Author Guidelines

Thank you for considering the European Journal of Language and Literature Studies (EJLS) for your submission. EJLS is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research in language and literature. To ensure a smooth submission and review process, please follow the guidelines below carefully.

1. Acceptance Criteria

To qualify for publication in EJLS, your manuscript must meet the following criteria:

  • Scholarly relevance: The manuscript addresses a significant question in linguistics, literary studies, translation or language education.
  • Originality: The work presents original research or argument that contributes new knowledge to the field.
  • Engagement with the field: The manuscript situates its contribution in the relevant scholarship and cites it adequately.
  • Interest to readers: The manuscript holds interest for the journal’s international readership of researchers, teachers and translators.
  • Quality: The manuscript is well written, accurate and adheres to ethical standards.

All submissions that pass the initial assessment are reviewed double-blind by at least two independent reviewers. For details, see the Peer Review Process.

2. Article Types

EJLS publishes the following article types. Please state the type of your manuscript when you submit it; the type is shown on the published article.

  • Research Article: Empirical or theoretical studies that present original findings, with a stated research question, method or approach, results and discussion (for example corpus, experimental, field or textual studies).
  • Critical / Theoretical Essay: Sustained, original arguments in literary criticism, literary theory, philology or the philosophy of language, built on close reading of primary texts and engagement with the secondary scholarship.
  • Review Article: Critical surveys of the research on a defined topic, with a stated scope and method of selecting the literature, that synthesise what is known and identify open questions.
  • Other: Shorter or specialised contributions, published under their own label: Commentary, Response, Teaching Practice Report, Book Review, Reflective Essay, Interview and Translation.

3. Subject Areas

EJLS welcomes submissions on linguistics and language structure; language, mind and society; language acquisition and language education; literary studies; and translation and writing. For the full list of topics, and for what falls outside the scope, see Aims & Scope.

4. Manuscript Preparation

  • Accuracy: All data, quotations, translations and findings must be accurate and verifiable.
  • Originality: The manuscript must not have been published elsewhere or be under consideration by another journal.
  • Referencing: Cite all sources in APA style (7th edition) or MLA style (9th edition), using one style consistently throughout the manuscript. Quotations from literary works give the edition used and the page or line numbers; quotations in other languages are followed by an English translation.
  • Clarity: The manuscript should be written in clear, concise English. Non-native English speakers are encouraged to seek professional proofreading before submission.
  • Length: Research articles, critical / theoretical essays and review articles are normally 4,000–8,000 words, including references, notes, tables and figures; contributions of the Other types are normally up to 4,000 words (book reviews 1,000–2,500 words).
  • File format: Manuscripts are submitted as editable Microsoft Word files (.doc or .docx). PDF files are not accepted.
  • Author identifiers: Authors, and in particular corresponding authors, are strongly encouraged to give their ORCID iD so that their work is attributed correctly.
  • Tables, figures and notes: Tables and figures are placed in the text where they are discussed, in good resolution, with numbered captions. Notes are footnotes at the bottom of the page.
  • Citation integrity: Every work in the reference list is cited in the text, and every citation is in the reference list. Excessive self-citation and citations added without a reason in the text are not accepted.

Every manuscript includes, in this order: the title with the authors’ names, affiliations and the corresponding author’s e-mail; an abstract (150–250 words) and keywords (5–7); the main text; the declarations (see section 5); and the references. The main text is organised according to the article type:

  • Research Article: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results, Discussion, Conclusion.
  • Critical / Theoretical Essay: Introduction stating the argument and its place in the scholarship, the argument in titled sections, Conclusion.
  • Review Article: Introduction, scope and method of the review (sources and selection), thematic synthesis, gaps and future research, Conclusion.
  • Other: A structure suited to the contribution; book reviews give the full bibliographic details of the book reviewed.

