Journal of Language Relationship

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Journal of Language Relationship positions itself as an academic periodical, established exclusively for the sake of scholarly progress in the field of comparative-historical linguistics and free of any political, ideological, or other agenda. All participants in the editorial and publishing process (Authors, Reviewers, Editors, and Editorial Board Members) are required to keep this in mind and follow the ethical standards outlined below, which are based on the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Authorship Issues

Submission of a paper for publication in the Journal of Language Relationship surmises that the Author thereby confirms his or her authorship. In the case of a collaborative work, one of the Authors may submit material for publication provided that all coauthors are listed with all necessary and correct information about them. Institutions, programs, grant funds, etc. that contributed to the content or provided funding or other support for the work submitted should be explicitly identified by the Author.

The Authors must completely disclose all sources of information consulted in the work, including lists of sources (both published and unpublished), research literature (including the Authors’ own previously published works), and informants (when publishing the results of field studies). The Authors should ensure that all cited and quoted sources be properly referenced; any form of plagiarism is unacceptable. Self-plagiarism, i.e., the attempt to republish one’s own previously published work without significant changes to it, is similarly unacceptable. Concurrent submission of the same work to the Journal of Language Relationship and to any other publication is prohibited.

In the case of violation of any of the rules listed above, the Editorial Board reserves the right to refuse to publish the materials at any time, including during preliminary consideration, without involving reviewers, and also not to proceed with the publication of any work from the Author for a period of three years.

Published papers that have been found to infringe scientific ethical codes (by way of plagiarism, fraudulent used of data, multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, or the like) will be retracted from the site of the Journal by the editors.

Any changes added by the Author to a text that has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication can be made only in coordination with the Editorial Board. An Author can withdraw an accepted work only before the materials have been sent out for editing. If the Author absolutely wishes to withdraw the material from publication after the editorial work has been done, the Editorial Board is entitled to refuse to consider publication of any work submitted by this Author for a period of up to three years.

2. Copyright and Open Access

In agreeance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative, Journal of Language Relationship provides immediate open access to its content, placed on the regular website of the Journal, in order to promote swifter and more efficient global exchange of knowledge. At the same time, JLR enforces a strict policy of not charging any fees to the Authors for publication of their research material or on-line supplements.

When sending materials for consideration by the Journal, the Authors agree that the acceptance of these materials for publication ensures their redistribution in accordance with the license Creative Commons | Attribution-NoDerivatives (this allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in its entirety, with attribution). At the same time, copyright remains in full with the Authors.

3. Accuracy of Information

The Authors of the papers submitted to the Journal of Language Relationship are responsible for detailed verification of all the information contained in their work in order to avoid inaccurate references to sources or the omission of necessary references.

If, in the process of editing the materials accepted for publication, the Author discovers mistakes or inaccuracies, he or she must notify the Editor as soon as possible and either withdraw the publication (in the case of significant errors requiring a complete revision of the text) or correct it. Additionally, if any obvious technical inaccuracies happen to be discovered by one of the Editors, it is the Author's responsibility to correct them and/or make the appropriate revisions.

Although scientific criticism of previous research is very strongly encouraged, the Author must avoid personal attacks, disparaging remarks, and subjective accusations against other scholars.

The Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all data published in the Journal of Language Relationship. If a violation of the above rules is discovered after publication, the Editorial Staff is entitled to publish a refutation in the next issue and also not to proceed with any work from the defaulting Author for a period of three years.

4. Review Process

All submitted papers are evaluated on the principle of double-blind peer review, which means that all materials are sent to the Reviewers in anonymized form (the files contain no information about the Authors and information is also deleted from the metadata of the submitted files). None of the members of the Editorial Staff or any other participants in the publication process is allowed to disclose the Authors’ names to Reviewers before the final decision regarding the publication of the submitted papers.

If a Reviewer recognizes the Author of the article being reviewed and discovers a conflict of interest, he/she is to inform the Editor of this and recuse him/herself. Contacts between the Reviewer and the Author maintained outside of the Editorial Staff’s responsibilities are not sufficient grounds for disqualification of the Reviewer. The Reviewer’s name can be disclosed to the Author by the Editorial Staff only at the request of the Reviewer and only after the final decision regarding the publication of the submitted materials.

The review should be objective and impartial and must not contain personal attacks against the Author. All comments and suggestions for improving the work should be made in polite form, and all criticism should be justified. Reviewers are encouraged to recommend additional publications relating to the submitted work for which there are no references. The Reviewer should also draw the attention of the Editorial Staff to any evidence of plagiarism.

5. Editorial Staff

The Editors (Editorial Staff) of the Journal are responsible for all stages of the editorial and publishing process. This includes preliminary consideration of the Author’s submission, during which the Editors decide if the submitted paper agrees with the overall profile of the Journal and satisfies basic academic standards as well as the Journal’s own technical requirements (if it does not, the Editors reserve the right to refuse publication without peer reviewing). The Editors then select the Reviewers in accordance with the subject matter of the submitted paper, maintaining full confidentiality during the review process; and decide on the acceptance, rejection, or additional review of the paper, depending on the Reviewers’ report.

The coordination of these efforts is the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief and the Managing Editor.

In the case of disagreements between the members of the Editorial Staff all the decisions are referred to their general meeting. If a consensus does not emerge from the discussion at the general meeting, the final decision is taken by majority vote. The Editor-in-Chief is presumed to have two votes if the votes of the Editorial Staff are otherwise evenly split.

The Editors are further responsible for the overall editing process (transferring all material to Copy Editor, Proofreaders, and the Authors for final proofreading and reconciliation).

All Editors are required not to abuse their official position and to maintain impartiality and objectivity toward all participants in the editorial and publishing process regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, nationality, or political opinion. The materials submitted by the Editors for publication in the Journal of Language Relationship are considered solely on their scholarly merit and with the observance of the principle of double-blind peer review. There must be no conflict of interest between the Editors and the Authors of the materials accepted or rejected for publication. In case such conflict occurs, the Authors’ materials are to be sent to another Editor.

6. Editorial Board

The international Editorial Board of the Journal of Language Relationship serves as the general advisory and controlling organ of the periodical. The Editorial Board members have a collective right to suspend or even reject the publication of materials that have gone through double-blind peer review, provided a well-founded argument has been presented to the Editorial Staff. The Editorial Board also pledges to participate in the resolution of any conflicts between the participants of the editorial and publishing process, should they arise.

Papers written by members of the Editorial Board or the Editorial Staff that are submitted for publication in the Journal are always considered on their own merit, without regard for their Author’s position on the Board or the Staff.