by Rachel Oliver and Tamsin Dunlop
Are you an undergraduate linguistics student? Or a graduate in linguistics hoping to publish your work? Then we are looking for you! We are seeking submissions for the journal right now on a rolling basis, to be published on our website!
Linguistics is – contrary to popular opinion – a science! It’s a subject we often find to be surrounded by misconceptions and misunderstandings: Is it just learning a lot of languages? Is it only studying grammar? Is it mostly learning the origins of words? The answer is all of the above AND more. Linguistics encompasses so many aspects of language and communication, pinning down a single definition is difficult. Primarily, linguistics is the scientific study of language as it is used. It is a science because, as linguists, we don’t believe in a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to use language; we just study, analyse and describe it as it is—often using empirical methods. This can involve any subfield of language: phonology (sounds), morphology (word structure), syntax (word order), semantics (meaning), and pragmatics (language in context). It is a complex and fascinating subject well worth your interest!
As stated on our website: our mission is to provide a forum for the publication of academic research into linguistics completed by undergraduates. JoULAB welcomes submissions from all undergraduate or graduate linguistic researchers. This can be in any subject, and we accept submissions worldwide from any university! Our goal is to celebrate undergraduates’ work in linguistics and give recognition to deserving students. Your submission, whether it’s a squib or dissertation, will be read over by our team of Reviewers before being passed on to the Copyediting team and then making its way to our Editor-in-Chief before being published on our website, where you can find us here.
Additionally, if you would like to be a part of our team (it looks fabulous on your CV and is a really rewarding experience!) We recruit new members annually before the start of summer for the journal. The JoULAB Editorial Committee is responsible for the production and publication of the Journal of the Undergraduate Linguistics Association of Britain (JoULAB). We have a day-to-day operations team (composed of the Editor, the Head of the Board of Reviewers, the Associate Editors, and the Secretary), a copyediting team (composed of a Copyeditor and several Associate Copyeditors), and the Board of Reviewers. You can look out for more information regarding these roles around March/April 2026, either on our website or advertised through the Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture (LLMVC) organisation through Blackboard. Currently, we are looking for more Reviewers to join our team, so do reach out if you are interested.
Overall, our main goal is to give opportunities to undergraduate linguists through our journal, such as giving you an introduction to academic publishing, having your work published online, recognition for your hard work, and the chance to have your work reviewed by expert doctoral students with insights and comments that will only aid your studies and research further!
Contact us at ulabjournal@gmail.com and address your email to our Associate Editor Dain Wong. We look forward to seeing your submissions and cannot wait to read them!