Focus and Scope

Journal of Language includes the following areas:

1. Linguistics

2. Literature

3. English Language Teaching

4. Discourse Analysis

5. Sociolinguistics

6. Psycholinguistics

Section Policies

Articles

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Peer Review Process

Journal of Language operates a peer review process and promotes a double-blind reviewing, in which the identity of the author(s) and the reviewer(s) are not revealed to each other. The number of reviewers assigned to each paper is three.

The acceptance or rejection of articles will be decided by the editorial boards based on the review results supplied by the reviewers. There are no communications between authors and editors concerning the rejection decision. Before going to review process, all manuscripts will be checked for plagiarism practice. If there is an indication of plagiarism, the manuscript will be instantly rejected. Authors whose papers are rejected will be informed with the reasons of the rejection.

The editors reserve the right to suggest to the authors to have their manuscripts proofread and edited by professional proofreaders, and to decline publication of manuscripts whose authors do not comply with the editors' suggestions.

Publication Frequency

This journal is published twice a year in May and November. 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

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...

Introduction

Journal of Language (JoL) is an open access and a peer reviewed scientific journal covering research reports in linguistics, literature or language teaching, and critical evaluations of books on the related areas published by Faculty of Literature, Islamic University of North Sumatra (UISU), Medan, Indonesia. The main objective of JoL is to provide a platform for scholars, academicians and researchers to share the contemporary thoughts mainly in the fields of language, literature, and language teaching. This journal is published twice a year in May and November.

Article Processing Charge

The author processing charge for a research paper is 50  (fifty) USD (for domestic author(s), please convert the USD to current IDR rate). The publication fee is charged only for accepted paper. The author/corresponding author has to pay the publication fee after the paper is declared accepted. The publication process fee can be made to the following account:

Account Number: 106.00.1244695.4

Bank Name       : Bank Mandiri

Account Name   : Susi Ekalestari, SS, M.Hum.

Swift Code        : BMRIIDJA (only for international transfer)

After the publication process fee has been made, kindly send us the payment proof (copy of the payment receipt):  to: journal_language@sastra.uisu.ac.id with the subject: Payment Proof of the Publication Process.

Editorial Process

Once a manuscript is submitted, the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Language inspects the submitted manuscript. If the Chief Editor determines that the manuscript is not of sufficient quality to go through the normal review workflow or if the subject of the manuscript is not appropriate to the journal's scope, the Chief Editor rejects the manuscript without further processing. If the Chief Editor determines that the submitted manuscript is of sufficient quality and falls within the scope of the journal, the Chief Editor sends the manuscript to three reviewers for peer-review.

The Chief Editor of Journal of Language has the authority, and reserves the right to reject any manuscript submitted due to inappropriateness of its subject content, lack of quality, incorrectness of its results and recommendations, inaccuracies in the experimentation etc. The final decision on paper publication is made by the Chief Editor upon recommendation of Editorial Board members or with respect to the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript recommended by the reviewers. 

No changes in paper will be accepted once the decision of acceptance is announced thru email to the communicating/corresponding author. Therefore, authors are requested to make all the corrections well prior to the decision of acceptance for paper publication.

Copy Right Policy and Licensing

Journal of Language (JoL) is licensed under License Creative Commons Atribusi 4.0 Internasional

Creative Commons licenses work as “Some rights reserved” rule instead of “All rights reserved” rule. CC offers a diverse set of license conditions – the freedoms and limitations. This allows the author to define rules on which he or she would like to share his or her creations with others. At the same time users gain more rights to the use of his or her works. 

Attribution 4.0 – This license lets you (others) distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the workn published in Journal of Language, even commercially, as long as they credit Journal of Language for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

AI Usage Policies

AI Usage Policies

Journal of Language recognizes the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in scholarly publishing. As generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and others become increasingly accessible, the journal emphasizes the need to balance their potential benefits with responsible and ethical use.
This policy sets out the journal’s position on the use of AI by authors, reviewers, and editorial staff, ensuring transparency, accountability, and compliance with the ethical standards of Elsevier and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Use of AI Tools by Authors
Authors may employ AI tools to assist in the preparation of manuscripts, provided such use is conducted transparently, responsibly, and ethically. Acceptable applications include language refinement, grammar enhancement, and reference formatting. However, AI tools must not be used to generate substantive content that replaces original scientific reasoning, conceptualization, or interpretation of results.
Authors retain full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of all content submitted, including sections where AI tools have been employed.
In line with the COPE Position Statement (2023), AI tools cannot be credited as authors under any circumstances. Authorship requires accountability, consent, and intellectual contribution—criteria that AI tools cannot meet. Accordingly, all listed authors must be human individuals who satisfy established authorship standards.

