Author Guidelines

Article types | Structure | Permissions | Language & text | Data & Symbols | Figures & Tables | References 

Submissions should be made electronically through this website, and will be published in line with this template.

Please ensure that you consider the following guidelines when preparing your manuscript. Failure to do so may delay the processing of your submission. A downloadable version of the style guide is available here.

Once a submission has been completed, the submitting author is able to fully track the status of the paper and complete requested revisions via their online profile.

Article types

  • Research articles must describe the outcomes (and application if relevant) of unpublished original research. These should make a substantial contribution to knowledge and understanding in the subject matter and should be supported by relevant figures and tabulated data as appropriate. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics publishes research articles of any length, if justified.
  • Book reviews should summarize and provide a critical assessment of a published book. Book reviews should be between 2,000 and 3,000 words in length. Please note that we only accept book reviews for books published up to a year before the submission itself.
  • Dissertation abstracts should summarize a recently defended thesis related to the focus of the journal, highlighting the main arguments, research findings, and novel contributions to the field. Dissertations abstracts should be no longer than 1,000 words in length.
All word limits include referencing and citation.
 

Structure

Title page
To ensure blind peer review, please only list the title and abstract on the submitted manuscript file.

The names of all authors, affiliations, contact details, biography (optional) and the corresponding author details must be completed online as part of the submission process. All authors must fit within the journal's definition of an author, available here.

Author names should include a forename and a surname. Forenames cannot include only initials.

  • J. Bloggs is not preferred. The full name, Joe Bloggs is required (this will enhance the 'findability' of your publication).

The affiliation should ideally include ‘Department, Institution, City, Country’. However only the Institution and Country are mandatory.

Abstract
Research articles must have the main text prefaced by an abstract of no more than 200 words summarising the main arguments and conclusions of the article. This must have the heading ‘Abstract’ and be easily identified from the start of the main text.

A list of up to six key words may be placed below the abstract (optional).

The Abstract and Keywords should also be added to the metadata when making the initial online submission.

Main text
The body of the submission should be structured in a logical and easy to follow manner. A clear introduction section should be given that allows non-specialists in the subject an understanding of the publication and a background of the issue(s) involved. Methods, results, discussion and conclusion sections may then follow to clearly detail the information and research being presented.

Up to three level headings may be present and must be clearly identifiable using different font sizes, bold or italics. We suggest using Headings 1, 2 and 3 in MS-Word’s ‘Style’ section.

Supplementary Files (optional)
Any supplementary/additional files that should link to the main publication must be listed, with a corresponding number, title and option description. Ideally the supplementary files are also cited in the main text.

e.g. Supplementary file 1: Appendix. Scientific data related to the experiments.

Note: additional files will not be typeset so they must be provided in their final form. They will be assigned a DOI and linked to from the publication.

Reproducibility
If data, structured methods or code used in the research project have been made openly available, a statement should be added to inform the reader how/where to access these files. This should include the repository location and the DOI linking to it. Read our reproducibility guide for more information on best practice and maximising the impact of your open data.

If data used in the research project has not been made available, a statement confirming this should be added, along with reasoning why.

The journal's data policy is available on the Journal Policies page.

Ethics and consent
Journal of Portuguese Linguistics follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Best Practice Guide.

The authors should ensure that submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere in any language. If authors use the work of others, sources should be appropriately cited. Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Any attempt of plagiarism should be followed by the rejection of the submitted manuscript. Authors should not submit the same work or describe essentially the same research in more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior. The first author or the corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included on the manuscript, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Conflicts of interest
All authors should disclose any financial or other conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their study. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Research with human subjects (if applicable)
If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author should ensure that the manuscript contains a statement that all procedures were performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Where applicable, the studies must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee and the authors should include a statement within the article text detailing this approval, including the name of the ethics committee and reference number of the approval. The identity of the research subject should be anonymised. For research involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their legal guardian).

Significant errors in published works
If the author discovers or is informed by a third party of a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her article, the author must promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Acknowledgements (optional)
Any acknowledgements must be headed and in a separate paragraph, placed after the main text but before the reference list.

Funding Information (if applicable)
Should the research have received a funding grant then the grant provider and grant number should be detailed. 

