Ethical responsibilities | Structure | Permissions | Language & text | Data & symbols | Tables & figures/illustrations  | Appendixes | References

Submissions should be made electronically through this website.

Please ensure that you consider the following guidelines when preparing your manuscript. Failure to do so may delay the processing of your submission.

Once a submission has been completed, the submitting author is able to fully track the status of the paper and complete requested revisions via their online profile.

Ethical responsibilities

Authors should uphold the highest ethical standards in the production of their scholarly works. Some important guidelines are offered below. For a more detailed discussion of ethical guidelines, see the Linguistic Society of America’s Ethics Statement (May 2009) at http://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/Ethics_Statement.pdf.

Reporting standards and data retention

Articles should be objective, and data should be presented accurately. Papers should contain enough detail to allow others to replicate the work. Authors should retain raw data for a period of ten years after publication and may be asked to provide raw data during the editorial review.

Originality, acknowledgment, and plagiarism

Submitted works should be entirely original; if others’ work and/or words have been used, they should be appropriately cited and, if appropriate, permission for the citation should be obtained from the source. Plagiarism occurs in many forms (e.g., submitting another’s entire paper as one’s own, copying or paraphrasing sentences from another paper without attribution, appropriating results of research conducted by others); all forms are completely unacceptable.

Redundant or concurrent publication

Authors should not submit the same or a very similar manuscript to more than one journal concurrently. In general, authors should not submit previously-published papers for publication in another journal.

Authorship

All those who have made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study should be listed as co-authors. Those who have made lesser contributions to the paper should be acknowledged. The corresponding author should ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper.

Working with human subjects

If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author should ensure to check the boxes in the submission checklist stating that the researchers:

• respected the rights and wishes of their human subjects;
• did everything in their power to ensure that their research posed no threat to the well-being of the research participants;

If the author's institution has an ethics assessment committee, the researcher must also check the box stating that this committee has approved the research.

Conflicts of interest

All authors should disclose any financial or other conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their study.

Significant errors in published works

If the author discovers or is informed by a third party of a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her article, the author must promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper. 

Structure

Title page

The title page must include all of the below information, in the same order. No further information should be included:

• Title
• Full author(s') name(s)
• Affiliation(s) (if any)
• Corresponding author’s email address (other author(s') email addresses are optional)
• Word Count

Author names must include a forename and a surname. Forenames should preferably not include only initials.

The affiliation should ideally include Department, Institution, City and Country, however only the Institution and Country are mandatory.

Abstract

Research articles must have the main text prefaced by an abstract of no more than 200 words summarizing the main arguments and conclusions of the article. This must have the heading ‘Abstract’ and be easily identified from the start of the main text.

A list of at least three keywords must be placed below the abstract.

The Abstract and Keywords should also be added to the metadata when making the initial online submission.

Main text

The body of the submission should be structured in a logical and easy to follow manner, and must not exceed 15,000 words. A clear introduction section should be given that allows non-specialists in the subject an understanding of the publication and a background of the issue(s) involved. Methods, results, discussion and conclusion sections may then follow to clearly detail the information and research being presented.

Supplementary Files (optional)

Any supplementary/additional files that should link to the main publication must be listed, with a corresponding number, title and optional description. Ideally the supplementary files are also cited in the main text.

e.g. Supplementary file 1: Appendix. Scientific data related to the experiments.

Note: additional files will not be typeset so they must be provided in their final form. They will be assigned a DOI and linked to from the publication.

Reproducibility

The journal strongly encourages authors to make all data associated with their submission openly available, according to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). This should be linked to a Data Accessibility Statement within the submitted paper, which will be made public upon publication. If data are not being made available with the journal publication then ideally a statement from the author should be provided within the submission to explain why. Data obtained from other sources must be appropriately credited.

Read our reproducibility guide for more information on best practice and maximizing the impact of your open data.

Ethics and consent (if applicable)

Research involving human subjects, human material, or human data, must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Where applicable, studies must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee and the authors should include a statement within the article text detailing this approval, including the name of the ethics committee and reference number of the approval. The identity of the research subject(s) should be anonymised whenever possible. For research involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their legal guardian) and added to this statement. If a study involving human subjects/tissue/data was exempt from requiring ethical approval, a confirmation statement from the relevant body should be included within the submission.

Experiments using animals must follow national standards of care. For further information, click here.

