Issues in Language Teaching Journal:
Guide for Authors
Issues in Language Teaching is a peer-reviewed, scientific-research (Elmi-pazhuheshi) journal that provides a forum in which research on English language teaching and learning from various perspectives (including sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, discoursal, and interlanguage pragmatic ones) can be combined. Issues in Language Teaching is explicitly national in focus but encourages scholarly contributions from a wide range of international contexts to explore both commonalities and differences in language teaching policy and practice in settings where the activity is deliberately organized to promote language learning. It publishes manuscripts that are focused on and have clear implications for language teaching and learning. The journal charges authors 6,000,000 Rials (2,000,000 Rials as the fee for reviewing and processing the research paper and 4,000,000 Rials after getting accepted and for publishing the research paper). The rest of the costs will be financially supported by Allameh Tabatabai University. Non-Iranian authors are not required to pay any fee as submission to this journal is free of charge for them.
N.B. All authors are required to send a Bio-Data file, which contains all authors' bio, under "Title Page" while submitting their manuscripts. Articles that do not follow this point will not be processed and will be sent back to authors.
Authors are required to include a Persian abstract.
I. Text Citations
All references in the text and notes must be specified by the authors’ last names and date of publication together with page numbers for direct quotations from print sources.
Do not use ibid., op. cit., infra., supra.
Note the following for the style of text citations:
1. If the author’s name is in the text, follow with year in parentheses:
... Author Last Name (year) has argued ...
2. If the author’s name is not in the text, insert last name, comma and year:
... several works (Author Last Name, year) have described ...
3. For direct quotations, the page number follows the year, preceded by ‘p.’ (not a colon):
... it has been noted (Author Last Name, year, p. XXX) that ...
4. Where there are two authors, always cite both names, joined by ‘and’ if within running text and outside of parentheses; joined by an ampersand (&) if within parenthetical material, in tables and in captions, and in the reference list:
… Author Last Name and Author Last Name stated that…
... it has been stated (Author Last Name & Author Last Name, year) ...
5. When a work has three, four, or five authors, cite all authors the first time the citation occurs; in subsequent citations, include only the surname of the first author followed by ‘et al.’ (not italicized and with a period after ‘al’) and the year if it is the first citation of the reference within a paragraph:
… Author Last Name, Author Last Name, Author Last Name, and Author Last Name (year) found that…[Use as first citation in text.] [Use ampersand if within parentheses.]
... Author Last Name et al. (year) found that [Use as subsequent citation thereafter.]
6. When a work has six or more authors, cite only the surname of the first author followed by ‘et al.’ (not italicized and followed by a period after ‘al’) and the year for the first and subsequent citations.
In the reference list, however, provide the surnames and initials for up to and including the first seven authors. When authors number eight or more, include the first six authors’ names, then insert three ellipses and then add the last author’s name, for example:
Shackley, H., Powell, J., Leeming, K., Read, A., Goggins, A., Westwood, K., ... Ray, D. R. (2010). Article title. Journal, 20, 220−260.
7. If two references with six or more authors shorten to the same form, cite the surnames of the first authors and of as many of the subsequent authors as necessary to distinguish the two references, followed by a comma and ‘et al.’.
For example:
If you have entries for the following references:
… Smith, Jones, Clark, Kumar, Green, and Goggins (2000)
… Smith, Jones, Miller, Green, Powell, and Goggins (2000)
In the text you would cite them, respectively, as:
… Smith, Jones, Clark, et al. (2000) and Smith, Jones, Miller, et al. (2000)
8. If two or more references by the same author are cited together, separate the dates with a comma (in chronological order):
... the author has stated this in several studies (Author Last Name, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006) ...
9. If there is more than one reference to the same author (or by the same two or more authors in the same order) and year, insert the suffixes ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc. after the year of publication and repeat the year. The suffixes are assigned in the reference list, where these kinds of references are ordered alphabetically by title (of the article, chapter, or complete work):
... it was described (Author Last Name, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c) ...
10. List two or more works by different authors who are cited within the same parentheses in alphabetical order by the first author’s surname, separated by semicolons:
... and it has been noted (Clark, 2001; Miller, 2001) ...
Exception: You may separate a major citation from other citations within parentheses by inserting a phrase, such as ‘see also’ before the first of the remaining citations, which should be in alphabetical order:
... (Miller, 2001; see also Clark, 2000; Smith, 2000) ...
11. When names of groups (e.g. government agencies, universities, etc.) serve as authors, these are usually spelled out each time they appear in a text citation. However, some group authors can be spelled out in the first citation and abbreviated thereafter:
First text citation:
... (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2000) ...
