Guide for Authors and Publication Ethics

JSALL Code of Conduct

Base on COPE

The Journal of Studies on Arabic Language and Literature follows the ethical policies approved by the International Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. It is also subject to the ethical principles approved by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran for scientific journals.

1. Guide for Authors

The Guide for Authors and the Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement (PEMS) support combined efforts by authors, editors, and reviewers to produce a responsible research publication.

All authors must know and keep in mind the Editorial policy and the Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement.

Guidelines for the submission of articles and manuscript preparation and format are to be found on the Instructions for author’s webpage.

1.1 Fees or charges for authors

Submission fees: none.

Publication fees (article processing charges or APCs): 5.000.000 Rial

1.2 Review policy

Authors are obliged, for all materials submitted, to participate in a peer review process and to follow publication conventions.

All authors are obliged to make the requested changes and correct mistakes. When changes are asked for, the authors have a certain timeline for submitting their modifications. In each case, the authors and reviewers will come to a common understanding of the deadline, based on the nature and quantity of the requested changes.

1.3 Copyright, access, and licensing

The intellectual property and copyright on the original content of all scientific contributions shall remain with the authors. The authors grant, in exchange for publication in the Journal LASEM, exclusive licensing of the first publication, giving the Journal the right to produce and disseminate the contributions, whether collectively with other articles or individually, and in all media forms known or to come.

The Journal of Studies on Arabic Language and Literature follows the ethical policies approved by the International Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. It is also subject to the ethical principles approved by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran for scientific journals.

1.4 General duties and responsibilities of Authors

• The authors shall write their manuscripts scientifically and methodically, according to the specifications of the peer-reviewed manuscripts, and avoid discussing prohibited immoral, ethnic, and sectarian topics in their articles.

• Submitted articles shall result from researchers’ efforts; authors must provide enough information so that readers can go to the original resources and review them.

• The corresponding author shall cite the names and affiliations of all the authors and make sure that there are no names other than those of the cited articles. Authors shall also have consensus by presenting the manuscripts and publishing them in the journal in their present forms.

• All the authors whose names are registered in the list of authors must seriously participate in writing the manuscripts and actively participate in accomplishing the research.

• Authors are accountable for the validity of the information contained in the manuscripts, both scientifically and legally. If a clear error is detected in the manuscripts, the corresponding author shall inform the journal editor-in-chief and remove (or correct) the error, and correct as soon as possible.

• Since in the submitted manuscripts, the information for the authors is confidential and subject to the confidential review of expert reviewers; therefore, it shall be protected by all individuals who can see it, such as the editor-in-chief, internal manager, journal expert, and other stakeholders such as reviewers, consultants, and linguistic and technical editors.

• The reviewers shall inform the journal of their agreement or disagreement with reviewing the manuscripts as soon as possible. They also shall avoid reviewing based on non-scientific reasons such as personal taste, ethnic issues, sectarianism, etc. Their comments shall be carefully, skillfully, and objectively presented.

• The Journal of Studies on Arabic Language and Literature is free to reject, accept, or modify manuscripts if necessary.
• Since plagiarism is considered one of the most unethical and decisive breaches of professional conduct, the journal’s scientific editor seeks any plagiarism and forgery that might happen and takes necessary measures if necessary. Therefore, authors must check their manuscripts in computer programs and search engines that help detect plagiarism before submitting them to the journal.

• The journal is committed to complying with the principles of justice, equal opportunities, and cultural diversity with the highest level of honesty and respect; it welcomes any proposal that helps the development of the journal and the scientific research progress.

1.5 Manuscript submission and review process

Manuscript submission and review process in the Journal of Studies on Arabic Language and Literature

1- Authors are requested to submit their manuscripts electronically to the journal’s online submission system (Submit your manuscript)

2- Manuscripts are undertaken preliminary reviews in terms of compliance with the journal’s publication terms and conditions; those manuscripts that do not comply with the publication terms and conditions shall be sent back to the corresponding author to be completed (within a week)

3- The editor-in-chief or specialized editor undertakes the initial checks of manuscripts, and then they are screened at the journal editorial board meetings (within two weeks).

4- After the journal editorial board screens manuscripts in their meetings, two reviewers are appointed to peer-review the manuscripts with novel subjects and allegedly significant results (within two weeks)

5- The manuscripts screened in the editorial board meetings are sent to the reviewers. Also, if a manuscript is rejected in the editorial board meetings, the reasons for rejecting it are announced by the editorial board (within a week).

