About the Journal
Focus and Scope
The journal aims at bringing together the scholars interested in languages and technology, linguistic theory development, empirical research of different aspects of languages functioning within a society.
The articles published in the journal focus on theoretical and empirical research, including General Linguistics, Applied Linguistics (Translation studies, Computational Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Media Linguistics, etc.), Comparative and Contrastive Linguistics.
The journal aims at becoming a multidisciplinary venue of sharing ideas and experience among the scholars working in the field.
Peer Review Process
Every manuscript submitted to the journal Kalbų studijos / Studies about Languages is evaluated and commented upon by two independent experts within the same field of research, nominated by the Editorial Board. Every manuscript undergoes a double-blind peer review, which means that the identity of the reviewers and the authors are not disclosed to either party. In case of disagreement, the third reviewer might be appointed.
All manuscripts submitted to Kalbų studijos / Studies about Languages journal must be original contributions, and must not be under consideration for publication with another journal, nor have been previously published, in part or whole.
Each independent reviewer is provided with the review form. After providing the comments, the reviewer should choose one of the options for the reviewed paper (recommended for publication without any changes; recommended for publication after major/minor corrections; not recommended for publication). Authors receive anonymous feedback on their manuscripts and use it for revisions (if they are necessary).
Peer review aims at establishing that a submitted article is original work which has not been previously published nor is under consideration by another journal, in part or whole; the article meets all applicable standards of ethics; the paper is relevant to the journal’s aims, scope, and readership; a submitted article presents original research findings; a submitted review article offers a comprehensive critical review and evaluation of key literature sources for a given topic; and the article is methodologically and technically sound.
The editor’s role is to act as a gatekeeper in the research field. The editor performs initial screening and considers whether the manuscript conforms to journal’s aims and scope, style guidelines, and instructions for authors. Every manuscript is checked by plagiarism detection software iThenticate. The journal protects the rights of authors and investigates claims of plagiarism or misunderstandings of published articles. In case the fact of plagiarism is determined, the editorial board of the journal has the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; informing the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies.
If suitable, the paper is sent out for peer review. Unsuitable papers may be rejected without peer review at the editor’s discretion.
The initial screening for paper suitability in terms of the scope and focus of the journal and compliance with journal requirements as well as reviewer assignment occurs within 8 weeks after manuscript submission. The first round review process may take 3 to 5 months, depending on the availability of reviewers. Peer review is a rigorous process, which demands proper time and attention. The editorial team works tirelessly to ensure that peer review is as timely and rigorous as possible.
After the review process is completed, the editor recommends a decision based on the reviews received. The editor’s decision is final. The author may then revise the paper and if suitable it will then be accepted for publication. The second round review, if needed, may take another few months.
The reviewers are academic or professional researchers working in the field, familiar with the research literature. They offer their expertise voluntarily in order to assist with the improvement of quality for the suggested manuscripts.
Thus, every research article which gets published in the journal Kalbų studijos / Studies about Languages has undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening, anonymous refereeing by independent expert reviewers, consequent revision by article authors and a second round review when required.
Publication Frequency
It is a biannual publication. The journal issues (no fewer than 8 articles per issue) are published in July and December. Manuscripts received by the end of December are considered for publication in the summer issue of the next year, and those received by the end of June are considered for publication in the winter issue. However, the editors secure the right to consider manuscripts received past the indicated time for publication in the newest issues, should that fit the journal's purposes.
Open Access Policy
Studies about Languages / Kalbų studijos is published open access under the CC-BY 4.0 licence which allows readers to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles. The journal provides open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
License
Studies about Languages / Kalbų studijos is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license.
Copyright
The copyright for the articles in this journal is retained by the author(s) with the first publication right granted to the journal. The authors agree to the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 agreement under which the paper in the Journal is licensed.
Charges, Article processing charges
No article processing charges (APCs) or submission charges are required to complete the publication process.
Publication Statement
Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement
(based on COPE's Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors)
Kalbų studijos / Studies About Languages is peer-reviewed research journal published by Kaunas University of Technology. The journal is committed to ensuring ethics in publication and quality of articles. Conformance to standards of ethical behavior is therefore expected of all parties involved: Editors, Reviewers, and the Authors.
EDITORS
• Editors should evaluate manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit.
• Editors’ decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication should be based on the paper’s importance, originality and clarity, and the study’s validity and its relevance to the journal.
• The editor ensures that material submitted to their journal remains confidential while under review.
• The editor ensures that appropriate reviewers are selected for submissions.
• The editor ensures that the journal employs the double-blind peer review: reviewers are not aware of the identity of the authors, and authors are unaware of the identity of reviewers. There are at least two reviewers for the total number of articles in each issue.
• Editors should take reasonable responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.
REVIEWERS
• Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.
• Reviews should be conducted objectively, and observations should be formulated clearly with supporting arguments, so that authors can use them for improving the paper.
• The reviewers should comment on the originality of submissions and should be alert to redundant publication and plagiarism.
• Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
• The reviewers assist the editors in taking the decision of publishing a submitted manuscript. By formulating suggestions to the authors, the reviewers can contribute to the improvement of submitted works.
AUTHORS
• The authors should ensure that their work is entirely original, not published before and if the work and/or words of others have been used, this has been appropriately acknowledged.
• Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
• Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
• The corresponding author should ensure that there is a full consensus of all co-authors in approving the final version of the paper and its submission for publication.
Journal History
The journal is in print since 2001.
