Policies

Voices of English Language Education Society (VELES) is an open-access journal serving the English language education, applied linguistics, EFL/ESL teaching and learning, language assessment, teacher education, and educational technology communities. The journal has a distinctive emphasis on EFL contexts in Indonesia, Asia, and the wider Global South, while also welcoming relevant international scholarship. The following policies guide the journal’s publishing practices and are intended to uphold academic integrity, accessibility, transparency, ethical research conduct, and the reliability of the scholarly record. Authors, editors, reviewers, and readers are expected to understand and follow these policies.

1. Open Access Policy

VELES provides immediate, free, and permanent access to all published articles. Readers may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of articles without financial, legal, or technical barriers, provided that proper attribution is given.

• License. Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). This license permits sharing, adaptation, and commercial use, provided that the original work is properly cited and derivative works are distributed under the same license.
• Author rights. Authors retain copyright and grant VELES the non-exclusive right to publish, distribute, and preserve the Version of Record.
• Self-archiving. Authors may deposit the preprint, accepted manuscript, and published Version of Record in institutional repositories, personal websites, academic networks, or other repositories without embargo. Authors should include the article DOI when available.
• Persistent identifiers. Each published article receives a DOI under the prefix 10.29408/veles.
• Preservation. VELES supports long-term digital preservation to ensure continued access to published articles.

2. Publication Ethics

VELES is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics and follows internationally recognized principles, including guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Ethical publishing requires responsible conduct from authors, editors, reviewers, and the journal management team.

2.1 Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should reflect substantial intellectual contribution to the research and manuscript. All listed authors must have contributed meaningfully and must agree to be accountable for the integrity of the work.

• Authorship criteria. Authors should have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the study, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, manuscript drafting, or critical revision.
• Final approval. All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript before submission and publication.
• Accountability. All authors share responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the manuscript.
• CRediT taxonomy. VELES recommends that authors specify contributions using the CRediT taxonomy, such as Conceptualization, Methodology, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Supervision, or Project Administration.
• Corresponding author. The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal, confirming authorship criteria, managing revisions, and ensuring that all authors approve the submitted and revised versions.
• Changes to authorship. Any addition, removal, or reordering of authors must be explained and approved in writing by all authors before acceptance. Editorial approval is also required.

2.2 Conflicts of Interest and Funding

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may influence, or appear to influence, the research, review, or editorial decision-making process. Funding information must also be reported transparently.

• Conflict of interest disclosure. Authors must disclose financial and non-financial conflicts of interest, including funding, employment, consultancy, institutional roles, personal relationships, or academic competition.
• No conflict statement. If there is no conflict of interest, authors should state that they have no conflict of interest to declare.
• Funding statement. Authors must name the funding body, grant number, and the role of the funder in the study, if any.
• No funding statement. If the study received no external funding, the authors should state this explicitly.

2.3 Research Involving Human Participants

Many studies in English language education involve students, teachers, classroom practices, interviews, questionnaires, recordings, or learning artifacts. Authors must ensure that such studies follow appropriate ethical procedures, especially when participants are minors or belong to vulnerable groups.

• Ethical approval. Studies involving human participants should state the name of the ethics committee, institutional review board, or relevant authority that approved the study, including approval number and date when available.
• Justified exemption. If formal ethical approval was not required, authors should provide a clear justification based on institutional or local regulations.
• Informed consent. Participants must be informed about the purpose of the study, voluntary participation, confidentiality, and their right to withdraw without penalty.
• Educational settings. Research conducted in schools, universities, or classrooms should include appropriate institutional permission, such as approval from a principal, school authority, department, or faculty.
• Minors and vulnerable participants. Studies involving minors should obtain parental or guardian consent and, when applicable, age-appropriate participant assent.
• Privacy protection. Authors must de-identify transcripts, recordings, student work, test results, classroom artifacts, and other sensitive data.
• Identifiable media. Images, audio, or video recordings that identify participants, especially minors, must not be published without explicit written permission and strong ethical justification.
• Data storage. Authors should describe secure storage, access control, and retention procedures when relevant.

2.4 Ethical Use of Generative AI

VELES allows limited, transparent use of generative AI tools when they support manuscript preparation, without replacing the authors’ intellectual responsibility. AI tools must not be used to fabricate, manipulate, or misrepresent research content.

