Contributions to Discourse Studies should satisfy the
following criteria:
1. Systematic discourse analysis. Discourse Studies is primarily a
discourse analytical journal. That is, articles should provide a
detailed, systematic and theoretically based analysis of text or talk.
It is insufficient to merely quote, summarize or paraphrase such
discourse, or to comment only on their 'content' without paying
attention to any kind of non-trivial discourse structures.
Articles are preferred that focus on specific structures or strategies
of discourse that are not self-evident to the casual reader. These may
include grammatical, stylistic, rhetorical, narrative or argumentative
structures; cognitive processes and mental representations; pragmatic,
conversational or interactional dimensions of socially situated talk;
properties of non-verbal activity (e.g., gestures), images or other
graphic elements, among many other properties of communicative
events. For detail, see What do we mean by
'discourse analysis'?
See also the very useful discussion paper of the Loughborough discourse
analysis group: "Discourse Analysis Means Doing
Análisis."
Discourse Studies does not publish exclusively theoretical papers, but
each paper should feature a prominent theoretical section and a
critical review of the relevant literature as a foundation for
empirical research. Theoretical notes or short discussion pieces are
welcome for the DS Forum section. It goes without saying that both
theory and analysis should make an original contribution to the field.
Articles that specifically address the relations between discourse
structures on the one hand, and social and political structures,
phenomena and relevant issues on the other hand, are particularly
welcome for DS's companion journal Discourse & Society
2. A sizeable corpus of data. Articles are preferred that are based on
a sizeable corpus of interesting texts or talk collected by the
author(s) themselves, and not merely on a single or few discourses.
Authors are expected to have a thorough knowledge of, and experience
with, the corpus, domain or genre of discourse being analyzed, for
instance as a result of an extended research project, so as to
facilitate empirical generalizations and broader insights than those
based on one or a few examples. Analyses should be illustrated by
several extracts quoted in the text.
3. Multidisciplinary, multicultural, international. The study of
discourse takes place in several disciplines, in many countries and by
women and men from many different cultural backgrounds. Discourse
Studies highly values this diversity and particularly invites
contributions which reflect such diversity in their authorship,
theories, methods, data and the use of scholarly literature.
4. Accessibility. Discourse Studies aims to be accessible to readers
from a broad range of disciplines, and of various levels of
specialization and expertise, especially including students. For
theoretical, methodological, pedagogical and social reasons, therefore,
contributions should be well-organized, have a clear style, avoid
esoteric jargon, and explain unfamiliar or new technical concepts.