Ethics and Malpractice

Statement of Publication Ethics & Malpractice

The International Journal of TESOL & Education (IJTE) (ISSN: 2768-4563) is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and research integrity. The Editorial Team's primary responsibility is to prevent publishing malpractice. Any form of unethical conduct is unacceptable. All submitted manuscripts must represent the authors' original work and be free from plagiarism in any form.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors are required to disclose any interests — financial or non-financial — that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication. Interests arising within the last three years of beginning the work (including conducting the research and preparing the manuscript) must be reported. Interests outside this three-year window must also be disclosed if they could reasonably be perceived as influencing the submitted work.

Disclosure of interests ensures a complete and transparent process and enables readers to form their own judgments regarding potential bias. Disclosure does not imply that a financial relationship with a funding organization or compensation for consultancy work is inappropriate.

➡ [Download the Conflicts of Interest Statement form]

Disclosures and Declarations

All authors are required to include relevant disclosures in their manuscripts. Depending on the nature and scope of the study, these may include:

  • Sources of funding (institutional grants, research fellowships, etc.)
  • Financial or non-financial interests relevant to the study
  • Approval from an institutional review board (IRB) or relevant ethics committee, where applicable
  • Confirmation that informed consent was obtained from research participants, where applicable
  • Considerations regarding research involving vulnerable populations (e.g., young learners, students with disabilities, marginalized communities)

The decision on whether a particular disclosure is applicable depends on the nature of the study. Authors are encouraged to err on the side of transparency. Research in TESOL and education frequently involves classroom participants, teachers, and students; authors must ensure that their studies adhere to their institutional ethical guidelines and the principles of respect, beneficence, and justice as outlined in relevant educational research ethics frameworks (e.g., BERA Ethical Guidelines, AERA Code of Ethics).

➡ [Download the Research Ethics Declaration form]

 

Compliance with Ethical Standards

To ensure objectivity, transparency, and adherence to accepted principles of ethical and professional conduct, authors should include a separate section entitled "Compliance with Ethical Standards" in their manuscript when submitting. This section should address the following, as applicable to the study:

  1. Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest Authors should declare any relationships or interests that could be perceived as influencing the research or its reporting. ➡ [Download the Conflicts of Interest Statement form]
  2. Research Involving Human Participants Studies involving human participants — including classroom observation, surveys, interviews, language tests, or any other form of data collection involving teachers, students, or other individuals — must include confirmation that the study was conducted in accordance with ethical guidelines and that approval was obtained from the relevant institutional or ethics review body where required.

Authors must confirm that:

  • The study followed ethical principles for educational research (e.g., BERA, AERA, or equivalent national guidelines)
  • Participants were informed of the study's purpose and their right to withdraw at any time
  • Informed consent (or assent, in the case of minor participants) was obtained from all participants or their legal guardians prior to data collection
  • Participant confidentiality and anonymity were protected throughout the research and in the published manuscript

➡ [Download the Research Ethics Declaration form]

  1. Informed Consent Where studies involve the collection of data from identifiable participants — including through interviews, classroom recordings, or case studies — authors must confirm that written or verbal informed consent was obtained. In research involving minor participants (e.g., school-age language learners), parental or guardian consent must also be obtained.

Authors should include the following statement in their manuscript where applicable:

"Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study. In cases involving minor participants, consent was also obtained from parents or legal guardians."

➡ [Download the Informed Consent Confirmation form]

  1. Ethical Considerations for Vulnerable Populations Research involving vulnerable populations — including young learners, students from marginalized communities, learners with disabilities, or participants in institutional settings where power dynamics may affect voluntary participation — requires additional ethical care. Authors should describe how they identified and mitigated potential risks to participants.

Please consult IJTE's [Ethical Principles for Research with Vulnerable Groups] for further guidance.

Note for authors: Not all studies require formal ethics approval. Studies based on publicly available data, published texts, or curriculum documents, for example, are typically exempt. However, all studies involving human participants in any data collection activity require careful ethical consideration and appropriate disclosure. Authors are encouraged to contact the Editorial Team if they are uncertain about the applicable requirements.

The corresponding author is responsible for collecting all required ethics documentation and must be prepared to submit it upon request during peer review or after publication.

The Editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with these guidelines. Authors are held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfill the requirements outlined above.

Data Transparency

All authors are required to ensure that the data, materials, and any software or custom analytical tools used in their research support their published claims and comply with disciplinary standards. Individual data-sharing policies may vary according to the nature of the study and disciplinary norms in TESOL and applied linguistics research.

Results and Findings Fabrication, falsification, or selective reporting of data with the intent to deceive or mislead is a serious breach of research integrity. Study findings should be accurately recorded and stored for an appropriate period and made accessible upon reasonable request. Exceptions may be warranted to protect participant confidentiality, safeguard proprietary materials, or address similar legitimate concerns.

Authorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made a substantial contribution to the work. All significant contributors should be acknowledged as authors; others who contributed to the work should be recognized in an Acknowledgements section. Manuscripts must include a complete list of all authors' current institutional affiliations.

All named authors must have:

  1. Made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
  2. Drafted the work or critically revised it for important intellectual content;
  3. Approved the final version to be published; and
  4. Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work, including the accuracy and integrity of any part of the study.

Role of the Corresponding Author

One author must be designated as the Corresponding Author, who acts on behalf of all co-authors and takes responsibility for communication with the journal. The Corresponding Author is responsible for:

  1. Ensuring all listed authors have approved the manuscript prior to submission, including the author list and order;
  2. Managing all correspondence between the journal and co-authors before and after publication;
  3. Disclosing any re-use of previously published material and noting any unpublished manuscripts referenced in a cover letter to the Editor;
  4. Ensuring that all required disclosures, declarations, and data transparency statements are included in the manuscript.

Communication responsibilities may be delegated to a Contact or Submitting Author, provided the Corresponding Author is clearly identified in the manuscript.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must guarantee that their submitted manuscripts are entirely original. All sources, ideas, and language drawn from other works must be properly cited and attributed. Works that influenced the reported findings must be acknowledged.

Copying text from other publications without proper attribution (plagiarism), submitting substantially similar manuscripts to multiple journals simultaneously (duplicate submission), or republishing one's own previously published work without disclosure (self-plagiarism) are all prohibited.

Authors must not present data or findings collected by others as their own. They should acknowledge all works that shaped the direction of their research.

Plagiarism Screening: All submitted manuscripts are screened using Turnitin. Only manuscripts with a similarity index below 20% will be considered for publication. Manuscripts found to involve plagiarism will be immediately rejected.

AI and AI-Assisted Tools

Authorship carries responsibilities that cannot be delegated to artificial intelligence. Authors must be able to endorse the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the submitted work, and AI-generated tools cannot fulfill authorship criteria.

Manuscripts written entirely or substantially by AI or AI-assisted writing tools will not be accepted for publication. This policy applies to the writing and drafting process only, and does not restrict the use of AI tools for data analysis, coding, or methodological procedures. Where AI tools are used as part of the research methodology, they must be described clearly in the Methods section.

Authors who use AI-assisted tools at any stage of manuscript preparation must disclose this in their submission. A corresponding statement will be included in the published article. Such disclosure promotes transparency and ensures compliance with the terms of service of the tools used.

Duplicate Submission

By submitting a manuscript to IJTE, authors certify that the work is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and has not been previously published in any form.

Corrections and Retractions

Authors are required to notify the Editorial Team promptly and cooperate fully in the correction or retraction of any errors in published work.

The journal will retract published articles in cases where: findings are demonstrated to be false due to data fabrication or error; results have been published elsewhere without appropriate disclosure or consent (redundant publication); or the work involves plagiarism or serious ethical violations.

In cases of suspected misconduct, the Editorial Team will conduct an investigation in consultation with reviewers and relevant parties. Where misconduct is confirmed, the journal will issue corrections to the online record, notify affected authors and editors of other journals as appropriate, and may decline future submissions from the author(s) involved for a specified period.

Confidentiality

All correspondence between authors and the journal — including communication with Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editors, and reviewer reports — must be treated as confidential. This information must not be shared without explicit consent from the relevant parties.

Publication Ethics

IJTE publishes research conducted within an appropriate and clearly described research design. The Editorial Team and reviewers are responsible for monitoring adherence to ethical research and reporting standards.

In the event of an alleged ethical violation or research misconduct, IJTE will remove the article from its website pending investigation and will request a written explanation from the corresponding author within seven (7) days. The Editorial Team will review the response and issue a final decision. All corrections, clarifications, retractions, or expressions of concern will be published openly on the journal's website.

Reviewers' Responsibilities

Reviewers make a voluntary contribution to the scholarly community and play a vital role in maintaining the quality of the editorial process.

Reviewers are expected to:

  • Provide an objective and informed assessment of the manuscript based on their knowledge of the field;
  • Complete their reviews within the timeframe specified at the point of acceptance;
  • Notify the Editor if they become aware of significant overlap between the manuscript and any other published or unpublished work;
  • Maintain strict confidentiality regarding all manuscript materials;
  • Disclose any professional or personal relationships with the authors that could compromise impartiality, and recuse themselves from the review where a conflict of interest exists.

Decisions on Publication

All manuscripts submitted to IJTE receive peer review by a minimum of two independent experts. The Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor is responsible for final publication decisions, taking into account the manuscript's scholarly merit, relevance to the field, reviewer recommendations, and all applicable legal and ethical standards, including issues of copyright, defamation, and research integrity. The Editor-in-Chief may consult additional editors or reviewers when making this determination.