IJMLSP Guide for Authors
IJMLSP Guide For Authors
Submission • Ethics • Publication Standards
International Journal of Multilingualism and Languages for Specific Purposes (IJMLSP) welcomes original, rigorous, and ethically conducted research in multilingualism, Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP), specialized and professional communication, applied linguistics, translation, terminology, language education, and related fields. Authors should read these guidelines carefully before submitting a manuscript. Compliance with the guidelines facilitates efficient editorial assessment, peer review, production, and publication.
1. Submission Process
All manuscripts must be submitted through the IJMLSP online submission system. Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to another journal. The Editorial Office may request email communication under specific circumstances. Template use is mandatory for all manuscripts.
The submitting author is responsible for ensuring that all authors have approved the manuscript, that the manuscript is original and not under consideration elsewhere, that author information and affiliations are accurate, and that all required ethical, funding, conflict-of-interest, data-availability, and AI declarations have been completed.
Email: IJMLSP.Journal@gmail.com
IJMLSP considers research in multilingualism, translanguaging and plurilingualism, language policy and planning, Languages for Specific Purposes, English for Specific Purposes, English for Academic Purposes, professional and workplace communication, specialized discourse, terminology, translation and interpreting, language education, corpus-based approaches, digital multilingualism, artificial intelligence and language, technology-enhanced language learning, and specialized and professional communication.
The journal considers original research articles, review articles, theoretical and conceptual articles, and special-issue contributions. Special-issue submissions are subject to the same editorial standards and peer-review requirements as regular submissions, and an invitation does not guarantee acceptance.
4. Originality and Exclusive Submission
Manuscripts submitted to IJMLSP must be original and must not be simultaneously under consideration by another journal. Authors must disclose relevant previous publications, conference papers, preprints, theses or dissertations, reports, datasets, and related manuscripts under consideration elsewhere. Publication of substantially overlapping material without appropriate disclosure may constitute redundant or duplicate publication.
- Plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, and other forms of publication misconduct are prohibited.
- Submitted manuscripts may be screened using appropriate similarity-detection tools.
- Similarity results are interpreted by editors and are not treated as automatic evidence of misconduct.
5. Language and Manuscript Preparation
The journal accepts scholarly manuscripts in English, German, French, and Spanish. Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are written in clear, accurate, consistent, and academically appropriate language. Language editing does not replace substantive peer review. Authors are encouraged to have their manuscripts carefully proofread before submission, particularly when the manuscript is not written in the author’s first language.
Manuscripts should be prepared in a clear and consistent format and should contain a concise title, author information in the appropriate submission fields, an abstract, keywords, the main text, references, tables and figures where applicable, and all required declarations. Unnecessary formatting that could interfere with editorial or production processes should be avoided.
The title should be concise, informative, accurate, and free from unnecessary abbreviations or exaggerated claims.
Research articles should include an abstract of approximately 250–300 words covering the research problem, objective, methodology, principal findings, and contribution or implications.
Approximately 5–7 keywords or key phrases should represent the principal concepts and improve the discoverability of the article.
Research articles are recommended at 8,000–12,000 words, including the main text and references, unless otherwise specified by the Editorial Office.
6. Recommended Research Article Structure
Research articles should contain the following elements, although the precise structure may vary according to the discipline and methodology:
7. Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion
Empirical research should provide sufficient methodological information for readers to understand how the study was conducted. Depending on the design, this may include the research setting, participants, sampling, data sources, instruments, procedures, corpus or dataset, analytical framework, statistical procedures, coding procedures, reliability or validity measures, and ethical procedures.
Results should be presented clearly and systematically. Authors should distinguish findings from interpretation where appropriate. Tables and figures should be used when they improve clarity rather than merely repeating information already presented in the text.
The discussion should explain the significance of the findings in relation to the research questions, existing literature, theoretical perspectives, previous empirical findings, and practical or educational implications. Authors should avoid claims that exceed the evidence.
