Discourse & Communication is an interdisciplinary journal whose major aim is to publish outstanding research in the field between the studies of discourse and communication. It focuses on explicit theory formation and analysis of the relationships between the structures of text, talk, language use, verbal interaction, and images on the one hand, and the structures and processes of communication and their social, political and cultural conditions, functions and implications on the other hand. That is, D&C studies communication through its discourses, and discourses through their role in communication. Its contributions are based on advanced theory formation and explicit methodologies of several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

Discourse & Communication articles from all fields of communication studies (such as interpersonal, organizational, mass media, health, scientific and other forms of communication), on the one hand, and from any field of discourse studies (such as discourse grammar, semantics, pragmatics, stylistics, rhetoric, conversation analysis, narrative analysis, argumentation studies, critical discourse analysis, and so on), on the other hand. Articles are preferred that explicitly combine theories, aims, issues and methods of communication studies and discourse studies, and do so within a broader social, political or cultural framework.

Discourse & Communication aims to propagate the theories and methods of discourse studies in the fields of communication studies, and vice versa, those of communication studies in the field of discourse studies, and thus hopes to contribute to the further integration of these sister-disciplines. For instance, it aims to show that 'discourse analysis' is not some practical method, comparable to, e.g. content analysis, but a broad discipline, with many subfields, theories, methods and approaches.

Discourse & Communication is an international journal. Its board members, contributors and readers are from many different countries, and this will also be reflected in the variety of the topics, approaches and cultural backgrounds of its articles.

Discourse & Communication is issue-oriented. It does not primarily follow the fashion of specific academic schools or paradigms, but focuses on relevant social, political or cultural issues or problems, which often need a complex multidisciplinary approach.

Discourse & Communication is a critical journal. It favors contributions that pay attention to the detailed analysis of social and political relations of power, dominance and inequality, and to the role of discourse and communication in their legitimation and reproduction in society, for instance in the domains of gender, race, ethnicity, class or world region.

Discourse & Communication is an accessible journal. Its papers are written in a clear and pedagogic style, avoid esoteric jargon, and respect the needs and interests of readers of several levels of expertise in many countries and disciplines.

See also: Preferred Articles and Instructions to authors (Stylesheet)