2. Disclosure of AI Use
Authors must provide full disclosure of any AI tools used during manuscript preparation. This includes, but is not limited to, applications for text generation, image creation, data analysis, coding support, or translation.
Such disclosures should be placed in the Acknowledgements section and must include the name of the AI tool, its version, and the purpose of use.
Example disclosure statement:
“The authors used OpenAI’s ChatGPT (version [X]) to refine the wording of the Introduction section. All generated outputs were reviewed and verified by the authors for accuracy and integrity.”
Failure to disclose AI use may constitute a violation of ethical publishing standards and could lead to manuscript rejection or post-publication retraction.

3. Author Responsibility and Accountability
Authors bear complete responsibility for the content and scholarly validity of their manuscripts. When AI tools are used, authors must ensure that all outputs are accurate, original, unbiased, and ethically sound.
Authors are expected to verify that AI-generated text does not contain:
• Fabricated or “hallucinated” references
• Factual inaccuracies or unsupported claims
• Biased or discriminatory language
• Plagiarized or misattributed content
The submission of wholly or predominantly AI-generated manuscripts without human oversight or disclosure constitutes unethical conduct and will be handled in accordance with COPE and Journal of Language’s editorial integrity policy.

4. Use of AI in Peer Review
Journal of Language requires all peer reviewers to uphold the principles of confidentiality, integrity, and scholarly competence. Reviewers must not use AI tools to generate or structure peer review reports, nor may they input confidential manuscript content into AI systems, as this may breach data protection and confidentiality obligations.
If reviewers wish to use AI tools for non-content-related purposes (e.g., linguistic refinement of their review text), they must ensure that no confidential information is shared and must disclose such use to the handling editor. The editorial board reserves the right to reject reviews found to have been produced through inappropriate AI assistance.

5. Editorial Use of AI
Editorial staff at Journal of Language may employ AI tools for administrative and non-decisional tasks such as plagiarism detection, reference verification, formatting checks, and language editing. However, AI tools will not be used to determine editorial outcomes.
All acceptance and rejection decisions are made exclusively by qualified human editors to preserve accountability, transparency, and ethical rigor in the decision-making process.

6. Ethical Considerations and Bias Prevention
AI applications must not compromise ethical integrity or academic objectivity. Authors, reviewers, and editors are urged to critically evaluate AI-generated outputs to prevent bias, misrepresentation, or the inclusion of misleading or culturally insensitive content.
Over-reliance on AI tools, particularly in tasks requiring critical interpretation, evaluative judgment, or creative synthesis, should be avoided. The journal encourages responsible innovation grounded in ethical scholarship.

7. Violations and Consequences
Any instance of ethical misconduct involving the misuse of AI—such as the fabrication of data or references, undisclosed AI-generated content, or misrepresentation of authorship—will be treated seriously. Journal of Language reserves the right to:
• Reject the manuscript upon submission
• Request formal corrections or revisions
• Retract published articles
• Notify the authors’ affiliated institutions when warranted
All such cases will be investigated following the COPE guidelines on publication misconduct.

8. Policy Review and Updates
This AI policy will undergo periodic review and revision to reflect technological developments and evolving best practices in academic publishing. Journal of Language remains committed to fostering responsible use of AI while upholding the quality, transparency, and integrity of scholarly communication.

References
1. Elsevier (2023). Generative AI Policies for Journals. Retrieved from:
https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/generative-ai-policies-for-journals
2. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (2023). Position Statement on Authorship and AI Tools. Retrieved from:
https://publicationethics.org/guidance/cope-position/authorship-and-ai-tools
3. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (2024). Discussion Document on AI and Peer Review. Retrieved from:
https://publicationethics.org/news/cope-publishes-guidance-on-ai-in-peer-review
4. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (2023). Discussion Paper: Ethical Considerations in the Use of Generative AI in Publishing.
https://publicationethics.org/topic-discussions/artificial-intelligence-ai-and-fake-papers