Author Guidelines

1. General Requirements

Manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Language Education and Literacy (JLEL) must be original scholarly works that have not been published previously and are not simultaneously under consideration for publication elsewhere.

JLEL welcomes manuscripts that are relevant to the journal's Focus and Scope, particularly in the fields of language education, literacy studies, second and foreign language acquisition, and applied linguistics.

JLEL accepts the following types of manuscripts:

• Original Research Articles — empirical studies that present original research findings and make a clear theoretical, methodological, educational, or practical contribution to the field;

• Conceptual or Theoretical Papers — scholarly papers that critically develop, examine, or synthesize concepts, theories, models, or perspectives relevant to the journal's scope; and

• Systematic Literature Reviews — rigorous and methodologically transparent reviews that systematically identify, evaluate, and synthesize relevant scholarly literature and provide a substantive contribution to knowledge.

All submissions must comply with JLEL's Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement, Peer Review Process, Plagiarism and Similarity Screening Policy, Open Access Policy, Copyright and Licensing Policy, and other applicable editorial policies.

2. Language

Manuscripts must be written in English using clear, coherent, grammatically correct, and academically appropriate language.

Authors are responsible for ensuring the linguistic quality of their manuscripts before submission. Manuscripts containing language problems that substantially affect readability or scholarly communication may be returned to the authors for revision before peer review.

3. Manuscript Length

Manuscripts should normally contain approximately 4,000–8,000 words, including the main text, tables, figures, references, and appendices.

Manuscripts outside this range may be considered when their length is justified by the nature, methodology, or scholarly contribution of the study.

Authors must prepare their manuscripts using the current official JLEL Manuscript Template.

4. Manuscript Preparation

Unless otherwise specified in the current JLEL Manuscript Template, manuscripts should be prepared using:

• A4 page size;

• Times New Roman, 12-point font;

• Single-line spacing; and

• Standard margins of approximately 2.5 cm.

Authors must follow the formatting and organizational requirements specified in the current JLEL Manuscript Template.

5. Manuscript Structure

Title

The title should be concise, informative, and accurately reflect the content of the manuscript. Titles should normally contain no more than 15 words and should avoid unnecessary abbreviations.

Abstract

The abstract should contain approximately 150–250 words and be presented as a single paragraph.

For original research articles, the abstract should briefly communicate the research context or problem, objective, methodology, principal findings, and major conclusion or implication.

The abstract should be understandable independently of the main text and should not normally contain citations, undefined abbreviations, tables, or figures.

Keywords

Authors should provide 3–5 keywords, separated by semicolons.

Keywords should accurately represent the principal topics of the manuscript. Authors are encouraged to select specific and searchable terms that improve the discoverability of the article.

6. Main Text

Original research articles should normally follow an appropriate scholarly structure consisting of:

1. Introduction

2. Methods

3. Results and Discussion

4. Conclusion

5. References

Introduction

The Introduction should establish the research context, critically engage with relevant literature, identify the research problem or gap, explain the significance of the study, and clearly state the research objectives, questions, or hypotheses where appropriate.

Methods

The Methods section should provide sufficient information to enable readers to understand and evaluate the research procedures and, where appropriate, reproduce the study.

Depending on the research design, this section should describe relevant aspects such as:

• Research design;

• Participants, population, sample, or data sources;

• Research setting;

• Instruments or materials;

• Data collection procedures;

• Validity, reliability, or trustworthiness procedures;

• Data analysis procedures; and

• Ethical considerations, where applicable.

Results and Discussion

The Results should present the principal findings clearly and logically in relation to the research objectives or questions.

The Discussion should interpret the findings, relate them to relevant previous scholarship, explain their theoretical, methodological, educational, or practical significance, and address unexpected findings where appropriate.

Tables and figures should complement rather than unnecessarily duplicate information presented in the text.

Conclusion

The Conclusion should concisely summarize the principal findings and scholarly contribution of the study without merely repeating the Results and Discussion.

Relevant implications, limitations, recommendations, and directions for future research may be included where appropriate. New results or unsupported claims should not be introduced in the Conclusion.

Alternative Article Structures

Conceptual or theoretical papers and systematic literature reviews may use alternative structures appropriate to their scholarly and methodological approaches.

Systematic literature reviews should clearly describe their search strategy, eligibility criteria, selection procedures, and methods of analysis or synthesis, where applicable.

7. Tables and Figures

Tables and figures must be relevant, clear, appropriately numbered, and referred to in the main text.

Each table and figure must include an informative title or caption and, where appropriate, a source or explanatory note.

Authors are responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions to reproduce or adapt copyrighted material.

Sources must be appropriately acknowledged when tables, figures, images, or other materials are reproduced or adapted from previously published works.

8. Author Information and Double-Blind Peer Review

JLEL applies a double-blind peer-review process.

Authors must provide complete and accurate metadata through the online submission system, including:

• Full name without academic titles or degrees;

• Institutional affiliation;

• Country;

• Institutional email address; and

• ORCID iD, where available.

To preserve anonymity during peer review, the manuscript file submitted for review must not contain author names, affiliations, email addresses, acknowledgments that reveal author identity, or other directly identifying information.

Authors should also remove identifying information from document properties and file metadata where possible.

Author information will be incorporated into the final article after acceptance.

9. References and Citations

JLEL uses APA Style, 7th Edition for citations and references.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that:

• Every source cited in the text appears in the reference list;

• Every source listed in the references is cited in the manuscript;

• Bibliographic information is complete and accurate;

• References are relevant to the manuscript;

• Appropriate recent, authoritative, and peer-reviewed scholarship is represented;

• Relevant foundational or seminal literature is included where appropriate; and

• DOI information is provided whenever available.

