About the Journal

Focus and Scope

HERMES - Journal of Language and Communication in Business is an open access online international journal with a double-blind peer review procedure published by the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University, Denmark. This means that all content is freely available without charge to the users or their institution and available in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. No fees are charged for publishing articles in Hermes.

HERMES is indexed at the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), at Scopus, and recognized by ERIH Plus as a scientific journal.

HERMES is published once a year. All contributions to the journal are archived at the journals website on the Royal Danish Library's national portal for digital publishing. Thus, long-term archiving is secured.

Since its beginning in 1988, HERMES has established itself internationally as an important vehicle for publication of research articles across a broad spectrum of language and communication oriented projects, studies and activities.

The main purpose of the journal is to disseminate new research produced in the broad field of language and communication in business, including, but not limited to, the fields of:

  • Business communication
  • Corporate communication
  • Intercultural communication
  • Knowledge communication
  • Lexicography
  • Business language
  • Translation and interpreting

Each issue contains a selection of research articles from the listed areas together with reviews and review articles. We are open to suggestions for additional thematic sections.

HERMES accepts contributions in English, German, French and Spanish.

HERMES has four main objectives:

  • to publish high-quality research papers
  • to offer fast publication
  • to offer publication space also to young scholars
  • to enable a thorough examination of a particular topic within one of the fields

High quality papers In order to ensure high-quality publications, all submitted manuscripts are assessed through a double blind review process by two external referees. The referees assess the manuscripts for relevance, originality, appropriateness of the selected literature, theory and methods, quality of the analyses, documentation of claims and conclusions, argumentative logic and coherence, and readability.

Fast publication We give high priority to fast publication to ensure that ideas and findings can be published while they are still new. However, Hermes is a non-profit venture relying upon researchers' other time schedules, so some processing time must be expected. We are usually able to publish a manuscript within twelve months upon submission.

Space to young scholars We offer publication space to young and promising scholars. Rather than simply rejecting manuscripts if they are not fully up to international standards, we usually give authors the opportunity to revise their manuscript on the basis of thorough reviewing.

Thematic sections We invite proposals for thematic sections with articles within one of the fields of the journal to give the possibility to research communities to examine a specific topic from different angles.

Peer Review Process

In order to ensure high-quality publications, HERMES runs a careful review process. All submitted manuscripts are assessed through a double blind review process by two external referees.

The referees assess the manuscripts for relevance, originality, appropriateness of the selected literature, theory and methods, quality of the analyses, documentation of claims and conclusions, argumentative logic and coherence, and readability.

Submitted papers will undergo the following, double-blind review process:

  • 1st screening by editorial board
  • 1st review by reviewer A and reviewer B, respectively
  • 1st revision by author - resubmission
  • 2nd review by reviewer A and reviewer B, respectively
  • 2nd revision and resubmission by author
  • Publication decision by editorial board
  • Proofreading and publication 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Journal History

The first issue of HERMES appeared in 1988 as an outlet for publications from staff members of the Aarhus School of Business, Denmark. Shortly after, it established itself as a journal for the publication of articles on specialised language, at first only allowing papers from other Scandinavian universities and in Scandinavian languages, but quickly extending the range of languages of publication to the major languages English, German, French and Spanish. Today, most contributions are published in English, although German, French and Spanish are still accepted.

The first 43 issues of HERMES appeared as printed copies, but in 2009 it changed to being an open access online journal, thus making it accessible for a larger audience all over the world. As Prof. Bergenholtz, one of the first editors, stated in the 25 years anniversary issue (#50): “After I left HERMES as an editor, the new editors have decided to make another big change: From a printed to an online journal. I am sorry not to have Hermes in a printed version anymore, but I realize that an adult scientific journal nowadays has to be quickly accessible all over the world, so that new theories and new empirical results can be disseminated quickly and effectively”.