Submission policy

The editors reserve the right to determine the suitability of submissions. For additional information, please contact the editors.

Gender Linguistics uses double-masked peer review.

Following article acceptance, Gender Linguistics welcomes a voluntary author contribution of max. €500 only from those with access to either institutional or grant funds. For more information please contact the editors.

Removal policy

Once published, an article cannot generally be revised or removed. We see it as important to provide perpetual access to materials published whenever possible and appropriate. Note, though, that we will remove publications under special circumstances, including in the case of submission errors, rights violations, or inappropriate content. However, please be aware that even after the removal of a work, a citation to the work will remain in our system, along with a URL.

Revising policy

Once an article is published, we are generally unable to revise it. If a significant error or omission is discovered, contact the editors.

Rights and permissions

Gender Linguistics does not require copyright transfer, only permission to publish and archive the article. Copyright holders retain copyright ownership, granting a nonexclusive license to the journal to publish the article, meaning that the author may also publish it elsewhere. Before submitting an article to the journal, please be sure that all necessary permissions have been cleared in any third party material. All articles published in the journal are subject to the journal’s author agreement, which is available in the first step of the submission process or by contacting us to request a copy.

If a method or tool is introduced in the study, including software, questionnaires, or scales, the license under which it is available and any permission requirements for its use should be specified. If an existing method or tool is used in the research, it is the author’s responsibility to verify the license and obtain the required permissions. Statements confirming that permission was granted should be included in the Materials and Methods section.

Open Access

Gender Linguistics is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or their institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.

Ethics policy

Gender Linguistics generally adheres to the COPE guidelines, which describes a series of policies and norms aimed at upholding integrity in the publishing process.

Authorship

Please refer to the Authorship Guidelines for a detailed description of our policies regarding authorship in Gender Linguistics.

Complaints and appeals

If an author has submitted a manuscript to Gender Linguistics and wishes to appeal an editorial decision, they should first contact the handling editor. Appeals are considered when a reviewer or handling editor has made a fundamental error in evaluating the work or if there are concerns about a conflict of interest. The appeal request must clearly outline the reason(s) for the appeal. Upon receiving such a request, the handling editor will notify one of the Editors-in-Chief. Together, they will review the request and the original decision, and in some cases, may consult another member of the editorial team.

Once the review is complete, the handling editor will inform the author of the outcome. If the appeal results in a reversal of the rejection, the author will be invited to resubmit the manuscript with appropriate revisions. If the original decision is upheld, the author will be notified, and no further appeals will be considered. Typically, appeal outcomes are determined within a month. If additional time is needed, the author will be informed.

For complaints regarding decision timelines or other aspects of the review process, authors should first contact the handling editor and, if necessary, escalate the matter to an Editor-in-Chief. The issue will be investigated, and the author will be informed of the resolution.

Corrections, expressions of concern, retractions

If a reader has concerns about the content of a published article in Gender Linguistics, they may bring them to the attention of the editorial team. Depending on the nature of the concern, the journal may consider issuing a correction or retraction. In handling expressions of concern or other post-publication critiques, Gender Linguistics follows COPE policies.

The journal does not actively solicit post-publication critiques. However, if a reader raises concerns about an article, the procedures outlined in the COPE flowchart are followed. The Editors-in-Chief, along with the handling editor (if applicable), will review the issue. If the concern appears valid, the authors will be asked to provide evidence supporting the challenged claim or finding. Based on the gathered information, the editors will decide whether a correction or retraction is warranted. If a correction or retraction is issued, it will be clearly indicated, along with the rationale for the decision.

Conflicts of and competing interest(s)

The journal takes extensive measures to prevent conflicts of interest among authors, reviewers, and editors. Editors with a conflict of interest regarding a manuscript’s author(s) must recuse themselves from all discussions and decisions related to that submission. If an unavoidable conflict arises—for example, involving one of the Editors-in-Chief—the manuscript is rejected with a detailed explanation given.

Reviewers who have a conflict of interest with an author are required to decline the review. Such conflicts may stem from personal or professional relationships, recent or ongoing advisory or mentorship roles, recent collaborations, or affiliations with the same institution. The journal follows the National Science Foundation’s definition of conflict of interest, which informs its decision-making; further details can be found on their website.

Data and reproducibility

To support reproducibility, Gender Linguistics also publishes Registered Reports and articles that examine the reproducibility features of published gender linguistic research.

