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Russian Language Journal

Article Types

RLJ welcomes the following categories of scholarly submissions for consideration:

  • Special Issue (Guest-Edited)
  • Individual Research Article
  • Research-grounded Pedagogical Reports
  • Theory-Building or Conceptual Whitepapers
  • Book Reviews
  • DRC Column Contributions
  • RLJ Forum

Special Issue (Guest-Edited)

Special issues consist of 6-10 articles ( up to 7,500 words each) and focus on a timely and compelling theme within Slavic linguistics or language teaching, curated by guest editors and often bringing together diverse approaches to a particular topic. These volumes allow for a concentrated exploration of issues of current interest and can include any of the regular manuscript types.

See Instructions on how to propose a special issue for more details: Call for Special Issue Proposals

Individual Research Articles (no longer than 7,500 words including references)

These are original, full-length scholarly articles that report a rigorous research study in areas such as language acquisition, applied linguistics, pedagogy, and linguistic analysis. They present new findings or insights that advance understanding in the field of Russian/Slavic language acquisition and teaching.

A typical research article includes the following sections:

  • Introduction and Statement of the Problem - Presents the topic, research question, and significance of the study.
  • Literature Review/Theoretical Framework - Summarizes relevant scholarship and identifies the theoretical lens guiding the investigation.
  • Methodology - Describes the research design, data sources, procedures, and analytical methods used.
  • Results/Findings/Analysis - Reports and interprets the results grounded in the collected data.
  • Discussion and Conclusions (including pedagogical implications) - Connects findings to broader scholarship, considers implications for teaching practice, and outlines contributions and limitations.
  • References - Lists all sources cited in the manuscript following the journal’s style guidelines.

Research-Grounded Pedagogical Articles (3,500 - 5,500 words including references)

These manuscripts describe innovative teaching practices, classroom interventions, or pedagogical models that are explicitly grounded in current research and theory. They highlight instructional strategies and evidence of effectiveness that can inform and inspire language educators.

A typical research-grounded pedagogical report should include the following information:

  • Context and learning objectives (course, level, institutional setting, learner population);
  • Relevant theoretical and research background that motivates the intervention;
  • A clear description of the pedagogical design or innovation, including materials and procedures;
  • Evidence of effectiveness, such as student work, assessment results, or systematic observations. If student work is collected, the author(s) should obtain approval from their institutional IRB office to include student work in their publication;
  • Reflection and implications for teaching practice, including limitations and suggestions for adaptation in other contexts;
  • References to the research and theoretical literature that underpin the intervention.

    • Theory-Building Whitepapers (up to 5,000 words)

    These essays present conceptual frameworks, theoretical arguments, or critical syntheses that advance scholarly discussion in the field. They may propose new directions for research or reinterpret existing knowledge in productive ways.

    A typical conceptual or theory-building whitepaper may include:

    • Introduction and purpose - Defines the problem, gap, or debate the paper addresses and articulates the central claim or contribution.
    • Background and significance - Establishes the scholarly context, explains why the topic matters, and identifies current limitations or unresolved questions.
    • Conceptual framework or argument development - Introduces key concepts, constructs, or models and explains how they interrelate; may compare existing theories or propose new ones.
    • Critical synthesis or analysis - Evaluates current approaches, highlights tensions or contradictions, and offers a refined perspective that advances understanding.
    • Implications and future directions - Discusses the significance of the argument for theory, research, and/or pedagogy and identifies next steps or open questions.
    • Conclusion - Restates the main contribution and underscores its value for the field.
    • References - Includes relevant scholarly sources that ground the conceptual argument.

    Book Reviews (up to 1000 words)

    These concise reviews of new books and textbooks critically assess recent publications relevant to Russian/second language, culture, linguistics, or pedagogy. Reviews provide readers with evaluations of a work’s contribution and relevance to the journal’s readership.

    DRC Column Contributions (approximately 250-750 words)

    Contributions to the DRC Column (Digital Resources Corner) include short articles presenting a new digital resource, or open-educational resources (OER) or technology-enhanced teaching technique or pedagogical approach in the teaching of Slavic languages, literatures and cultures.

    A typical DRC contribution briefly describes the resource or tool, explains how it is used in instructional settings, comments on its strengths and limitations, and, where appropriate, provides access information (e.g., links, licensing, required platforms, level of instruction, learning modality) and suggestions for classroom implementation.

    RLJ Forum (approximately 1,000–2,500 words including references)

    The Forum section of RLJ provides a venue for timely, thought-provoking, and typically shorter contributions that stimulate discussion and debate in the field of Russian/Slavic language and culture teaching and language acquisition. Forum pieces are distinct from original full-length research and pedagogical articles and are reviewed by members of the RLJ editorial team only. The primary goal of this section is to foster active, ongoing conversation among the journal’s readership and the broader professional community, with a quicker turnaround time than full-length research articles.

    Contributions to the RLJ Forum are submitted via the RLJ submission portal and should be clearly marked as Forum Article.

    Typical Forum contributions include, but are not limited to:

    • Commentaries on current issues - Brief pieces that address pressing questions, emerging trends, or new developments relevant to the field.
    • Responses to published work - Articles that comment on, critique, or extend research and ideas previously published in RLJ or in related literature.
    • Idea pieces and debates - Contributions that introduce exploratory ideas, challenge existing assumptions, push conceptual boundaries, or offer new ways of interpreting existing data, with an eye toward conceptual clarification or unification rather than mere summary.
    • Interviews and dialogues - Interviews with established scholars or paired/clustered contributions by different authors engaged in a direct dialogue on a shared, timely issue.
    • Strategic reflections and case studies - Short papers presenting strategic ideas, case studies, research in progress, or critical reviews of ongoing projects and practice-based initiatives.
    • Invited interpretive essays - Contributions by recognized leaders in the field that provide interpretive or evaluative discussions of important issues.