Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

The World Journal of English Language (WJEL) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal dedicated to fostering high-quality, original research that deepens scholarly understanding of the English language in its multiple roles across global contexts. WJEL serves as an international platform for rigorous inquiry into English—as a structured linguistic system, a dynamic medium of literary and cultural expression, a pivotal vehicle in translation and multilingual communication, and a central subject of teaching, learning, and policy.

The journal welcomes theoretically informed, empirically grounded, and methodologically sound contributions that engage critically with the English language from diverse disciplinary perspectives. While interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged, all submissions must maintain a clear and sustained focus on the English language itself.

WJEL’s scope encompasses the following core areas:

English Linguistics
Research on the structure, use, and evolution of English, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics, and historical linguistics.
 
English Literature
Critical and interpretive studies of classic and contemporary English-language literary works, employing literary theory or engaging with cultural, historical, theoretical, or global dimensions. 
 
Translation Studies
Scholarship on translation theory, practice, and interpreting involving English, particularly in multilingual settings, with emphasis on contrastive analysis, textual and discursive features in translation, and linguistically oriented approaches to translational phenomena.
 
Applied Linguistics and Language Education
Studies of English language teaching and learning grounded in second language acquisition (SLA), including ELT, TEFL, TESOL, English-medium instruction (EMI), curriculum development, teacher education, language assessment, bilingualism/multilingualism, EAP/ESP (including academic and professional writing), discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA), cross-cultural communication, and language policy.

 

Section Policies

Articles

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed
 

Peer Review Process

The journal uses double-anonymized peer-reviewed system for peer-review. The manuscript will be peer-reviewed by at least two independent external reviewers with relevant expertise. The review process may take 6-12 weeks. The editorial board makes the editorial decision after considering the reviewers' reports, the manuscript's scholarly quality, relevance, originality, methodological or analytical validity, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and any other relevant information. Possible decisions include acceptance, minor revision, major revision, rejection with an invitation to submit a substantially revised manuscript as a new submission, or rejection.

 

Publication Frequency

WJEL is published bimonthly in January, March, May, July, September, and November.

Prior to 2026, the journal occasionally published additional thematic issues (e.g., Vol. 15, No. 7–8) as part of its regular annual volume; these underwent the same rigorous peer-review process as all standard issues. Starting in 2026, the publication schedule is fixed at six issues per year, with no additional issues planned.

 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

 

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. More...

 

Indexes

ANVUR

CNKI Scholar

DHET

Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek EZB

EuroPub

Genamics JournalSeek

Google Scholar

Harvard Library

Journal TOCs

Library and Archives Canada (LAC)

Open policy finder

Mendeley

PKP Open Archives Harvester

ROAD

ResearchGate

Scilit

Scopus

Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)

UGC CARE

 

Statistics

2025: Articles Received: 1358; Accepted: 343; Rejected: 886; Published: 289; Retracted: 1

2024: Articles Received: 1308; Accepted: 370; Rejected: 854; Published: 354; Retracted: 2

2023: Articles Received: 1185; Accepted: 486; Rejected: 647; Published: 394; Retracted: 1

2022: Articles Received: 769; Accepted: 391; Rejected: 382; Published: 310; Retracted: 0

2021: Articles Received: 97; Accepted: 44; Rejected: 38; Published: 22; Retracted: 0

2020: Articles Received: 54; Accepted: 26; Rejected: 24; Published: 12; Retracted: 0

2019: Articles Received: 77; Accepted: 42; Rejected: 32; Published: 15; Retracted: 3

2018: Articles Received: 49; Accepted: 23; Rejected: 21; Published: 10; Retracted: 0

2017: Articles Received: 47; Accepted: 32; Rejected: 23; Published: 20; Retracted: 1

2016: Articles Received: 57; Accepted: 30; Rejected: 25; Published: 17; Retracted: 0

 

Refund Policy

Refunds are normally based on publication status:

  • full refund when the online version has not been published;
  • half refund when the online version has been published but the print version has not; and
  • no refund when both online and print versions have been published.

 

Self-Archiving Policy

This journal supports the rights of authors to share their work and make it more widely accessible. Accordingly, we have established the following policy regarding self-archiving, also known as green open access:

  1. Preprint Version: Authors are free to deposit the preprint version of their work in any repository or website at any time without embargo.
  2. Postprint Version (Author’s Accepted Manuscript): Authors may deposit the postprint version of their work in institutional or subject repositories, or personal websites, immediately upon publication in our journal, provided that they include a link to the article's DOI on the journal's website.
  3. Published Version (Version of Record): Authors may also archive the published version of their work under the terms of the Creative Commons license chosen for the work, typically allowing for self-archiving with proper attribution. We encourage authors to include a link to the article's DOI on our journal's website when archiving the published version.

This policy is intended to facilitate the widest possible dissemination of research while respecting the integrity of the peer review process and the final published version.