Computational Linguistics, established in 1974, is the official flagship journal of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL).

The journal publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed research across all areas of computational linguistics (CL), natural language processing (NLP), and computational modeling of language. It aims to serve as the central forum for the NLP and CL community, advancing the field through the dissemination of its most impactful research.

The journal maintains a rigorous yet efficient review process. As of 2025, the average time to first decision is 16.5 days (including desk rejections) and 55.0 days (excluding desk rejections).

All published articles are freely available online. Final versions are published electronically (E-ISSN: 1530-9312) via MIT Press and made available immediately upon acceptance. Printed issues (ISSN: 0891-2017) are released quarterly and distributed to libraries and individuals worldwide.

Original papers accepted by the journal may also be presented at ACL-sponsored conferences, such as ACL and EMNLP, where they may be further highlighted by the conference.

The current Editor-in-Chief is Wei Lu. Meet the full Editorial Team here.

At a Glance

  • More information about the journal, including its focus and scope, review process, and categories of submissions, can be found here.
  • Detailed submission guidelines can be found here.
  • Guidelines and information for special issue proposals can be found here.

Highlights and Announcements

Current Issue

Vol. 51 No. 2 (2025): Computational Linguistics
Published: 2025-06-26

Long paper

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