• No AI authorship. Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or similar systems, must not be listed as authors.
• Permitted use. AI tools may be used for limited support such as language polishing, grammar checking, readability improvement, formatting assistance, coding support, or figure style suggestions.
• Disclosure required. If AI tools are used, authors must disclose the tool name and purpose of use in the manuscript, preferably in the Declaration of AI Use section.
• Prohibited use. AI tools must not be used to fabricate data, generate false references, create fake quotations, manipulate findings, or evade similarity checks.
• Confidentiality. Authors must not upload confidential, identifiable, or sensitive participant data to public AI tools without proper consent and protection.
• Author responsibility. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, privacy, permissions, and integrity of the manuscript.
• Editorial assessment. VELES does not rely solely on AI-detector scores. Concerns related to AI use are assessed holistically based on evidence and editorial judgment.

2.5 Image, Figure, and Data Integrity

Images, figures, tables, recordings, transcripts, and datasets must be presented accurately. Authors must avoid any manipulation or selective reporting that could mislead readers or affect the interpretation of the findings.

• No misleading manipulation. Images, figures, charts, and visual data must not be altered in ways that distort meaning or misrepresent results.
• Acceptable adjustment. Uniform, non-deceptive adjustments, such as brightness or contrast corrections, may be acceptable when they do not affect interpretation.
• Transparency. Any material changes to figures, images, or data presentation should be clearly described.
• Data exclusion. Authors should report exclusion criteria and explain why data were excluded when relevant.
• Research materials. When possible, authors are encouraged to provide instruments, coding schemes, rubrics, survey items, or analysis scripts to support transparency.

3. Plagiarism and Text-Reuse Policy

VELES checks submissions for originality and appropriate use of sources. The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate submission, unethical text recycling, fabricated references, or salami publication.

• Similarity screening. All submissions may undergo similarity checking before or during the review process.
• Similarity threshold. The recommended overall similarity score is not more than 20%, excluding references, standard methodological phrases, and properly quoted or attributed material.
• Editorial judgment. Similarity percentage is not the only basis for the decision. The editorial team considers the source, pattern, and seriousness of overlapping text.
• Self-plagiarism. Authors must avoid reusing substantial parts of their own previously published work without citation and justification.
• Duplicate submission. Manuscripts submitted to VELES must not be under review by another journal or publisher at the same time.
• Preprints. Preprints are permitted, but authors must disclose the preprint and ensure that it is license-compatible.
• Editorial actions. Depending on severity, VELES may request clarification, require revision, reject the manuscript, or take post-publication action such as correction or retraction.

4. Data and Materials Availability

VELES encourages responsible sharing of data, instruments, and research materials to support transparency and reproducibility. However, data sharing must respect participant consent, privacy, institutional rules, and ethical restrictions, especially in classroom-based and student-involved research.

• Availability statement. Authors are encouraged to include a Data or Materials Availability statement explaining whether data, instruments, rubrics, coding schemes, or other materials are available.
• Accessible materials. When possible, authors may share anonymized datasets, interview protocols, questionnaire items, rubrics, classroom instruments, lesson materials, coding schemes, or analysis scripts.
• Sensitive data. Classroom recordings, student work, grades, interview transcripts, and identifiable participant data should not be shared publicly unless consent and ethical clearance allow it.
• Restricted access. When data cannot be shared openly, authors may state that data are available on reasonable request, subject to ethical approval, consent terms, or institutional restrictions.
• Repositories. Authors are encouraged to use trusted repositories such as OSF, Zenodo, institutional repositories, or other suitable platforms when data sharing is appropriate.
• Persistent links. When data or materials are deposited, authors should provide a stable URL or DOI.

5. Copyright and License

VELES supports open access publishing while allowing authors to retain copyright over their work. Published articles may be used, shared, and adapted under the terms of the journal license, provided that proper attribution is given.

• Copyright holder. Authors retain copyright of their published work.
• License to publish. The authors grant VELES the non-exclusive right to publish, distribute, preserve, and identify the article as the Version of Record.
• User rights. Articles are distributed under the CC BY-SA 4.0 License. Users must attribute the original work and share adapted works under the same license.
• Third-party content. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to use copyrighted images, instruments, figures, tables, or other materials not covered by open licenses or fair use.
• Credit lines. Adapted or reprinted third-party content must include accurate source information and copyright statements when required.
• Citation style. Users should cite VELES articles using the APA 7th edition style and include the article DOI.

