About the Journal

Who are we?

The Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal (CALJ) is a peer-reviewed journal published in Bogotá, Colombia by the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas for a global audience of professionals in language education interested in research and teaching issues in the field of Applied Linguistics, more specifically but not only for the Teaching of English. Teaching of other languages may also be of interest. It disseminates partial or final results of research in the field of language teaching as well as teaching experiences and theoretical reflections.

The CALJ has proudly published articles by authors from Latin American countries, but also from the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, the United States, Canada and the Middle East. Therefore, we have a global readership that is permanently reported in Google Analytics. Currently, the journal is indexed in Redalyc, SciELO, Latindex, ERA, MLA and Publindex-Colombia. It is listed in the directories Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory, EBSCO Publishing, DOAJ, SHERPA/RoMEO.

Focus and Scope

The CALJ is an academic and research journal for a global audience of professionals in language education interested in research and teaching issues in the field of Applied Linguistics. It is a forum to publish studies exploring language teaching in a critical social amalgam, that is, in a complexity of social values and beliefs.  The journal is focused on visibilizing teachers and researchers’ experiences aiming to enlighten conditions for learning; therefore, inspiring other teachers to engage in informed practices addressing ecological views of language education. This engagement also has to do with creating opportunities to teach and learn going beyond the instrumental view of language towards comprehending language as a constituent of reality. Language is then seen as a social practice that is questioned, as a way to construct locally relevant knowledge attempting to transform environments in which social injustice is perpetuated. The journal can be an opportunity to share local thinking with the global academic community so that both contribute to enriching language and teaching practices.

Coinciding with the critical epistemological perspective this journal stands on, Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, which is a state University, supports the editorial process with the purpose to keep the work of the journal open access and maintain the opportunity to all the writers of any level to publish their on-going or finished work and any audience in the field to learn from their work. The CALJ publishes continuously, it divided in two issues peer year.

The Journal manages comprehensives review process. Detailed explanation of the main aspects of the process is given below:

Editorial Review. Each manuscript is reviewed by the editor and, if necessary, adjustments are requested before the manuscript is sent to peers. There may be cases in which it is decided not to accept the submission of a manuscript because of problems with its originality or quality of its writing. Also, the manuscript is rejected if there is any ethical issue, or its focus escapes the thematic spectrum of the Journal.

Review System. The Journal has a “double-blind” peer review system. This means that the authors and reviewers’ identity is reserved throughout the process, and the publisher is responsible for preventing probable conflicts of interest and auditing the quality of the concepts.

Review Process. The arbitration process consists of three stages. The first one is the assignment of reviewers, usually two for each manuscript, three when there is disagreement between judgments. The Journal selects reviewers according to their academic degrees, their current lines of research and their most recent publications, usually related to the area developed in the article evaluated.

The second stage is the review and consolidation of concepts by the editor. Manuscripts can be approved without modifications, approved with modifications of form, approved with substantial modifications, or rejected. In case of contradictory concepts, where one reviewer approves with modification of form and another approves with substantial modifications or rejects, a third review will be requested to resolve the conflict.

The third stage is publishing the arbitration results. This may involve closing the manuscript process when the manuscript is rejected by two reviewers or when is approved without adjustments (this occurs in very rare cases).  Another case of this type is when there are adjustments to make and the verification of these changes. Manuscripts which receive concepts where substantial modifications are recommended may be rejected by editorial decision or their final approval depend on the success of the corrections of the identified problems. The verification of the adjustments is usually done by the same peers or with the help of a scientific editor or by a member of the journal’s committee.

If the article requires minor revisions, as suggested by the evaluators, the author(s) are given one week to do so. Articles requiring major modifications are given two or three weeks to be re-submitted. If authors fail to make the modifications or if the changes are not deemed complete enough to make the manuscript publishable, they have one more opportunity to make a new revision. If problems persist in the second verification, the final decision is to reject the manuscript. On the event that an article is not accepted, the assistant also informs the author immediately of the results of the evaluation. From the moment a manuscript is received to the moment the authors are informed about the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript, the process can take from six to ten months.

