Lingua Multica is an open access peer-reviewed international journal published by Moscow City University, Russia. The Editorial Board welcomes research-based articles and reviews covering language and cultural diversity issues in various educational, social, historical, and media contexts.
Lingua Multica aims to advance and disseminate new ideas and research results in the fields of education, linguistics, culture, and media studies focused on the diversity agenda. The journal explores linguistic and cultural plurality topics approached from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Lingua Multica also promotes the study of innovative methodology in contemporary language-, culture- and education-related research.
The Editors invite submissions covering the following areas as well as other topics relevant to the interests of Lingua Multica:
• Monolingualism, bilingualism and multilingualism;
• Comparative education, language and culturalstudies;
• Translation and localization;
• Second language acquisition in various settings;• Teaching in monocultural and multicultural environments;
• Cultural and linguistic diversity across the globe;
• Minority and regional languages;
• Psychological, pedagogical, social and historical aspects of intercultural communication;
• Social processes related to languages and cultures;
• Language, culture and cognition;
• Innovative methodologies in education, language and cultural studies.
The Editorial Board believes in a collaborative academic culture that respects diversity and is therefore committed to providing equal opportunity to all scholars, researchers and practitioners submitting their manuscripts to Lingua Multica without discrimination based on the contributor’s actual or perceived age, colour, creed, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical attributes, political beliefs, socioeconomic status, professional affiliation, academic credentials, work experience and other grounds.
Publisher
The journal is published by Moscow City University (MGPU), Russia.
Lingua Multica is published biannually. Each issue incorporates up to 8 articles on the subjects relevant to the aims and scope of the journal. All articles are available online on the journal’s website.
Peer Review Policy
All manuscripts submitted to Lingua Multica undergo a rigorous peer review based on initial editor screening and subsequent review by two anonymous reviewers competent in the field covered by the article. The procedure is ‘double blind’, that is, the authors’ names are unknown to referees at all stages of the review process while reviewers also remain anonymous.
Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports the greater global exchange of knowledge.
Copyright Notice
License and Copyright Agreement
In submitting the manuscript to the journal, authors certify that:
They are authorized by their co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
The work described has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review or thesis); it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; its publication has been approved by all the author(s) and responsible authorities — tacitly or explicitly — of the institutes where the work has been carried out.
They secure the right to reproduce any material that has already been published or copyrighted elsewhere.
They agree to the following license and copyright agreement:
Copyright
Copyright on any article is retained by the author(s).
The authors grant Moscow City University the exclusive license to publish and distribute the article (including any derivative products), and to sublicense such rights, including for commercial purposes, and exploit all subsidiary rights.
The article and any associated published materials are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0):
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Anyone is free to Share — to copy and redistribute the verbatim copy of the material,
under the following conditions:
Attribution. You must give credit to the original author(s), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes have been made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use thereof.
NonCommercial. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
NoDerivatives. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
Copyright Transfers
Any usage rights are regulated through the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For non-commercial purposes anyone is free to copy and distribute the article as long as the original author is credited, and provided that the article is not altered or modified (see above). Permission of the Lingua Multica Publisher is required for commercial use and for all derivative works, including compilations and translations.
General
The publishing ethics and malpractice policies of Lingua Multica follow the relevant COPE guidelines (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines) and in the event that a malpractice is suspected, the journal’s editors will act in accordance with them.
Privacy statement
The personal information used on this website is to be used exclusively for the stated purposes of each particular journal. It will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
Open access
Lingua Multica adheres strictly to gold open access to accelerate the barrier-free dissemination of research and scholarship. All published articles are made freely available to read, download, and distribute immediately upon publication, given that the original source and authors are cited Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Open data publishing and sharing
Lingua Multica encourages open data publication and sharing, in accordance with Panton’s Principles and FAIR Data Principles.
Submission, peer review and editorial process
The peer review and editorial processes are facilitated through an online editorial system and a set of email notifications. The Lingua Multica website displays a stepwise description of the editorial process, and listsall necessary instructions and links. These links are also included in the respective email notification.
General: Publication and authorship
• All submitted papers are subject to a rigorous peer review process by international reviewers who are experts in the academic field of the particular paper.
• The factors that are taken into account in review are relevance, robustness, significance, originality, readability and accuracy of language.
• The ultimate responsibility for editorial decisions lies with the respective Subject Editor and, in some cases, with the Editor-in-Chief. All appeals should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief, who may decide to seek advice among the Subject Editors and Reviewers.