Competing interests
If any of the authors have any competing interests then these must be declared. A short paragraph should be placed before the references. Guidelines for competing interests can be found here. If there are no competing interests to declare then the following statement should be present: The author(s) has/have no competing interests to declare.

References
All references cited within the submission must be listed at the end of the main text file. 

 

Permissions

The author is responsible for obtaining all permissions required prior to submission of the manuscript. Permission and owner details should be mentioned for all third-party content included in the submission or used in the research.

If a method or tool is introduced in the study, including software, questionnaires, and scales, the license this is available under and any requirement for permission for use should be stated. If an existing method or tool is used in the research, it is the author's responsibility to check the license and obtain the necessary permissions. Statements confirming that permission was granted should be included in the Materials and Methods section.

 

Language & Text

Capitalisation
For the submission title:
Capitalise only the first letter of the first word and of proper nouns and adjectives. Also capitalize the first letter of the first word after a colon.

  • Variations in reading and spelling acquisition in Portuguese, French and Spanish: A cross-linguistic comparison

Headings within the main text:
Headings in the text should follow the same rule as the main title.

Do not insert a period at the end of a heading.

Number and format headings as shown below:

1. First-level heading
1.1. Second-level heading
1.1.1. Third-level heading

After the heading, start the text from the beginning of the following line.

Spelling
Submissions must be made in English. Authors are welcome to use American or British spellings as long as they are used consistently throughout the whole of the submission.

  • Colour (UK) vs. Color (US)

Please note that in British English the -ize ending should be used in preference to –ise where both spellings are in use (e.g., criticize, recognize).

When referring to proper nouns and normal institutional titles, the official, original spelling must be used.

  • World Health Organization, not World Health Organisation

Grammar
American or English grammar rules may be used as long as they are used consistently and match the spelling format (see above). For instance, you may use a serial comma or not.

  • red, white, and blue OR red, white and blue

Font
The font used should be commonly available and in an easily readable size. This may be changed during the typesetting process.

Underlined text should be avoided whenever possible, and not used for emphasis.

Bold or italicised text are permitted, although should be restricted to minimal occurrences to maximise their efficiency.

Italics should be used for:

  • words, phrases, and sentences treated as linguistic examples.
  • foreign-language expressions.
  • titles of books, published documents, newspapers, and journals.
  • letters used as statistical symbols or algebraic variables, e.g., p (significance level)

Italics may also be used for:

  • drawing attention to key terms in a discussion at first mention only. Thereafter, these terms should be set in roman. However, please keep the use of italics to a minimum.
  • emphasizing a word or phrase in a quotation indicating [emphasis mine].

Bold may be used to draw attention to a particular linguistic feature in numbered examples (not in running text).

Phonetic transcription
Use unicode fonts for phonetic symbols. Accepted fonts are Charis SIL and Doulos SIL, which can be downloaded at no cost from the SIL webpage.

For phonological and syntactic structures, you may use phpSyntaxTree or TreeForm (both free), or Moraic font and Arboreal font (not free).

Lists
Use bullet points to denote a list without hierarchy or order of value. If the list indicates a specific sequence then a numbered list must be used.

Lists should be used sparingly to maximise their impact.

Quotation marks
Short quotations (fewer than 60 words) should be run on in text and enclosed in double quotation marks. Single quotation marks enclose quotations within quotations.

Longer quotations should appear as a separate block from the main text.

The standard, non-italicised font must be used for all quotes.

All quotations in languages other than English should be followed by the translation in square brackets.

Omissions are indicated by ellipsis points without brackets.

Any insertions by the author are to be enclosed in square brackets: [emphasis mine].

It must be clear from the text and/or citation where the quote is sourced. If quoting from material that is under copyright then permission will need to be obtained from the copyright holder.

Punctuation
Quotation marks:

  • Single quotation marks should be used for the translation of non-English words, e.g., cogito ‘I think’.
  • Double quotation marks should be used for direct quotations in running text.
  • Use rounded quotation marks (“. . .”) not "straight" ones.

Dashes:

  • Spaced EN dashes are used as parenthetical dashes. An EN dash is longer than a hyphen, “word – word”. Do not use double hyphens. Standard WORD shortcut: CTRL + - (hyphen key).
  • Unspaced EN dashes should be used between inclusive page numbers, 153–159.
  • Please use EN dashes (not bullets) for lists without numbering.