6- The editor-in-chief receives the reviewers’ comments sent them along with the his/her comments to the corresponding authors (if the reviewers reject a manuscript or they ask for any amendment and modification in the manuscripts, it is required to be announced to the corresponding authors) (within one month)

7- The detailed implementation of the required amendments and modifications are checked (within two weeks)

8- Manuscripts will be accepted if the researchers strictly make the required modifications; otherwise, they will be rejected.

9- The authors are obliged to deposit the journal submission and publication fees to the journal’s account through the journal website. Then, the letter of acceptance shall be issued, and the publication process shall be followed up (within two weeks).

10- The accepted manuscripts are sent to the linguistic and technical editors, and the publication process is followed up.

1.6 Publication terms and conditions of the Journal of Studies on Arabic Language and Literature

The Journal of Studies in Arabic Language and Literature is an international peer-reviewed research quarterly that includes research in Arabic language and literature that reveals the existing interaction between Arabic and Persian languages and focuses on the cultural exchange between two deep-rooted civilizations.

This journal publishes innovative pieces of research in the mentioned fields in Arabic with Arabic, Persian, and English abstracts under the following terms and conditions:

1. The research topics should be original and novel; the manuscripts should not have been published in other journals or sent to any journal or conference when sent to Studies on Arabic Language and Literature.
2. Manuscripts must be prepared in the following order:

• Title page (article title, name, scientific rank, address, and e-mail of the authors);
• Arabic abstract of about 200 words with keywords at the end;
• The manuscript includes an introduction and its subsections, analysis, results, and conclusion);
• Reference list;
• English translation of all references; and
• Persian and English abstracts.

Note: Persian and English abstracts must be put at the end of the manuscripts on two separate pages, along with the manuscript title, author information, and keywords. The information for the authors in the abstracts is as follows: full name of the authors under the manuscript title in normal order. In the footnote, each author’s academic rank, field of study, university name, city name, e-mail, and phone number are added separately with an asterisk (*) that refers to each author.

1. The reference list should be arranged in alphabetical order as follows: authors’ surnames, comma (,), authors’ first names, comma (,), book title (in bold), comma (,), publication number, and colon (:), place of publication, comma (,), publisher’s name, comma (,), date of publication, full stop (.).

Note 1: If a reference is an article published in a scientific journal, it should be cited as follows: authors’ surnames, comma (,), authors’ first names, comma (,), article title inside quotation marks (““), comma (,), journal title (in bold), comma (,), Journal number, comma (,), date of publication, comma (,), number of the first and last page of the article, full stop (.).

Note 2: If the reference is a website, it must be cited as follows:

Authors’ surnames, comma (,), article titles inside the quotation mark (“”), website name (bold), comma (,), electronic address of the website, comma (,), date of citation (inside the double braces), full stop (.).

1. Footnote citations are done as follows: if a reference is a book, the authors’ first names and surnames (in the normal order), comma (,), book title (in bold), comma (,), page number, full stop (.). Note 1: If the reference is in more than one volume, the volume and page numbers are given. Footnotes in footnote citations must be numbered independently for each page, and the first reference must be fully presented; in the first citation of each page, according to the citation of the previous page, it is not mentioned as (ibid).

Note 2: If the reference is an article, it is given in the following order in the footnote: the authors’ first names and surnames (in normal order), comma (,), article title (in bold), comma (,), page number, full stop (.).

Note 3: If the reference is an internet site, first the author’s name in the normal order, followed by a comma, the title of the article (in bold), a comma, then the website title in Arabic, followed by a full stop (.).

Note 4: If the reference is an internet website, first the authors’ first names and surnames (in the normal order), comma (,), article title (in bold), comma (,), the website name in Arabic, full stop (.).

1. For citing the verses of the Qur’an, first, the name of the sura, followed by a colon (:), and then the number of the verse comes, for example, Al-Baqarah: 64. The verses appear in curly braces    ﴿ ﴾.
2. The number of figures and images appears between two small brackets according to the entry order in the topics. Also, their symbols are put under each figure or image. The tables are also numbered similarly, and their marks appear above them.
3.  An abstract is a concise summary of an article and includes the most important results of the article. The introduction should also have the following clauses: statement of the problem and determination of the subject, significance of the article, research method along with the reason for choosing the research subject, research questions and hypotheses, and the research background and its evaluation.

Note: quotations and citations are not allowed in the introduction and conclusion because the opening and ending speeches allow the authors to enter the readers into the subject in their words. Thus, quoting and citing other works in these sections is unnecessary. If the authors are forced to quote from other works to transfer some information that can be employed in the statement of the problem, they should bring it as a separate sub-section, after the introduction, in a preliminary subject with a new subtopic. Also, no quotation or citation is allowed at the beginning and end of the sub-sections because their beginnings are for introduction and background, and their ends are for criticism and conclusion.

