PASAA: A Journal of Language Teaching and Learning

A. Publication Ethics

PASAA upholds best practices to ensure that publication ethics are maintained in publishing
manuscripts and that any malpractice is prevented. PASAA adheres to the following ethical
practices, which are mainly based upon the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for
Journal Editors.

The Editor

1. The editor must strive to ensure that PASAA’s peer-review process is fair and unbiased.
2. The editor must ensure that a manuscript submitted to PASAA remains confidential while
   under review. Any information related to the submitted manuscript must not be disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, and other
   editorial board members.
3. The editor must evaluate a submitted manuscript regardless of the author’s race, gender,
   sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, and citizenship.
4. The editor must make a decision on which manuscript to publish based upon its quality and suitability for PASAA, as well as its contributions to the fields of English language education,
   without any interference from the journal owner.
5. The editor must ensure that a double-blind peer review process is efficiently performed.
6. The editor must ensure that the peer review process is undertaken in a timely manner by
   monitoring the process regularly. This is to ensure that the author will not experience undue delays in receiving the feedback on her/his manuscript.
7. The editor and other editorial team members of PASAA must take extra precautions not to
   exploit their position to publish their work in PASAA. The editor must ensure that an ethical
   procedure for handling submissions from the editor herself/himself, or other editorial team
   members, is undertaken.
8. The editor must prevent any misconduct in publishing a manuscript with reference to
   plagiarism of other works and self-plagiarism, duplicate submissions, data fabrication, and
   citation manipulation.
9. The editor must ensure that any changes made to PASAA, particularly regarding its
   direction, scope and policy, are agreed upon by the editorial board members of PASAA. In
   addition, the editor is responsible for informing readers, authors, reviewers, and other
   editorial team members of those changes.

The Reviewers

1. The reviewers of PASAA must respect the confidentiality of the manuscripts sent to them.
2. The reviewers must provide timely feedback on the manuscript to the editor.
3. The reviewers must evaluate the manuscript in an objective fashion, express their views
   clearly with supporting arguments, and provide the editor with recommendations and
   suggestions on how the manuscript can be improved.
4. The reviewers who feel unqualified to review the received manuscript must promptly notify
   the editor and decline to review that manuscript.
5. The reviewers must advise the editor of any suspected misconduct related to the
   manuscript they are reviewing, such as issues surrounding plagiarism, data fabrication,
   duplicate submissions, and citation manipulation.
6. The reviewers must not use unpublished information from the manuscript disclosed in the
   review process in their own work, or for other academic and personal purposes, without
   written consent from the author and the editor.
7. The reviewers must decline to review any manuscript in which they have a conflict of
   interest regarding their relationships or connections with the author or the organization
   connected with the manuscript.

The Authors

1. The authors must declare that the submitted manuscript is an original work and does not contain data fabrication, duplicate submissions, or citation manipulation.
2. The authors must ensure that their manuscript (a) does not plagiarize other works, (b) must not exceed a similarity index of 15% as measured by Turnitin, and (c) contain self-plagiarism.
3. The authors must provide proper acknowledgements of research funding or those who have provided them with research support.
4. The authors must declare all relevant competing interests in conducting the research and writing the subsequent manuscript.
5. It is important to note that authorship should be restricted to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the work submitted for consideration for publication. Those who have made such significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. In addition, the corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to its submission for publication.
6. The authors must be aware that it is their responsibility to have each version of the
   manuscript carefully edited and proofread before submission. The final version of the
   manuscript must be carefully edited and proofread by a native speaker of English, and this is the authors’ responsibility. Any manuscript that does not meet the editorial team’s expectations in terms of the quality of the English language will not be accepted for publication.
7. When the authors find an error or mistake in their own published work, it is their obligation to promptly inform the editor, as well as to cooperate with the editor, in correcting the manuscript in the form of an erratum.

B. AI Policy

PASAA Journal is committed to promoting the ethical and responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in academic publishing. This policy ensures transparency, originality, and accountability throughout the research and submission processes. All authors submitting to PASAA Journal are required to comply with the following guidelines.

Scope of AI Use in Manuscripts 

1. Authors must clearly state any use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools during manuscript preparation.
2. Manuscripts must not exceed an AI-generated similarity index of 15% as measured by Turnitin.
3. All manuscripts that involve AI assistance must fully comply with the journal’s standards of academic quality, originality, and ethical integrity.

Ethical Considerations: 

1. Authorship: AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors, as they cannot take responsibility for the research or its outcomes. Human authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of their work.
2. Transparency: Authors must include a clear statement in the Declaration of AI Use section, describing how AI technologies were used in the research or writing process. This transparency allows readers to understand the extent and purpose of AI involvement.
3. Data Integrity: Any data or results generated using AI must be verifiable. Authors must disclose any potential limitations or biases introduced by AI tools. The use of AI should never compromise the credibility, reproducibility, or ethical soundness of the research.

Author Responsibility and Liability 

Authors remain fully responsible for all content in their manuscripts, including any errors, biases, or ethical issues arising from AI use. While AI tools can assist in certain tasks, human oversight and judgment are essential to ensure the work meets the journal’s scholarly and ethical standards.

Rejection of Manuscripts 

PASAA Journal will not accept manuscripts that are primarily generated by AI without meaningful human authorship, oversight, and intellectual contribution. Submissions failing to meet these criteria will be rejected.