Journal profile · Multiple
Language and Literature
ISSN 0963-9470 · eISSN 1461-7293 · SAGE
Language and Literature: CAS Zone 2 · Literature (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.44; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; 24 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI, AHCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Language and Literature is published by SAGE and is in Zone 2 of Literature in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Language, Metaphor, and Cognition, Discourse Analysis in Language Studies and Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies, together about 47.3% of its articles. Its main subfields are Language and Linguistics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Language and Literature is an invaluable international peer-reviewed journal that covers the latest research in stylistics, defined as the study of style in literary and non-literary language. We publish theoretical, empirical and experimental research that aims to make a contribution to our understanding of style and its effects on readers. View full journal description This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multiple
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 6%); most named United Kingdom 14, Mainland China 2, United States 2, Germany 2, Spain 2 (31 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Language, Metaphor, and CognitionPsychology24.4%
- Discourse Analysis in Language StudiesArts and Humanities14.4%
- Language, Discourse, Communication StrategiesArts and Humanities8.5%
- Narrative Theory and AnalysisArts and Humanities7.8%
- Translation Studies and PracticesArts and Humanities6%
- Linguistic Variation and MorphologySocial Sciences4.6%
- Lexicography and Language StudiesArts and Humanities3.8%
- Multilingual Education and PolicySocial Sciences3%
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 | Language & Linguistics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Linguistics | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Literature Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Linguistics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Language & Linguistics | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Literature Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Language & Linguistics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Linguistics | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIAHCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
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
- 0.44LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 0.7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 1.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.41LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.38LetPub ·
- h-index
- 63OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 322OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.26OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 58.7%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 21LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,119 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 20 | 10 | 0 |
| 2025 | 24 | 18 | 7 |
| 2024 | 24 | 8 | 11 |
| 2023 | 24 | 13 | 41 |
| 2022 | 37 | 16 | 258 |
| 2021 | 22 | 6 | 88 |
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 PubMed · 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".
Other sources
- Peer review
- Single 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 3,650 / GBP 2,676 | — | — | |
| 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.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Other fees
- No other fees
- Submission fee
- No submission fee
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)
What to prepare8 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- 250 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Highlights
- Required
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted5
- book reviewView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstrac…Length not stated
- commentaryView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstrac…Length not stated
- original research articleView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstrac…Length not stated
- research articleView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstrac…Length not stated
- reviewView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstrac…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- Authorship Author contributions
You will be asked to list the contribution of each author as part of the submission process. Please include the Author Contributions heading within your submission after the Acknowledgements section. The information you give on submission will then show under the Author Contributions heading later at the proofing stage.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages. Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to: Share your research data in a relevant public data repository Include a data ava…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Ethical considerations
Member of the Committee on Publication Ethics. Model summary
Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing fees and open access
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Figures submitted in color will be published in color in the online version of the journal at no cost. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice pr…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review identity transparency: Single anonymized. Model summary
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Single-anonymized Reviewer interacts with: Editor Review information published: None Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be desk rejec…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism
The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers. Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission. Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Reporting guidelines
Your manuscript must follow the relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines, depending on the type of study. The EQUATOR wizard can help identify the appropriate guideline. You will need to upload the appropriate checklist with your submission. Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.
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
- SAGE
- ISSN
- 0963-9470
- Electronic ISSN
- 1461-7293
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Language and Literature
What CAS zone is Language and Literature in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Language and Literature is in Zone 2 of Literature, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Language & Linguistics / Linguistics. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Literature. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Language and Literature?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 0.44; CiteScore 2.1, h-index 63.
What are the manuscript requirements of Language and Literature?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 250 words; Reference style: Harvard; Templates: LaTeX and Word; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Optional; Highlights: Required; Graphical abstract: Optional; Cover letter: Required. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Language and Literature based?
Of the 31 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 6%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (14), Mainland China (2) and United States (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Language and Literature?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Language and Literature is indexed in SSCI, AHCI and Scopus.
Is Language and Literature open access, and what is the APC?
Language and Literature is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,650.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website; 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: .