1. Articles can be submitted only through the journal’s website, provided that they are prepared in Word files with a page size of 4A, IRLotus font with 14 in the main texts and 12 in the footnotes. Footnotes should be indented 3 cm, and images and tables should be in their places in the texts.
2. The number of words in the article with figures, pictures, tables, reference list, and three abstracts and translation of references in English must not be more than 8500 words.
3. The English translation of the abstracts and references must be edited by a skilled translator and accurately based on the Arabic text. The English translation of all non-English references, whether Arabic or Persian, or any other language, is done in the following way:

Tabl, Hassan, the Meaning of Arabic Calligraphy, I1, Cairo: Dar Al-Fikr Al-Arabi, [In Arabic]. 1998.

1. Authors should observe the principles of correct Arabic spelling, especially in writing Hamza(ء) , ياء, and Shadda  (ّ) and putting nunations (tanwīn/ ـٌ‎  ـٍ‎  ـً) on the suffix ⟨ـا⟩ (alif), and the letter changed from of the letter tanwīn nūn ending pauses, and not on the letter after it. Also, the authors should use the marks correctly for clarifying the headings of sections and subsections, so they should use letters for the headings of the sections and numbers for the headings of subsections.
2. In the literature review section, non-Arabic works and dissertations titles should be translated into Arabic in parentheses, and the Hijri date should be converted to the Gregorian date. However, the Gregorian date is written in parentheses next to the Hijri date in the reference list.
3. Two reviewers will confidentially review all manuscripts sent to check their publication values (double-blind peer review).
4. If authors have a manuscript under review in this journal, please do not send another manuscript to the journal containing the name of one of the authors of the former manuscript. Also, if the acceptance letter is issued for an article, authors should not submit any manuscript six months from the date of the acceptance of the former manuscript.
5. The manuscripts published in this journal only express the opinions and ideas of their authors and do not present the opinions of the editorial board; thus, all the responsibility for the information entered in the manuscripts, both scientifically and legally, rests with the authors.

• You can contact the journal through the following two addresses:

1. Iran: Semnan City, Semnan University, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, second floor, office of the Journal of Studies in Arabic and Literature.
2. Syria: Latakia, Tishreen University, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Dr. Abdul Karim Yaqoob’s office.

• Journal e-mail: lasem@semnan.ac.ir
• Journal website: https://lasem.semnan.ac.ir

1.7 Archiving

Authors are allowed to self-archive articles published in OpenEdition Journals in institutional or thematic repositories recognized in their areas.

2. Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement (PEMS)

2.1 Responsible research publication: authors’ responsibilities

Authors should provide appropriate authorship and acknowledgement. Authors must refrain from deliberately misrepresenting a scientist’s relationship with published work. All authors must have significantly contributed to the research. Contributors who have made less substantial contributions to the research or to the publication can be acknowledged, but should not be identified as authors.

Authors must tell the Journal when they have a direct or indirect conflict of interest with editors or members of the Editorial board or International scientific committee.

All authors must submit a list of references and financial support if so requested by the editorial board. All sources of research funding, including direct and indirect financial support, should be disclosed.

No significant part of the article shall have been previously published either as an article or as a chapter, or be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

If the authors intend to reproduce their article in other publications or for any other purpose and by any means, they must obtain the written authorization of the editorial board.

Authors shall refrain from engaging in ’salami publication,’ meaning the segmentation of research that would turn one meaningful paper into several different papers.

Ethical Standards for Publication in the Journal of Studies on Arabic Language and Literature