Table 2. Possible results from the peer reviewing process

Review Times. The review of a manuscript can last four months on average. This is since its submission until the final decision about publication. The editor notifies authors of the decision not to publish their manuscript after the editorial review if some major problems are detected (in quality, originality or ethical conditions or the journal’s thematic spectrum and scientific approach.

Additional information for submissions

• Ready Submissions: The submission should be broken into two types of files: the article and any graphic aids. All articles must be submitted through the Open Journal System, http://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/ojs/index.php/calj/login.
• Waiver: Every article shall be subject to the review of the editorial committee. The editor reserves the right to make formal modifications to articles throughout the editing process.
• If authors do not complete their tasks (corrections solicited by editors, reviewers, copyeditors, or designers) on the determined deadlines, the journal reserves the right to reject their manuscripts due to a lack of response.
• Contact: Communicate with the journal at ud@udistrital.edu.co

About the reviewers

Firstly, the reviewers are selected by the expertise on the subject, their activity on the field as they should have publishing background mainly in the subject within a window of 5 years. The process of evaluating consists of an invitation via our platform, if accepted the reviewers get access to the blinded manuscript and our format of evaluation. The response of the reviewers takes up to three because of the reviewer’s busy agenda and because they do it without payment. For second round revisions the reviewers got between one or two weeks.

Conditions for considering papers to publication

In order to consider a paper to be accepted for publication in CALJ, contributions should:

• Be original and genuine. The paper cannot be submitted to another journal simultaneously.
• Interesting in terms in methodology, critical reflection, conceptualization and analytical perspective.
• Be relevant to current research, pedagogy, applied linguistics and theoretical approach.
• Include a careful revision of knowledge of previous research in the same field.
• Be scientifically rigorous and have enough depth of analysis.
• Be precise and clear in the use of concepts and terminology.
• Writing must be academic in content and style.
• Within this context, each paragraph should develop an idea which is coherently supported and language should be appropriately managed for publication. 
• Have correct formatting, style and organization according to American Psychological Association (APA) style.

Types of Articles

• Research Articles: A document that details the original results of a research project. The structure of this type of article typically contains the following sections: title, abstract, keywords, introduction, theoretical framework, methodology, analysis and discussion of results, conclusions, and references. Authors are encouraged to include graphic aids. It must have between 6.500 words to 8.000 words.
• To encourage the development of future academics, our journal welcomes submissions that are the direct result of a supervised research experience, such as a capstone project, thesis, or dissertation, where the primary author is a novice researcher (e.g., an undergraduate, master's, or doctoral student). These are called research articles from novice researchers. The manuscript must include at least one coauthor who served as the research supervisor or mentor. Also, the submission must include a brief statement (150 words max.) explicitly confirming that it is a manuscript derived from a novice researcher's investigation.  While the paper is derived from student work, it must still meet the journal's standard criteria for originality, methodology, and contribution to the field. The supervising professor holds final responsibility for the academic quality and adherence to all ethical standards.
• Reflections on Praxis: A paper that presents an innovation with pedagogical implications. This document focuses on the pedagogical core of the teaching profession, namely the pedagogical knowledge of teachers. The authors are expected to include a solid justification, a description of the processes followed in a given educational setting, samples of a pedagogical intervention in specific teaching fields, results of the experiences and conclusions. The authors are also expected to support their manuscript with theoretical and/or research studies and to present analytical perspectives. This type of article may include theoretical considerations, pedagogical context, findings, discussion, etc. Authors are encouraged to include graphic aids and the pedagogical innovation should contain original sources.
• Theme Reviews: A document resulting from a critical revision of literature related to a specific topic. This kind of article is derived from research in which published or non-published research results in a scientific field are analyzed, systematized and integrated in order to inform readers of the latest tendencies and developments. This type of publication must have at least 50 references.
• Book Review: Critical, analytical review that should provide some context for the work under consideration. This does not have to be extensive, no more than 2000 words, but should answer basic questions for an informed reader. Always be specific and provide evidence to back up your opinions.

