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Author Guidelines

1. Article Types and Word Limits

JMT publishes the following article types:

All word counts include tables, figure captions, and footnotes but exclude the abstract, reference list, and appendices. Abstracts (not required for Book Reviews): 150–200 words, plus 5–6 keywords.

2. Manuscript Preparation

Free-format initial submission: To lower barriers for our international authorship, JMT accepts initial submissions in any clear, consistent format and reference style, provided the manuscript is anonymized, complete, and within the word limit. Full compliance with the formatting and APA 7 requirements below is required at the revision/acceptance stage.

Format: MS Word (.docx), 12-pt Times New Roman, double-spaced, numbered pages and lines, 1-inch/2.54 cm margins.

Anonymization: JMT operates double-anonymous peer review. The main manuscript file must contain no author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, or self-identifying references. A separate title page must include: full title, author name(s), affiliation(s), ORCID iD(s), corresponding author contact details, word count, and any funding/acknowledgment statements.

Self-citation: Citations to the authors’ own published work must not be anonymized or removed: cite and reference it normally in the third person, so that reviewers can properly assess the manuscript’s engagement with the literature. Only the authors’ own unpublished or under-review work should be anonymized (e.g., “Author, under review”). In all cases, self-citation should be kept to the minimum necessary for the argument, consistent with COPE guidance on citation manipulation.

Structure: Title page (separate file) → Abstract & keywords → Introduction → Literature Review/Theoretical Framework → Methodology → Findings/Results → Discussion → Conclusion → References → Appendices.

Language: Manuscripts must be submitted in English. Authors publishing multilingual data (transcripts, texts) should provide the original language alongside an English gloss/translation, using interlinear glossing conventions (Leipzig Glossing Rules) where relevant.

Tables and figures: Numbered consecutively, referred to in text, with titles/captions above (tables) or below (figures). High-resolution figures (min. 300 dpi) submitted as separate files.

3. Terminology and Inclusive Language Policy

Authors are expected to:

1. Avoid deficit-oriented binaries such as “native speaker/non-native speaker” or “ESL/EFL learner” used pejoratively; prefer terms such as multilingual user, emergent bilingual/multilingual, English language learner (ELL), plurilingual speaker, L1 user / LX user, or context-specific self-identifications used by participants.
2. Use person-first or identity-affirming language for learners, avoiding deficit labels (e.g., “limited English proficient”) unless quoting policy documents verbatim.
3. Capitalize and define acronyms (TESOL, EMI, CLIL, ELF, etc.) at first use.
4. Where translanguaging or code meshing data are presented, clarify their own terminological choices and theoretical stance in a footnote or methods subsection.

4. Referencing Style

JMT follows APA (7th edition) author–date style for in-text citations and reference lists, reflecting its TESOL/applied-linguistics readership. Authors should consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) or the journal’s downloadable reference template. Where free-format initial submission applies (Section 3), APA 7 compliance is required at revision/acceptance.

5. Peer Review Process

1. Editorial screening by the Editor-in-Chief/Associate Editors for scope, originality, and basic quality (1–2 weeks), guided by the journal’s desk-review checklist (see Section 10).
2. Double-anonymous peer review by a minimum of two independent expert reviewers. Where an Editor has a competing interest in a submission, the manuscript is reassigned to another Editor.
3. Decision categories: Accept / Minor Revisions / Major Revisions / Reject.
4. Typical first-decision time: 8–12 weeks.
5. Authors may suggest (but not guarantee) potential reviewers and may request exclusion of specific reviewers with justification.

6. Research and Publication Ethics

Submission implies the work is original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere.

6.1 Ethics Approval and Informed Consent

1. All studies involving human participants must confirm institutional ethics review board (IRB) approval (or equivalent) in the Methods section, including the approving body and, where available, protocol number.
2. Informed consent procedures must be described in the Methods section. Consent forms must be written in a language the participant, or, for minors, the parent/guardian, fully understands; where forms were translated, this should be stated.
3. Research with minors (under 18): authors must obtain and report both parent/guardian consent and the minor’s own assent.
4. Identifiable materials: where identifiable student work, images, audio/video, or names appear in a manuscript, authors must hold signed releases from the individuals concerned (or their guardians) and provide them to the journal before publication.

6.2 Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

1. AI tools cannot be listed as authors and cannot take responsibility for the integrity of the work.
2. Any use of generative AI in preparing a manuscript must be disclosed at submission, naming the tool(s) used and describing how they were used (e.g., language editing, code, data analysis support).
3. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, validity, originality, and correct citation of all content, including any content produced or edited with AI assistance.
4. Authors must ensure that AI-generated or AI-reproduced text does not introduce plagiarism; all manuscripts are screened with plagiarism-detection software.

6.3 Permissions

The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining written permission from copyright holders for any reproduced or adapted third-party material (tables, figures, images, instruments, extended text extracts, or media) and must supply this documentation at submission.

6.4 Authorship, Integrity, and Data

1. Authors must disclose funding sources and conflicts of interest.
2. Authorship must follow ICMJE/COPE-consistent criteria; all listed authors must have made a substantive contribution.
3. JMT is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and follows COPE guidelines on misconduct, plagiarism, citation manipulation, and image manipulation.
4. Manuscripts are screened using plagiarism-detection software (e.g., iThenticate/Turnitin).
5. Data availability statements are encouraged; where ethically and legally permissible, authors are encouraged to share de-identified data, coding schemes, or instruments as supplementary materials.

7. Open Access and Copyright

JMT offers a hybrid open access model: authors may publish open access (an Article Processing Charge applies, with waivers/discounts for authors from low- and middle-income countries) or via traditional subscription publishing with green open access self-archiving rights (the accepted manuscript may be deposited in a repository after a 12–18 months embargo).

Authors retain the right to share accepted manuscripts for scholarly/non-commercial use, consistent with the publisher’s standard copyright/licensing agreement. Authors of open access articles retain copyright under a CC-BY license; subscription articles are published under a standard license-to-publish/copyright transfer agreement.

8. Submission Process

Manuscripts are submitted online via [Editorial Manager]. Required files at submission:

1. Anonymized main manuscript (.docx)
2. Separate title page with author details, ORCID, funding/ethics statements
3. Figures/tables (if separate)
4. Supplementary materials (if any)
5. Written permissions for any reproduced/adapted third-party material (see Section 7.3)
6. Generative-AI disclosure statement, where applicable (see Section 7.2)
7. Cover letter briefly stating fit with journal scope

9. Author Support

JMT is developing JMT Research Guidelines, method-by-method manuscript preparation advice (including guidance on converting dissertations into journal articles), together with a published desk-review checklist setting out the questions editors apply at initial screening. A downloadable APA 7 reference template is available from the journal’s website.