About The Criterion: An International Journal in English
| 17Years of Continuous Publication | 3Reviewers Per Article | 6Issues Annually | CC BYOpen Licence | 42.4%Acceptance Rate 2026 (2025: 47.3%) |
Our Mission
The Criterion: An International Journal in English is a peer-reviewed international e-journal dedicated to advancing scholarly discourse in English studies, literary criticism, cultural studies, linguistics, and allied disciplines. Since our founding in April 2010, we have maintained an unwavering commitment to publishing rigorous, original research that contributes meaningfully to the global conversation in the humanities.
We believe that quality scholarship should be accessible to researchers worldwide. Through our open-access model, we support the free exchange of knowledge and ensure that financial barriers never prevent brilliant ideas from reaching their audience.
What We Publish
From Vol. 17, Issue 1 (February 2026) onwards, The Criterion exclusively publishes peer-reviewed research articles. This focused mandate reflects our commitment to scholarly rigour and ensures that every issue contributes substantively to academic discourse in English studies.
Research Articles
We welcome theoretical and empirical scholarship exploring English literature (all periods and genres), world and comparative literature, Indian writing in English, postcolonial studies, literary theory and criticism, linguistics, English language teaching (ELT), digital humanities, cultural studies, and interdisciplinary approaches that illuminate questions in English studies.
All submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere. Minimum length: 3,000 words. No upper word limit.
Over the past 17 years, The Criterion built a rich legacy of literary engagement, publishing poetry, fiction, book reviews, and in-depth author interviews with distinguished writers including Anita Nair, Kavery Nambisan, Chitra Banerjee-Divakaruni, Mahesh Dattani, Manohar Shetty, K. Satchidanandan, and Abhishek Majumdar, among others. This archive remains freely accessible and stands as a testament to our commitment to English literary culture.
Our Commitment to Quality
Rigorous Peer Review
Every research article submitted to The Criterion undergoes a thorough double-blind peer review process involving three independent reviewers. This ensures that published work meets the highest standards of originality, scholarly rigour, and contribution to the field. Review begins as soon as a manuscript is received; it does not wait for the issue deadline. Final decisions are sent by the 25th of the issue month, and accepted papers are published on the last day of that month. Authors asked to revise must return the revised manuscript within the time stated in the decision letter (usually one to two weeks); late revisions are considered for the next issue.
Editorial Independence
All editorial decisions are made independently by our Editorial Board based solely on academic merit, originality, relevance, and adherence to ethical standards. The publisher does not interfere with editorial judgment.
Publication Ethics
We uphold the highest standards of research integrity. All submissions undergo plagiarism screening, and authors are required to disclose any use of AI-assisted tools. We maintain transparency in our review processes and handle conflicts of interest with care. Full details are available in our Publication Ethics statement.
Open Access, DOI & Discoverability
Free for Readers, Accessible Worldwide
The Criterion operates on the Budapest Open Access Initiative model, providing free, unrestricted access to all published content. Readers may download, share, and cite our articles without paywalls or registration barriers. All research is published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, ensuring authors retain copyright while maximising the reach of their work.
Crossref Membership & DOI Registration
The Criterion is proud to be an official Crossref member. From Vol. 17, Issue 1 (February 2026) onwards, every research article is assigned a permanent Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registered with Crossref — the world’s leading DOI registration agency for scholarly content.
DOIs follow the format: https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v{VOL}.n{ISSUE}.{SEQ} — for example: https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n1.1.
What Crossref Membership Means for Our Authors
As a Crossref member, The Criterion’s article metadata is openly available to the discovery services, library systems and reference managers that draw on Crossref data. This helps readers find and cite your work, although each service decides independently what it includes.
Every article carries a permanent DOI, so it can always be found and cited, free of charge for the reader.
Indexing & Cataloguing
The Criterion is indexed, listed or catalogued in the following services:
- MLA Directory of Periodicals
- Google Scholar
- OpenAlex
- ROAD
- Library of Congress
- WorldCat
Supporting Scholars Globally
Revised Article Processing Charges — Effective Vol. 17 (2026)
As an official Crossref member journal, The Criterion assigns a permanent DOI to every published article — a commitment that carries real infrastructure costs. Our revised APC reflects the true cost of responsible scholarly publishing: Crossref membership fees, per-article DOI registration costs, editorial operations, and platform hosting are all absorbed within a single transparent charge. What you pay goes entirely towards ensuring your research is permanently identified and openly accessible.
