Publication Ethics and Misconduct

NeuroLingua: Journal of Cognitive, Technological, and Cultural Language Learning is a peer-reviewed international journal fully committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. This statement describes the ethical responsibilities of all parties involved in publishing—authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher. It follows the COPE Core Practices (2022), the ICMJE Recommendations (2023), and the DOAJ Transparency Guidelines (2022).

Allegations of Misconduct

Research misconduct includes fabrication, falsification, citation manipulation, and plagiarism. In cases of suspected violations, the Editors and Editorial Board will follow COPE best practices to resolve complaints fairly. Manuscripts found to contain ethical breaches will be rejected. If a published article is confirmed to violate ethical standards, a correction, expression of concern, or retraction will be issued in accordance with the COPE Retraction Guidelines (2019) and the CrossRef Crossmark Policy (2023).

Publication Decisions

The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for publication decisions, guided solely by academic merit, originality, and relevance to the journal’s scope. Editorial decisions are independent and free from commercial influence, following Scopus CSAB criteria.

Plagiarism Screening

All submissions are screened using iThenticate or Turnitin. Manuscripts with a similarity index exceeding 20% or containing plagiarism will be rejected, in line with DOAJ Best Practice Guidelines (2022).

Complaints and Appeals

NeuroLingua provides a transparent mechanism for handling complaints and appeals. Complaints are assessed independently, and COPE flowcharts are followed to ensure fairness and accountability.

Post-Publication Discussions

NeuroLingua encourages academic dialogue and allows post-publication discussions through letters to the editor, scholarly commentaries, and moderated platforms.

Fair Play

All manuscripts are evaluated based on intellectual content, without discrimination regarding race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or political orientation.

Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff must treat all manuscripts as confidential, disclosing information only to the corresponding author, reviewers, and relevant editorial advisors.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose all potential conflicts of interest. Unpublished materials from submissions may not be used for personal research without the author’s explicit written consent.

Data Sharing and Transparency

NeuroLingua encourages authors to share data, methodologies, and tools to promote transparency and reproducibility. Authors are strongly encouraged to follow the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must provide constructive, objective, and timely feedback to improve manuscript quality. They must report ethical concerns and declare conflicts of interest.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must ensure their manuscripts are original, cite prior research appropriately, and avoid duplicate submission. Authors are required to disclose funding sources and conflicts of interest.

For research involving human participants (such as language learning interventions, psychological or cognitive experiments, surveys, or sociocultural studies), authors must obtain approval from a recognized ethics committee and secure written informed consent, which must be clearly documented in the manuscript.

For conceptual papers, literature reviews, computational modeling, or AI-based frameworks that do not involve human participants, authors may indicate “Not applicable” in the ethics approval section. This ensures that ethical standards are enforced while remaining flexible and aligned with the journal’s focus on cognitive, technological, and cultural language learning.

Ethical Oversight

All research involving human participants must comply with international ethical standards. Authors must clearly document ethical approval and informed consent procedures in their manuscripts. Sensitive or confidential data must be managed responsibly and securely, with justification provided when necessary.

Publisher’s Responsibilities

The publisher of NeuroLingua ensures editorial independence, safeguards the integrity of the academic record, and prevents any commercial or political influence on editorial decisions.