Subsequent text citation:
... (NIMH, 2000) ...
12. When a work has no author as such, cite in the text the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks around the title of an article or chapter or web page and italicize the title of a journal, book, etc.:
... it was stated (“Title of publication”, year) that ...
13. Citations from personal communications are not included in the reference list; cite in text only, giving the initials as well as the surname of the communicator and provide as exact a date as possible:
... (Initial and Last Name of Person, personal communication, April 28, 2000).
II. Reference List
A. General
1. Check that the list is in alphabetical order by surname of the first author (treat Mc and Mac alphabetically and literally, not as if they were all spelled ‘Mac’).
2. Names should be in initial cap then lower case.
3. Where several references have the same author(s), do not use ditto marks or em dashes; the name must be repeated each time.
4. Last Names containing de, van, von, De, Van, Von, de la, etc. should be alphabetized according to the language of origin.
5. Names containing Jr or II should be listed as follows:
Author Last Name, Initials, Jr. (year).
Author Last Name, Initials, II (year).
6. When ordering several works by the same first author:
• Single-author references arranged in date order, the earliest first;
• Single-author entries precede multiple-author entries beginning with the same surname
• Two or more author references in alphabetical order according to the second author’s last name, or if the second author is the same, the last name of the third author, and so on
• References with the same authors in the same order are arranged by year of publication, the earliest first:
Brown, J. (2003)
Brown, T. R., & Yates, P. (2003)
Brown, W. (2002)
Brown, W. (2003a)
Brown, W., Hughes, J., & Kent, T. (2003)
Brown, W., & Jones, M. (2003)
Brown, W., & Peters, P. (2002)
7. Check that all periodical data are included – volume and page numbers (complete span, not shortened), publisher, place of publication, etc.
Only give the issue number in parentheses immediately after the volume number if each issue of a journal begins on page 1.
8. The date of retrieval of online material is no longer required, only the URL; see example below.
9. A word about publisher locations in book references: for all countries outside the US, the country as well as the city of publication should be supplied, e.g. ‘London, UK’, ‘Oxford, UK’, ‘Toronto, Canada’, etc. For the US, the state abbreviation should be included after the city, except when the name of the state is part of the publisher’s name, e.g. ‘New York, NY: Cambridge University Press’; ‘New York: State University of New York’; ‘Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press’.
10. Check journal for examples.
B. Reference Styles
Journal article
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Article title. Journal Name, vol no.(issue no.), xx–xx.
Miller, A. J., Thomson, F., & Callagher, D. (1998). Affluence in suburbia. Suburbian Studies, 12(1), 9–12.
Book
Author, A. A. (1994). Book title. Location: Publisher.
Miller, A. J., Thomson, F., & Callagher, D. (1998). Affluence in suburbia. London, UK: BL Books.
Chapter in book
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (1994). Chapter title. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C. Editor (Eds.), Book title (pp. xxx–xxx). Location: Publisher.
Miller, A. J., Thomson, F., & Callagher, D. (1998). Epping case study. In C. Carter (Ed.), Affluence in suburbia (pp. 200–250). London, UK: BL Books.
Website
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (1994). Online article title. Online Journal, xx, xxx–xxx. Retrieved from http://xxxx.xxxx.xx.xx/xxxx/xxxxxx/
Miller, A. J., Thomson, F., & Callagher, D. (1998). Epping case study. Suburban studies, 12, 1–9. Retrieved from http://xxxx.xxxx.xx.xx/xxxx/xxxxxx/
III. Manuscript Style
Manuscripts submitted to Issues in Language Teaching should be based on empirical or data-based, not review, studies and should not be under consideration by any other journal. Neither should it have been published in full or partial form in any other journal or full-length conference proceedings. Exceptions to this rule are conference presentations and books of abstracts. The letter accompanying the submission of a manuscript should contain a clear statement to this effect, i.e. the manuscript has not been published and is not under review by any other journals.
Submissions should be produced using a standard word processing program, such as MS Word. Figures or artwork should be supplied in a finished form, suitable for reproduction, as these cannot be redrawn by the journal. Footnotes/Endnotes should be avoided.
Please ensure that the files are saved as Word files. Any consistent spelling style is acceptable. Use double quotation and use single quotation marks within double if needed.
Typing: Manuscripts submitted for publication should be word-processed and single-spaced throughout.