• The Journal of Studies on Arabic Language and Literature follows the ethical policies approved by the International Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. It is also subject to the ethical principles approved by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran for scientific journals.
• The authors shall write their manuscripts scientifically and methodically, according to the specifications of the peer-reviewed manuscripts, and avoid discussing prohibited immoral, ethnic, and sectarian topics in their articles.
• Submitted articles shall result from researchers’ efforts; authors must provide enough information so that readers can go to the original resources and review them.
• The corresponding author shall cite the names and affiliations of all the authors and make sure that there are no names other than those of the cited articles. Authors shall also have consensus by presenting the manuscripts and publishing them in the journal in their present forms.
• All the authors whose names are registered in the list of authors must seriously participate in writing the manuscripts and actively participate in accomplishing the research.
• Authors are accountable for the validity of the information contained in the manuscripts, both scientifically and legally. If a clear error is detected in the manuscripts, the corresponding author shall inform the journal editor-in-chief and remove (or correct) the error, and correct as soon as possible.
• Since in the submitted manuscripts, the information for the authors is confidential and subject to the confidential review of expert reviewers; therefore, it shall be protected by all individuals who can see it, such as the editor-in-chief, internal manager, journal expert, and other stakeholders such as reviewers, consultants, and linguistic and technical editors.
• The reviewers shall inform the journal of their agreement or disagreement with reviewing the manuscripts as soon as possible. They also shall avoid reviewing based on non-scientific reasons such as personal taste, ethnic issues, sectarianism, etc. Their comments shall be carefully, skillfully, and objectively presented.
• The Journal of Studies on Arabic Language and Literature is free to reject, accept, or modify manuscripts if necessary.
• Since plagiarism is considered one of the most unethical and decisive breaches of professional conduct, the journal’s scientific editor seeks any plagiarism and forgery that might happen and takes necessary measures if necessary. Therefore, authors must check their manuscripts in computer programs and search engines that help detect plagiarism before submitting them to the journal.
• The journal is committed to complying with the principles of justice, equal opportunities, and cultural diversity with the highest level of honesty and respect; it welcomes any proposal that helps the development of the journal and the scientific research progress.

2.2 Responsible research publication: editors’ responsibilities

2.2.1 Publication decision

This journal employs a double-blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor. The editor is solely and independently responsible for selecting, processing, and deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal meet the editorial goals and could thus be published. Each paper considered suitable is sent to two independent peer reviewers who are experts in their field and able to assess the specific qualities of the work. The editor is responsible for the final decision regarding whether or not the paper is accepted or rejected.

The decision to publish a paper will always be measured in accordance to its importance to researchers, practitioners, and potential readers. Editors should make unbiased decisions independent from commercial considerations.

Editors who make final decisions about manuscripts should withdraw from editorial decisions if they have conflicts of interest or relationships that pose potential problems concerning articles under consideration. The responsibility of the final decision regarding publication will be attributed to an editor who does not have any conflicts of interest.

2.2.2 Conflict of interest

The chief editor, members of the editorial board and scientific committee, and reviewers shall withdraw in any case of conflict of interest concerning an author or authors, or the content of a manuscript to be evaluated.

Journal of Studies on Arabic Language and Literature will avoid all conflict of interest between authors, reviewers, and members of the editorial board and international scientific committee. Conflict of Interest Form

2.2.3 Peer review

Each article submitted is the responsibility of one member of the editorial board or of the international scientific committee, who undertakes to have it evaluated by two peers who are experts in the field and who evaluate it anonymously.

Reviewed articles are treated confidentially by editorial board members, members of the international scientific committee, and reviewers.

2.2.4 Identifying and preventing misconduct

In no case shall a journal and members of the editorial board and international scientific committee encourage misconduct of any kind or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.

Members of the editorial board and international scientific committee shall try to prevent misconduct by informing authors and reviewers about the ethical conduct required of them.

Members of the editorial board, scientific committee, and reviewers are asked to be aware of all types of misconduct in order to identify papers where research misconduct of any kind has or seems to have occurred and deal with the allegations accordingly.

2.2.5 Guidelines in case of retraction or corrections

1. Editors’ responsibilities

In case of misconduct, the journal editor is responsible for resolving the issue. He or she can work in conjunction with the other co-editor, members of the editorial board and scientific committee, peer reviewers, and experts in the field.

1. Documentation

The issue will be documented accordingly

All factual questions should be documented: who, what, when, where, why.

All relevant documents should be kept, in particular the article(s) concerned.

1. Due process for authors

The journal editor shall contact the author or publication involved, either the author submitting to JSALL or another publication or author. The author is thus given the opportunity to respond to or comment on the complaint, allegation, or dispute.

1. Appropriate corrections

In the event that misconduct has or seems to have occurred, or in the case of needed corrections, the editorial board deals with the different cases by following the appropriate COPE recommendations. Great care will be taken to distinguish cases of honest human error from deliberate intent to defraud.

COPE states that:

• Journal editors should consider retracting a publication if they have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g., data fabrication) or honest error (e.g., miscalculation or experimental error). Retraction is also appropriate in cases of redundant publication, plagiarism, and unethical research.
• Journal editors should consider issuing an expression of concern if : 1) they have reason to believe that there has been research or publication misconduct by the authors but have insufficient evidence, 2) there is evidence that the findings are unreliable but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case, 3) they believe that an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair, impartial or conclusive, 4) or an investigation is underway but a judgement will not be available for a considerable time.
• Journal editors should consider issuing a correction if a small portion of an otherwise reliable article proves to be misleading (especially because of honest error), or the author / contributor list is incorrect (i.e., a deserving author has been omitted or somebody who does not meet authorship criteria has been included).

Source: COPE Retraction Guidelines, https://publicationethics.org/files/retraction%20guidelines.pdf

To summarize, the editorial board will consider retracting a publication in case of misconduct, issuing an expression of concern in case of inconclusive proof of misconduct; or issuing a request for the correction of a misleading segment.

“Journal of Studies on Arabic Language and Literature “has taken as its model the best ethical practices as found in COPE’s Responsible Research Publication: International Standards for Editors. https://publicationethics.org/files/International %20standard_editors_for %20website_11_Nov_2011.pdf.

2.3 Responsible research publication: reviewers’ responsibilities

All reviewers must know and keep in mind the Editorial policy and Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement.

The journal requires potential reviewers to have scientific expertise or significant work experience in a relevant field. They must have recently conducted research and/or work and have acquired recognized expertise by their peers. Potential reviewers should provide personal and professional information which is accurate and which gives a fair representation of their expertise.

All reviewers must likewise withdraw if they know they are unqualified to evaluate a manuscript, if they feel their evaluation of the material will not be objective, or if they understand themselves to be in a conflict of interest.

Reviewed articles are treated confidentially by reviewers and members of the editorial board and international scientific committee.

Reviewers should point out relevant published work which has not yet been cited in the reviewed material. If necessary, the editor may issue a correction request to this effect.

Reviewers are asked to identify papers where research misconduct has or seems to have occurred and inform the editorial board, which will deal with each case accordingly.

"Studies on Arabic Language and Literature" has taken as its model the best ethical practices as found in COPE’s Ethical Guidelines for PeerReviewers, https://publicationethics.org/files/Ethical_Guidelines_For_Peer_Reviewers_2.pdf.

2.4 Copyright, content originality, plagiarism, and reproduction

The intellectual property and copyright on the original content of all scientific contributions shall remain with the authors. The authors grant, in exchange for publication in the Journal PISTES, exclusive licensing of first publication, giving the Journal the right to produce and disseminate the contributions, whether collectively with other articles or individually, and in all media forms known or to come.

The authors shall guarantee the originality of their material and shall not publish any text that would appear to contravene, in any way, the definition of originality as given in the "Studies on Arabic Language and Literature".

Plagiarism and false or intentionally misleading declarations constitute behaviour that is at odds with the ethics of scientific publication; as such, they are deemed unacceptable.

No significant part of the article shall have been previously published either as an article or as a chapter, or be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

If the authors intend to reproduce their article in other publications or for any other purpose and by any means, they must obtain the written authorization of the editorial board.

Reproduction of extracts of publications is possible provided that the authors cite their source and have obtained explicit permission from the rights holders, which permission shall not be unduly withheld. Reference must be given to the title of the article, the journal, the author(s), date and place of publication. The Journal reserves the right to apply reproduction rights.

2.5 Access, licensing, and archiving

Articles are published in open access. There are no associated subscriptions or pay-per-view fees.

All "Studies on Arabic Language and Literature" material is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

All the journal’s content is archived in several copies by Open Edition, a publisher of online, free-access books and journals. In the event "Studies on Arabic Language and Literature” is no longer published, Open Edition maintains free access and will continue to make all archives available online.

2.6 Multiple, redundant, simultaneous, or repeat publications

The authors shall not submit an article already published elsewhere, or a new article founded entirely on work already published. Likewise, the authors shall not make multiple submissions.

The complete reproduction of journal articles in other publications or for any other purpose and by any means requires the written authorization of the Editor.

2.7 Conflict of interest

Members of the Editorial board and reviewers shall withdraw in any case of conflict of interest concerning an author or authors, or the content of a manuscript to be evaluated.

The Journal "Studies on Arabic Language and Literature" shall avoid all conflict of interest between authors, reviewers, and members of the editorial board and scientific committee.

2.8 Confidentiality policy

The names of authors, reviewers, and collaborators along with the names of their organizations and institutional affiliations, which the Journal may record in the course of its operations, shall remain confidential and shall not be used for any commercial or public ends beyond the signature of the articles published. However, this information may sometimes be required by government grant-giving bodies. The anonymity of the peer review selection shall be maintained when transmitting this information. A list of the names of authors, reviewers, and collaborators and the names of their organizations and institutional affiliations shall be sent with no explicit links between those named.