Acknowledgements (optional)

Any acknowledgements must be headed and in a separate paragraph, placed after the main text but before the reference list.

Funding Information (if applicable)

Should the research have received a funding grant then the grant provider and grant number should be detailed. 

Competing interests

If any of the authors have any competing interests then these must be declared. A short paragraph should be placed before the references. Guidelines for competing interests can be found here. If there are no competing interests to declare then the following statement should be present: The author(s) has/have no competing interests to declare.

Authors' contributions

The journal encourages authors to add a sentence or a short paragraph detailing the roles that each author held to contribute to the authorship of the submission. Individuals listed must fit within the definition of an author, as per our authorship guidelines.

Endnotes

Notes will appear between the Acknowledgments and References sections.

References

All references cited within the submission must be listed at the end of the main text file.

Format

A PDF will need to be submitted for the purposes of the review process. If a paper is accepted, a .doc, .docx, TeX or .ODT file will then be requested.

Permissions

The author is responsible for obtaining all permissions required prior to submission of the manuscript. Permission and owner details should be mentioned for all third-party content included in the submission or used in the research.

If a method or tool is introduced in the study, including software, questionnaires, and scales, the license this is available under and any requirement for permission for use should be stated. If an existing method or tool is used in the research, it is the author's responsibility to check the license and obtain the necessary permissions. Statements confirming that permission was granted should be included in the Materials and Methods section.

Language & text

Page setup

The main text should be in Charis SIL, 11 point (and Charis SIL, 9 Point for footnotes).

Capitalization

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a sentence and of proper nouns and adjectives, e.g., “The capitalization of titles in English” not “The Capitalization of Titles in English”. Also capitalize the first letter of the first word after a colon.

Headings

Do not put a period at the end of a heading.

Number and format headings as shown:

Aim to use no more than 3 levels of heading. However, if a fourth-level heading is required, use 11 pt italic.

Spelling

Submissions must be made in English. Authors are welcome to use American or British spellings as long as they are used consistently throughout the whole of the submission.
Please note that in British English the -ize ending should be used in preference to –ise where both spellings are in use (e.g., criticize, recognize).

When referring to proper nouns and normal institutional titles, the official, original spelling must be used.

• World Health Organization, not World Health Organisation 

Grammar

American or British grammar rules may be used as long as they are used consistently and match the spelling format.

Phonetic transcription

Use unicode fonts for phonetic symbols, which should be in Charis SIL, like the main text. The symbols can be downloaded at no cost from the SIL webpage: http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?&item_id=IPAhome

Linguistic examples

Italics should be used for words, phrases, and sentences treated as linguistic examples.

All examples in languages other than English should be followed by their translations between single quotes.

Emphasis

Italics may be used for:

• drawing attention to key terms in a discussion at first mention only. Thereafter, these terms should be set in roman. However, please keep the use of italics to a minimum.
• emphasizing a word or phrase in a quotation indicating [emphasis mine].

Lists

Use bullet points to denote a list without hierarchy or order of value. If the list indicates a specific sequence then a numbered list must be used.

Lists should be used sparingly to maximize their impact.

Within the running text, insert the serial comma in a list of three or more items before the coordinating conjunction. For instance, “France, Italy, and Spain”.

Quotations

All quotations in languages other than English should be followed by the translation in square brackets.

Omissions are indicated by ellipsis points without brackets.

Any insertions by the author are to be enclosed in square brackets: [emphasis mine]. 

Brackets

Use round brackets, except for brackets within brackets, which have to be square brackets.

Acronyms & abbreviations

Use only the most common abbreviations, including cf. Dr. ed. eds. e.g. et al. etc. Restrict the use of other abbreviations to the minimum and only use those after you have defined them.

Initials require periods and have a space between them, e.g., R. W. Langacker.

Abbreviations common in linguistics (NP, V, ACC) may be used in numbered examples, but the terms should be written out in full in the text.

Write out names of theories, titles of books or names of publishers: “the Spatialization of Form Hypothesis”, not “the SFH”; “Oxford University Press”, not “OUP.”

Use of footnotes/endnotes

Use endnotes rather than footnotes (we refer to these as ‘Notes’ in the online publication). These will appear after the main text and the acknowledgments, before References.

The notes section should have a first-level heading.

Notes should be numbered consecutively throughout the text.

Note numbers in the text should be superscript (small raised) without punctuation or brackets.

