Editorial Policies

The editorial board of the THE ELT PRACTITIONER is committed to upholding scholarly publication ethics in every possible way. We adhere to the guidelines framed by various scholarly bodies (Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE (https://publicationethics.org) and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors – ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org)) to maintain international standards by enhancing quality in publication. We expect all the concerned parties associated with the journal (authors, reviewers, editors, and readers) to abide by the following norms.

1.1.1. Authorship

All published materials (articles, book reviews, interviews, and poems) must furnish appropriate attribution of authorship. According to the recommendation of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the authorship can be attributed to a person based on the following four criteria:

1) A person who makes a substantial contribution to the conception of a research work or the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data for the work.

2) A person who drafted a work or revised it critically for important intellectual content.

3) A person who made the final approval of the version to be published.

4) A person who is accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work.

Contributors who meet fewer than all four of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors.

1.1.2. Number of authors:

Though there is no fixed and definitive rule about the number of authors for a work, the editors of THE ELT PRACTITIONER recommend that the number should not exceed three. Keep in mind that including large numbers of authors usually increases the time it takes to prepare, review and finalise a research paper.

1.1.3. First and last authors:

The order of authorship should be a joint decision of the co-authors. Authors should be prepared to explain the order in which authors are listed. Generally speaking, the most sought-after position is the first. The first named author is generally held to have made the greatest contribution to the research. The last place is usually given to a senior team member who contributed expertise and guidance.

1.1.4. Corresponding author:

The corresponding author is the person who receives the reviewers’ comments, the proofs, etc. and whose contact details are printed on the article so that readers can request reprints or contact the research group. This role is purely administrative and any one of the authors can be the corresponding author, irrespective of their position in the order of authorship.

Authors are expected to consult with their co-authors at an early stage and decide in advance who will be the corresponding author. It is ideal to choose an author whose contact details are not likely to change in the near future.

It is the sole responsibility of the corresponding author to initiate the submission process online and to ensure the integrity of publication ethics. The corresponding author should guarantee that

the submitted manuscript is genuine research work produced by the author/s,

all the other authors are made aware of the submission,

permission is taken from other authors for publication,

the contribution of the authors is appropriately acknowledged,

the contribution of other persons or parties, who/which add value to the work in any way is sufficiently acknowledged,

there is no conflict of interests among the authors.

1.1.5. Changes in authorship

Whenever there is a need to make changes in the authorship of a manuscript or a published article, the changes will be implemented according to COPE specification (https://publicationethics.org/files/Authorship%20D.pdf). Only corresponding authors can make a request for a change in authorship. The request should be made to the Editor-in-Chief. Changes will be made only if there is a valid reason agreed by all the authors. The Editorial Board of the journal reserves the right to take a final decision on the request. Public notification may be made in the case of any post-publication change.

1.1.6. Ghost,’ ‘guest,’ or ‘gift’ authorship

The editorial board of THE ELT PRACTITIONER is against the unethical practice of ‘ghost,’ ‘guest,’ or ‘gift’ authorship (or anything that does not have any proper contribution to an article) and takes appropriate steps against such practices.

1.1.7. Acknowledgement

Individuals who participated in the development of a manuscript but do not qualify as an author should be acknowledged and what they did should be described. All those who are listed in this way should be aware of it. Organizations that provided support in terms of funding and/or other resources should also be acknowledged. If the submitted research paper is an improvised version of a paper that was presented at a conference and not published should clearly mention the conference details in the acknowledgement.

1.1.8. Conflict of Interest

Conflict of interest arises when there is a difference between an individual’s private interests and his or her responsibilities to scholarly publishing activities. In order to maintain transparency in publication, THE ELT PRACTITIONER encourages authors, editors, reviewers and other persons involved in the publication process, to avoid any form of conflicts of interest. Our publication policies and guidelines are regularly revised to address the issues.

1.1.8.1. Editors and reviewers

Editors and reviewers of THE ELT PRACTITIONER are expected to avoid any form of potential conflict of interest while performing their duties in concerned capacities in order to maintain the integrity of our publication ethics and raise the standard of the journal. They are requested to follow the guidelines sent to them in the form of email communication.

Reviewers should disclose any conflict of interest and if necessary, decline the review of any manuscript they perceive to have a conflict of interest. Editors should also decline from considering any manuscript that may have a conflict of interest. Such manuscripts will be re-assigned to other editors.

1.1.8.2. Editor-in-Chief

All forms of internal conflicts of interest are handled by the Editor-in-Chief, who maintains privacy and takes appropriate measure.

1.1.8.3. Publisher

The professional independence of the editorial board members is strictly maintained by the publisher. The board enjoys full autonomy in performing their scholarly duties. The publisher does not interfere with anything regarding this.

1.2. Submission Policies

1.2.1. Confidentiality:

A submitted manuscript is a confidential material. THE ELT PRACTITIONER will not disclose submitted manuscript to anyone except individuals who partake in the processing and preparation of the manuscript for publication (if accepted). These individuals include editorial staff, corresponding authors, potential reviewers, actual reviewers, and editors.

1.2.2. Retention of Rejected Articles:

Please note that THE ELT PRACTITIONER and ELTAI do not retain copies of rejected articles.

1.3. Misconduct:

Misconduct constitutes a violation of the editorial policy, journal policies, and publication ethics. Any other activities that threaten/compromise the integrity of the research/publication process are potential misconducts. Suspected cases of misconduct will be investigated and any one or all of the following steps will be taken against unethical practices:

a) The published content is retracted with a due notification to the authors.

b) A modified content is published with justification for modification.

c) The author is blacklisted and barred from future submission.

1.4. Plagiarism Policy

We check all submissions for potential unethical practices. If any article is found to be plagiarised before publication, we will reject the submission summarily. If any article is found to be plagiarised or reported by anybody to have been plagiarised after publication, we will retract the article from our archive, with a notice to the author. Please report plagiarism at theelt practitioner1@gmail.com

1.5. Open Access Policy

THE ELT PRACTITIONER strongly supports open access. Abstracts and full texts of all articles published by THE ELT PRACTITIONER are freely accessible to everyone immediately after publication. The journal allows readers to freely read, download, distribute, search, or link to the full texts of its articles for any other lawful purpose.

1.6. Copyright Policy

Articles are the intellectual property of the authors. The Journal of Teaching and Research in English Literature does not take ownership of the copyright of any published article. Authors retain the copyright to their articles and may republish these articles as part of a book or other materials. However, while republishing an article published in THE ELT PRACTITIONER, the author must ensure that the following conditions have been met:

· The original source of the publication (the title, volume, number and URL of the Journal) should be acknowledged.

· The article will remain published in THE ELT PRACTITIONER website (except in occasion of a retraction of the article) licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.