Shiken Submission Guidelines
Shiken is seeking submissions for future issues on an ongoing basis. The SIG aims to publish the journal at least twice a year as time and submissions allow. After checking the guidelines for publication below, please send your submission to the editor at jalttevalpublications@gmail.com.
Overview
Shiken aims to publish articles concerning language assessment issues relevant to assessment professionals, researchers, classroom practitioners and language program administrators in and around Japan. This includes, but is not limited to, research papers, replication studies, review articles, informed opinion pieces, technical advice articles, and qualitative descriptions of classroom assessment issues.
Novice researchers are encouraged to submit, but should aim for papers that focus on a single main issue. Please review recent issues of Shiken to understand the level of detail, depth of discussion and provision of empirical evidence that is required for acceptance.
Article Specifications
Article length should reflect the purpose of the article. Short, focused articles that are accessible to non-specialists are preferred and we reserve the right to edit submissions for relevance and length. Research papers should range from 4000 to 8000 words, but longer articles are acceptable provided they are clearly focused and relevant. Longer articles will generally only be accepted from established researchers with publication
experience. Opinion pieces should be of 3000 words or less and focus on a single main issue. Many aspects of language testing draw justified criticism and we welcome articles critical of existing practices, but authors must provide evidence to support any empirical claims made. Isolated anecdotes or claims based on “commonsense” are not a sufficient evidential basis for publication.
Please contact the publication chair(s) if you wish to submit an article that differs from these formats.
Format
Articles should be written, formatted, and strictly use appropriate citation styling according to the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th Edition. Authors are responsible for comprehensive and accurate referencing. Submissions should be formatted for our publications team accordingly using the following submission guidelines:
- Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx format) using 12-point Times New Roman font.
Plain text files (.txt format) without formatting are also acceptable. - Page size should be set to A4, with a 2.5 cm margin.
- Body text should be single-spaced, left justified.
- Paragraphs should be separated by a single blank line space.
It is best to manually type these spaces with a double carriage return at the end of each paragraph. - Each new section of the paper should have a section heading.
Each heading should be preceded by a double line space but followed by a single line space. - The reference section should begin on a new page immediately after the end of the body text but before any appendices, tables, and figures with the heading “References”.
- Separate sections for tables and figures should be appended to the end of the document following any appendices, using the section headings “Tables” and “Figures”.
- Tables and figures should be numbered and titled and within the body of the text, indicate approximately where each table or figure should appear by typing “Insert Table x” or “Insert Figure x” centered on a new line, with “x” replaced by the number of the table or figure.
- Research articles must be preceded by an abstract that succinctly summarizes the article content in less than 200 words.
Please review recent issues of Shiken for examples of section headings.
Evaluation
All papers are double-blind peer-reviewed by at least two expert reviewers. Initial evaluation is usually completed within four weeks. After review, the article may be:
1) accepted for submission and entered into the next Shiken publication,
2) returned for revisions and re-evaluated for publication, or
3) rejected on grounds stated by the reviewers.
The whole process from submission to publication is normally completed within 4 – 6 months.