educational Strategies and EpistemologiesPsychology5.8%
- Speech and dialogue systemsComputer Science4.5%
- Human auditory perception and evaluationEngineering3.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Psychology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Experimental | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Educational | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Psychology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Educational | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Experimental | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Psychology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Experimental | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Educational | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- CiteScore Q1 · 2025
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
PsycINFOCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: ComAbstracts, ComIndex, Communication Abstracts, Computer and Control Abstracts, Current Index to Journals in Education, EBSCOhost Online Research Databases, Electrical and Electronic Abstracts, ERIH - Linguistics, Psychology, MLA International Bibliography, Sociological Abstracts
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 1.68LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.93LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.93Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.27LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 1.27Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 130OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,003OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.68OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 17.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 28.69%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 39LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 134,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,623 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 37 | 20 | 14 |
| 2025 | 44 | 17 | 59 |
| 2024 | 55 | 26 | 155 |
| 2023 | 38 | 20 | 242 |
| 2022 | 32 | 12 | 378 |
| 2021 | 48 | 22 | 726 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with Crossref · to
Too few articlesOnly 1 articles from the last 24 months carry both submission and acceptance dates, too few for a median
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Figures by source
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 19%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 63 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 80 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 24 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication 2025
- 63 daysPublisher website ·
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
Article types accepted14, with length limits
- brief reportDiscourse Processes publishes regular articles, brief reports, brief reviews, pre-registered reports, commentaries, and letters to the editor.main text ≤ 3,000 words
- brief reportsBrief reports present novel empirical data, computational modeling, and methodological advances that relate to text and discourse. The maximum length of the bri…Length not stated
- brief reviewsBrief reviews summarize recent empirical, theoretical, or methodological work on a specific topic. The maximum length of the brief review is 3000 words, excludi…Length not stated
- commentariesCommentaries are brief communications related to the papers published in Discourse Processes or other work relevant to the readership of the journal, and are me…Length not stated
- commentaryDiscourse Processes publishes regular articles, brief reports, brief reviews, pre-registered reports, commentaries, and letters to the editor.main text ≤ 1,500 words
- editorialEditor W. Sid Horton, Northwestern University ( whorton@northwestern.edu) Associate Editors Sidney D'Mello, University of Colorado - Boulder Alexia Galati, Univ…Length not stated
- letter to the editorof the journal. The maximum length of a letter to the editor is 1500 words, excluding references. Commitment to Equity and Diversity Dmain text ≤ 1,500 words
- letters to the editorDiscourse Processes publishes regular articles, brief reports, brief reviews, pre-registered reports, commentaries, and letters to the editor.Length not stated
- pre-registered reportsPre-registered reports present empirical work for which methods and proposed analyses are pre-registered and peer-reviewed prior to research being conducted. Pr…Length not stated
- registered reportDiscourse Processes publishes regular articles, brief reports, brief reviews, pre-registered reports, commentaries, and letters to the editor.Length not stated
- regular articleDiscourse Processes publishes regular articles, brief reports, brief reviews, pre-registered reports, commentaries, and letters to the editor.Length not stated
- regular articlesRegular articles present novel empirical data, theoretical work relevant to scientific research, methodological advances, computational modeling, replication st…Length not stated
- regular paperunt should align with the standards for regular papers (35 double-spaced pages) or brief reports (3000 words). Commentaries are brief communications related to …main text ≤ 3,000 words
- reviewDiscourse Processes publishes regular articles, brief reports, brief reviews, pre-registered reports, commentaries, and letters to the editor.main text ≤ 3,000 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websitePublication ethics, Open access
- Publication ethics
Commitment to equity and diversity; welcomes submissions addressing equity and diversity in discourse processing and comprehension. Model summary
Discourse Processes is committed to issues of equity and diversity. The journal welcomes and encourages article submissions that address issues of equity and diversity in discourse processing and discourse comprehension.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
Discourse Processes is a hybrid open access journal that is part of the Taylor & Francis Open Select publishing program, giving you the option to publish open access. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research. Why choose open access? Increase the discoverability and rea…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- ISSN
- 0163-853X
- Electronic ISSN
- 1532-6950
- Society / sponsor
- Society for Text & Discourse
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 63, Issue 5 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Discourse Processes
What CAS zone is Discourse Processes in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Discourse Processes is in Zone 2 of Psychology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Psychology, Experimental / Psychology, Educational. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Psychology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Discourse Processes?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.68; CiteScore 4, h-index 130.
How long does peer review take at Discourse Processes?
The publisher reports about 80 days (first decision after review); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 19% (2025). Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Which databases index Discourse Processes?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Discourse Processes is indexed in SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists PsycINFO and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Discourse Processes open access, and what is the APC?
Discourse Processes is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .