Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

The World Journal of English Language (WJEL) publishes high-quality research focused on the English language. The journal's core areas include:

  • English Linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics, and the structural analysis of English grammar.
  • English Literature: literary theory, critical methodologies, and studies of classic and contemporary works, with an emphasis on fostering interdisciplinary dialogue related to the English language. Authors are encouraged to enrich thematic analyses by incorporating linguistic evidence—such as discourse analysis, lexical choices, syntactic patterns, or corpus-based approaches—to deepen the interpretation of literary texts.
  • Translation Studies: translation theory, practice, and interpreting techniques involving the English language, particularly in multilingual contexts, with emphasis on contrastive analysis, discourse features in translation, and language-based approaches to translation phenomena.
  • Applied Linguistics and Language Education: the study of English language teaching and learning, informed by linguistic theory and related disciplines, including second language acquisition, language teaching methodologies, curriculum development, teacher training, language assessment (e.g., TOEFL, IELTS), bilingualism/multilingualism, cross-cultural communication, language policy, EAP (English for Academic Purposes), ESP (English for Specific Purposes), discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA), classroom practices, instructional design, and the use of technology in language education.

WJEL welcomes original research that offers new insights, methodological rigor, and significant scholarly contributions. All manuscripts are subject to rigorous peer review.

 

Section Policies

Articles

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed
 

Peer Review Process

The journal employs a double-blind peer-review system, ensuring that the identities of both authors and reviewers remain confidential throughout the process. Each submission undergoes a rigorous evaluation by three experts: two external reviewers and one editorial board member. This approach promotes objectivity, fairness, and scholarly integrity, while minimizing bias and potential conflicts of interest. Final decisions—acceptance or rejection—are based on reviewers’ recommendations. In cases of divergent opinions, the Editor-in-Chief carefully assesses all feedback and either makes a balanced decision or initiates a second round of peer review to ensure thorough and impartial evaluation.

 

Publication Frequency

WJEL is published bimonthly in January, March, May, July, September, and November.

Prior to 2026, the journal occasionally published additional thematic issues (e.g., Vol. 15, No. 7–8) as part of its regular annual volume; these underwent the same rigorous peer-review process as all standard issues. Starting in 2026, the publication schedule is fixed at six issues per year, with no additional issues planned.

 

Open Access Policy

We follow the Gold Open Access way in journal publishing. This means that authors publish in the journals that provide immediate open access for readers to all articles on the publisher’s website. The readers pay nothing, while authors (or their institutions or funders) pay an Article Processing Charge to maintain the journal operation.

All articles published are open-access articles distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license.

 

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. More...

 

Indexes

CNKI Scholar

DHET

Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek EZB

EuroPub

Genamics JournalSeek

Google Scholar

Harvard Library E-Journals

Journal TOCs

Open policy finder

Mendeley

PKP Open Archives Harvester

ROAD

ResearchGate

Scilit

Scopus

Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)

UGC CARE

 

Statistics

2024: Articles Received: 1308; Accepted: 370; Rejected: 854; Published: 354; Retracted: 2

2023: Articles Received: 1185; Accepted: 486; Rejected: 647; Published: 394; Retracted: 1

2022: Articles Received: 769; Accepted: 391; Rejected: 382; Published: 310; Retracted: 0

2021: Articles Received: 97; Accepted: 44; Rejected: 38; Published: 22; Retracted: 0

2020: Articles Received: 54; Accepted: 26; Rejected: 24; Published: 12; Retracted: 0

2019: Articles Received: 77; Accepted: 42; Rejected: 32; Published: 15; Retracted: 3

2018: Articles Received: 49; Accepted: 23; Rejected: 21; Published: 10; Retracted: 0

2017: Articles Received: 47; Accepted: 32; Rejected: 23; Published: 20; Retracted: 1

2016: Articles Received: 57; Accepted: 30; Rejected: 25; Published: 17; Retracted: 0

 

Special Issues

In order to better serve the needs of the academic community, we welcome collaborations with other institutions to publish special issues. If you are interested in publishing a special issue with our journal, please send your inquiry and proposal to wjel@sciedupress.com.

Before embarking on a special issue with our journal, please take note of the following points:

  • Special issues should be focused on a specific research topic, conference, or closely related area of research.
  • Articles accepted for publication in special issues will undergo the same rigorous review process as regular issues.
  • You are welcome to recommend appropriate researchers to act as guest editors and reviewers.
  • To ensure timely publication, please discuss your proposal with us at least five months in advance.
  • An article processing charge (APC) of 1800USD will be charged for each article.
  • We will provide you with a number of printed journals, with a maximum of two copies of each article.
  • We also offer a free e-journal in PDF format if required.

We are committed to facilitating the dissemination of high-quality research and knowledge through special issues. We look forward to working with you to bring your research to a wider audience. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries or concerns.

 

AI Usage Policy

Authors must disclose any involvement of AI tools in writing, analysis, or data processing within their manuscripts. This disclosure should include specific details about the AI tools, algorithms, or models utilized.

Content Review & Editing:
All content generated with AI tools must undergo thorough author review and editing to ensure quality, accuracy.

AI Role Specification:
Authors should clearly specify the tasks performed by AI tools and their impact on the research and writing process. This includes detailing where and how AI was utilized in the creation of the manuscript.

Authorship Integrity:
Authors are responsible for all content, including AI-generated sections, and should not attribute authorship to AI tools. AI tools should not be listed as co-authors or contributors.

Data Analysis Transparency:
If AI is used for data analysis or chart generation, authors must declare its usage and explain the methodology employed.

Ethical Consideration:
Maintain transparency regarding AI usage and address any ethical issues related to AI-generated content. Uphold ethical standards throughout the research process to ensure integrity.

