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  3. Journal of French Language Studies
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  6. Why choose this journal?
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Why choose this journal?

Focus

The Journal of French Language Studies is a bilingual journal that publishes significant work on French theoretical and applied linguistics including, but not limited to, synchronic and diachronic studies focusing on:  

  • phonetics/phonology
  • morphology
  • syntax
  • lexis
  • semantics
  • sociolinguistics
  • variation studies
  • corpus studies
  • first and second language acquisition studies
  • Natural Language Processing (NLP)
  • Global South
  • digital humanities studies.


All studies must be based on current theories and solid methodologies as well as include an up-to-date literature review.

In addition to standard European French, we are also interested in other varieties of French as well as all Gallo-Romance dialects (including varieties such as Picard, Franco-Provençal, etc.).

Special issues and sections

Special Issues are published once a year and suggestions are welcome year-round. Please read the Call for Proposals. 

Potential guest editors will need to present a strong proposal with either a collection of 6-8 articles around a specific theme or a keynote article with commentary responses. A special issue should make an important contribution to current issues in theoretical or applied linguistics. Proposals will be reviewed by the Editorial Board.

Survey Articles reviewing the state of the art in a major field will also be considered.

Shorter articles and work in progress should be submitted to the French Research Notes section.

  • These articles are published online only with free access.
  • They are shorter papers (4,000-6,000 words) that need not propose solutions to issues raised, but are relevant to the French language.
  • These articles should:
    • Provide an introduction to a topic of empirical and theoretical importance;
    • Include a report of research results or methodologies.


The Book Review section focuses on monographs and edited volumes on an aspect of theoretical or applied linguistics in French. Please read the instructions for reviewers here. You may submit inquiries to Dr. Kerry Mullan. Book reviews are submitted via ScholarOne.

Instructions to authors

Potential authors should read detailed instructions here. The most important points are outlined as follows:

  • A submission of an article to the JFLS implies that it has not been previously published in any language in another journal or edited volume or simultaneously submitted to another journal. Preprints (earlier version of a published article available on an author’s website, an institutional repository or a preprint archive) are an exception.
  • All contributions should be submitted online via ScholarOne. Should you encounter technical difficulties, please contact our Managing Editor.
  • All articles must focus on at least one aspect of French theoretical or applied linguistics. It is important to note that we do not publish literary or cultural studies. Submissions which are outside of the remit of the journal will be rejected without review.
  • Please format your article following the instructions to authors. You may also want to read a few recent articles paying particular attention to formatting.
  • ‘Hide-in-plain-sight’: authors should refer to their own previous work by citing it as if they were citing the work of others, without indicating in any way that it is their own. Thus, rather than “In our previous work (Authors), we found….”, please write “Smith and Jones (2018) found…”. Any acknowledgments or other self-identifying material should be removed from the article itself but may be included in a separate document or cover letter.


Peer review process

  • All submissions undergo an internal review to determine its suitability and potential for publication. Submissions that are outside of the remit of the journal will be rejected without review. Submissions that are within the remit of the journal, but are not considered suitable for publication will be given a brief explanation. We regret to be unable to provide a detailed review, we receive too many submissions to do so.
  • Submissions that are deemed suitable for publication will be assigned to a Handling Editor who will select three external reviewers. Authors may suggest a Handling Editor.
  • We conduct a double-anonymous peer review process. The external reviewers and authors will remain anonymous. Please use the ‘hide-in-plain-sight’ policy explained above.
  • Please be sure to include a title page in your submission. It is a Word document file separate from the main text, containing author names, affiliations, contact author email address, abstract, competing interests declaration and any acknowledgments or funding. This file will remain confidential and is not accessible to reviewers to ensure anonymity.


Publication

  • After they are accepted for publication, articles appear online on First View. They are subsequently incorporated in the next issue.
  • All research papers accepted for publication in JFLS are published open access for greater accessibility, visibility and impact. Additional details can be found here.