About this journal
Aims and scope
Language Acquisition is an interdisciplinary journal serving the fields of first and second language acquisition. Research published in the journal addresses theoretical questions about language acquisition and language development from a variety of perspectives and a variety of methodological approaches. Studies may have implications for our understanding of grammatical representation and/or our understanding of cognition. Tools, applied rigorously, from formal linguistics, behavioral and neurolinguistic experiments, and computational approaches are equally welcome. Research involving diverse languages, including understudied languages; and diverse populations, including typical monolingual or multilingual learners as well as children and adults with language impairments, are particularly encouraged. Although we prioritize research that makes a strong theoretical contribution, we also welcome submissions that emphasize description of understudied languages. Such submissions can be primarily descriptive but should highlight why the languages or phenomena studied are relevant for addressing important theoretical issues.
Types of articles the journal publishes include: i) full-length research articles, ii) brief research reports, which report original empirical findings, major theoretical advances or crucial developments that warrant rapid communication to the scientific community; iii) review articles, which provide an original and synthetic perspective on a focused subarea of the field; iv) target and response, which consist of a longer target article and several shorter responses; and v) dissertation synopses.At Language Acquisition, we are committed to ensuring that manuscripts are fairly reviewed regardless of English language proficiency. Please indicate on your cover letter if you wish to be considered for English Language support, a member of our editorial team may pre-review your manuscript and may provide you with suggestions for edits you can make that will increase readability. Please note that this is not a formal or professional editing service. We will only provide suggestions (which you can take or leave), and we will not do line-by-line editing. Requesting support consideration does not guarantee that your manuscript will be pre-reviewed, nor that the manuscript will be sent out for review or be favorably reviewed.
In addition, Language Acquisition awards two prizes. One is for the best article written by an early career scientist. The other prize is for the best contribution that expands the diversity of language acquisition research, by, for example, presenting data from an understudied language. Winners will be determined by the Editorial Team, consisting of the Editor in Chief, Brief Articles Editors, Associate Editors and Managing Editor. The prize winners will be announced in the first issue of the following year. Inquiries about the prizes should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.
Peer Review Policy: All research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and a double-anonymous review policy.
Publication office: Taylor & Francis, Inc., 530 Walnut Street, Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106 .
Readership:This journal will appeal to researchers and professionals in linguistics and psycholinguistics, and developmentalists.
Journal metrics
Usage
- 44K annual downloads/views
Citation metrics
- 1.3 (2023) Impact Factor
- Q2 Impact Factor Best Quartile
- 1.5 (2023) 5 year IF
- 2.3 (2023) CiteScore (Scopus)
- Q1 CiteScore Best Quartile
- 1.213 (2023) SNIP
- 0.431 (2023) SJR
Speed/acceptance
- 3 days avg. from submission to first decision
- 80 days avg. from submission to first post-review decision
- 43 days avg. from acceptance to online publication
- 14% acceptance rate
Understanding and using journal metrics
Journal metrics can be a useful tool for readers, as well as for authors who are deciding where to submit their next manuscript for publication. However, any one metric only tells a part of the story of a journal’s quality and impact. Each metric has its limitations which means that it should never be considered in isolation, and metrics should be used to support and not replace qualitative review.
We strongly recommend that you always use a number of metrics, alongside other qualitative factors such as a journal’s aims & scope, its readership, and a review of past content published in the journal. In addition, a single article should always be assessed on its own merits and never based on the metrics of the journal it was published in.
For more details, please read the Author Services guide to understanding journal metrics.
Journal metrics in brief
Usage and acceptance rate data above are for the last full calendar year and are updated annually in February. Speed data is updated every six months, based on the prior six months. Citation metrics are updated annually mid-year. Please note that some journals do not display all of the following metrics (find out why).
- Usage: the total number of times articles in the journal were viewed by users of Taylor & Francis Online in the previous calendar year, rounded to the nearest thousand.
Citation Metrics
- Impact Factor*: the average number of citations received by articles published in the journal within a two-year window. Only journals in the Clarivate Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) have an Impact Factor.
- Impact Factor Best Quartile*: the journal’s highest subject category ranking in the Journal Citation Reports. Q1 = 25% of journals with the highest Impact Factors.
- 5 Year Impact Factor*: the average number of citations received by articles in the journal within a five-year window.
- CiteScore (Scopus)†: the average number of citations received by articles in the journal over a four-year period.
- CiteScore Best Quartile†: the journal’s highest CiteScore ranking in a Scopus subject category. Q1 = 25% of journals with the highest CiteScores.
- SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper): the number of citations per paper in the journal, divided by citation potential in the field.
- SJR (Scimago Journal Rank): Average number of (weighted) citations in one year, divided by the number of articles published in the journal in the previous three years.
