Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Language Acquisition and Teacher Education (LATE) undergo a multi-stage editorial and review process to assess academic quality, originality, and relevance. The process consists of four main stages: internal review, external review, editor review, and copyediting and production. A submission may be rejected at any stage if it does not meet the scholarly, ethical, technical, or scope requirements of the journal. Editorial decisions and their principal reasons are communicated to the corresponding author.

1. Internal Review

Each submitted manuscript is first evaluated by the editorial team to determine its suitability for LATE. This assessment considers alignment with the Aims and Scope, originality, theoretical grounding, academic quality, and compliance with the submission requirements. Manuscripts that do not meet these criteria are not sent for external review.

The time required for internal review varies according to submission volume, manuscript complexity, and editorial availability. Authors are notified when the initial assessment has been completed. Current reported average processing times are available on the Metrics page.

2. External Review

Manuscripts that pass internal review are sent for double-blind peer review by at least two experts in the relevant field. Reviewers assess originality, theoretical contribution, methodological rigour, clarity, and significance to language acquisition and language teacher education.

Authors must provide a fully anonymised manuscript in accordance with the Author Guidelines. Author names, affiliations, identifying acknowledgements, self-identifying information, document properties, comments, and tracked changes must be removed or appropriately anonymised. Author-identifying declaration details must be supplied in the separate Declaration file.

The editorial team checks the files before assigning them to reviewers. Reviewers receive the anonymised manuscript and any appropriately anonymised supporting materials needed to evaluate the research. Author-identifying files are not shared with reviewers. Reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors, and reviewers must remove identifying information from comments, tracked changes, and returned files. The editorial team manages communication between authors and reviewers throughout review and revision.

External review may involve several rounds of revision and re-review. Its duration depends on reviewer availability, manuscript complexity, and the revisions required. Current reported averages are available on the Metrics page; these are not guaranteed completion times.

Following review, authors are informed of the editorial decision: accept, revise and resubmit for review (major revisions), revise and resubmit (minor revisions), or reject.

3. Editor Review

Following external review and revision, the handling editor or editorial team evaluates the revised manuscript and the responses to reviewers. Editors assess whether the comments have been adequately addressed, the manuscript meets publication standards, and the writing is clear and consistent. Further revision or review may be required before final acceptance.

4. Copyediting and Production

Accepted manuscripts proceed to copyediting and production. The editorial and production team checks language, consistency, formatting, and presentation while preserving the intended meaning of the authors. Authors are given an opportunity to review proofs and confirm the accuracy of the article and its declarations before publication.

Under the continuous publication model of LATE, articles are published individually once these processes have been completed.

Throughout the process, editors and reviewers are expected to act fairly, maintain confidentiality, disclose relevant conflicts of interest, and follow the Academic Integrity and Ethics policies of LATE.