Open data

Gender Linguistics requires authors to make all data, stimuli, and data analysis scripts associated with their submission openly available at the time of submission, in accordance with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

All original research submitted to Gender Linguistics must include a Data Availability Statement, specifying where data supporting the article’s findings can be accessed. This statement should include links to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated in the study. The requirement applies to the minimal dataset and scripts necessary to replicate the findings. Exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If public data sharing is not possible, this restriction must be explicitly stated.

Authors should upload data and supplementary files to an open repository of their choice and provide the corresponding DOI. Suitable repositories include Open Science Framework, Dryad, and Harvard Dataverse, which offer free data hosting services that enhance discoverability and citability.

A Data Accessibility Statement must be included before the reference list, providing a title and a brief summary of the repository, along with the DOI.

Funding

Authors must acknowledge any funding that supported the work reported in their article. This acknowledgment should be included in the acknowledgments section of the paper, following the guidelines outlined in our statement on the structure of submissions (tbd).

Research ethics

Research ethics policies follow the COPE guidelines. Furthermore, any research involving human participants must be reviewed or approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB). Authors must include this information in any published article using such data. Participants must also be given the opportunity to provide informed consent in accordance with the guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA).

When reporting a study involving human participants, authors should include a statement in their cover letter confirming that the study was approved (or granted exemption) by the relevant institutional and/or national research ethics committee, including the name of the ethics committee. The statement should certify that the study was conducted in line with the ethical standards set out in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its subsequent amendments, or comparable ethical standards. If the study was granted exemption from requiring ethics approval, this should also be clearly stated, along with the reasons for the exemption. All data and supplementary materials, such as raw datasets, should have any identifying details removed to ensure the privacy and anonymity of human participants.

Plagiarism

Gender Linguistics upholds and promotes two fundamental principles of scholarly publishing:

Principle 1: Authors retain ownership of their work. This principle is reflected in the CC BY 4.0 license applied to all Gender Linguistics articles. Under this license, authors grant others the right to share, use, and build upon their work, provided proper credit is given. However, the author remains the sole owner of their article and may use and distribute it as they see fit.

Principle 2: Transparency is essential to scientific integrity. Transparency entails the ethical responsibility of researchers to make their data, analyses, methods, and interpretive choices openly available, allowing others to evaluate and replicate their findings.

Based on these principles, Gender Linguistics has established the following policies regarding the reuse of text from previous publications:

Authors may re-use text from their own previously published work when describing empirical procedures, equipment, computational models, or data analysis methods, in line with fair use principles. The extent and nature of such reuse should be proportionate to the rest of the paper.

Authors may adapt text from other authors’ publications in similar contexts, where doing so enhances clarity and transparency.

In both cases, the reused or adapted text must be clearly identified within the manuscript and accompanied by a footnote citing the original source.

The rationale behind these policies is to prevent the introduction of inaccuracies that can arise when authors attempt to paraphrase methodological descriptions solely to avoid potential plagiarism concerns. Instead, Gender Linguistics evaluates originality based on the ideas, methods, and results presented, rather than on superficial rewording. Any text reuse outside these guidelines will be considered potential plagiarism and a violation of the COPE Code of Conduct for authors.

Use of AI tools

A related issue concerns the use of AI in manuscript preparation:

Gender Linguistics does not use plagiarism or AI detection tools.

Because submitted articles are treated as confidential, generative AI tools may not be used for reviewing or editorial purposes.

Any AI-generated content within a submitted manuscript—including AI-assisted text modification or readability enhancements—must be explicitly disclosed by the author.

For further guidance, authors should consult the COPE guidelines on authorship and AI tools, which Gender Linguistics follows.

Voluntary financial contributions

Gender Linguistics is a Fair Open Access journal, meaning that publication is not contingent on the payment of any fees. However, if authors have access to institutional or grant funding, they are encouraged to make a voluntary author contribution of max. €500 to help sustain journal operations.

To ensure fairness, journal policy prohibits any discussion of a voluntary author contribution until after a paper has been officially accepted by the handling editor. This policy prevents bias toward submissions that might result in a voluntary author contribution and reinforces that authors do not pay to publish in Gender Linguistics.

The journal also welcomes donations to support its mission. Contributions exceeding €250 will be acknowledged on the journal’s website.