Journal profile
Language
Language is published by Linguistic Society of America under ISSN 0097-8507. It holds an h-index of 397 across 15,303 indexed works, with a two-year mean citedness of 1.36, and is not fully open access. Its main subject areas are Linguistics and language evolution, Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation, Linguistic Variation and Morphology.
Below: the full publication record, and one real article from the journal formatted in IEEE, APA, and BibTeX so you can match field order against a source you can check.
Publication record and impact metrics
| Publisher | Linguistic Society of America |
|---|---|
| ISSN-L | 0097-8507 |
| All ISSNs | 0097-8507, 1535-0665 |
| Indexed works | 15,303 |
| Total citations | 799,295 |
| h-index | 397 |
| 2-year mean citedness | 1.36 |
| Open access | Not fully open access |
| Main topics | Linguistics and language evolution · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Lexicography and Language Studies |
Publication figures come from this journal's OpenAlex record, released under CC0, and are a dated snapshot rather than a live count. Check the publisher for current scope and submission requirements.
A worked example from this journal
The source
A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation
- Authors
- Harvey Sacks, Emanuel A. Schegloff, Gail Jefferson
- Year
- 1974
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 696-735
IEEE
H. Sacks, E. A. Schegloff, G. Jefferson "A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation," Language, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 696-735, 1974, doi: 10.2307/412243.
IEEE prints author initials before the surname and abbreviates the periodical title. Check the abbreviation for Language against your target publication's reference list before submitting.
APA
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50(4), 696-735. https://doi.org/10.2307/412243
APA puts the year directly after the authors, keeps the full journal title in italics, and renders the DOI as a URL.
BibTeX
@article{sacks1974,
author = {Harvey Sacks and Emanuel A. Schegloff and Gail Jefferson},
title = {A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation},
journal = {Language},
volume = {50},
number = {4},
pages = {696--735},
year = {1974},
issn = {0097-8507},
doi = {10.2307/412243}
}The citation key is the first author's surname and the year. Keep it stable once it appears in a draft, because renaming it breaks every cite that used it.
What to verify before you submit
- The volume and page range. Language records 15,303 works, and articles published online first can carry a different volume from the final issue. Cite the version you read.
- The abbreviated title. IEEE style uses standard periodical abbreviations, and registry metadata almost always returns the full name instead.
- Author name order. Registry records store full given names; IEEE and APA both want initials, formatted differently from each other.
- Whether the article is open access. This journal is not fully open access, which affects whether a reader can reach the version you cited.
- That the source supports your claim. A correctly formatted reference says nothing about whether the passage backs the sentence citing it.
How this journal sits in the record
Language carries an h-index of 397, which is above 65% of the journals covered here, and its articles have accumulated 799,295 citations across 15,303 indexed works. Its two-year mean citedness is 1.36.
Linguistic Society of America is the only publisher of this title in the set covered here, so check its own author guidance for reference style.
These are indexing figures describing how often work in this venue is cited. They say nothing about whether a particular article is sound, and they are not a substitute for reading it.
Questions about Language
What is the ISSN of Language?
The linking ISSN is 0097-8507. The journal also carries 1535-0665, which usually separate the print and electronic editions. Use the linking ISSN in a BibTeX issn field.
Who publishes Language?
Linguistic Society of America publishes it. Check the journal's own author guidance rather than a general publisher template, because reference style is set per title.
Is Language open access?
OpenAlex does not record it as fully open access. Some articles may still be open individually, so check the specific article rather than assuming from the journal.
How do I cite an article from Language in LaTeX?
Use the BibTeX entry above as the pattern. The entry type is article, the journal field holds the full title, and the citation key sacks1974 follows the first author's surname and the year. Brace any acronym in the title so your bibliography style does not lowercase it.
Does Language use page numbers or article numbers?
The example article runs from page 696 to 735, so this journal used page ranges at least for that volume. Newer issues in many journals switched to article numbers, so check the version you are citing.
How influential is Language?
Its h-index is 397, above 65% of the journals covered here, and its articles have been cited 799,295 times in total. Its two-year mean citedness is 1.36. These are indexing figures, not a judgement of whether a specific article is sound.
Does Language have a Journal Impact Factor?
Not one shown here. The Journal Impact Factor is Clarivate's metric, published in Journal Citation Reports and readable only with a JCR subscription, so this page does not restate it. The figures above come from OpenAlex: an h-index of 397 and a two-year mean citedness of 1.36 across 15,303 indexed works, captured on 2026-09-18. Mean citedness averages citations per work over a two-year window, which makes it closer in construction to CiteScore than to the Impact Factor. The three are not interchangeable, so quote whichever one your target venue actually asks for.