AMERICAN JOURNAL OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Peer Review Process

The submitted manuscripts will be considered for publication if they receive favourable reports from specialists outside the publishing institution and the editorial board. At least two anonymous referees will evaluate the unsigned manuscripts submitted for publication to the American Journal of Qualitative Research (AJQR).

This journal uses the double-blind review, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process.

Decisions on articles and book reviews submitted are normally made within two months. If the manuscript has not been accepted or needs revision, the author will be provided with a report indicating the reasons for non-acceptance, or the changes required for its publication.

Even in case of a positive evaluation, manuscripts not conforming to the author's guidelines will be returned to the authors for further revision.

Plagiarism

American Journal of Qualitative Research takes issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism, or other breaches of best practices in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of the department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

Open Access Policy

American Journal of Qualitative Research provides open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge and equitable educational practices. All published articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which allows users to freely share and adapt articles on the condition that proper attribution/citation is given and that the material is not used for commercial purposes. Upon publication, users have immediate free access toAJQR articles and may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose.

Publication Frequency 

American Journal of Qualitative Research (AJQR) publishes quarterly in February, May, August, and November since 2023.  In addition to the special issues, which may be various numbers for each year.

Publication Charges

There are no submission fees, publication fees, or page charges for this journal.

Language

Given that the manuscript must be written in English if English is not the mother tongue of the author we recommend that the paper should be proofread to ensure its accuracy and improve the language quality. The publisher can also provide a copy editing service on payment.

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

Self-Archiving

Center of Ethnic and Cultural Studies (CECS) allows authors to self-archive their articles in institutional or other specialized repositories and their personal websites. Authors are advised to use the final PDF version published on the Journal’s website for self-archiving purposes. However, it’s not an obligation and authors are free to use the version they prefer; pre-print, post-print, or publisher’s PDF version.

There is no embargo on the archiving of articles. Authors are allowed deposition of articles on institutional or other specialized depositories and their personal websites immediately after publication on the journal website. Accepted manuscripts can be also archived by authors on depositories and personal websites.  

Competing Interest Policy

American Journal of Qualitative Research has a transparent publications policy, requiring authors to declare any relevant competing interests of a personal, professional, or financial nature at the time of submission. All authors should disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work.

Publication Ethics 

American Journal of Qualitative Research (AJQR) publishes original and rigorous research findings and does not tolerate any kind of academic dishonesty or misconduct. All manuscripts submitted to AJQR should be original works of scholarship. AJQR does not tolerate any sort of data fabrication and falsification, plagiarism, or improper author contribution. 

Editorial Board 

  • Journals should have editorial boards or other governing bodies whose members are recognized experts in the field. The full names and affiliations of the members should be provided on the journal’s Web site.
  • Journals shall provide contact information for the editorial office on the journal’s Web site.

Authors and Authors' Responsibilities

  • Any fees or charges required for manuscript processing and/or publishing materials in the journal shall be clearly stated before authors begin preparing their manuscript for submission.
  • Authors are obliged to participate in the peer review process.
  • All authors have significantly contributed to the research.
  • All authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.
  • List of references, and financial support.
  • All research studies on humans (individuals, samples, or data) must have been performed in accordance with the principles stated in the Malpractice Statement.  Prior to starting the study, ethical approval must have been obtained for all protocols ((e.g., ethical approval, consent, participant anonymity, etc) from the local Institutional Review Board (IRB).
  • Forbidden to publish the same research in more than one journal
  • Authors must certify that their manuscripts are their original work.
  • Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere.
  • Authors are obliged to participate in the double-blind peer-review process.
  • Authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.
  • All Authors must have significantly contributed to the research.
  • Authors must state that all data in the paper are real and authentic.
  • Authors must notify the Editors of any conflicts of interest.
  • Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscripts.
  • Authors must report any errors they discover in their published papers to the Editors.

Reviewer's Responsibilities

  • Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information.
  • Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author.
  • Referees are requested to evaluate whether the manuscript has already been published in another journal, is methodologically sound, contains results that are clearly presented and support the conclusions, contains an appropriate bibliography, and makes a significant contribution to the social sciences.
  • Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments
  • Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
  • Reviewers should also call to the Editor in Chief's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
  • Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Editor's Responsibilities

  • The Editors are responsible for the final decision to accept/reject the manuscript.
  • Editors should guarantee the quality of the papers and the integrity of the academic record.
  • Editors should publish errata pages or make corrections when needed.
  • Editors should base their decisions solely on the paper's importance, originality, clarity, and relevance to the publication's scope.
  • Editors should not reverse their decisions or overturn previous editors' ones without serious reason.
  • Editors should preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
  • Editors should ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines.
  • Editors should act if they suspect misconduct, whether a paper is published or unpublished, and make all reasonable attempts to persist in obtaining a resolution to the problem.
  • Editors should not reject papers based on suspicions, they should have proof of misconduct.
  • Editors should not allow any conflicts of interest between staff, authors, reviewers, and board members.

Disclaimer

Neither the editors nor the Editorial Boards of AJQR journal are responsible for authors’ expressed opinions, views, and the contents of the published manuscripts in the journal. The originality, proofreading of manuscripts, and errors are the sole responsibility of the individual authors.