6. Corrections, Retractions, and Withdrawals

VELES is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record. When errors or ethical concerns are identified before or after publication, the journal follows COPE-aligned procedures to determine the appropriate action.

• Corrections. Corrections, errata, or corrigenda may be issued for errors that do not invalidate the main findings or conclusions.
• Retractions. Retractions may be issued for serious problems such as proven plagiarism, fabricated data, unethical research, duplicate publication, or major errors that invalidate the article.
• Retraction notice. Retraction notices will explain the reason for retraction and remain linked to the original article record.
• Expression of concern. An expression of concern may be issued when a serious investigation is ongoing, and the outcome is not yet final.
• Article removal. Article removal is reserved for rare cases involving legal requirements, severe privacy risks, or serious harm. A tombstone page may be maintained.
• Withdrawal before acceptance. Authors may request withdrawal before acceptance by submitting a written explanation.
• Withdrawal after acceptance. Withdrawal after acceptance is exceptional and requires compelling justification and editorial approval.

7. Privacy Statement

VELES collects and uses personal information only for journal management, editorial communication, peer review, publication, indexing, and related academic purposes. The journal does not sell or share user information with third parties for commercial purposes.

• Data collected. The journal may keep author, editor, and reviewer profiles; submission metadata; correspondence; review records; and usage information needed for editorial management.
• Use of information. Names, email addresses, and other information entered into the journal system are used only for VELES-related purposes.
• Access protection. Access to journal records is managed through role-based permissions within the journal management system.
• Cookies and logs. The journal website may use cookies and logs to support secure and efficient operation.
• User rights. Users who wish to update or request deletion of profile data may contact velesjournal@gmail.com.

8. Article Processing Charges

Institutional resources and limited article processing charges support VELES. These charges help sustain editorial processing, peer review management, online hosting, DOI registration, copyediting, layout editing, and digital preservation. Payment does not influence editorial decisions.

• No submission fee. VELES does not charge any fee at the submission stage.
• When charged. The article processing charge applies only after formal acceptance.
• Domestic authors. The APC for domestic authors in Indonesia is IDR 1,500,000 per accepted manuscript.
• International corresponding authors. One accepted manuscript per international corresponding author per calendar year may be fully waived. Additional accepted manuscripts in the same year may be charged the standard APC.
• Editorial independence. APCs do not influence editorial decisions. Manuscripts are evaluated based on relevance, originality, methodological quality, ethical compliance, and scholarly contribution.
• Billing and payment. Invoices are issued after acceptance, and payment is normally required before publication. Payments are made in IDR, and transfer fees are the sender's responsibility.
• Receipts. Electronic invoices or receipts may be issued upon request or as part of the billing process.
• Refunds. APCs are non-refundable after publication. If an editorial or production error prevents publication, VELES may publish the article at no additional cost or issue a refund where appropriate.

Billing/contact: velesjournal@gmail.com

9. Appeals and Complaints

VELES provides a fair process for authors, reviewers, and readers to raise concerns about editorial decisions, review processes, ethical issues, or publication procedures. Appeals and complaints must be evidence-based and communicated respectfully.

• Appeals. Authors may appeal an editorial decision by submitting a clear explanation and specific evidence addressing the reviewer's or editor's comments.
• Appeal review. Appeals are reviewed by an editor who was not involved in the original decision or by an ad hoc committee when necessary.
• Complaints. Complaints about ethics, process, conflicts of interest, or publication conduct are handled according to journal policy and COPE guidance.
• Institutional consultation. When appropriate, VELES may consult relevant institutions, ethics committees, or research integrity offices.
• Final decision. The journal will communicate the outcome of the appeal or complaint after the issue has been reviewed.

10. Policy Updates

VELES reviews its policies periodically to reflect changes in publishing standards, ethical expectations, indexing requirements, open science practices, and journal operations. Authors should refer to the current version of the policies before submitting a manuscript.

• Applicable version. The policy version in effect at the time of submission generally applies to the manuscript.
• Policy revision. VELES may revise policies to improve clarity, transparency, and alignment with recognized publication standards.
• Announcement. Important policy updates may be announced on the VELES website.
• Author responsibility. Authors are responsible for checking the latest policies before submission and revision.