Submissions

This journal is not accepting submissions at this time.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
  • If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Research Articles

We invite articles reporting empirical research results. Research Articles can range from 2,500 to 8,000 words and cover topics such as:

  • identification of author, speaker, writer and language,
  • text classification of relevant genres and registers including threats, suicide notes, deception, linguistic profiling,
  • translation and interpretation,
  • cryptography,
  • trademark and patent infringement,
  • text recycling and textual similarity measures,
  • social-media-based reputation protection for executive and corporate security,
  • interviewing and interrogation techniques,
  • and other topics relevant to forensic linguistics.

Articles must use standard, generally accepted linguistic approaches grounded in current linguistic theory, with results supported by validation testing. Standard methods include phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, discourse analysis, pragmatics, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, and textual data mining.

Policy Papers

We invite policy papers which describe well-reasoned arguments for specific policy and standards in forensic sciences related to linguistics, security and intelligence. Policy papers can range from 2,500 to 6,000 words and cover topics such as:

  • training, certification and educational degree programs
  • standards in forensic linguistics
  • ethics in forensic linguistics
  • data management and database development
  • human subjects protection
  • validation testing standards
  • translation and interpretation standards
  • criminal, security and intelligence investigation

Resources

We invite articles that describe resources for conducting research in forensic linguistics. Resource articles range in from 1,000 to 2,500 words and cover such topics as:

  • datasets
  • text analysis tools
  • phonetic analysis tools
  • annotated bibliographies
  • case law reports
  • websites

Research Requests

We  invite Research Requests, authored by attorneys, security analysts, intelligence analysts, digital forensic examiners, investigators, law enforcement and other consumers of forensic linguistic research, to outline the specific needs and situations where linguistic research and solutions are required. Research Requests can range from 500 to 2,000 words.

Book and Software Reviews

We invite even-handed and intelligent reviews of books, including academic theses and dissertations, and software relevant to forensic linguistic evidence. Although these reviews are not put through blind peer review, they are reviewed by the editorial staff for clarity, tone, fairness and argumentation.

Copyright Notice

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    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
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  • Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  • The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  • The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 7 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

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