The note number should directly follow the word in question or a punctuation mark, with no blank space.

Data & symbols

Symbols

Symbols are permitted within the main text and datasets as long as they are commonly in use or have explanatory definition on their first usage.  Letters used as statistical symbols or algebraic variables should be in italics, e.g., p (for significance level).

Numbers

For numbers zero to nine please spell the whole words. Please use figures for numbers 10 or higher.

We are happy for authors to use either words or figures to represent large whole figures (i.e. one million or 1,000,000) as long as the usage is consistent throughout the text.

If a sentence starts with a number it must be spelled.

Units of measurement

Symbols following a figure to denote a unit of measurement must be taken from the latest SI brochure. See http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf for the full brochure.

Formulae

Formulae must be proofed carefully by the author. Editors will not edit formulae. If special software has been used to create formulae, the way it is laid out is the way they will appear in the publication.

Tables & figures/illustrations

All text and labels in tables, figures and illustrations should be clearly legible.

Please incorporate all tables, figures, and illustrations directly in the manuscript, following the flow of the text. Once the paper has  been accepted for publication, the figures and illustrations will have to be submitted as supplementary files with clear callouts in the body of the manuscript.

All figures should include a caption.

If photographs are to be submitted, a high-resolution file must be provided.

Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively.

Title of a table is to be placed flush left above the table.

Title of a figure is to be placed flush left below the figure.

Avoid using tints as this can affect legibility.

Figures/images have a resolution of at least 150dpi (300dpi or above preferred). Each file is no more than 20MB per file.  The files are preferably in .TIFF format. However, if the original format is JPG, GIF, PNG, or EPS, this format is preferred.

Example table:

Appendixes

Supplementary materials can be added to the submission as separate files to be considered alongside the manuscript.

Reference Citations in Text

Laboratory Phonology uses an APA-style reference system. In APA style, in-text citations are placed within sentences and paragraphs so that it is clear what information is being quoted or paraphrased and whose information is being cited.

Examples:

• Works by a single author

The last name of the author and the year of publication are inserted in the text at the appropriate point.

If the name of the author or the date appear as part of the narrative, cite only missing information in parentheses.

• Works by multiple authors

When a work has two authors, always cite both names every time the reference occurs in the text. In parenthetical material join the names with an ampersand (&).

In the narrative text, join the names with the word “and.”

When a work has three or more authors, upon the first usage, please cite the surname of all authors; on each following usage, please cite only the surname of the first author followed by "et al." (Latin for “and others”) and the year of publication. This holds true for both the parenthetical material and the narrative text. Please also make sure to write down the names of all authors in the Reference List or Bibliography. 

• Works by associations, corporations, government agencies, etc.

The names of groups that serve as authors (corporate authors) are usually written out each time they appear in a text reference.

When appropriate, the names of some corporate authors are spelled out in the first reference and abbreviated in all subsequent citations. The general rule for abbreviating in this manner is to supply enough information in the text citation for a reader to locate its source in the Reference List without difficulty.

• Works with no author

When a work has no author, use the first two or three words of the work's title (omitting any initial articles) as your text reference, capitalizing each word. Place the title in quotation marks if it refers to an article, chapter of a book, or Web page. Italicize the title if it refers to a book, periodical, brochure, or report.

on climate change (“Climate and Weather,” 1997)

Anonymous authors should be listed as such followed by a comma and the date.

• Specific parts of a source

To cite a specific part of a source (always necessary for quotations), include the page, chapter, etc. (with appropriate abbreviations) in the in-text citation.

If page numbers are not included in electronic sources (such as Web-based journals), provide the paragraph number preceded by the abbreviation “para.” or the heading and following paragraph.

Reference List

References cited in the text of a research paper must appear in a Reference List or bibliography. This list provides the information necessary to identify and retrieve each source.

• Order: Entries should be arranged in alphabetical order by authors' last names. Sources without authors are arranged alphabetically by title within the same list.
• Authors: Write out the last name and initials for all authors of a particular work. Use an ampersand (&) instead of the word “and” when listing multiple authors of a single work. e.g., Smith, J. D., & Jones, M.
• Titles: Capitalize only the first word of a title or subtitle, and any proper names that are part of a title.
• Pagination: Use the abbreviation p. or pp. to designate page numbers of articles from periodicals that do not use volume numbers, especially newspapers. These abbreviations are also used to designate pages in encyclopedia articles and chapters from edited books.
• Indentation: The first line of the entry is flush with the left margin, and all subsequent lines are indented (5 to 7 spaces) to form a “hanging indent”.
• Underlining vs. Italics: It is appropriate to use italics instead of underlining for titles of books and journals.