The conclusion should summarize the principal contribution of the study and may address implications, limitations, recommendations, and future research. Substantial new findings should not be introduced in the conclusion without prior discussion.
8. Review and Theoretical Articles
Systematic, scoping, integrative, and other substantial scholarly reviews should clearly explain their objectives, search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, sources or databases consulted, screening procedures, analytical or synthesis procedures, and limitations.
Theoretical and conceptual articles should develop, critique, integrate, or extend existing scholarship through a clear argument and substantial engagement with relevant literature.
9. References, Tables, Figures, and Supplementary Materials
Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of references. All sources cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and all references must correspond to citations in the manuscript. Authors should verify author names, publication year, titles, journal information, volume, issue, pages or article number, DOI, and URLs where necessary. Where a DOI exists, the correct DOI should be provided.
References must not be fabricated. AI-generated references must be independently verified by the authors before submission.
Tables should have concise titles, be numbered consecutively, be referred to in the text, contain clear headings, and avoid unnecessary duplication. Figures should be legible, relevant, appropriately labelled, numbered consecutively, and referred to in the text. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for copyrighted material where required.
Supplementary materials may include research instruments, questionnaires, coding schemes, additional tables, datasets, analytical code, and appendices. Such materials should be clearly identified and referenced in the manuscript.
10. Research Ethics and Participant Protection
Research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical requirements. Where ethics approval was obtained, authors should identify the approving body and provide an approval or reference number where applicable. Where formal approval was not required, an appropriate explanation should be provided.
Where applicable, authors must obtain informed consent from participants and include an appropriate consent statement. Participant privacy and confidentiality must be protected, and identifying information must not be published without appropriate authorization.
Authors must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and all sources of funding or material support. Where no conflict exists, an appropriate statement such as “The authors declare no conflict of interest” should be included. Where no external funding was received, authors may state that “This research received no external funding.”
11. Data Availability and Research Transparency
Research articles should include an appropriate data-availability statement where applicable. Authors should provide sufficient information about research methods, materials, data, analytical procedures, and sources to enable readers to understand and evaluate the research.
12. Artificial Intelligence
Authors may use AI-assisted tools in accordance with the journal's Artificial Intelligence Policy. AI systems cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, research integrity, citations, references, interpretation, and final wording of their manuscripts.
Where substantive generative AI has been used, authors must disclose the tool and its specific role. Appropriate uses may include language correction, grammar improvement, translation assistance, brainstorming, coding assistance, data-processing assistance, literature organization, and formatting assistance, provided that authors independently verify the accuracy and appropriateness of the output.
AI-generated references must be independently verified. AI-generated images, synthetic data, and other generated materials must be clearly identified where their use could affect interpretation or research integrity. Synthetic data must not be presented as naturally observed human data.
13. Authorship and ORCID
All listed authors must have made a meaningful scholarly contribution to the research or manuscript. All authors must approve the submitted manuscript and final version, agree to its submission, and accept responsibility for their contribution.
Gift, honorary, guest, and ghost authorship are not permitted. Author order should be agreed upon by the authors before submission. Changes to authorship after submission or publication must be properly documented and may require agreement from affected authors and editorial or institutional involvement.
Authors are encouraged to provide ORCID identifiers and should ensure that any ORCID supplied belongs to the correct individual. The journal may use ORCID and other persistent identifiers to improve bibliographic accuracy and author discoverability.
14. Anonymized Manuscripts and Peer Review
IJMLSP uses double-anonymous peer review. Manuscripts suitable for external review are normally evaluated by at least two independent reviewers, although the journal may request additional review where necessary. The editor makes the final publication decision, and reviewer recommendations do not automatically determine the final decision.
For double-anonymous review, the manuscript intended for reviewers should not unnecessarily identify the authors. Authors should remove names, affiliations, direct identifying acknowledgements, self-identifying statements where reasonably avoidable, and file metadata containing author identities where practicable. References to previous work should remain academically accurate.
