Life Writing

Life Writing is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 4 of Literature in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Autobiographical and Biographical Writing, Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration and Narrative Theory and Analysis, together about 32.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Literature and Literary Theory and Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)

Life Writing is one of the leading journals in the field of biography and autobiography, and publishes scholarly articles, critically informed creative personal essays, and book reviews. We have a special interest in interdisciplinary approaches, cross-cultural experience, and non-Anglophone contexts, though our themes have ranged widely, such as: illness and disability, philosophy and autobiography, the 'limits' of life writing, South African life narrative, women and ageing, and more. We make sure that work entrusted to us receives expert and sensitive reviewing, and prioritise handling it with speed and efficiency. A list of books that have resulted from Life Writing themed editions can be found at: www.routledge.com/Life-Writing/book-series/LFWR Academic Articles: If you have a general query or would like to suggest a theme for a special edition, please contact the editor, Dr Maureen Perkins, at m.perkins@outlook.com.au Essays: Essays differ from academic articles in that a high level of analysis and referencing is less important, but the reflexive 'I' should filter the subject matter. On the continuum from discursive/analytical to creative, this work will fall somewhere in the middle. In other words, we do not publish purely creative essays, ficto-criticism, or memoir, but we may sometimes include essays that more resemble autoethnography as long as these works also engage with life narrative scholarship directly. Book Reviews: If you would like to submit a book review or ask for a copy of book to be sent to you for review, please contact either Dr Lis Hanscombe or Dr Muireann Leech, at one of these addresses: lis@hanscombe.com.au or muirleech@yahoo.co.uk Please note that Life Writing is not the right venue for excerpts and chapters from doctoral theses. These submissions will not be considered. "I want to sing the praises of the editors of the journal. Their interventions and communications made the paper and the revising of it a pleasurable process–or at least as pleasurable as revising can be." "Good editing is a crucial part of our scholarly work. When it is done well, you feel that you are in not just capable but supportive hands. I feel that the editors care about my work–and about me. That’s respectful and rewarding in every possible way. Thank you CH and MP at Life Writing." Peer Review Policy All research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by two independen

From the journal's Aims & Scope

Research area (LetPub): LITERATURE

Editor-in-chief Maureen PerkinsPublisher website

CAS Journal Ranking

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

AHCIScopusLetPub

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

Indexing the journal's website claims

British Humanities IndexPublisher 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) 2025

0.4Publisher website · 2026-09-30

5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025

0.5Publisher website · 2026-09-30

CiteScore 2026-06

0.9LetPub · 2026-09-13

CiteScore (publisher) 2025

0.9Publisher website · 2026-09-30

SJR 2026-06

0.24LetPub · 2026-09-13

SJR (publisher) 2025

0.24Publisher website · 2026-09-30

SNIP 2026-06

0.7LetPub · 2026-09-13

SNIP (publisher) 2025

0.7Publisher website · 2026-09-30

h-index

24OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

i10-index

68OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

2-year mean citedness

0.54OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

Self-citation rate

25%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Share of gold OA articles

17.69%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Volume

Articles per year

62LetPub · 2026-09-13

Downloads per year (publisher)

92,000Publisher website · 2026-09-30

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.

Acceptance rate (publisher)

23%Publisher website · 2026-09-30

Submission to first decision

4 daysPublisher website · 2026-09-30

Acceptance to publication

28 daysPublisher website · 2026-09-30

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.

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.

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.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

ISSN

1448-4528

Electronic ISSN

1751-2964

Latest issue on the website

Volume 23, Issue 3 (2026)

Official links

• Journal homepage ↗LetPub
• Submission system ↗Publisher website
• Special issues ↗Publisher website