5. Mandatory Declarations

Every manuscript includes the following statements, under the heading “Declarations”, immediately before the references:

  • Conflict of interest: Authors declare any financial, personal or institutional relationship that could bias their work. If there is none, they state: “The author(s) declare no conflict of interest regarding the research, authorship or publication of this article.”
  • Data availability: Studies based on data (for example corpora, questionnaires, interviews, experiments) state how the data can be accessed, for example: “The data supporting the findings of this study are available in [repository] at [DOI / URL]”, “… are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request”, or “All data analysed in this study are included in this article.” Essays and reviews that use only published sources may omit this statement.
  • Use of generative AI: If generative AI or AI-assisted tools were used in preparing the manuscript (beyond basic spelling and grammar checks), the declaration required by the Generative AI Policy.

The template for the generative AI declaration is:

“During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON, e.g. improve the readability and language of the text]. After using this tool / service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the published article.”

See the Generative AI Policy for what is permitted.

6. Submission Process

For the online submission procedure and the submission checklist, see the Submission page.

7. Article Processing and Publishing Fee (APC)

A fee of £950 is charged for processing and publishing each accepted article. It is invoiced only after the manuscript has passed peer review and been formally accepted. No fee is charged for submission or review, payment does not guarantee publication, and the fee has no influence on editorial decisions. Payment methods are specified on the invoice.

8. Open Access Policy

EJLS is published under the CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International) license. Authors keep the copyright of their work and grant the journal the right of first publication. Under this license:

  • The full text of published articles is freely available to everyone, immediately on publication.
  • Anyone may share and adapt the work for any purpose, including commercial use, provided appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and to the original publication in the journal.

For more information, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

9. Review Procedure

All submissions undergo double-blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers. For details, including reviewer criteria and recommendations, see the Peer Review Process.

10. Publication Schedule

EJLS is published three times per year according to the following schedule:

  • 1st Issue (April): submission deadline 28 February
  • 2nd Issue (August): submission deadline 28 June
  • 3rd Issue (December): submission deadline 28 October

11. Ethical Considerations

  • Permissions: Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to publish any third-party material included in their submission (for example images, long quotations from copyrighted works, translations or datasets).
  • Authorship: All authors listed on the submission must consent to be identified as authors and approve the final version of the manuscript.
  • Ethical approval: Research involving human participants (for example interviews, questionnaires, classroom or experimental studies) must be approved by an appropriate ethics committee and comply with the legal requirements of the country of the study. Participants’ informed consent must be obtained (for minors, that of a parent or guardian), and personal identifying information must be removed.
  • Publication ethics: Authors must follow the Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement.

12. Checklist for Submission

Before submitting, ensure that:

  • The title is concise and descriptive.
  • The abstract is self-contained and summarises the question, approach and main findings or argument.
  • The article type is stated, and the manuscript is structured accordingly.
  • All references are cited in APA (7th edition) or MLA (9th edition) style, consistently, and every reference is cited in the text.
  • The declarations (conflict of interest, data availability where applicable, use of generative AI) are included before the references.
  • The manuscript is free of plagiarism and has not been published elsewhere.

13. Abstracting and Indexing

Baidu Scholar, CNKI Scholar, CNPIEC (cnpLINKer), Dimensions, EBSCO, Google Scholar, IDEAS/RePEc, J-Gate, KESLI-NDSL, MyScienceWork, Naver Academic, Naviga (Softweco), ExLibris, ProQuest, ReadCube, Semantic Scholar, TDOne (TDNet), WanFang Data, WorldCat (OCLC) and X-MOL. See Abstracting and Indexing.

14. Registration and Submission

Submit through the online submission form.

15. Contact Information

For any inquiries or assistance, please contact the journal at [email protected] or the editorial office at [email protected].

European Journal of Language and Literature Studies (EJLS) · ISSN 2411-9598 (Print), ISSN 2411-4103 (Online) · Journal e-mail: [email protected]
Publisher: Revistia Research and Publishing (UK Company No. 13067873), Office 1, Forest House Business Centre, 8 Gainsborough Road, London, E11 1HT, United Kingdom · [email protected] · +44 330 027 1458
Last updated 6 October 2026