15. Revisions
When revisions are requested, authors should provide a revised manuscript, a response to reviewers, a clear explanation of changes, and identification of changes where requested by the editor. Authors should respond to every substantive reviewer comment. Where an author disagrees with a recommendation, the disagreement should be explained respectfully and supported by appropriate scholarly justification.
16. Publication Ethics and Malpractice
Authors must comply with the journal's Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement. IJMLSP does not tolerate plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, manipulation of peer review, citation manipulation, false authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or unethical research.
Manuscripts may be investigated, returned for clarification, or rejected where credible concerns arise. The journal may use appropriate similarity-detection tools and may request supporting documentation when necessary to assess research or publication integrity.
17. Manuscript Withdrawal and Post-Publication Corrections
Authors who wish to withdraw a manuscript before publication should contact the Editorial Office and provide the manuscript identification number and reason for withdrawal. Withdrawal requests after acceptance may require editorial consideration.
Once an article has been formally published, it becomes part of the scholarly record and cannot normally be withdrawn simply because an author changes their mind. Post-publication problems are handled through the journal's corrections, Expressions of Concern, and retractions procedures.
IJMLSP provides open access to its published content and currently operates without submission fees, Article Processing Charges, or mandatory publication fees. Authors should not make payments to individual editors or reviewers.
The copyright and licensing terms applicable to each article are stated in the journal's official copyright and licensing policy. Authors should review the applicable publishing agreement before publication.
20. Publication Schedule and Production
IJMLSP currently publishes two issues per year. The official publication schedule is maintained on the journal website. Authors should consult current calls for papers and issue announcements for submission deadlines.
After acceptance, manuscripts may undergo copyediting, language editing, reference checking, metadata verification, DOI assignment or confirmation, formatting, and proofreading. Authors may be asked to review proofs before publication. Proof corrections should focus on factual, typographical, formatting, and production errors; substantive changes require editorial approval.
21. DOI and Article Metadata
Each published article should receive a persistent article identifier, normally a DOI. Authors must carefully check the spelling of names, author order, affiliations, ORCID information, article title, abstract, keywords, funding information, and declarations.
Once published, bibliographic metadata may be distributed to external scholarly services. Authors should report serious metadata errors to the Editorial Office promptly.
22. Submission Checklist
Manuscript
☐ The manuscript fits the IJMLSP scope.
☐ The manuscript is original.
☐ The manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere.
☐ The manuscript meets the applicable length requirement.
☐ The title is accurate.
☐ The abstract is complete.
☐ Keywords are provided.
☐ References are complete and accurate.
Authors
☐ All authors have approved the submission.
☐ Author order has been agreed.
☐ Affiliations are accurate.
☐ ORCID information has been provided where available.
Research Integrity
☐ Ethics approval is addressed where applicable.
☐ Informed consent is addressed where applicable.
☐ Conflict of interest is declared.
☐ Funding is declared.
☐ Data availability is addressed.
☐ AI use is disclosed where applicable.
☐ Third-party material has appropriate permission where necessary.
Peer Review and Final Submission
☐ The manuscript is prepared for double-anonymous review.
☐ Identifying information has been removed from the review manuscript where appropriate.
☐ The manuscript has been proofread.
☐ Tables and figures are correctly numbered.
☐ All citations correspond to references.
☐ DOI information has been checked.
☐ Submission metadata accurately reflects the manuscript.
Editorial Office – IJMLSP
ijmlsp.journal@gmail.com | IJMLSP.Journal@univ-oran2.dz
All submission and editorial correspondence should be conducted through the official IJMLSP online submission system. Authors can send manuscripts to the institutional contact information published on the journal website.
Visit Journal WebsiteSubmission of a manuscript to IJMLSP confirms that the authors have read and agree to comply with these Author Guidelines and the journal's applicable editorial, peer-review, publication-ethics, authorship, artificial intelligence, copyright, and licensing policies. The Editorial Office reserves the right to return manuscripts that do not meet essential submission, ethical, or scholarly requirements before external peer review.