Languages—Update on the Aims and Scope

One year into the job as Editor-in-Chief of Languages, I am delighted to report that the journal has received its first Journal Impact Factor (0.9) from Clarivate in June 2023. Languages is also ranked in the SJR (Scimago Journal & Country Rank) Quartile 1 in the category of Social Sciences—Linguistics and Language. These excellent achievements are indubitably the result of the hard work of the previous Editor-in-Chief, Usha Lakshmanan, and her successors, Juana Liceras and Raquel Fernández Fuertes, who led the journal for four years.

As an Editor-in-Chief, I sometimes find myself between Scylla (“you are too lenient”) and Charybdis (“you are too strict”), trying to find a solution that best serves the interests of the research community and the future of the journal. As with any journal increasing its ranking, an increase in rejection rates is inevitable. We are very fortunate to have eight new internationally renowned researchers join the Editorial Board of Languages in 2023. Their expertise in the reviewing process is crucial to uphold the quality of the publications that appear every year. I am most impressed with the detailed reviews we receive from experts in the field and their willingness to share their insights in the interest of science.

Since the launch of the journal in 2016, Languages has developed into one of the major outlets for language-focused research. Through daily communications with the MDPI team supporting the journal, I have first-hand experience of the dedication with which the Languages team at MDPI supports the Editorial Board in the reviewing and publication process.

Nevertheless, a journal can only thrive with the support of the research community. It is very gratifying to see that an increasing number of researchers in the broad field of languages and linguistics understand the benefit of publishing in an open access journal, and choose to submit their manuscripts to Languages. Last year, 160 articles were published in the journal. Among the most cited papers in the journal are studies in widely differing fields, including contributions focusing on pause length in native and non-native speakers, on translanguaging in deaf communities and contact-induced change in an endangered language. Importantly, for a large proportion of these (84%), the fees were waived in 2023. This makes publishing in Languages possible for researchers from a wide range of backgrounds, including those who do not have the resources to pay the fees.

One of the key attractions of Languages is the possibility for researchers to edit Special Issues on a topic of their choice. I am most impressed with the breadth of topics that are covered in these Special Issues, and the quality of the contributions submitted. It is truly astonishing for a journal to cover such a wide range of areas.

I am pleased to announce that Languages has updated its aims and scope to ensure the publication of high-quality and focused research, aligning with the journal’s vision. The new aims and scope of Languages are as follows:

Languages aims to present discussions of and developments in multidisciplinary research, thereby generating broad and practical applications for the study of languages in the current world. Languages welcomes contributions from scholars and researchers working within the framework of any theoretical approach within linguistics. Languages publishes articles, reviews, commentaries, and communications without restrictions on the maximum length of the submissions. The working language is English; however, research on all languages is welcome.

We welcome manuscripts in a wide range of areas, including general, historical, theoretical, and applied linguistics. Additionally, the journal covers the subfields of linguistics listed below (proposals for topics not listed here can be discussed with the Editor-in-Chief ([email protected])):

• Applied linguistics;
• Atypical language development;
• Bi/multilingualism;
• Cognitive linguistics;
• Construction grammar;
• Corpus linguistics;
• Endangered languages;
• First language acquisition;
• Forensic linguistics;
• Generative grammar;
• Heritage language development;
• Historical linguistics;
• Language contact;
• Language processing;
• Language typology;
• Language variation and change;
• Language testing;
• Linguistic relativity;
• Morphology;
• Neurolinguistics;
• Phonetics and phonology;
• Psycholinguistics;
• Reading and writing;
• Research methods in linguistics
• Second and third language acquisition;
• Sociolinguistics;
• Theoretical linguistics;
• Translanguaging;
• Vocabulary studies.

I am confident that Languages will continue its upward journey in the coming years, and I will do everything I can to help facilitate this. Most of all, I look forward to continue working with the research community in helping drive the research agenda forward across all these different fields. This is a challenging task, but among the most interesting ones a researcher can hope to be involved in.

I wish everyone a very productive 2024 and look forward to seeing your publications in Languages.