Spacing: Type one space (not two) after periods, commas and colons.

Brackets: Do not use double round brackets: brackets within brackets should be square brackets.

Acronyms & Abbreviations
With abbreviations, the crucial goal is to ensure that the reader – particularly one who may not be fully familiar with the topic or context being addressed – is able to follow along. Spell out almost all acronyms on first use, indicating the acronym in parentheses immediately thereafter. Use the acronym for all subsequent references.

  • Research completed by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows …

Abbreviations should usually be in capital letters without full stops.

  • USA, not U.S.A

Common examples from Latin origin do not follow this rule and should be lower case and can include full stops.

  • e.g., i.e., etc.

e.g. and i.e. should always be followed by a comma (e.g., i.e.,)

Use only the most common abbreviations, including cf. Dr. ed. eds. e.g. et al. etc. i.e. vol. vols.

Please also use the following abbreviations:

F0fundamental frequency
F1, F2, etc.first formant, second formant, etc.
msmilliseconds
s.seconds
Pssubglottal pressure
Hz Hertz
dBdecibel
psignificance level 

Initials require periods and have a space between them, e.g. R. W. Langacker.

Abbreviations common in linguistics (NP, V, ACC) may be used in numbered examples, but the terms should be written out in full in the text.

Write out names of theories, titles of books or names of publishers: “the Spatialization of Form Hypothesis”, not “the SFH”; “Oxford University Press”, not “OUP.

Use of footnotes/endnotes
Use endnotes rather than footnotes (we refer to these as ‘Notes’ in the online publication). These will appear at the end of the main text, before ‘References’.

All notes should be used only where crucial clarifying information needs to be conveyed.

Avoid using notes for purposes of referencing, with in-text citations used instead. If in-text citations cannot be used, a source can be cited as part of a note.

Please insert the endnote marker after the end punctuation, with no blank space in between.

Notes should be numbered consecutively throughout the text.

Note numbers in the text should be superscript (small raised) numbers1 without punctuation or brackets.

The notes section should have a first-grade heading.

Note numbers in the note section should not be superscripted 1. 

Data & Symbols

Symbols
Symbols are permitted within the main text and datasets as long as they are commonly in use or have explanatory definition on their first usage.

Hyphenation, em and en dashes
There is no set rule on the use of hyphenation between words, as long as they are consistently used.

Em dashes should be used sparingly. If they are present, they should denote emphasis, change of thought or interruption to the main sentence and can replace comas, parentheses, colons or semicolons (see Punctuation above).

  • The president’s niece—daughter of his younger brother—caused a media scandal when…

En dashes can be used to replace ‘to’ when indicating a range. No space should surround the dash.

  • 10-25 years
  • pp. 10-65

Numbers
For numbers zero to nine please spell the whole words. Please use figures for numbers 10 or higher.

We are happy for authors to use either words or figures to represent large whole figures (i.e. one million or 1,000,000) as long as the usage is consistent throughout the text.

If the sentence includes a series of numbers then figures must be used in each instance.

  • Artefacts were found at depths of 5, 9, and 29 cm.

If the number appears as part of a dataset, in conjunction with a symbol or as part of a table then the figure must be used.

  • This study confirmed that 5% of…

If a sentence starts with a number it must be spelt, or the sentence should be re-written so that it no longer starts with the number.

  • Fifteen examples were found to exist…
  • The result showed that 15 examples existed…

Do not use a comma for a decimal place.

  • 2.43 NOT 2,43

Numbers that are less than zero must have ‘0’ precede the decimal point.

  • 0.24 NOT .24

The percent sign (%) should be used instead of “percent.”

Units of measurement
Symbols following a figure to denote a unit of measurement must be taken from the latest SI brochure. See http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf for the full brochure.

Formula
Formulae must be proofed carefully by the author. Editors will not edit formulae. If special software has been used to create formulae, the way it is laid out is the way they will appear in the publication. 

Figures & Tables

Figures
Figures, including graphs and diagrams, must be professionally and clearly presented. If a figure is not easy to understand or does not appear to be of a suitable quality, the editor may ask to re-render or omit it.

All figures must be cited within the main text, in consecutive order using Arabic numerals (e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.).