Two additional pieces of information should be included for works accessed online.

• Internet Address: A stable Internet address should be included and should direct the reader as close as possible to the actual work. If the work has a digital object identifier (DOI), use this. If there is no DOI or similar handle, use a stable URL. If the URL is not stable, as is often the case with online newspapers and some subscription-based databases, use the home page of the site you retrieved the work from.
• Date: If the work is a finalized version published and dated, as in the case of a journal article, the date within the main body of the citation is enough. However, if the work is not dated and/or is subject to change, as in the case of an online encyclopedia article, include the date that you retrieved the information.

Examples:

Articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers

References to periodical articles must include the following elements: author(s), date of publication, article title, journal title, volume number, issue number (if applicable), and page numbers.

• Journal article, one author, accessed online
  Ku, G. (2008). Learning to de-escalate: The effects of regret in escalation of commitment. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 105(2), 221-232. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2007.08.002
• Journal article, two authors, accessed online
  Sanchez, D., & King-Toler, E. (2007). Addressing disparities consultation and outreach strategies for university settings. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 59(4), 286-295. doi:10.1037/1065- 9293.59.4.286
• Journal article, more than two authors, accessed online
  Van Vugt, M., Hogan, R., & Kaiser, R. B. (2008). Leadership, followership, and evolution: Some lessons from the past. American Psychologist, 63(3), 182-196. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.63.3.182
• Article from an Internet-only journal
  Hirtle, P. B. (2008, July-August). Copyright renewal, copyright restoration, and the difficulty of determining copyright status. D-Lib Magazine, 14(7/8). doi:10.1045/july2008-hirtle
• Journal article from a subscription database (no DOI)
  Colvin, G. (2008, July 21). Information worth billions. Fortune, 158(2), 73-79. Retrieved from Business Source Complete, EBSCO. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com 
• Magazine article, in print
  Kluger, J. (2008, January 28). Why we love. Time, 171(4), 54-60.
• Newspaper article, no author, in print
  As prices surge, Thailand pitches OPEC-style rice cartel. (2008, May 5). The Wall Street Journal, p. A9.
• Newspaper article, multiple authors, discontinuous pages, in print
  Delaney, K. J., Karnitschnig, M., & Guth, R. A. (2008, May 5). Microsoft ends pursuit of Yahoo, reassesses its online options. The Wall Street Journal, pp. A1, A12.

References to an entire book must include the following elements: author(s) or editor(s), date of publication, title, place of publication, and the name of the publisher.

• No Author or editor, in print
  Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (11th ed.). (2003). Springfield, MA: Merriam- Webster.
• One author, in print
  Kidder, T. (1981). The soul of a new machine. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Company.
• Two authors, in print
  Frank, R. H., & Bernanke, B. (2007). Principles of macro-economics (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
• Corporate author, author as publisher, accessed online
  Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2000). Tasmanian year book 2000 (No. 1301.6). Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Author. Retrieved from http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/CA25687...$File/13_2.pdf
• Edited book
  Gibbs, J. T., & Huang, L. N. (Eds.). (2001). Children of color: Psychological interventions with culturally diverse youth. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 

References for dissertations should include the following elements: author, date of publication, title, and institution (if you accessed the manuscript copy from the university collections). If there is a UMI number or a database accession number, include it at the end of the citation.

• Dissertation, accessed online
  Young, R. F. (2007). Crossing boundaries in urban ecology: Pathways to sustainable cities (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database. (UMI No. 327681)

References to an essay or chapter in an edited book must include the following elements: essay or chapter authors, date of publication, essay or chapter title, book editor(s), book title, essay or chapter page numbers, place of publication, and the name of the publisher.

• One author
  Labajo, J. (2003). Body and voice: The construction of gender in flamenco. In T. Magrini (  Ed.), Music and gender: perspectives from the Mediterranean (pp. 67-86). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
• Two editors
  Hammond, K. R., & Adelman, L. (1986). Science, values, and human judgment. In H. R. Arkes & K. R. Hammond (Eds.), Judgement and decision making: An interdisciplinary reader (pp. 127-143). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

References for encyclopedias must include the following elements: author(s) or editor(s), date of publication, title, place of publication, and the name of the publisher. For sources accessed online, include the retrieval date as the entry may be edited over time.