Publication frequency

The Journal has a continuous frequency of publication. Two numbers are issued per year. That means the peered approved articles are sent to editorial production with the purpose of being edited and published online as soon as they fulfill the evaluation and revision process. The speed of the production process depends on several factors. Those include the commitment of the authors to review at each stage of the process. The editors ask the authors to check their texts at several points of the process (listing, correction, collation and approval) with the expectation that each revision is made within a short time frame.

Open Access Policy

Free of charges

As the open-access policy contributes to the exchange of global knowledge, this journal provides immediate free access to all its content. Readers from all around the world can read and download every article for free. In addition, authors do not have to pay any fee to publish in the journal. The manuscript is submitted, evaluated, proofread, and published without any cost.

Cession of rights and reuse

The journal uses the same license for all their papers:  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

 Attribution: Licensees may copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works and remixes based on it only if they give the author or licensor the credits in the manner specified by these.

• NonCommercial: Licensees may copy, distribute, display, and perform the work and make derivative works and remixes based on it only for non-commercial purposes.
• NoDerivatives: Licensees may copy, distribute, display and perform only verbatim copies of the work, not derivative works and remixes based on it.

Self-archiving

The Journal allows self-archiving the papers or texts. Authors can self-archive the final version of the published manuscript or the publisher’s version.

Digital preservation.

The platform where Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal is published facilitates access and ensure digital preservation over time. Similarly, all published texts are given a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) to ensure their online location and retrieval.

Languages

The journal publishes mainly in English, but also in Spanish both complete texts and essential metadata.

Best practices statement and ethical standards

The journal takes into account the procedures and ethical standards by Cambridge University Press (https://www.cambridge.org/core/about/ethical-standards), the guidelines for ethical behavior in scientific publications by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines), by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/) and by the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) (http://www.wame.org/policies).

Declaration of good editorial practices and ethical norms

This document has been adapted from the document of Ethical Standards and Procedures prepared by Cambridge University Press, following the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidelines for Good Ethical Behavior in Serial Scientific Publications. Also, the document considers the framework of Colombian Constitution and the policies of the Universidad Distrital Franscisco José de Caldas

Editors’ responsibilities

• Act in a balanced, objective, and fair manner without any kind of discrimination on the basis of sexual, religious, political, origin or ethics of the authors, making proper use of the guidelines set forth in the Colombian Constitution in this regard.
• Consider, edit and publish original academic contributions solely on their academic merits without regard to any commercial influence or conflict of interest.
• Receive and follow appropriate procedures to resolve any ethical or conflict of interest complaints or misunderstandings. The editors and the editorial committee shall act in accordance with the regulations, policies and procedures mentioned at the first paragraph of this section. In any case, authors are given the opportunity to respond to possible conflicts of interest.

Any type of complaint must be supported by documentation that prove inappropriate conduct.

Responsibilities of reviewers

• Contribute impartially to the process of evaluating the manuscripts submitted for consideration in the Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal collaborating, in a timely manner, with the improvement of the scientific quality of these original research products.
• Maintain the confidentiality of the data provided by the editors, the editorial board, or the authors, making correct use of such information. It is the editors’ decision to keep or to copy the manuscript in the evaluation process.
• Inform the editor and the editorial board, in a timely manner, when the contents of an academic contribution present elements of plagiarism or substantially resembles other research products published or in the process of publication.
• Report any potential conflict of interest with an academic contribution due to financial, institutional, collaborative, or other relationships between the reviewer and the authors. In such a case, and if necessary, withdraw their services in the evaluation of the manuscript.

Responsibilities of authors

Maintain accurate supporting information and records of data and analysis of data related to the manuscript submitted for consideration by the journal. When the editors or editorial board of the journal require this information (for reasonable motives), the authors should provide or facilitate access to it. When requested, the original data enter a chain of custody that ensures the confidentiality and protection of the information by the journal.

