Policies
The complete policies for TxDLA-JDL, which authors agree to as a condition of publication, are constituted by the policies listed below, as well as those described on the Submissions Guidelines page of this site. Authors are encouraged to familiarize themselves with all site content before submission.Copyright and Licenses
Authors published in the TxDLA-JDL retain copyright of their work.Upon submission of an article, authors are asked to indicate their agreement to grant to the public an open-access license. The license permits any user to download, print out, archive, create derivative works and distribute the article, so long as appropriate credit is given to the authors and initial place of publication. The license ensures that your article will be as widely available as possible and that your article can be included in any relevant archive.
Please read about the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License before submitting your paper.
It will be the responsibility of the authors to secure all necessary copyright permissions for the use of 3rd-party materials in their manuscript. Authors will be required to provide written evidence of this permission upon acceptance of their manuscript.
Copyediting
As a no-fee, open access publication, TxDLA-JDL’s ability to provide extensive copyediting of manuscripts is limited. Authors are expected to submit manuscripts free of major typographical and grammatical errors, and may be requested to perform additional editing on their manuscripts if it is deemed necessary.The editors may strongly encourage employing a colleague or professional reader to review the manuscript if a submission exhibits potential but requires extensive stylistic revision.
Correction, Retraction, and Removal of Articles
Correction. Despite the best of efforts, errors occur and their timely and effective remedy are considered the mark of responsible authors and editors. TxDLA-JDL will publish a correction if the scholarly record is seriously affected (e.g., if accuracy/intended meaning, scientific reproducibility, author reputation, or journal reputation is judged to be compromised). Corrections that do not affect the contribution in a material way or significantly alter the reader's understanding of the contribution, such as misspellings or grammatical errors, will not be published. When a correction is published, it will link to and from the work. The correction will be added to the original work so that readers will receive the original work and the correction. All corrections will be as concise as possible.
Retraction. TxDLA-JDL reserves the right to retract items, with a retraction defined as a public disavowal, not an erasure or removal. Retractions will occur if the editors and editorial board finds that the main conclusion of the work is undermined or if subsequent information about the work comes to light of which the authors or the editors were not aware at the time of publication. Infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, inaccurate claims of authorship, plagiarism, and/or fraudulent use of data will also result in retraction of the work.
Removal. Some circumstances may necessitate removal of a work from TxDLA-JDL. This will occur when the article is judged by the editors and editorial board to be defamatory, if it infringes on legal rights, or if there is a reasonable expectation that it will be subject to a court order. The bibliographic information about the work will be retained online, but the work will no longer be available through TxDLA-JDL. A note will be added to indicate that the item was removed for legal reasons.
Corresponding Author Responsibilities
The corresponding author must submit the manuscript and related files (e.g. supporting data files, media, etc.). From the point of submission through to publication, all communication related to that manuscript will be directed to and received from the corresponding author. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all authors are aware of and approve the submission of the manuscript, its content, authorship, and order of authorship. Confirmation of this action is required at submission of all manuscripts.Masking Manuscripts Prior to Submission
The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring the submitted manuscript has been appropriately prepared for blind review. No individually identifiable information/references to the author(s) should be included in the manuscript (or title page). Acknowledgments should not be included in the manuscript; they may be entered separately during the submission process. In addition to removing all individually identifiable information from within the document, the corresponding author should check the Microsoft Word document properties and remove any identifiable information. For assistance in removing this information, please consult Microsoft help documentation or contact the editors.All supplemental files (figures, images, data sets, etc.) should also have any individually identifiable information removed prior to submission.
The cover letter submitted with the manuscript may contain identifiable information, and will be submitted/uploaded separate from the manuscript file to preserve the blind review process.
Human Subjects Research
All research involving human participants must have been approved by the authors' institutional review board or equivalent committee(s) and that board must be named by the authors and the IRB approval number included in the cover letter.Originality
Only articles that have not been published previously, that have not been simultaneously submitted elsewhere, and that are not under review for another publication should be submitted to this journal. The journal editors will assume that submission of an article to this journal implies that all the foregoing conditions are applicable.Peer Review Process
TxDLA-JDL uses a double-blind peer review process. The editor will perform an initial review of all submitted manuscripts and may reject papers that are clearly outside of the scope of the journal. Manuscripts within the scope will be sent to at least two reviewers. Reviewers will not receive or be able to view any documentation or metadata that includes individually identifiable author information. Authors will be provided with similarly blinded reviewer comments to aid in the revision of their manuscripts.The review and revision process takes, on average, ten to twelve weeks, with an initial decision within five weeks. Authors may not submit the manuscript to other publications while a review is in progress.
Reviews
TxDLA-JDL includes reviews of new books pertinent to distance learning. Prospective reviewers may contact the editors to share their qualifications and special areas of interest.Submission Fees
In order to lower barriers to publication for authors, TxDLA-JDL does not charge submission or any other form of author fees. However, all authors must be current members of the Texas Distance Learning Association at the time of publication. See the TxDLA Membership page for more information on membership fees.General Terms and Conditions of Use
Users of the TxDLA-JDL website and or software agree not to misuse the TxDLA-JDL or the ScholarWorks service or software in any way.The failure of TxDLA-JDL to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between TxDLA-JDL and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.