Authors are encouraged to use AI tools to enhance their research but must adhere to these guidelines to ensure ethical and transparent use of AI tools in academic publishing.

 

Submission Policy

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the authorities responsible where the work was carried out. However, we accept submissions that have previously appeared on preprint servers (for example: arXiv, bioRxiv, Nature Precedings, Philica, Social Science Research Network, and Vixra); have previously been presented at conferences; or have previously appeared in other “non-journal” venues (for example: blogs or posters). Authors are responsible for updating the archived preprint with the journal reference (including DOI) and a link to the published articles on the appropriate journal website upon publication.

The publisher and journals have a zero-tolerance plagiarism policy. We check the issue using two methods: a plagiarism prevention tool (iThenticate) and a reviewer check. All submissions will be checked by iThenticate before being sent to reviewers.

We insist a rigorous viewpoint on the self-plagiarism. The self-plagiarism is plagiarism, as it fails to contribute to the research and science.

 

Refund Policy

We implement a reasonable refund policy based on the publishing status.

- Fully refund: online version is unpublished

- Half refund: online version is published and print version is unpublished

- No refund: both the online and print version are published

 

Self-Archiving Policy

This journal supports the rights of authors to share their work and make it more widely accessible. Accordingly, we have established the following policy regarding self-archiving, also known as green open access:

  1. Preprint Version: Authors are free to deposit the preprint version of their work in any repository or website at any time without embargo.
  2. Postprint Version (Author’s Accepted Manuscript): Authors may deposit the postprint version of their work in institutional or subject repositories, or personal websites, immediately upon publication in our journal, provided that they include a link to the article's DOI on the journal's website.
  3. Published Version (Version of Record): Authors may also archive the published version of their work under the terms of the Creative Commons license chosen for the work, typically allowing for self-archiving with proper attribution. We encourage authors to include a link to the article's DOI on our journal's website when archiving the published version.

This policy is intended to facilitate the widest possible dissemination of research while respecting the integrity of the peer review process and the final published version.

 

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The World Journal of English Language is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, transparency, and ethical conduct in scholarly publishing. We adhere to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and require all authors, reviewers, and editors to uphold the following principles.

1. Responsibilities of Authors

  • Submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration by any other journal. Plagiarism (including self-plagiarism), data fabrication, falsification, or duplicate submission constitutes serious publication malpractice and is strictly prohibited.
  • All listed authors must have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the research and must approve the final manuscript. Gift, ghost, or honorary authorship is unacceptable.
  • Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest—financial, institutional, personal, or otherwise—that could influence the work.
  • For studies involving human participants or sensitive data, appropriate ethical approval and informed consent must be obtained and documented.
  • If significant errors are identified in a published article, authors must promptly notify the editorial office and cooperate in issuing corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern.
  • Authors who use artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted tools in preparing their manuscript must disclose this in the Acknowledgements section of the submitted paper, specifying the tool(s) used and the nature of the assistance (e.g., language editing, improving clarity, or structuring text). However, AI must not be used to generate research data, create figures, perform statistical analysis, interpret results, or produce original scholarly arguments. The corresponding author remains fully responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of all content.

2. Responsibilities of Reviewers

  • Treat all manuscripts as confidential documents; do not share, discuss, or use their content outside the peer-review process without explicit permission.
  • Evaluate submissions objectively based on scholarly merit, considering relevance, originality, methodological soundness, significance, readability, and language quality—without bias related to the authors’ identity, nationality, gender, institutional affiliation, or beliefs.
  • Decline to review if a real or perceived conflict of interest exists (e.g., recent collaboration, competition, or personal relationship with the authors).
  • Provide timely, constructive, and respectful feedback aimed at improving the manuscript. Notify the editor immediately if unable to complete the review within the agreed timeframe.
  • Alert the editor without delay if plagiarism, redundant publication, unethical research, or other misconduct is suspected.
  • Reviewers must prepare their review reports based on their own independent scholarly judgment, critical analysis, and professional expertise. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to compose, generate, or substantially assist in drafting review content is not permitted, as peer review is a personal intellectual responsibility that underpins the integrity of scholarly publishing. Under no circumstances should reviewers upload the manuscript—or substantial portions of it—to any public or third-party AI platform, as this constitutes a serious breach of confidentiality. Should a review be found to contain AI-generated content or to rely unduly on automated assistance, the editorial team reserves the right to disregard the report and reassess the reviewer's suitability for future reviewing assignments.

3. Responsibilities of Editors

  • Ensure every manuscript undergoes a rigorous, fair, and timely peer-review process conducted by at least two independent, international experts in the relevant field.
  • Make publication decisions solely on the basis of academic validity, significance, and originality. Possible outcomes include: acceptance, acceptance with revisions, or rejection.
    • Revised manuscripts are not guaranteed acceptance upon resubmission.
    • Rejected articles will not be reconsidered for review.
  • The journal is committed to prompt handling and efficient publication while maintaining scholarly rigor.
  • Maintain strict confidentiality: information about a submitted manuscript is disclosed only to the corresponding author, assigned reviewers, potential reviewers (as needed), editorial advisors, and the publisher.
  • Never use unpublished material from a submitted manuscript in their own research without the express written consent of the author(s).
  • Recuse themselves from handling any submission in which they have a conflict of interest (e.g., due to collaborative, competitive, or institutional ties) and delegate it to another qualified editor.
  • Respond promptly to allegations of copyright infringement or other intellectual property violations by taking reasonable investigative and corrective actions.
  • Take appropriate measures in cases of suspected ethical misconduct—including issuing corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern—in full accordance with COPE guidelines.
  • Promote equity and inclusion by minimizing bias and encouraging diverse scholarly perspectives.

In addition, the World Journal of English Language fully complies with the ethical guidelines established by Sciedu Press.