Confirm by means of a letter of originality (pre-established format by the journal) that the academic contribution under review is not being considered or has been submitted and/or accepted in different journal. As said in the content management, when part of the content of this contribution has been published or presented in another means, the authors must acknowledge and cite the respective sources and academic credits. In addition, a copy to the editors and the editorial board must be submitted of any publication that may have overlapping or closely related content to the contribution under consideration. In addition, authors must acknowledge the respective credits of the material reproduced from other sources. Elements such as tables, figures or patents that require special permission to be reproduced must be accompanied by a letter of acceptance of reproduction by the owners of the copyright of the product used.

To declare any potential conflict of interest that may exert undue influence at any time during the publication process.

Carefully review the final design of the contribution, prior to publication in the journal, informing about any errors that may occur and need to be corrected. If significant errors are found, once the scholarly contribution has been published, the authors must notify the editor and the editorial board in a timely manner, cooperating subsequently with the journal in the publication of a statement of errors, appendix, notice, correction, or in cases where it is considered necessary, remove the manuscript from the published issue.

CALJ publishes manuscripts by the same author every two years and only if their content makes different thematic contributions to the previous research project.

Responsibility of Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas

Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, on whose behalf the Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal is published and in accordance with the provisions of Agreement 023 of June 19, 2012 of the Academic Council, which regulates the Editorial Policy of the University, ensures that the ethical standards and good practices are fully complied with.

Post-publication cases, corrections and procedures for dealing with unethical behavior 

Identification of unethical behavior

Unethical behavior of the authors which the journal is aware or informed of is examined in the first instance by the editors and the Editorial Committee of the journal.

Unethical behavior may include, but not necessarily be limited to, what is stipulated in the Declaration of Good Practices and Ethical Standards of the Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, the regulations of the Faculty of Sciences and Education and Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas on this matter. It includes data fabrication or plagiarism.

Information on unethical behavior should be in writing and accompanied by tangible, reliable and sufficient evidence to initiate an investigative process. All complaints should be considered and treated in the same way until a successful decision or conclusion is reached.

The communication of unethical behavior should first be reported preferably to the editors of the journal, and consequently to the editorial board or the publications committee of the Faculty of Sciences and Education. In cases where the above actors do not provide a timely response, the unethical behavior should be reported to the publications committee of Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas.

Complaints about unethical behavior on the part of the Editors or the Editorial Committee of the journal should be reported to the Publications Committee of the Faculty of Sciences and Education of the Universidad Distrital.

Investigation

The first decision must be made by the editors, who must consult or seek advice from the Editorial Committee, the Scientific Committee and the Publications Committee of the Faculty of Sciences and Education, as the case may be. Evidence from the investigation is kept confidential.

Unethical behavior, which the Editors consider minor, may be dealt with between them and the authors without the need for further consultation. In any event, perpetrators should be given the opportunity to respond to allegations of unethical behavior.

Serious unethical behavior should be reported to the institutions affiliated with the authors or supporting research. The editors, in consideration with the Universidad Distrital, should decide as to whether to involve sponsors, either by reviewing the available evidence or through further consultations with a limited number of experts.

Results (in increasing order of severity, may be applied separately or in combination)

• Inform authors or reviewers where there appears to be a misunderstanding or poor practice of ethical standards.
• Send an official communication to authors or reviewers showing ethical misconduct and serving as a precedent for future good behavior.
• Make a formal notification to the authors by detailing the misconduct based on the evidence of the investigation process.
• Inform the editorial and scientific committees of the journal about such conduct.
• Remove the article from the journal publication and suspend the author for five years, during which period he may not re-publish in the journal.
• Report the case and the result of the investigation to the competent authorities, if the good name of Universidad Distrital is compromised.