Each figure must have an accompanying descriptive main title. This should clearly and concisely summarise the content and/or use of the figure image. A short additional figure legend is optional to offer a further description.

  • Figure 1: 1685 map of London.
  • Figure 1: 1685 map of London. Note the addition of St Paul’s Cathedral, absent from earlier maps.

Figure titles and legends should be placed within the text document, either after the paragraph of their first citation, or as a list after the references.

The source of the image should be included, along with any relevant copyright information and a statement of authorisation (if needed).

  • Figure 1: Firemen try to free workers buried under piles of concrete and metal girders. Photo: Claude-Michel Masson. Reproduced with permission of the photographer.

If your figure file includes text then please present the font as Ariel, Helvetica, or Verdana. This will mean that it matches the typeset text.

NOTE: All figures must be uploaded separately as supplementary files during the submission process, if possible in colour and at a resolution of at least 300dpi. Each file should not be more than 20MB. Standard formats accepted are: JPG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, EPS. For line drawings, please provide the original vector file (e.g. .ai, or .eps).

Tables
Tables must be created using a word processor's table function, not tabbed text.

Tables should be included in the manuscript. The final layout will place the tables as close to their first citation as possible.

All tables must be cited within the main text, numbered with Arabic numerals in consecutive order (e.g. Table 1, Table 2, etc.).

Each table must have an accompanying descriptive title. This should clearly and concisely summarise the content and/or use of the table. A short additional table legend is optional to offer a further description of the table. The table title and legend should be placed underneath the table.

Tables should not include:

  • Rotated text
  • Colour to denote meaning (it will not display the same on all devices)
  • Images
  • Vertical or diagonal lines
  • Multiple parts (e.g. ‘Table 1a’ and ‘Table 1b’). These should either be merged into one table, or separated into ‘Table 1’ and ‘Table 2’.

NOTE: If there are more columns than can fit on a single page, then the table will be placed horizontally on the page. If it still can't fit horizontally on a page, the table will be broken into two. 

References

In-text citations
Every use of information from other sources must be cited in the text so that it is clear that external material has been used.

If the author is already mentioned in the main text then the year should follow the name within parenthesis.

  • Both Jones (2013) and Brown (2010) showed that …

If the author name is not mentioned in the main text then the surname and year should be inserted, in parenthesis, after the relevant text. Multiple citations should be separated by semi-colon and follow alphabetical order.

  • The statistics clearly show this to be untrue (Brown 2010; Jones 2013).

If three or fewer authors are cited from the same citation then all should be listed. If four or more authors are part of the citation then ‘et al.’ should follow the first author name.

  • (Jones, Smith & Brown 2008)
  • (Jones et al. 2008)

If citations are used from the same author and the same year, then a lowercase letter, starting from ‘a’, should be placed after the year.

  • (Jones 2013a; Jones 2013b)

If specific pages are being cited then the page number should follow the year, after a colon.

  • (Brown 2004: 65; Jones 2013: 143)

The date is always given in parentheses.

  • Bloomfield (1933: 123–125) introduced the term . . .”; “In his (1922) article Sapir argued that . . . ”

Give page numbers in full: do not use ”f.”, ”ff.”.

Avoid referring to a whole book: give exact page numbers whenever possible. Always give the page numbers for quotations.

For publications authored and published by organisations, use the short form of the organisation’s name or its acronym in lieu of the full name.

  • (ICRC 2000) NOT (International Committee of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies 2000)

Please do not include URLs in parenthetical citations, but rather cite the author or page title and include all details, including the URL, in the reference list.

– Always give the full author-date citation: do not use “op. cit.”, “loc. cit.” or “ibid.”

For reprints, use the following format: (Dickens 1987 [1854]: 73)

Only give the original date at the first mention, in all subsequent citations give reprint date only: (Dickens 1987: 73). In citations of reprints of recently published titles, only give the date of the reprint in the citation (full details should only be given in the reference section). 

Reference list
The reference section immediately follows the notes.

The reference section should contain all works cited and only those, in alphabetical order of authors’ surnames.

All reading materials should be included in ‘References’ – works which have not been cited within the main text, but which the author wishes to share with the reader, must be cited as additional information in endnotes explaining the relevance of the work. This will ensure that all works within the reference list are cited within the text.