Speed/acceptance
- From submission to first decision: the average (median) number of days for a manuscript submitted to the journal to receive a first decision. Based on manuscripts receiving a first decision in the last six months.
- From submission to first post-review decision: the average (median) number of days for a manuscript submitted to the journal to receive a first decision if it is sent out for peer review. Based on manuscripts receiving a post-review first decision in the last six months.
- From acceptance to online publication: the average (median) number of days from acceptance of a manuscript to online publication of the Version of Record. Based on articles published in the last six months.
- Acceptance rate: articles accepted for publication by the journal in the previous calendar year as percentage of all papers receiving a final decision.
For more details on the data above, please read the Author Services guide to understanding journal metrics.
*Copyright: Journal Citation Reports®, Clarivate Analytics
†Copyright: CiteScore™, Scopus
Editorial board
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sudha Arunachalam - New York University , USA
MANAGING EDITOR
Simone Møller Krogh- New York University, USA
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Elaine Grolla - Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil
Makiko Hirakawa - Chuo University, Japan
Yi Ting Huang - University of Maryland, USA
Tania Ionin - University of Illinois, USA
Karen Miller - Penn State University, USA
Mitsuhiko Ota - University of Edinburgh, UK
Antje Sauermann - Humboldt-Universität, Germany
Rex A. Sprouse - Indiana University, USA
Katherine White - University of Waterloo, Canada
ADVISORY BOARD
Misha Becker - University of North Carolina, USAJenny Culbertson - University of Edinburgh, UK
Kathryn Davidson - Harvard University, USA
Kamil Ud Deen - University of Hawaii, USA
Naomi Feldman - University of Maryland, USA
Claudia Felser - University of Potsdam, Germany
Naama Friedmann - Tel Aviv University, Israel
Judit Gervain - CNRS & Université Paris Descartes, France
Heather Goad - McGill University, Canada
Lisa Green - University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
John Grinstead - The Ohio State University, USA
Petra Hendriks - University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Barbara Hoehle - University of Potsdam, Germany
Angeliek van Hout - University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Nina Hyams - University of California Los Angeles, USA
Masa Koizum i - Tohoku University, Japan
Thomas Lee - The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Laurence Leonard - Purdue University, USA
Diane Lillo-Martin - University of Connecticut, USA
Jeffrey Lidz - University of Maryland, USA
Theo Marinis - University of Konstanz, Germany & University of Reading, UK
Rachel Mayberry - University of California San Diego
Toben Mintz - University of Southern California, USA
Ira Noveck - Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
Anna Papafragou - University of Pennsylvania, USA
Lisa Pearl - University of California Irvine, USA
Colin Phillips- University of Maryland, USA
William Sakas - City University of New York, USA
Tetsuya Sano - Meiji Gakuin University, Japan
Teresa Satterfield - University of Michigan, USA
Uli Sauerland - Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Germany
Bonnie D. Schwartz - University of Hawaii, USA
Amanda Seidl - Purdue University, USA
Rushen Shi - University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada
William Snyder - University of Connecticut, USA
Megha Sundara - University of California Los Angeles, USA
Kristen Syrett - Rutgers University, USA
John Trueswell - University of Pennsylvania, USA
Virginia Valian - City University of New York, USA
Laura Wagner - Ohio State University, USA
Lydia White - McGill University, Canada
Charles Yang - University of Pennsylvania, USA
PAST EDITORS
1990-2003 Robert Berwick, Tom Roeper, Ken Wexler
2004-2012 Diane Lillo-Martin, William Snyder
2013-2020 Jeffrey Lidz
Abstracting and indexing
Language Acquisition is currently covered by the following indexing and abstracting services:
· CSA
- Biological Sciences
- CSA Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
- Ecology Abstracts (Online)
- Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
- PsycINFO
· Elsevier
- Scopus
· Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)
· OCLC
· ProQuest
· Thomson Reuters
- Arts & Humanities Citation Index
- Social Sciences Citation Index
- Web of Science
· Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Open access
Language Acquisition is a hybrid open access journal that is part of our Open Select publishing program, giving you the option to publish open access. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research.
Why choose open access?
- Increase the discoverability and readership of your article
- Make an impact and reach new readers, not just those with easy access to a research library
- Freely share your work with anyone, anywhere
- Comply with funding mandates and meet the requirements of your institution, employer or funder
- Rigorous peer review for every open access article
Article Publishing Charges (APC)
If you choose to publish open access in this journal you may be asked to pay an Article Publishing Charge (APC). You may be able to publish your article at no cost to yourself or with a reduced APC if your institution or research funder has an open access agreement or membership with Taylor & Francis.
Use our APC finder to calculate your article publishing charge
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