ISSN 2619-7219
Submission Guidelines
1. Documents to submit. Authors should submit three Word documents: (1) the anonymized manuscript, (2) the author identity page, and (3) an originality report.
The anonymized manuscript (titled as such) should NOT contain any information that will identify the author/s. Remove all names from the by-line and the filename to help protect the integrity of the blind peer review.
The author identity page should contain the following information for each of the authors:
1. Full name (including any academic titles, e.g., PhD, MA)
2. Email address
3. Organization or Institutional affiliation, City, Country
Example: University of Santo Tomas, Manila, the Philippines
4. A 2×2 photo in JPEG format (high resolution)
5. A brief biographical information of not more than 100 words, including the educational background (i.e., PhD) and research interests of the author.
The originality report may be generated by the author through similarity report checkers like Grammarly or MS Word. It should show a similarity score not higher than 20%. The manuscript should be an original work, has not been previously published elsewhere, is not currently being reviewed, and will not be submitted to another journal while it is being considered for publication by AJELS. Should the author/s wish to withdraw the paper from further consideration by the journal, a formal withdrawal request should be sent to the editor.
2. Formatting. The manuscript should:
- be in MS Word document format;
- be double-spaced, except the abstract, keywords, acknowledgments, notes, tables, references, and appendices which should be typed single-spaced;
- be typed using Times New Roman, size 12;
- have one-inch margin on all sides and justified (i.e., the text is aligned to both the left and the right margins);
- have pages consecutively numbered (bottom center);
- have the first line of each paragraph indented, except for the first line of the text in each section and subsection;
- have an abstract composed of 150-250 words (except for book reviews and the PhD abstract); and
- have the following length depending on the type of submission: research article (5,000 to 10,000 words), brief report (2,500 to 4,000 words), review article (3,000 to 4,000 words), book review (700 to 1,000 words), PhD abstract (900 to 18,00 words)
3. A research should include the following parts: title, abstract, keywords, main body, and references. Divide the article into clearly defined and numbered sections.
- Title: The title should be clear and concise (maximum of 15 words). Avoid abbreviations and formulae.
- Abstract: The abstract must be between 150-250 words reflecting the main focus of the article; a summary of the article’s essential points, including, where relevant, the objective, theoretical framework, method, relevant findings, and conclusion. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or unspecified references.
- Keywords: Provide four to six keywords to facilitate locating keyword searches of the article in the future.
- Main Body: The manuscript should have these essential parts: introduction, method, results, discussion, and conclusion.
- Introduction: The introduction should be succinct. Make sure that the following basic rhetorical moves are included in this section: (1) establish a niche; (2) identify a gap; (3) occupy the gap; and (4) state the purpose. At least, present the purpose(s) of the study and provide a niche for your work.
- Method: The method section should describe the subjects, procedures, instruments, and design. Each of these should be presented under a heading of its own. The instruments (questionnaires, tests, and the like) should be presented in the appendices section at the end of the manuscript. Provide sufficient details to allow the context of the work to be thoroughly understood by readers, i.e., clearly describe the context and participants or subjects along with strategies used to gather and analyze data. Evidence of reliability and validity of the instruments used should also be presented.
- Results (and) Discussion: In discussing the findings of the study, the author should explore the significance of the results of his or her work. By citing relevant literature, he or she should show in this section(s) how the study connects with or deviates from the already published body of existing literature.
- Conclusion: The main conclusions should be clear and concise. The conclusion section can include suggestions and recommendations based on the research findings as well as pedagogical implications of the study.
- References: The author is responsible for ensuring that information in each reference entry are complete and accurate. All quoted or cited sources (primary or secondary) in the manuscript should be properly referenced; hence, there should be one-to-one correspondence between the cited or quoted sources and the ones found in the reference list.
4. A brief report is a small-scale research that highlights initial results of a specific preliminary study, which prompt the need for further exploration. It should have the following parts: (a) title, (b) abstract, (c) introduction, (d) method, (e) results and discussion [which can be separate sections], (f) conclusion, and (g) references.
5. A review articleis a critical, constructive analysis of the literature in a specific field through summary, analysis, and comparison. It serves to determine patterns and trends in the literature, synthesize the literature, and identify research gaps and recommend new research areas. It should contain the following parts: (a) title, (b), abstract, (c) introduction, (d) method, (e) results and discussion [which can be separate sections], (f) conclusion, and (g) references.
6. A book review is a critical evaluation of a book; thus, it is a commentary, not merely a summary, that makes an argument. It should contain the following parts: (a) a concise summary of the book’s content [i.e., relevant description of the topic; and overall perspective, argument, or purpose], (b) a critical assessment of the content [i.e., discussion of noteworthy insights, assessment of the content’s persuasive quality, and evaluation of the content’s significance in terms of understanding the issues at hand], and (c) a final commentary and recommendations whether or not the reader would appreciate the book. The review should cover books published in the previous or the current year.
7. A PhD abstract is an extended abstract of a dissertation for a PhD in English language studies or Linguistics that has been awarded by a higher education institution in the Asia-Pacific region. It should specify the title, award institution, date of award, keywords, and a brief discussion of the study’s background, objectives, method, main findings and arguments, and distinct contributions to the field of English language studies and linguistics, as well as references.
8. The APA Citation Style 7th Editionshould be used in writing references and citations, including punctuations and abbreviations, construction of tables, selection of headings, and presentation of statistics. Subsections should be numbered 1, (then 1.1, 1.1.1, 1.1.2), 2, etc. The abstract is not included in section numbering.
9. Disclosure instructions. Authors are required to include in their manuscript (after the reference list) disclosure statements for ethics approval, funding support, conflict of interest, and use of generative AI in the preparation of the article. Below are sample statements.
Ethics disclosure: The protocol for this research was reviewed and approved by the [Ethics Review Board] on [Date].
Funding: This project was financially supported by a research grant from [Funding Institution].
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Use of Generative AI: In preparing this article, the author(s) used [Generative AI tool] in order to [Reason]. The author(s) reviewed and finalized the writing of the content. The author(s) take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.
10. Writing Style. The writing style should be appropriate, academic, and clear. The language of the manuscript should be English.
11. Figures and Tables. Figures, if provided, should be clear and in JPEG format (high resolution). All figures and tables should be embedded in the manuscript file.
12. The copyright of a manuscript published by the journal remains with its author/s. The author/s may republish his or her work on condition that AJELS is acknowledged as the original publisher (see Publication Ethics and Copyright). The author/s should also sign a copyright-agreement form upon the formal acceptance of the paper. The author/s should also take the responsibility for obtaining permission to reproduce any figures, illustrations, tables, and the like from other publishers and to properly acknowledge other authors’ work.
13. Peer Review. All submissions will undergo a double-blind review. The review process includes the following:
- initial screening and review of manuscripts by the editorial board;
- revision of potential papers by authors based on comments /suggestions of the editorial board;
- sending of approved revised papers for peer review of experts from the international advisory board;
- review, issuance of report, evaluation, and recommendation by experts; and
- sending of reviews of experts to authors and revision of accepted paper based on the experts’ suggestions.
