Journal profile · LINGUISTICS
Journal of Sociolinguistics
ISSN 1360-6441 · eISSN 1467-9841 · Wiley-Blackwell
Journal of Sociolinguistics: CAS Zone 2 · Literature (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 3.93; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,730; median 163 days to acceptance (82 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 12% (journal website); 57 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Sociolinguistics is published by Wiley-Blackwell and is in Zone 2 of Literature in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Multilingual Education and Policy, Linguistic Variation and Morphology and Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies, together about 62.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Language and Linguistics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Sociolinguistics is an international forum for leading research on language and society. It is open to both established and innovative approaches to sociolinguistic research. The journal promotes sociolinguistics as a thoroughly linguistic and thoroughly social-scientific endeavour. The linguistic and the social are both expected to be present in all contributions. Language is regarded as not only a reflection of society but as itself constituting much of the character of social life. The journal promotes the building and critique of sociolinguistic theory and encourages the application of social theory to linguistic issues. The journal is hospitable to linguistic analyses ranging from the micro to the macro, from the quantitative study of phonological variables to discourse analysis of texts. It is open to data from a wide range of languages and international contexts. Contributions from the ethnographic, variationist, constructivist and sociology of language traditions are welcomed, as are papers from the social psychology of language, linguistic anthropology, discourse analysis, language and gender studies, pragmatics and conversational analysis. However, whatever kind of data you use, the analysis must be clearly relevant for a sociolinguistic audience (See our How to get Published advice). The Journal of Sociolinguistics encourages submissions which forge innovative links, theoretically or empirically, between social life and linguistic practices. We publish and encourage articles that build or critique sociolinguistic theory, and the application of recent social theory to language data and issues. Data in published articles represent a wide range of languages, regions and situations — from Māori to Mongolian, from Sweden to Korea, from genetic counseling sessions to asylum interviews. The journal publishes occasional thematic issues on new topics of wide relevance to sociolinguistics, including Sociolinguistics and Tourism (2014, edited by Adam Jaworski, Crispin Thurlow and Monica Heller) and an issue reflecting on the work of William Labov (2016, edited by Allan Bell, David Britain and Devyani Sharma). The journal also carries other themed content, including opinion pieces and exchanges between scholars on topical issues, such as media and language change (2014) and approaches to interaction in other fields (theme series 2016-2017). Keywords Sociolinguistics, journal, linguistics, language, society, identity, theoretical, empirical, d
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): LINGUISTICS
Editor-in-chief Lauren Hall-LewPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 4%); most named United States 9, United Kingdom 9, South Africa 3, Mainland China 2, Taiwan, China 2 (47 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Multilingual Education and PolicySocial Sciences25.9%
- Linguistic Variation and MorphologySocial Sciences22.8%
- Language, Discourse, Communication StrategiesArts and Humanities13.6%
- Gender Studies in LanguageSocial Sciences6.1%
- Discourse Analysis in Language StudiesArts and Humanities5.7%
- Linguistics, Language Diversity, and IdentityArts and Humanities5.5%
- Second Language Learning and TeachingArts and Humanities2.7%
- Phonetics and Phonology ResearchPsychology2.3%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Literature Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Linguistics | Zone 3 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Literature Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Linguistics | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Literature Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Linguistics | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
PsycINFOCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest
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
- 3.93LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 4Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 4.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.83LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.8LetPub ·
- h-index
- 119OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 581OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.82OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 10%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 65.45%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 28LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 44Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 181,874Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,723 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 63 | 39 | 23 |
| 2025 | 57 | 38 | 133 |
| 2024 | 43 | 25 | 141 |
| 2023 | 53 | 36 | 201 |
| 2022 | 78 | 18 | 395 |
| 2021 | 91 | 32 | 667 |
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
163 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 26 days – 337 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 24 days (82 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 217 days
- Sample
- 82 articles with submission and acceptance dates (127 in the window); the latest was accepted on
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".
Other sources
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 12%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 12%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 20 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 20 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 121 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 23 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewPublisher 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 3,730 / EUR 3,130 / GBP 2,490 | — | — | |
| 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 accepted9, with length limits
- articlesArticles – reports of new research findings or conceptual analyses that make a significant contribution to knowledge (a maximum of 10,000 words and a minimum of…Length not stated
- book reviewArticles – reports of new research findings or conceptual analyses that make a significant contribution to knowledge (a maximum of 10,000 words and a minimum of…Length not stated
- book reviews and book review essaysBook Reviews and Book Review Essays – The journal does not accept any unsolicited book reviews and publishes only commissioned book review essays.Length not stated
- commentaryArticles – reports of new research findings or conceptual analyses that make a significant contribution to knowledge (a maximum of 10,000 words and a minimum of…main text ≤ 2,000 words
- dialogue: commentariesDialogue: Discussion articles, and Dialogue: Commentaries - opinion pieces involving areas of broad interest and invited commentaries. These are usually commiss…Length not stated
- dialogue: discussion articlesDialogue: Discussion articles, and Dialogue: Commentaries - opinion pieces involving areas of broad interest and invited commentaries. These are usually commiss…Length not stated
- interviewsInterviews - The journal does not accept any unsolicited interviews and publishes only commissioned interviews.Length not stated
- opinionArticles – reports of new research findings or conceptual analyses that make a significant contribution to knowledge (a maximum of 10,000 words and a minimum of…Length not stated
- theme seriesTheme Series - we normally publish one Theme Series a year. These cover highly topical, cutting-edge questions.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websitePublication ethics, Peer review, Preprints, Self-archiving
- Publication ethics 5. EDITORIAL POLICIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Artificial Intelligence If you used any AI-assisted technologies, you must disclose exactly what you used and how you used it. Please include this in the initial submission of the paper, either in the Acknowledgements section or the first footnote. You must comply with Wiley's guidelines regarding the use of artificial intelligence (see AI guidelines for researchers | Wiley). Peer Review and Accep…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review and Acceptance
Double-blind peer review Model summary
The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to journal readership. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are double-blind peer reviewed. Papers will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements. 'Double-blind' does not mean that every submitted ma…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints
Preprints allowed Model summary
The Journal of Sociolinguistics will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. Authors may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a preprint server at any time.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Self-archiving
One submission per author per 12 months Model summary
Additionally, the Journal will consider only one submission per author within any 12-month period.
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
- Wiley-Blackwell
- ISSN
- 1360-6441
- Electronic ISSN
- 1467-9841
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 30, Issue 4 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Sociolinguistics
What CAS zone is Journal of Sociolinguistics in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Sociolinguistics is in Zone 2 of Literature, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Linguistics; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Literature. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Journal of Sociolinguistics?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.93; CiteScore 4.3, h-index 119.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Sociolinguistics?
Based on the dates recorded on 82 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 163 days (interquartile range 26–337 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 12% (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.
Where are the editorial board members of Journal of Sociolinguistics based?
Of the 47 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 4%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (9), United Kingdom (9) and South Africa (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Sociolinguistics?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Sociolinguistics 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 Journal of Sociolinguistics open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Sociolinguistics is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,730.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .