Cover not available
Part of
Ethical Issues in Applied Linguistics Scholarship
Edited by Peter I. De Costa, Amr Rabie-Ahmed and Carlo Cinaglia
[Research Methods in Applied Linguistics 7] 2024
► pp. 343–356

Chapter 19
The ethical gray area

A perspective from journal editors

| Michigan State University,
| Michigan State University,
| University of Murcia,
| Northern Arizona University,
This chapter is a collective reflection on key ethical dilemmas encountered by four past and/or current editors of journals in diverse sub-fields of Applied Linguistics. We reflect on (i) our understanding of ethics in relation to journal editing; (ii) specific ethical challenges we faced in our editorial work and how they were resolved; and (iii) global considerations about the adoption of ethical practices in Applied Linguistics journal editing in the current world of academic publishing.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Reflections by Susan Gass and Luke Plonsky
    • Topic saturation
    • Reviews and reviewers
  • Reflections by Rosa Manchón
    • In-house rejections
    • Balancing the advancement of disciplinary conversations with impact factor considerations
  • Reflections by Peter De Costa
    • Empowering authors
    • Distributed accountability
  • Concluding thoughts
  • Author queries
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
References (25)
References
Al-Hoorie, A., Cinaglia, C., Hiver, P., Huensch, A., Isbell, D. S., Leung, C., & Sudina, E. (2024). Open science: Considerations for TESOL research. TESOL Quarterly. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anderson, M. S., Shaw, M. A., Steneck, N. H., Konkle, E., & Kamata, T. (2013). Research integrity and misconduct in the academic profession. In M. B. Paulsen (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research 28 (pp. 217–261). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Angelski, C., Fernandez, C. V., Weijer, C. et al. (2012). The publication of ethically uncertain research: Attitudes and practices of journal editors. BMC Medical Ethics, 13(4). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Costa, P. I. (2015). Ethics in applied linguistics research. In B. Paltridge & A. Phakiti (Eds.), Research methods in applied linguistics: A practical resource (pp. 245–257). Bloomsbury. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(Ed.). (2016). Ethics in applied linguistics research: Language researcher narratives. Routledge.Google Scholar
De Costa, P. I., Lee, J., Rawal, H., & Li, W. (2020). Ethics in applied linguistics research. In J. McKinley & H. Rose (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of research methods in applied linguistics (pp. 122–130). Routledge.Google Scholar
De Costa, P. I., Sterling, S., Lee, L. & Rawali, H. (2021). Research tasks on ethics in applied linguistics. Language Teaching, 54, 58–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fanelli, D. (2009). How many scientists fabricate and falsify research? A systematic review and meta-analysis of survey data. PLoS ONE, 4(5), e5738.’ DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greenwood, M. (2016). Approving or improving research ethics in management journals. Journal of Business Ethics, 137, 507–520. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Habibie, P. (2022). Early-career scholars and scholarship: A social justice perspective. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 42, 102–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Isbell, D., Brown, D., Chen, M., Derrick, D., Ghanem, R., Gutiérrez Arvizu, M. N., Schnur, E., Zhang, M., & Plonsky, L. (2022). Misconduct and questionable research practices: The ethics of quantitative data handling and reporting in applied linguistics. Modern Language Journal, 106, 172–195. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jussim, L., Krosnick, J. A. & Stevens, S. T. (Eds.) (2022). Research integrity. Best practices for the social and behavioral sciences. Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
LaFollette, H. (Ed.). (2021). The international encyclopedia of ethics (2nd ed.). Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
Larsson, T., Plonsky, L., Sterling, S., Kytö, M., Yaw, K., Wood, M. (2023). On the frequency, prevalence, and perceived severity of questionable research practices. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 2, 100064. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Manchón, R. M. (2022). To the inner circle and back again: An autoethnographic narrative of an EAL’s identity trajectory and professional development from novice researcher to research auditor. In P. Habibie & K. Hultgreen (Ed.), The inner world of gatekeeping in scholarly publication (pp. 45–62). Palgrave McMillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Min, S-K. (2021). Vascular Specialist International, 37(1), 1–3. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paltridge, B. & Starfield, S. (2019). Journal editors: Gatekeepers or custodians? In P. Habibie & K. Hyland (Eds.) Novice writers and scholarly publication. Authors, mentors, gatekeepers (pp. 253–270). Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Plaisance, P. L. (2008). Research ethics. In W. Donsbach (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of communication (pp. 1–5). John Wiley & Sons. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sheen, J. (2022). Criticality, identity, and ethics: Toward the construction of ethical subjectivity in Applied Linguistics research. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 42, 102–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Silver, R. E., Lin, W., & Sun, B. (2023). Applied linguistics journal editor perspectives: Research ethics and academic publishing. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 2(3). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sim, J. (2010). Addressing conflicts in research ethics: Consent and risk of harm. Psychotherapy Research International, 15(2), 80–87. (Special issue: Ethical issues in physiotherapy). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Steneck, N. H. (2007). Introduction to the responsible conduct of research. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Research Integrity. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sterling, S., & De Costa, P. I. (2018). Ethical Applied Linguistics research. In A. Phakiti, P. I. De Costa, L. Plonsky, & S. Starfield (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of applied linguistics research methodology (pp. 163–182). Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sterling, S., & Gass, S. (2017). Exploring the boundaries of research ethics: Perceptions of ethics and ethical behaviors in applied linguistics research. System, 70, 50–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wager, E., Fiack, S., Graf, C., Robinson, A., & Rowlands, I. (2009). Science journal editors’ views on publication ethics: Results of an international survey. Journal of Medical Ethics, 35, 348–353. DOI logoGoogle Scholar