Length: The length should be 6000-9000 words, including references and appendices, with an abstract of 200-250 words and up to 5 key words. Manuscripts not observing this length will not be reviewed for publication.
Spacing and paragraphing: All paragraphs should be indented except those immediately following headings. All paragraphs should be justified and no additional, i.e. space after, is needed between paragraphs.
Titles: Titles and section headings should be clear and brief. A manuscript should strictly follow the section structure below:
Introduction
Literature Review
Purpose of the Study
Method
Results
Discussion
Conclusions and Implications
Quotations: Lengthy quotations (over 40 words) should be indented in the text without quotation marks. Short quotations in the text itself should be marked as such with “double quotation marks.”
Language and Spelling: Only papers in English are published. Quotations of text fragments in other languages should be translated.
Tables and Figures: Tables and figures should be numbered and have descriptive titles. Gray-scale or line art images are acceptable. The journal will not print color images. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place captions to tables above the table body (e.g. Table 1: One-way ANOVA for the effect of gender on the performance on the groups) and footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules and lines. For figures place both captions and footnotes below the figure. The font size for tables, figures, and their captions must be 11, and the style must be Times New Roman. Tables and figures should be supplied in the actual place in the text.
Cover sheets: The paper should have a cover sheet with the following information: title of the paper, name of author(s); institutional affiliation (department, university, city, country), a biographical note of no more than 80 words, email and postal addresses; and telephone no, and word counts for the manuscript and for the abstract. Give the names of all contributing authors in the order you wish them to appear in the published article. The cover sheet should be part of the same file as the paper.
The subject of submission email should be “Manuscript Submission.”
Font: Times New Roman, 12 point. Use margins of 2.5 cm (1 inch).
Title: Use bold for your article title, with an initial capital letter for any proper nouns and font 16 point.
Abstract: Indicate the abstract paragraph with a heading or by reducing the font size to 11 point. The abstract should have five sections/moves: background, purpose, method, results, conclusions/implications.
Headings: Please indicate the level of the section headings in your article:
• First-level headings (e.g. INTRODUCTION, CONCLUSION) should be in bold, with a capital letter for all words and font 14 point .
• Second-level headings (e.g. Data Collection Procedure) should be in bold, with an initial capital letter for any proper nouns and font 14 point.
• Third-level headings (e.g. The Proficiency Test) should be in bold italics, with an initial capital letter for any proper nouns and font 12 point.
• Fourth-level headings should also be in bold italics, at the beginning of a paragraph, with an initial capital letter for any proper nouns and font 12 point, and the text must follow immediately after a colon.
All headings should be justified left.
Running heads are not required when submitting a manuscript for review.
IV. Journal Ethics and Principles
Plagiarism: A manuscript is not further processed if any instance of plagiarism is discovered at any phase before its publication. As a manuscript will be reviewed for instances of plagiarism even after the issuance of an acceptance letter, the journal will reserve the right not to publish a manuscript once the occurrence of plagiarism becomes evident and will not accept submissions from such authors for a minimum of two years.
Supervisors’ names: All manuscripts primarily based on theses and dissertations should include the supervisor’s name irrespective of the time lapse between the defense session and submission of the manuscript unless the supervisor sends an email or letter to the journal stating his/her decision as to not being willing to be named as an author. The journal’s definite preference is the inclusion of the supervisor as the first author. The author submitting the manuscript, either the supervisor or the co-author, is considered to be the corresponding author unless otherwise indicated.
Revision: When a paper is returned to the author for revision, depending on the scope of the revision, the author needs to revise the paper within 2-3 weeks. Returning a paper to the author for revision does not amount to its final acceptance unless the reviewers approve the application of their comments.
Review policies and decisions: The review process normally takes three months. Papers submitted to the journal are first screened through in-house review to ensure that submission guidelines have been largely observed and to determine whether the paper merits further independent review. Next, they undergo rigorous peer review. This involves anonymized reviewing by two anonymous reviewers and where there is a split decision by a third reviewer. A manuscript may be accepted without revision, with minor revision without being returned to the reviewers after modification, with major revision, or rejected. In case a manuscript requires revision, reviewers’ comments will be sent to the author. For manuscripts rejected after in-house review, the author will not receive any detailed comments.
Note: Some of the points in the above Guide for Authors are taken from Taylor & Francis and APA style sheets directly or with modifications.
The Authors are required to complete and submit the Conflict of Interest Disclosure and Copyright Transfer Forms below.
Commitment of Compliance with Copyright Laws and Transfer
For consistency purposes, please use the article model provided by ATU Press.