NOTE: If multiple works by the same author are being listed, please re-type the author’s name out for each entry, rather than using a long dash.

NOTE: DOIs should be included for all reference entries, where possible.

Reference format
This journal uses the APA system – see below for examples of how to format:

  • Books:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title. Place of publication: Publisher.

Adam, D. J. (1984). Stakeholder analysis (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Silverman, D. F., & Propp, K. K. (Eds.). (1990). The active interview. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

  • Book chapters:

Author, A. A. (Year). Chapter title. In A. Author, Title (page-page). Place of publication: Publisher.

Achebe, C. (1995). Colonialist Criticism. In B. Ashcroft, The Post Colonial Studies Reader (pp. 57-61). London: Routledge.

 NOTE: If multiple works by the same author are being listed, please re-type the author’s name out for each entry, rather than using a long dash.
  • Journal articles:

Author, A. (Year). Article title. Journal name, vol(issue), page-page. DOI

Martin, L. (2010). Bombs, bodies and biopolitics: Securitizing the subject at airport security. Social and Cultural Geography, 11(1), 17-34. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649360903414585

NOTE: If the original version of a non-English article is used as the source, cite the original version. Give the original title and, in brackets, the English translation, as exemplified below.

Guimard, P., & Florin, A. (2007). Les évaluations des enseignants en grande section de maternelle sont-elles prédictives des difficultés de lecture au cours préparatoire? [Are teacher ratings in kindergarten predictive of reading difficulties in first grade?]. Approche Neuropsychologique des Apprentissages chez l’Enfant, 19, 5-17.

  • Proceedings published regularly online:

Author, A. (Year). Title of paper. Title of conference proceedings, page-page. DOI

Herculano-Houzel, S., Collins, C. E., Wong, P., Kaas, J. H., & Lent, R. (2008). The basic nonuniformity of the cerebral cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, 12593-12598. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0805417105

  • Proceedings published in book form:

Author, A. (Year). Title of paper. In A. Author (Eds.), Title of conference proceedings (page-page). Place of publication: Publisher. DOI

Katz, I., Gabayan, K., & Aghajan, H. (2007). A multi-touch surface using multiple cameras. In J. Blanc-Talon, W. Philips, D. Popescu, & P. Scheunders (Eds.), Lecture Notes in Computer Science: Vol. 4678. Advanced Concepts for Intelligent Vision Systems (pp. 97-108). Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-74607-2_9

  • Theses and dissertations:

Author, A. (Year). Title (Unpublished doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis). Institution, Location.

Yudis, A. (2004). Failed responsibility of the media in the war on Iraq (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Manchester, UK.

  • Conference papers:

Author, A. (Year, Month Day-Day). Title of the talk/poster. Paper presented at Title of the Conference, Location. Retrieved from URL.

MacColl, F., Ker, I., Huband, A., Veith, G., & Taylor, J. (2009, November 12-13). Minimising pedestrian-cyclist conflict on paths. Paper presented at the Seventh New Zealand Cycling Conference, New Plymouth, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://cyclingconf.org.nz/system/files/NZCyclingConf09_2A_MacColl_PedCycleConflicts.pdf

  • Internet sources

Author, A. (Year). Title of the document or website. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL.

Pascual, Amb. C. (2005). Stabilization and Reconstruction: Building peace in a hostile environment. Prepared statement to Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Retrieved August 14, 2012, from http://2001-2009.state.gov/s/crs/rls/rm/48644.htm

NOTE: If no date is available use (n.d.).

  • Organisation/Corporate author:

Author group. (Year). Title. Place of publication: Publisher.

World Health Organization. (2010). The world health report – Health systems financing: the path to universal coverage. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO.

  • Unpublished manuscripts

Author, A. (Year). Title. Unpublished manuscript, Institution, Location.

Blackwell, E., & Conrod, P. J. (2003). A five-dimensional measure of drinking motives. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

 

Initials require periods and have a space between them: R. W. Langacker

Arrange all works under a particular author’s/editor’s name in chronological order.

Give the full title and subtitle of each work.

Do not use abbreviations for names of journals, book series, publishers, or conferences.

Do not use “et al.” but list all author/editor names.

Translate into English titles in languages other than English. The translation should be set in roman and placed in square brackets following the original title.