JLEL does not assess reference quality solely on the basis of a fixed number, percentage, or publication-year threshold. Authors should use a balanced and appropriate body of literature that reflects both relevant recent scholarship and important foundational work.

Authors must avoid excessive self-citation, irrelevant citation, citation padding, citation cartels, or other practices intended to manipulate citation counts or bibliometric indicators.

DOI Format

Where available, DOIs should be presented in URL format:

https://doi.org/xxxxx

Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy and functionality of DOI information before submission.

10. Reference Examples

Journal Article

Knowles, R. T. (2018). Teaching who you are: Connecting teachers' ideology to instructional strategies. Theory & Research in Social Education, 46(1), 68–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2017.1350235

Book

Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. A. M. (2019). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (10th ed.). Wiley.

Edited Book Chapter

Timarova, S., Dragsted, B., & Hansen, G. (2010). Time lag in translation and interpreting: A methodological exploration. In C. Alvstad, A. Hild, & E. Tiselius (Eds.), Methods and strategies of process research (pp. 121–146). John Benjamins.

Authors should consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th Edition) for reference types not illustrated above.

11. Research Ethics

Authors conducting research involving human participants must comply with applicable institutional, national, and disciplinary ethical requirements.

Where ethical approval is required, authors should provide relevant information concerning the approving institution or ethics committee, including an approval number where applicable.

Where applicable, authors must obtain appropriate informed consent and protect the privacy, confidentiality, and rights of research participants.

If formal ethical approval was not required for a particular study, authors should ensure that the research nevertheless complied with applicable ethical standards.

12. Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, interpretation of findings, or publication.

Where no relevant conflict exists, authors should state:

“The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

13. Funding

Authors must disclose all sources of funding or financial support related to the research.

Where applicable, authors should provide the name of the funding organization and grant number.

If no external funding was received, authors should state:

“This research received no external funding.”

14. Data Availability

Where appropriate and ethically permissible, authors are encouraged to make supporting research data available through an appropriate institutional, disciplinary, or general-purpose repository.

Authors should provide a Data Availability Statement explaining where and how supporting data may be accessed or explaining any applicable restrictions.

Restrictions arising from participant privacy, confidentiality, ethical approval, legal requirements, intellectual property rights, or agreements with research participants should be clearly stated.

15. Use of Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies

Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies must not be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for the content of a scholarly work.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, citations, analysis, and scholarly content of their manuscripts.

Where generative AI or AI-assisted technologies have been used in a manner that materially contributes to manuscript preparation, analysis, or presentation, authors must disclose their use transparently.

Authors must ensure that the use of such technologies does not compromise confidentiality, intellectual property rights, research ethics, data protection, or publication integrity.

AI-generated content must not be used to fabricate or falsify data, references, findings, images, or other research materials.

16. Similarity and Plagiarism Screening

Submitted manuscripts may be screened using Turnitin or other appropriate similarity-detection software as part of the editorial assessment process.

Similarity reports are evaluated by the editorial team based on the nature, source, extent, significance, and context of the identified textual overlap.

A numerical similarity score alone does not constitute a determination of plagiarism.

Suspected plagiarism, inappropriate textual reuse, duplicate publication, or other forms of publication misconduct will be handled in accordance with JLEL's Plagiarism and Similarity Screening Policy and Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement.

17. Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain copyright in their published articles and grant the Journal of Language Education and Literacy (JLEL) the right of first publication.

Articles published in JLEL are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Under this license, published material may be shared and adapted provided that:

• Appropriate credit is given to the original author(s);

• A link to the license is provided;

• Any changes made are indicated;

• The material is not used for commercial purposes; and

• Adapted material is distributed under the same license.

Authors should ensure that any third-party material included in their manuscripts can lawfully be published under the applicable terms or is accompanied by an appropriate credit line indicating different copyright or licensing conditions.

Further information is provided in JLEL's Open Access Policy and Copyright and Licensing Policy.

18. Author Contributions

All listed authors must have made a meaningful scholarly contribution to the work and must take responsibility for the content of the manuscript.

Authors should agree on authorship and author order before submission.

For manuscripts with multiple authors, an Author Contributions Statement should be provided describing the respective contributions of the authors to the research and manuscript.

All authors should be able to identify their own contributions and accept accountability for the integrity of their contributions to the work.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately, subject to their consent where necessary.

19. Acknowledgments

Authors may acknowledge individuals, institutions, or organizations that contributed to the research or preparation of the manuscript but do not qualify for authorship.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from individuals who are identified in the Acknowledgments where appropriate.

Acknowledgments that reveal author identity should be removed from the manuscript used for double-blind peer review and restored after acceptance.

20. Submission Checklist

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that:

• The manuscript is relevant to the Focus and Scope of JLEL;

• The manuscript represents original scholarly work;

• The manuscript has not been published previously and is not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere;

• The manuscript follows the current JLEL Manuscript Template and Author Guidelines;

• Author-identifying information has been removed from the review manuscript;

• All citations and references comply with APA 7th Edition;

• DOI information has been provided where available;

• Tables, figures, and third-party materials have been appropriately cited and permissions obtained where required;

• Required ethics, conflict-of-interest, funding, data availability, and other declarations have been included where applicable;

• Any material use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies has been appropriately disclosed;

• All authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript;

• All authors have agreed to its submission to JLEL; and

• Authors understand that accepted articles will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

21. Manuscript Template

Authors must prepare their manuscripts using the current official JLEL Manuscript Template available through the journal website.

The template should be used together with these Author Guidelines.

Authors should ensure that they are using the most recent version of the template. If an older downloaded template contains requirements that differ from the current Author Guidelines, authors should follow the requirements currently published on the JLEL website or contact the Editorial Office for clarification.

Download the Official JLEL Manuscript Template from the journal website.