Indian Authors Research Article₹2,595 Includes Crossref DOI + peer review + hosting | International Authors Research Article$125 Includes Crossref DOI + peer review + hosting |
Authors from Research4Life-eligible countries may request a waiver: see our APC Waiver Policy.
Why This APC? What Does It Cover?
- Crossref DOI Registration: Every article receives a permanent, globally recognised DOI — registered with Crossref, the world’s leading scholarly DOI agency.
- Crossref Membership & Infrastructure: Annual membership and per-article DOI costs ensure continued access to Crossref’s metadata network, automatic indexing propagation, and citation linking services.
- Three-Reviewer Peer Review: Each article is evaluated by three independent expert reviewers — a rigorous process that takes editorial time and coordination.
- Professional Copyediting & Formatting: Accepted articles are formatted to journal standards before publication.
- Language Report: Every accepted article receives a detailed language and readability report — a value-added service supporting the quality of published work.
- Publication Certificate: All published authors receive an official PDF certificate of publication — a credentialing asset for academic portfolios, CVs, and promotion files.
- Permanent Open-Access Hosting: Your article remains freely accessible indefinitely — no paywalls, ever.
No single-author/multi-author distinction. One flat, transparent charge — regardless of the number of co-authors.
APC is invoiced only after acceptance following peer review. We never request payment at submission.
Responsive Publishing Schedule
We publish six issues annually (February, April, June, August, October, December) with consistent deadlines and a regular publication schedule. View our complete submission guidelines and schedule.
Our Publisher
The Criterion is published by the Research Centre for English Language and Literature (RCELL), an independent academic publishing and research initiative established in 2012. RCELL is dedicated to advancing scholarship in English language, literature, and allied disciplines through ethical publishing practices, editorial independence, and long-term preservation of the scholarly record.
RCELL Contact:
📧 editor@the-criterion.com • 🌐 https://rcell.co.in
Learn more about RCELL’s commitment to Publication Ethics and Editorial Responsibility and Publication and DOI Policy.
Seventeen Years of Continuous Scholarly Publishing
Since April 2010, The Criterion has served as a vital platform for scholarly exchange, publishing hundreds of research articles, creative works, and critical interventions across 90+ issues and 17 volumes. Our longevity reflects our editorial board’s dedication, our authors’ trust, and our reviewers’ generous expertise.
We are proud to have fostered a global community of scholars — from early-career researchers publishing their first peer-reviewed articles to established academics sharing groundbreaking work. Every submission receives thoughtful consideration, and every accepted piece contributes to the ongoing conversation in English studies.
Join Our CommunityWhether you are seeking a venue for your research, looking for quality scholarship to inform your work, or interested in joining our reviewer network, we welcome your engagement. Current Issue Submit Your Work Browse Archives Contact Us WhatsApp Community |
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in articles and other content appearing in The Criterion are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or publisher. Authors submitting work for publication are responsible for obtaining necessary permissions for copyrighted material used in their articles. The Criterion and RCELL are not liable for any copyright infringement in published content.
Complete Indexing & Abstracting List
Every listing below can be checked independently. We list a service only when The Criterion appears in it.
Indexed In
- Google Scholar
- OpenAlex
- Semantic Scholar
- Internet Archive Scholar (Fatcat)
Directories
- MLA Directory of Periodicals
- ROAD — Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources (ISSN International Centre)
DOI & Identifier Systems
- Crossref (official member — DOI prefix 10.66376)
- ISSN International Centre (ISSN 0976-8165)
Digital Preservation
- Internet Archive — Wayback Machine (all issues since 2010; see our preservation policy)
Library Catalogues
- Library of Congress
- WorldCat (OCLC)
- ZDB — German Union Catalogue of Serials
- EZB — Electronic Journals Library, University of Regensburg
- Sudoc — French university library catalogue