Applied Linguistics Inquiry is fundamentally committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical conduct and transparency in all aspects of its publication process. Our policies and practices are built upon the foundational guidelines set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This page provides a comprehensive overview of our operational principles and ethical framework.

 

1. Website The official website for the journal is publicly and freely accessible at: https://ali.birjand.ac.ir/. Care has been taken to ensure that the information presented is accurate, unambiguous, and does not mislead authors or readers.

 

2. Name of Journal The official journal title is Applied Linguistics Inquiry. The journal abbriviation is Appl. Linguist. Inq. and the acronym is ALI.

 

3. Peer-review Process Applied Linguistics Inquiry employs a rigorous double-blind peer review process to ensure the quality, validity, and impartiality of its publications.

 

• Peer Review Workflow: All submitted manuscripts first undergo an initial internal evaluation by the editorial committee to assess their suitability, alignment with the journal's scope, and adherence to formatting and ethical standards. Manuscripts that pass this initial screening are then sent for external double-blind peer review to a minimum of two independent, expert reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to the final decision regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection of all manuscripts.
• Timeline: We aim to complete the initial editorial evaluation within 1-2 weeks. The external review process is targeted for completion within 4-8 weeks of the decision to review, although this may vary depending on reviewer availability.
• Confidentiality and Privacy: All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents. Editors and reviewers are required to respect the authors' rights by refraining from publicly discussing the work or appropriating their ideas prior to publication. Reviewers are prohibited from sharing the manuscript with others and must destroy any copies after submitting their review. 

4. Ownership and Management Applied Linguistics Inquiry is owned, managed, and published by the University of Birjand, Iran.

 

5. Governing Body & Editorial Board The journal is guided by an Editorial Board composed of recognized international experts in the subject areas included within the journal's scope. The full names and affiliations of all editorial board members are publicly available on the Editorial Board page of our website.

 

6. Copyright and Licensing To ensure the widest possible dissemination of research, Applied Linguistics Inquiry operates under the following policy:

 

• Copyright: Authors retain the full copyright of their published work. There is no copyright transfer to the journal.

• Licensing: All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. This license permits any user to share, adapt, and reuse the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original authors and the publication source.

 

7. Authors and Authors’ Responsibilities The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all administrative and ethical requirements are met, including securing approval from all co-authors for the submission and any subsequent revisions. Changes to the author list (additions, deletions, or reordering) after final acceptance are not permitted except in extraordinary circumstances and require a formal, signed request from all authors involved.

 

8. Author Fees Applied Linguistics Inquiry is a diamond open access journal. All publishing costs are supported by the University of Birjand. Therefore, there are NO submission fees or Article Processing Charges (APCs) for authors.

 

9. Publication Ethics The journal is dedicated to applying publication ethics based on COPE’s Code of Conduct and Best Practices. We take all reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred. All submitted manuscripts are screened for plagiarism using iThenticate software. In the event of any allegation of misconduct, we will diligently follow COPE's guidelines and flowcharts.

 

10. Publishing Schedule Applied Linguistics Inquiry is published on a semiannual basis in March and September.

 

11. Archiving Policy The journal ensures the long-term preservation and accessibility of its content through archiving in the following repositories:

 

• Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC)
• Google Scholar
• NoorMagz
• Civilica

• Magiran

 

12. Revenue Sources The journal is fully funded by its owner and publisher, the University of Birjand. It does not derive revenue from author fees, subscriptions, advertising, or reprints.

 

13. Advertising Applied Linguistics Inquiry does not accept any form of advertising on its website or in its publications.

 

14. Direct Marketing Any direct marketing activities, including the solicitation of manuscripts, that are conducted on behalf of the journal shall be appropriate, well-targeted, and unobtrusive.

 

15. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policies on Responsible Use Applied Linguistics Inquiry is committed to the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in scholarly publishing and adheres to the guidelines of COPE, WAME, and ICMJE.

 

• • AI and Authorship: AI tools, such as Large Language Models (LLMs), do not meet the criteria for authorship and cannot be listed as an author or co-author. Authorship implies accountability, which cannot be assigned to an AI. The use of AI tools to enhance language or analyze data must be transparently disclosed in the Methods or Acknowledgments section. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy and integrity of all content.   

  • Responsible Use by Reviewers: To protect the confidentiality of authors' work, reviewers and editors are strictly prohibited from uploading any part of a manuscript into generative AI tools.

  • Responsible Use by Editors: Editorial evaluation and decision-making are responsibilities that rest solely with human editors. Generative AI tools must not be used to support the evaluation or decision-making process, as they lack the critical thinking and nuanced judgment required for these tasks.