Applied Linguistics Inquiry is committed to the highest standards of transparency and ethical publishing. The journal adheres to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (2022). As a journal in the humanities and social sciences, ALI additionally respects the ethical guidelines of key professional bodies in Applied Linguistics, such as International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA), American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL), British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL), and TESOL International Association.

 

1. Website

The official website is: https://ali.birjand.ac.ir/. All information is freely accessible, accurate, and regularly updated. 

 

2. Journal Title

• Full Title: Applied Linguistics Inquiry
• Abbreviation: Appl. Linguist. Inq.
• Acronym: ALI

 

3. Peer Review Process

3.1 Initial Editorial Screening

Each submission undergoes an internal evaluation focusing on:

• relevance to journal scope
• scholarly quality
• originality
• ethical compliance
• formatting standards

Initial decisions are typically made within 1–2 weeks.

 

3.2 External Double-Blind Peer Review

• At least two expert reviewers evaluate each eligible submission.
• Reviewer and author identities remain concealed.
• Typical review time is 8–12 weeks, depending on reviewer availability.
• The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision.

 

3.3 Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers must:

• Maintain strict confidentiality
• Avoid conflicts of interest
• Provide constructive, unbiased evaluations
• Alert editors to ethical concerns (plagiarism, misuse of data, duplicate submission)
• Delete/destroy manuscript files after review

 

3.4 Editor Responsibilities

Editors:

• Ensure fair, unbiased, timely review
• Base decisions solely on scholarly merit
• Protect confidentiality during all stages
• Follow COPE ethical guidelines and flowcharts
• Maintain full editorial independence from the publisher
• Address misconduct responsibly and transparently

 

4. Ownership & Management

The journal is owned, managed, and published by University of Birjand, Iran.

 

5. Editorial Board

The Editorial Board includes national and international scholars in applied linguistics. Full names and affiliations are listed publicly on the journal Editorial Board page.

 

6. Copyright & Licensing

• Authors retain full copyright.
• Articles are published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

Users may share, redistribute, adapt, and build upon the material with appropriate attribution. For more information, please visit Author Policies page.

 

7. Authors’ Responsibilities

Authors must ensure:

• Originality and unpublished status of the manuscript
• No simultaneous submission to other journals
• Accurate reporting and methodology
• Proper citation and permissions for reused materials
• Disclosure of conflicts of interest
• Ethical compliance for research involving human participants, language data, recordings, or interviews (following AILA/AAAL/BAAL/TESOL ethics guidelines)

Changes in authorship after acceptance require formal written consent from all authors.

 

8. Fees

ALI is a diamond open access journal. There are no submission fees, no APCs, and no publication charges.

 

9. Publication Ethics

ALI follows the COPE Core Practices, which cover:

• authorship
• conflicts of interest
• data integrity
• plagiarism
• peer-review ethics
• research involving human subjects (e.g., interviews, language recordings, classroom observation)

All manuscripts are screened using iThenticate or similar software.

 

10. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose all potential conflicts (financial, academic, personal). Submissions from editorial members follow an independent review pathway.

 

11. Complaints & Appeals

The journal provides a mechanism for:

• appealing editorial decisions
• submitting ethical concerns
• raising complaints about process or timelines

Unresolved concerns may be escalated to the University of Birjand or addressed through COPE procedures.

 

12. Corrections, Retractions, Withdrawals

ALI:

• Publishes corrections and clarifications when needed
• Issues retractions following COPE Retraction Guidelines
• Maintains accurate, permanent scholarly records

 

13. Publishing Schedule

The journal is published semiannually (March and September).

 

14. Article Identifiers

Each article is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) through mEDRA.

 

15. Archiving Policy

Articles are archived in the following repositories:

• ISC
• National Library of Iran
• Google Scholar
• German Union Catalogue of Serials
• Linguistic List
• UlrichsWeb
• International Research Foundation for English Language Education
• DOASR
• NoorMags
• Civilica
• Magiran

 

16. Revenue Sources

The journal is fully funded by the University of Birjand. ALI does not receive income from APCs, advertising, subscriptions, or reprints.

 

17. Advertising

ALI does not accept advertising in any form.

 

18. Direct Marketing

Any direct solicitation of manuscripts is minimal, targeted, ethical, and non-intrusive.

 

19. Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence

ALI follows COPE and general humanities research ethics for AI use. For more information please visit AI Usage in Publishing page.

 

19.1 AI and Authorship

• AI tools cannot be listed as authors.
• Any AI use (text generation, coding assistance, data processing, transcription tools) must be fully disclosed in the manuscript.

 

19.2 AI in Peer Review

Reviewers may not upload manuscripts into generative AI tools.

 

19.3 AI Use by Editors

Editors do not use AI systems for decision-making or reviewing confidential manuscripts.