First Language

Aims & Scope

First Language is an international peer reviewed journal that publishes the highest quality original research in child language acquisition.

Child language research is multidisciplinary and this is reflected in the contents of the journal: research from diverse theoretical and methodological traditions is welcome.

Authors from a wide range of disciplines - including psychology, linguistics, anthropology, cognitive science, neuroscience, communication, sociology and education - are regularly represented in our pages.

Empirical papers range from individual case studies, through experiments, observational/ naturalistic, analyses of CHILDES corpora, to parental surveys.

View Aims & Scope

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Metrics & Ranking

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2025	1.6
2024	1.20

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	0.703

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q1

h-index

Year	Value
2024	53

Journal Rank

Year	Value
2024	8056

Journal Citation Indicator

Year	Value
2024	213

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Abstracting & Indexing

Journal is indexed in leading academic databases, ensuring global visibility and accessibility of our peer-reviewed research.

• Scopus
• Google Scholar
• Web of Science

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Subjects & Keywords

Journal’s research areas, covering key disciplines and specialized sub-topics in Social Sciences, designed to support cutting-edge academic discovery.

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Most Cited Articles

The Most Cited Articles section features the journal's most impactful research, based on citation counts. These articles have been referenced frequently by other researchers, indicating their significant contribution to their respective fields.

• Joint attention and lexical acquisition style

  Citation: 407

  Authors: Michael, Jody

• Oral Discourse in the Preschool Years and Later Literacy Skills

  Citation: 303

  Authors: Terri M., Lowry, Linda, Dennis Palmer

• Specific and general language performance across early childhood: Stability and gender considerations

  Citation: 281

  Authors: Marc H., Chun-Shin, O. Maurice

• Learning words by hand: Gesture's role in predicting vocabulary development

  Citation: 224

  Authors: Meredith L., Åžeyda, Susan

• Deaf children need language, not (just) speech

  Citation: 190

  Authors: Matthew L., Wyatte C., Naomi K.

• Prespeech and early speech development of two late talkers

  Citation: 189

  Authors: Carol

• How diverse is child language acquisition research?

  Citation: 171

  Authors: Evan, Rowena

• Early vocabulary development: The importance of joint attention and parent-child book reading

  Citation: 165

  Authors: Brad M, Stephen R

• Learning to talk in a gesture-rich world: Early communication in Italian vs. American children

  Citation: 145

  Authors: Jana M., Olga, Virginia, Susan

• Recasting and related conversational techniques for triggering syntactic advances by young children

  Citation: 132

  Authors: Nancy D., Keith E.

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