Impersonation. The Journal invite its reviewers based on a comprehensive analysis of their curriculum vitae. This involves a review of their academic background, their current lines of research and their most recent publications. Thus, if the reviewer accepts peering the manuscript, it is not acceptable that he or she transfers his responsibility to a third party (e.g., research assistant, a PhD student or another colleague).

Improper use of the contents. The Journal entrust reviewers with unpublished manuscripts which generally contain results of research, novel approaches or valued findings to science and the development of knowledge. In this regard, we ask for special care protecting the data and contents of all manuscripts that the reviewers agree to read. Any unauthorized use of such information is considered a serious fault.

Diligence. The editor relies on the reviewer’s concept to decide about publishing a manuscript, on almost every occasion. The excessive delay delivering a concept generates an overload on the processes of the Journal and can affect the validity of the contents of a manuscript, among other undesirable effects. For this reason, we ask reviewers to meet the deadlines for concept submission that were initially agreed with the editor. In case of any setback, it is important that the reviewer notifies the editor, so a decision can be made about extending the deadline or seeking the concept of a new reviewer.

Retractions and corrections. The Journal follows COPE guidelines to proceed in cases that are likely to involve a correction or retraction of a published text. Withdrawals are made when serious ethical and quality gaps are identified in a manuscript. These cases include data fabrication, plagiarism, among other problems that compromise originality, reliability, and results. Also, authors can request a correction if they notice an unintentional error that could affect the interpretation of their results or if they identified an error in the metadata. Corrections are made when there are fundamental issues affecting the understanding or interpretation of the published manuscript; minor errors do not imply correction (e.g., spelling).

Request or complaints. If a contributor has any request or issue about any journal process, or suspects misconduct in a published manuscript, they should contact the editor directly to the official mailbox: caljournal.ud@udistrital.edu.co. The Journal Editorial Team will review such request and get in touch with the claimer for further inquiry, analysis, solution, or action on the case.

Indexing. The Journal frequently carries out indexing and updating processes of its volumes in , bibliographic bases, databases, repositories, directories and catalogues. It is made to provide the greatest possible access to its contents to the specialized community of applied linguistics in the world and to readers interested in the most relevant scientific discussions in the journal topics.

It is also part of the essential purpose of the Journal to consolidate and maintain itself as a reliable repository of peer-reviewed scientific knowledge, easily accessible, in order to promote an impact on the solution of problems and to contribute to more responsible and conscious professional and social practices around.

Journal History

The CALJ was created in 1998 in the Master’s Program in Applied Linguistics to TEFL at the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas in Bogotá, Colombia. Its initial purpose was to publish contributions from faculty and graduate students of the different ELT programs in Bogotá and Colombia. Thus, the journal had a local and national circulation. The journal moved from being a print-based version in 1998. The journal increased the publication frequency o to two issues a year. In 2000, the editor and the members of the research group LECTOESCRINAUTAS were committed themselves to make the journal known globally. In 2004, the editor invited national and international scholars to be part of the editorial committee and editorial review board to contribute to making the publication a rich and rigorous scholarly publication. The CALJ was listed in international indexes such as the Educational Research Abstracts (ERA) and Modern Language Association Bibliography (MLA). In 2009, Publindex, the national index, ranked the CALJ as a top journal among many in the field nationally. It had a local, regional and national circulation, to a digital text since 2009 with the Open Journal System and open access for all readers globally. In 2019 new editors worked on shaping more clearly the journal’s identity in the field so it was visible to the academic audience and target authors. Currently, the journal is indexed in Redalyc, SciELO, Latindex, ERA, MLA, and Publindex-Colombia. It is listed in the directories Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory, EBSCO Publishing, DOAJ, SHERPA/RoMEO.
In April 2018, the journal celebrated 20 years of publication of the CALJ as a peer-reviewed journal. The journal can report contributions from nearly 400 authors from different countries in 29 volumes. The review process count on the professional support international evaluators from 28 countries that provide support to our academic publication. These academics have been important since they have contributed to maintaining the excellent quality and periodicity of our publication.