• Encyclopedia set or dictionary
  Sadie, S., & Tyrrell, J. (Eds.). (2002). The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians (2nd ed., Vols. 1-29). New York, NY: Grove.
• Article from an online encyclopedia
  Containerization. (2008). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 6, 2008, from http://search.eb.com
• Encyclopedia article
  Kinni, T. B. (2004). Disney, Walt (1901-1966): Founder of the Walt Disney Company. In Encyclopedia of Leadership (Vol. 1, pp. 345-349). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

References to a report must include the following elements: author(s), date of publication, title, place of publication, and name of publisher. If the issuing organization assigned a number (e.g., report number, contract number, or monograph number) to the report, give that number in parentheses immediately after the title. If it was accessed online, include the URL. 

• Government report, accessed online
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2005). Medicaid drug price comparisons: Average manufacturer price to published prices (OIG publication No. OEI-05-05- 00240). Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-05-05-00240.pdf
• Government reports, GPO publisher, accessed online
  Congressional Budget Office. (2008). Effects of gasoline prices on driving behavior and vehicle markets: A CBO study (CBO Publication No. 2883). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved from http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/88xx/doc8893/01-14-GasolinePrices.pdf
• Technical and/or research reports, accessed online
  Deming, D., & Dynarski, S. (2008). The lengthening of childhood (NBER Working Paper 14124). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved July 21, 2008, from http://www.nber.org/papers/w14124
• Document available on university program or department site
  Victor, N. M. (2008). Gazprom: Gas giant under strain. Retrieved from Stanford University, Program on Energy and Sustainable Development Web site: http://pesd.stanford.edu/publications/gazprom_gas_giant_under_strain/

References to audio-visual media must include the following elements: name and function of the primary contributors (e.g., producer, director), date, title, the medium in brackets, location or place of production, and name of the distributor. If the medium is indicated as part of the retrieval ID, brackets are not needed.

• Videocassette/DVD
  Achbar, M. (Director/Producer), Abbott, J. (Director), Bakan, J. (Writer), & Simpson, B. (Producer) (2004). The corporation [DVD]. Canada: Big Picture Media Corporation.
• Audio recording
  Nhat Hanh, T. (Speaker). (1998). Mindful living: a collection of teachings on love, mindfulness, and meditation [Cassette Recording]. Boulder, CO: Sounds True Audio.
• Motion picture
  Gilbert, B. (Producer), & Higgins, C. (Screenwriter/Director). (1980). Nine to five[Motion Picture]. United States: Twentieth Century Fox.
• Television broadcast
  Anderson, R., & Morgan, C. (Producers). (2008, June 20). 60 Minutes [Television broadcast]. Washington, DC: CBS News.
• Television show from a series
  Whedon, J. (Director/Writer). (1999, December 14). Hush [Television series episode]. In Whedon, J., Berman, G., Gallin, S., Kuzui, F., & Kuzui, K. (Executive Producers), Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Burbank, CA: Warner Bros..
• Music recording
  Jackson, M. (1982). Beat it. On Thriller [CD]. New York, NY: Sony Music.

For content that does not easily fit into categories such as journal papers, books, and reports, keep in mind the goal of a citation is to give the reader a clear path to the source material. For electronic and online materials, include stable URL or database name. Include the author, title, and date published when available. For undated materials, include the date the resource was accessed.

• Blog entry
  Arrington, M. (2008, August 5). The viral video guy gets $1 million in funding. Message posted to http://www.techcrunch.com
• Professional Web site
  National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2008). Biofuels. Retrieved May 6, 2008, from http://www.nrel.gov/learning/re_biofuels.html
• Data set from a database
  Bloomberg L.P. (2008). Return on capital for Hewitt Packard 12/31/90 to 09/30/08. Retrieved Dec. 3, 2008, from Bloomberg database.
  Central Statistics Office of the Republic of Botswana. (2008). Gross domestic product per capita 06/01/1994 to 06/01/2008 [statistics]. Available from CEIC Data database.

When citing an entire Web site (and not a specific document on that site), no Reference List entry is required if the address for the site is cited in the text of your paper.