International Journal of Legal Discourse

International Journal of Legal Discourse is published by Walter de Gruyter and is in Zone 1 of Literature in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Translation Studies and Practices, Legal Language and Interpretation and linguistics and terminology studies, together about 33.2% of its articles. Its main subfields are Language and Linguistics and Law. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)

About this journal ObjectiveThe International Journal of Legal Discourse (IJLD) is associated with Multicultural Association of Law and Language and International Academy of Linguistic Law. This journal covers both verbal and non-verbal aspects of legal discourse. This journal aims to provide a world-class platform for academic exchanges in legal discourse as well as its neighboring areas, tapping into research on law, discourse analysis, linguistics, politics, semiotics, sociology and psychology. This journal invites contributions examining the interface of law and other disciplines, and exploring the interaction among law professionals, administrators, policy makers and other social actors. Topics law discourse studies applied linguistics sociology Article formatsResearch articles, Reviews Your Benefits Your benefits: Wide range of topics within the study of legal discourse In-depth discussions led by law professionals, administrators, policy makers and other social actors Both verbal and non-verbal aspects of legal discourse Interdisciplinary approach combining state-of-the-art research results in law, discourse analysis, linguistics, politics, semiotics, sociology and psychology Rigorous peer-review Complete Archive AccessAs of 2026, all De Gruyter journal subscriptions include access to every issue, from Volume 1, Issue 1 through to today, meaning subscribers can access even more research at no additional cost. History Since 2009 when the Multicultural Association of Law and Language was found with the secretariat located in Hong Kong, studies and collaboration in legal discourse have been frequent and productive between universities and institutions, including Aston University, China University of Political Science and Law,City University of Hong Kong, Columbia Law School, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Örebro University, Peking University, University of California, Seattle University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The University of Hong Kong, The University of Tokyo, Tulane University, University of Aarhus, University of Exeter, University of Geneva, University of Haifa, University of Toronto, University of Washington, and Zhejiang University. With the successful running of the conference series under the Multicultural Association of Law and Language as well as the International Academy of Linguistic Law, and during the collaboration with other associations such as the International Association of F

From the journal's Aims & Scope

Research area (LetPub): LINGUISTICS

Editor-in-chief Le ChengPublisher website

CAS Journal Ranking

Database indexing

ESCIScopusLetPub

International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub

Indexing the journal's website claims

ProQuest, Baidu, OCLCPublisher website

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.

Impact

Impact factor (publisher)

2.5Publisher website · 2026-09-29

5-year impact factor (publisher)

1.8Publisher website · 2026-09-29

CiteScore 2026-06

3.5LetPub · 2026-09-13

CiteScore (publisher)

3.5Publisher website · 2026-09-29

SJR 2026-06

0.33LetPub · 2026-09-13

SNIP 2026-06

1.65LetPub · 2026-09-13

h-index

18OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

i10-index

46OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

2-year mean citedness

2.67OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

Self-citation rate

56%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Share of gold OA articles

7.69%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Volume

Articles per year

19LetPub · 2026-09-13

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.

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.

Publisher

Walter de Gruyter

ISSN

2364-8821

Electronic ISSN

2364-883X

Official links

• Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
• Special issues ↗Publisher website