Peer Review Process

Peer Review Process

All research articles submitted to the International Journal of Research on English Teaching and Applied Linguistics undergo full peer review. The key characteristics of the process are set out below.

  1. Screening. Every submission is first checked by the Editorial Office against the scope of the journal, the manuscript template, the completeness of the required declarations, and a similarity report generated with Turnitin. A submission that fails screening is returned to the author with the reasons stated and does not proceed to review.
  2. Double blind review. Manuscripts that pass screening are evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with demonstrated expertise in the topic. The identity of the authors and the identity of the reviewers are withheld from each other throughout. Authors must therefore upload an anonymised file in addition to the complete manuscript.
  3. Assessment criteria. Reviewers assess the contribution and originality of the work, its relevance to the scope of the journal, the soundness of its theoretical framing and methodology, the ethical conduct of the research, the currency and accuracy of the references, and the clarity of the presentation.
  4. Editorial decision. The Editor in Chief takes all publication decisions on the basis of the reviewer reports and the recommendation of the handling editor. The possible decisions are acceptance, acceptance subject to minor revision, major revision with a further round of review, and rejection. Where reviewer recommendations diverge substantially, a third reviewer is invited.
  5. Communication with authors. The decision is sent to the corresponding author together with the full reviewer reports. The journal undertakes to communicate a first decision within 60 days of submission.
  6. Revision. An author invited to revise must return a point by point response stating how each comment has been addressed and where the change appears in the text. A reasoned disagreement with a reviewer is acceptable and is considered on its merits. An invitation to revise does not guarantee acceptance.
  7. Role of the Editorial Board. Members of the Editorial Board advise the Editor in Chief on the direction of the journal and assist with decisions on individual submissions where specialist expertise is required.
  8. Editorial support. Managing editors and editorial assistants provide the administrative support that allows the journal to maintain the integrity of the review process and to keep authors, reviewers, and editors informed of the status of each manuscript.
  9. Appeals. An author who wishes to contest a decision may appeal under the Complaints and Appeals policy. A rejected manuscript is not reviewed again unless an appeal is upheld.

Publication Frequency

IJRETAL publishes two issues a year, in June and in December. Articles are released together as a complete issue on the scheduled date.

Open Access Policy

IJRETAL is a fully open access journal. It provides immediate open access to all of its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. No embargo is applied and no registration is required.

Readers may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full text of every article without charge. Authors retain copyright and publish under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-SA 4.0). The journal charges no submission fee and no article processing charge. Full terms are set out in the Copyright and Licensing policy and in the statement on author fees.