Aims and Scope
Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics
Alif is an annual bilingual (occasionally trilingual) peer-reviewed journal published by the Department of English and Comparative Literature of The American University in Cairo (AUC). Its first issue appeared in 1981, and it has been appearing continuously since. Each issue revolves around a particular theme, and all articles go through a rigorous double-blind peer-reviewing system in any of the journal’s three languages: Arabic, English, or French. Alif’s articles have included scholarship by established and emerging academics alike. So while it has published scholarship by such star academics as Edward Said, Michael Wood, and Judith Butler, to name a few, Alif equally perceives itself as a knowledge-production hub and several young scholars have received academic training, writing their first scholarly article for Alif.
Alif receives annual requests to reprint articles that appeared on its pages in several international edited volumes and reference works. This attests to the visibility of the journal on the international scholarly map.
Alif’s peer-reviewing system and serious scholarship have gained acknowledgment from a number of prestigious databases, including Scopus, MLA International Bibliography, JSTOR, SAGE, Index Islamicus, EBSCO, Project MUSE, and Literature Resource Center (Gale).
Alif welcomes original submissions on literature and cultural studies for its annual thematic issues.
For more information, see our Guides for Authors.
Peer-Review Policy and Timeline
Alif follows a double-blind peer-reviewing system. Each article is submitted to at least two peer reviewers.
Reviewers are chosen based on specialization in the topic of the article and the theme of any given issue of the journal.
The peer-review process follows the timeline below:
| October 1 | Deadline for submission of abstracts (300 words) |
| November 1 | Contributors notified of the status of abstracts |
| May 1 | Deadline for submission of full articles |
| September 1 | Final acceptance/rejection/conditional acceptance of articles |
| Spring | Publication |
Copyrights and Licensing
The Department of English and Comparative Literature at AUC, represented by Alif, owns the copyrights of all print and electronic material published in the journal. Once accepted for publication, the author agrees that the copyright for her/his article is transferred to Alif. All requests for reprinting and/or translation can be addressed to the editor.