• The possible decisions include: (1) Accept, (2) Minor revisions, (3) Major revisions, (4) Reject, but re-submission encouraged and (5) Reject, without re-submission.
• If Authors are encouraged to revise and re-submit a submission, there is no guarantee that the revised submission will be accepted.
• The paper’s acceptance is constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
• No research can be included in more than one publication.
Responsibility of Authors
• Authors are required to agree that their paper will be published in open access under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
• Authors must certify that their manuscripts are their original work.
• Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere.
• Authors must certify that the manuscript is not currently being considered for publication in another outlet.
• Authors should submit the manuscript in linguistically and grammatically correct English and formatted in accordance with the journal’s Author Guidelines.
• Authors must participate in the peer review process. • Authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes. • All Authors mentioned are expected to have significantly contributed to the research. • Authors must notify the Editors of any conflicts of interest. • Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript. • Authors must report any errors they discover in their published paper to the Editors.• Authors should acknowledge all significant funders of the research pertaining to their article and list all relevant competing interests. • Other sources of support for publications should also be clearly identified in the manuscript, usually in an acknowledgement (e.g., funding for the article’s processing charge; language editing or editorial assistance).
• The Corresponding author should provide the declaration of any conflicts of interest on behalf of all Authors. Conflicts of interest may be associated with employment, sources of funding, personal financial interests, membership of relevant organizations, for instance.
Responsibility of Reviewers
• Reviewers do not sign their reports. They are also asked to declare any conflicts of interests.
• Reviewers are not expected to provide a thorough linguistic editing or copyediting of a manuscript, but to focus on its academic quality, as well as itsoverall style, which should correspond to the good practices in clear and concise academic writing. If Reviewers recognize that a manuscript requires linguistic edits, they should inform both the Authors and Editor in the report.
• Reviewers are asked to check whether the manuscript is academically robust and coherent, whether it is of scholarly interest and whether the quality of the writing is acceptable.
• In the event of a strong disagreement between the reviews, or between the Authors and Reviewers, the Editors can judge these according to their expertise, or seek advice from a member of the journal’s Editorial Board.
• Reviewers are also asked to indicate which articles they consider to be especially interesting or significant. These articles may be given greater prominence and greater external publicity, including press releases addressed to academicjournalists and mass media.
• During a second review round, the Reviewer may be asked by the Subject Editor to evaluate the revised version of the manuscript with regard tothe Reviewer’s recommendations submitted during the first review round.
• Reviewers are asked to be polite and constructive in their reports. Reports that may be insulting or uninformative will be discarded.
• Reviewers are asked to comment on originality, structure and previous research: (1) Is the paper sufficiently original and does it contribute to a better understanding of the topic under scrutiny? Or is the work rather discursive and repetitive? (2) Is the introduction clear and concise? Does it place the work in the context that is necessary for a reader to comprehend the aims, hypotheses tested, experimental design or methods? Are Material and Methods clearly described and sufficiently explained? Are reasons given when choosing one method over another one from a set of comparable methods? Are the results clearly but concisely described? Do they relate to the topic outlined in the introduction? Do they follow a logical sequence? Does the discussion place the paper in its academic context and extendthe current academic knowledge on the basis of the results? Are competing hypotheses or theories reasonably related to each other and properly discussed? Do conclusions seem reasonable? Is previous research adequately incorporated into the paper? Are references complete, necessary and accurate? Is there any sign that substantial parts of the paper were copies of other works?
• Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the paper(s).
• Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information.
• Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
• Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
• Reviewers should also call to the Editors’ attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
Responsibility of Editors
• Editors in Lingua Multica bear the main responsibility for the academic quality of the published papers and base their decisions solely on the papers’ importance, originality, clarity and relevance to the publication’s scope.
• The Editor-in-Chief takes the final decision on a manuscript’s acceptance or rejection.
• The Editors are not expected to provide a thorough linguistic editing or copyediting of a manuscript, but to focus on its academic quality, as well as the overall style, which should correspond to good practice in clear and concise academic writing.
• Editors are expected to identify minor errors in orthography or style during the editing process and correct them.
• Editors should always consider the needs of the Authors and the Readers when attempting to improve the publication.
• Editors should guarantee the quality of the paper(s)and the integrity of the academic profile.
• Editors should preserve the anonymity of Reviewers.
• Editors should ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines.
• Editors should act if they suspect misconduct, and make all reasonable attempts to obtain a resolution to the problem.
