About the Journal

The Ghana Journal of Linguistics (GJL) is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal appearing twice a year, published by the Linguistics Association of Ghana. Beginning with Volume 2 (2013) it is published in electronic format only, at https://www.ajol.info/index.php/gjl/ and https://gjl.laghana.org. However, print-on-demand copies can be made available on application to Mr. Fred Labi of Digibooks Ghana Ltd.: fred.labi@digibookspublishing.com or +233246493842.

The Editors welcome papers on all aspects of linguistics. Articles submitted should not have been previously published.

The Editors welcome reports on research in progress and brief notices of research findings, as well as news of general interest to linguists.

The Editors also welcome books from authors and publishers for review in the Ghana Journal of Linguistics. They may be sent to The Editor-in-Chief, Ghana Journal of Linguistics, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 1149, Accra, Ghana. Anyone who wishes to review a particular book is invited to contact the Editor-in-Chief.

Submissions should be submitted electronically at https://gjl.laghana.org. They should be accompanied by a brief biographical note giving the author's name in the form it should appear in print plus current academic or professional position and field of research interest. Please see the inside back cover of this issue for detailed instructions.
The Ghana Journal of Linguistics is a publication of the Linguistics Association of Ghana.
Authors have sole responsibility for the content of their articles.

Publication Ethics & Publication Malpractice Statement

Publishers and editors shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred.

In no case shall GJL or its editors encourage such misconduct, or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.

In the event that GJL’s publisher (Linguistics Association of Ghana) or editors are made aware of any allegation of research misconduct the publisher or editor shall deal with allegations appropriately.

GJL editors shall consider retracting a publication if:

  • they have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or falsification (eg image manipulation) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error)
  • the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution, permission or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication)
  • it constitutes plagiarism
  • it reports unethical research
  • the author(s) failed to disclose a major competing interest
  • there is a serious legal issue
  • it has been published on the basis of a manipulated peer review process

GJL follows COPE's guidelines for retracting an article available here.

GJL publishers and editors are always willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.

Editors

The editors of GJL are responsible for final publication decisions.

It is the editors’ responsibility to ensure the quality of material published, champion freedom of expression, maintain academic integrity, be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed and constantly improve the journal in order to meet the needs of readers and authors.

It is the editors’ responsibility to ensure that confidentiality is maintained in the review process, both in terms of the material under review and the identity of reviewers and authors.

Authors

Authors should adhere to a basic set of principles which include: reported findings and/or conceptual insights must be original; reports must contain, or permit reference to, sufficient detail of the methods and materials used in the study to permit replication in the hands of other scholars; reports must maintain integrity in that no inconsistent data are omitted or fabricated data presented; the (statistical) treatment of data must be thorough and the conclusions reasonable; the existing relevant literature must be appropriately and fairly cited; authorship must conform to the notions of responsibility and credit; speculative deductions and postulations must be clearly specified and kept to a minimum; acknowledgement of funding sources and possible conflict of interest must be complete, and author affiliations provided which reflect both the period of the study and the present situation. No fees or charges are required for manuscript processing and/or publishing materials in the journal.

  • Authors have an obligation to participate in peer review process.
  • All authors must have significantly contributed to the research.
  • All authors have an obligation to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.
  • Authors must provide a list of references and any financial support, if applicable. 
  • Authors are forbidden to publish the same research in more than one journal.

Authors have sole responsibility for the content of their articles.

Peer reviewers

Peer reviewers contribute to the editorial decision. GJL uses a double-blind peer-review system. 

It is a reviewer’s responsibility to be objective, to be prompt, to treat material under review in confidence, and to avoid conflicts of interest.

In particular, reviewers should scrutinise the methods and results of papers under review in terms of consistency, interpretability and likely reproducibility; identify gaps that could or should be filled to enhance the interpretability and strength of the findings and/or insights; suggest how the paper can be improved in terms of style, length and focus; assess the proper citation and referencing of previously published studies, including the critical issue of the originality of the work; contest conclusions not justified by the results or arguments presented; and ‘place’ the work in the existing matrix of knowledge in the relevant area or field.

Peer-review process summary: 

  • All of GJL's content is subjected to double-blind peer-review with multiple reviewers (Peer-review is defined as obtaining advice on individual manuscripts from reviewers’ expert in the field.)
  • Peer review judgments must be objective.
  • Reviewers should have no conflict of interest.
  • Reviewers should point out relevant published work which is not yet cited.
  • Reviewed articles should be treated confidentially.

Copyright and Access

GJL complies with Creative Commons Attribution BY  license. This copyright license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. More information on copyright and licensing information can be found here.

GJL's complete issues and individual articles are all open access. They can be freely accessed here at the journal's official website and also at AJOL. 

Archiving

The journal is backed up electronically via AJOL, which preserves access to the journal content in the event the journal is no longer published. This constitutes access to the archive of published papers.

Publishing schedule

GJL regular issues appear twice a year on June 30th and December 31st. In 2016, the passing away of former Editor-in-Chief Professor Emerita Mary Esther Kropp-Dakubu led to the publication of only one issue that year. In 2017, a special issue augmented the number to 3 issues for the year. The third (3rd) issue of 2017 was intended to make up for the lost second issue that would have appeared in 2016. Other than that one irregularity due to the passing away of the former Editor-in-Chief, the regular publication schedule of twice per year has been strictly followed since the inception of the journal in 2012. 

The Ghana Journal of Linguistics is owned and published by the Linguistics Association of Ghana. 

Contact Info for Editorial Office:
GJL is managed by the Linguistics Association of Ghana
Email: gjl@laghana.org.
© Linguistics Association of Ghana, 2024.
ISSN 2026-6596