Submissions

Author Guidelines

The International Journal of Language Studies (IJLS; ISSN 3078-2244) welcomes original theoretical, empirical, and applied research across the field of language studies. Before submitting, please read these guidelines carefully — manuscripts prepared according to the official journal template move through screening, review, and production significantly faster.

1. Use the official template

Prepare your manuscript in Microsoft Word (.docx) using the official IJLS Paper Template. The template defines the required layout — A4 page, single column, 2.5 cm margins, Times New Roman 12 pt — and contains section-by-section instructions. Write your article directly into the template, replacing the instructional text.

2. Title page and authorship

• Title — concise, informative, and in Title Case.
• Authors and affiliations — full names of all authors with affiliations in the order Department, Faculty/School, University, City, Country. Mark the corresponding author and provide their email address.
• ORCID iD — provide one valid ORCID iD for every author, preferably on the same line as the author's name. ORCID iDs are checksum-validated during production; missing or invalid iDs delay publication.
• All listed authors must consent to be identified as authors, and authorship must reflect genuine intellectual contribution (see the CRediT statement below).

3. Abstract and keywords

• Abstract — a single paragraph of 150–250 words covering the purpose, method/design, principal results, and conclusions. Do not include citations, undefined abbreviations, figures, or tables.
• Keywords — three to five keywords, separated by semicolons.

4. Article structure

Use numbered headings following the template structure:

1. Introduction — problem, context, research gap, objectives or research questions, significance, and contribution.
2. Literature Review — synthesis of relevant prior work and the theoretical or conceptual framework. Use clear second-level subheadings (2.1, 2.2, …) and avoid unnecessary fragmentation.
3. Methodology — design, context, participants or materials, instruments, procedures, ethics, and analysis, in enough detail for evaluation or replication.
4. Results — findings in logical order. Number tables and figures consecutively and cite each in the text; table captions go above tables, figure captions below figures.
5. Discussion — interpretation in relation to previous research, theoretical and practical implications, and limitations, without repeating the Results.
6. Conclusion — principal conclusions and contribution, without introducing new evidence.

Manuscripts should not normally exceed 19 pages in the template format, excluding appendices.

5. Declarations (required back matter)

Complete every declaration section of the template; where a section does not apply, state “Not applicable” rather than deleting it:

• Acknowledgements — non-author contributions and support.
• Funding — funder(s) and grant number(s), or “This research received no external funding.”
• Author Contributions — using CRediT roles (e.g., Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review & Editing, Supervision).
• Conflicts of Interest — declare competing interests, or state that none exist.
• Ethics Statement — for research involving human or animal participants, name the approving body and the approval code/date; otherwise explain why approval was not required.
• Informed Consent Statement — how consent was obtained, or “Not applicable.”
• Data Availability Statement — where data and materials can be accessed (preferably with a persistent identifier), or the reason access is restricted.
• Declaration of Generative AI — name any generative-AI tool used, its purpose, and how outputs were verified by the authors; or state that no generative AI was used. Authors remain fully responsible for the entire content of the manuscript.

6. Citations and references (APA 7)

• Use APA 7th edition, author–date style for in-text citations: (Tran, 2020), (Tran & Nguyen, 2019); for three or more authors, use “et al.” from the first citation (Tran et al., 2021).
• The reference list contains only works cited in the article, alphabetized by the first author's surname with a hanging indent — do not number entries.
• Supply a DOI in the form https://doi.org/… for every reference that has one.
• References are automatically verified during production; inaccurate or unmatchable entries will be returned to the author for correction.

7. Originality, ethics, and screening

• The submission must not have been previously published nor be under consideration elsewhere.
• Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for any third-party material (photos, documents, datasets) included in the submission.
• An editor may desk-reject a submission that does not meet minimum standards of scope, quality, or preparation. Ensure the study design and argument are clearly structured, the title is concise, and the abstract can stand on its own.

8. Suggested reviewers (required)

Every submission must include at least two suggested reviewers. The submission wizard will not let you complete the final step until two suggestions have been entered, so please have their details ready before you begin.

• For each suggested reviewer, provide full name, affiliation, and institutional email address. Please use an institutional address rather than a free webmail account wherever possible, and include an ORCID iD if you know it.
• Suggest researchers who are active experts in the specific area of your manuscript and who are able to judge it competently.
• Suggested reviewers must have no conflict of interest with any author. Do not suggest current or former supervisors or students, co-authors from the past five years, colleagues at your own institution, close collaborators, or family members.
• The two suggestions should come from different institutions, and preferably from a country other than your own.
• You may also name people you would prefer not to review your manuscript. Add this in the comments field for the editor and give a brief reason.

Suggestions are advisory. The editorial office verifies every suggested reviewer independently and is free to invite other reviewers; naming a reviewer does not guarantee that they will be invited. Because IJLS operates open peer review, a reviewer who accepts will know who you are, and you will know who they are. Suggesting a reviewer who does not exist, cannot be verified, or has an undisclosed connection to an author is treated as research misconduct and will result in immediate rejection.

9. Peer review, timeline, and fees

• All manuscripts undergo open peer review by at least two independent expert reviewers after editorial screening. Under open review the identities of authors and reviewers are known to one another: the manuscript reaches the reviewer with the author details intact, and the reviewer's name is disclosed to the authors with the review. Reviewers are asked to sign their reports and to write them in terms they are content to stand behind publicly. Average time from submission to online publication is approximately 10–14 weeks.
• Open review does not mean reviewers are unconstrained. Reviews must address the work rather than the authors, must be specific enough to act on, and remain confidential to the editorial process until publication. A reviewer who believes their identity should not be disclosed on a particular manuscript should decline the invitation and tell the editor why.
• Article Processing Charge: USD 100 per article, payable only upon acceptance; there is no submission fee. Editorial decisions are independent of the ability to pay, and waivers may be considered in cases of genuine hardship (see the APC Payment page).
• Accepted articles are published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license; authors retain copyright, and every article receives a Crossref DOI.

Questions about these guidelines may be directed to the editorial office at editor@ijlangstudies.org.