• Editors should not reject papers based on suspicionor inference, they should have proof of misconduct.
• Editors should not allow any conflicts of interest between Authors, Reviewers and Board Members.
Gender Issues
Lingua Multica encourages the use of gender-neutral language, such as ‘chairperson’ instead of ‘chairman’ or ‘chairwoman’, as well as ‘they’ instead of ‘she/he’ and ‘their’ instead of ‘him/her’ (or consider restructuring the sentence).
Conflict of interest
During the editorial process, the following relationships between editors and authors are considered conflicts of interest: colleagues currently working in the same research group or department, recent co-authors, and doctoral students for which the editor has served as Chief Examiner. During the submission process, the authors are kindly advised to identify possible conflicts of interest with the journal editors. After manuscripts are assigned to the handling editor, individual editors are required to inform the managing editor of any possible conflicts of interest with the authors. Journal submissions are also assigned to referees to minimize conflicts of interest. After manuscripts are assigned for review, referees are asked to inform the editor of any conflicts that may exist.
Appeals and open debate
Lingua Multica encourages academic debate and constructive criticism. Authors are always invited to respond to any editorial correspondence before publication. Authors are advised not to neglect unfavorable comments about their work, or choose not to respond to criticisms.
No Reviewer’s comment or published correspondence may contain a personal attack on any of the Authors. Criticism of the work is encouraged. Editors should edit (or reject) personal or offensive statements. Authors should submit their appeal on editorial decisions to the Editorial Office, addressed to the Editor-in-Chief or to the Managing Editor. Authors are discouraged from directly contacting Editorial Board Members and Editors with appeals.
Editors will mediate all discussions between Authors and Reviewers during the peer review process prior to publication. If agreement cannot be reached, Editors may consider inviting additional reviewers if appropriate.
The Editor-in-Chief will mediate all discussions between Authors and Subject Editors.
Misconduct
Research misconduct may include: (a) manipulating research materials, equipment or processes; (b) changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the article. A special case of misconduct is plagiarism, which is the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results or words without giving appropriate credit. Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion. If misconduct is suspected, journal Editors will act in accordance with the relevant COPE guidelines: http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines.
Plagiarism and duplicate publication policy
A special case of misconduct is plagiarism, which is the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results or words without giving appropriate credit. Plagiarism is considered theft of intellectual property and manuscripts submitted to this journal which contain substantial unattributed textual copying from other papers will be immediately rejected. Editors are advised to check manuscripts for plagiarism.
Instances when authors re-use large parts of their publications without providing a clear reference to the original source are considered duplication of work. Slightly changed published works submitted in multiple journals is similarly not an acceptable practice. In cases of plagiarism from an already published paper or duplicate publication, an announcement will be made on the journal’spublication page and a procedure of retraction will be triggered.
Responses to possible misconduct
All allegations of misconduct must be referred to the Editor-In-Chief. Upon thorough examination, the Editor-In-Chief and deputy editors should conclude if the case concerns a possibility of misconduct. All allegations should be kept confidential and references to the matter in writing should be kept anonymous, whenever possible.
Should a comment on potential misconduct be submitted by the Reviewers or Editors, an explanation will be sought from the Authors. If this is satisfactory and the issue is the result of either a mistake or misunderstanding, the matter can be easily resolved. If not, the manuscript will be rejected or retracted and the Editors may impose a ban on that individual’s publication in the journal for a certain period of time. In cases of published plagiarism or dual publication, an announcement will be made in both journals explaining the situation.
When allegations concern reviewers or editors, they will be replaced in the review process during the ongoing investigation of the matter. Editors or reviewers who are found to have engaged in scientific misconduct should be removed from further association with the journal, and this fact reported to their institution.
Retraction policies
Article retraction
According to the COPE Retraction Guidelines followed by Lingua Multica, an article can be retracted because of the following reasons:
• Unreliable findings based on clear evidence of misconduct (e.g. fraudulent use of the data) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error).
• Redundant publication, e.g., findings that have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification.
• Plagiarism or other kind of unethical research.
Retraction procedure
• Retraction should happen after careful consideration by the Journal editors of allegations made by the editors, authors, or readers.
• The HTML version of the retracted article is removed (except for the article metadata) and in its place a retraction note is issued.
• The PDF of the retracted article is left on the website but clearly watermarked with the note “Retracted” on each page.
• In some rare cases (e.g., for legal reasons) the retracted article can be replaced with a new corrected version containing an apparent link to the retracted original version and a retraction note containing a history of the document.