01 Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are asked to confirm that their submission complies with each of the following. Submissions that do not meet these requirements may be returned.

• The submission is original and has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided to the editor).
• The manuscript is in English, Chinese, or Arabic, with a title, abstract, and keywords provided in the language of submission and additionally in English.
• The file is in Microsoft Word (.docx) format.
• All references are complete and accurate, and follow a single consistent citation style (see Author Guidelines).
• An anonymised copy has been prepared for double-blind review: author names, affiliations, and identifying information have been removed from the main file and from its document properties.
• A complete copy with a title page (author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs, contact details) has been prepared.
• Any figures and tables are placed appropriately and are legible; permissions for any third-party material have been obtained.
• For research involving human participants or animals, an ethics statement (approval obtained, exempted, or not required) and informed consent are confirmed. See the Research Ethics policy.
• Any use of generative AI tools has been disclosed, and all conflicts of interest and funding sources are declared.

02 Author Guidelines

Languages of submission

IJRLE warmly welcomes research works in Chinese and Arabic, as well as English. Please note, however, that publishing in English significantly increases the visibility, accessibility, and discoverability of your work to the international research community, and we encourage authors to consider it where possible.

For manuscripts written in Chinese or Arabic, the title, abstract, keywords, in-text citations, and reference list should be provided mainly in English, and must draw on reputable, reliable, and indexed sources. Citations to predatory journals or unreliable sources will not be tolerated and are grounds for rejection. Every manuscript must include an English-language title, abstract (150–250 words), and 4–6 keywords, in addition to the same elements in the language of the manuscript where that language is not English.

Structure

Original research articles should follow the structure set out in the IJRLE article template: title; author names and affiliations; abstract (150–250 words); keywords (4–6); 1. Introduction; 2. Literature Review; 3. Methodology; 4. Results; 5. Discussion; 6. Conclusion; and References. Perspective, opinion, and review articles may use a structure appropriate to their argument. Guidance on writing each type is provided on the Capacity Building page.

Formatting

The official article template is already set up with the correct layout, headings, spacing, and styles, so the simplest way to meet the journal's formatting requirements is to write your manuscript inside it. The specific requirements for references, tables and figures, and English-language elements are set out in the relevant sections on this page.

Length

Indicative word counts by article type are listed in the Types of Publications section of our editorial policies.

References and citations

Authors should use a single, consistent referencing style appropriate to the field — APA 7th edition is preferred for English-language submissions; an equivalent, consistent standard is accepted for Chinese and Arabic submissions. All in-text citations must have a corresponding entry in the reference list, and vice versa. Authors are encouraged to include DOIs for cited works where available.

Ethics and integrity

All submissions must comply with the journal's policy on academic freedom and research integrity and its editorial policies, including those on peer review, plagiarism, authorship, and the use of AI.

Research involving human participants or animals must meet the journal's Research Ethics policy and include an ethics statement in the Methods (approval obtained, exempted, or not required).

Post-publication integrity & retraction

The editorial responsibility for integrity does not end at publication. If a breach of research or publication ethics — such as plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, undisclosed conflicts, citation of predatory or unreliable sources, or any other unacceptable practice — is identified even after an article has been published, the journal will investigate and may correct, issue an expression of concern about, or retract (withdraw) the published work, and may notify the author's institution. Such measures are applied in line with COPE guidance and our Policy on Retraction of Articles. By submitting, authors accept that publication may be revisited if its integrity is later called into question.

03 Manuscript Submission Guidelines

How to submit

Manuscripts are submitted using the online submission form at the top of this page. Complete the form, attach the two required files, and click Submit — your details and both documents are uploaded straight to the journal, and the editorial office acknowledges receipt by email, usually within a few working days. If you would rather submit directly, you may also email your two manuscript files to the editorial office (see the Contact page).

The two copies you will attach

Preferred file format: Microsoft Word (.docx); each file must be under 8 MB. This two-copy approach is what makes double-blind peer review possible: reviewers receive only the anonymised copy, while the editorial office retains the complete copy.

Figures, tables, and supplementary material

Figures and tables should be numbered, captioned, and cited in the text. Provide figures at sufficient resolution for print and screen. Supplementary data may be submitted as separate files and will be made available alongside the published article.

Book and monograph submissions

In addition to articles, IJRLE publishes scholarly books, monographs, and edited volumes. As with all our content, books are peer-reviewed before publication and there are no charges to authors. You are welcome to submit either a proposal or a complete manuscript using the submission form above — select Book / Monograph as the article type.

For a book proposal, please attach a document covering: the working title; a summary of the book and its contribution; the intended readership; a chapter-by-chapter outline; one or two sample chapters; and the expected length and timeline. For a complete book manuscript, attach an anonymised copy for review and a complete copy with author details, as for articles. The editors will respond to discuss the review process and next steps.

04 Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with IJRLE retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence, which permits others to share and adapt the work with appropriate credit to the author(s) and the journal.

Authors may enter into separate, additional, non-exclusive arrangements for the distribution of the published version of the work (for example, posting it to an institutional repository), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. By submitting, authors warrant that the work is their own, is original, and does not infringe the rights of any third party. The full terms are set out in our editorial copyright policy.

05 Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered on this journal site and submitted to the editorial office will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal — the management of submissions, peer review, and publication — and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. Personal data are handled confidentially and stored securely, in keeping with applicable data-protection principles. Authors and reviewers may request access to, correction of, or deletion of their personal data by contacting the editorial office.