JCL welcomes original work that fits the journal's mission and scope. The journal charges no submission fee, article processing charge, or publication fee.
Submit original work that is not published or under review elsewhere. Disclose related manuscripts, preprints, conference versions, theses, reports, and prior dissemination.
Remove author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, self-identifying file metadata, and other identifying information from files intended for anonymous review.
Obtain ethics approval or exemption where required, permissions for copyrighted material, and informed consent for identifiable participant information.
Confirm that every listed author meets the journal's authorship criteria and has approved the submission.
Article types and indicative length
Research Articles: normally 5,000–9,000 words.
Review Articles: normally 6,000–10,000 words.
Curriculum and Practice Articles: normally 3,500–7,000 words.
Short Articles: normally up to 3,500 words.
Problem Sets and Data Articles: length appropriate to the reusable contribution and validation.
Word ranges are guides, not automatic acceptance criteria. Contact the editors before submitting substantially longer work.
Manuscript preparation
For initial review, upload an anonymous, text-searchable PDF. Editable source files will be requested after acceptance.
Use a readable 11- or 12-point font, 1.15–1.5 line spacing, continuous page numbers, and numbered headings.
Provide a concise title, a self-contained abstract of approximately 150–300 words, and 3–8 keywords. Use Unicode or plain-text mathematical notation in the abstract; do not enter raw LaTeX commands or delimiters.
Describe methods, analysis, results, limitations, and threats to validity with enough detail to support evaluation and reproduction.
Number every table and figure, provide descriptive captions and alternative text, and cite each item in the text.
Use APA 7th edition or a consistent numbered computer-science citation style. Include DOI URLs whenever available.
Figures, tables, and accessibility
Prepare final raster figures at 300 dpi or higher in PNG, JPEG, or TIFF; use SVG or PDF for vector artwork when possible.
Use legible labels and color combinations that do not rely on color alone. Tables must use real table structure rather than screenshots.
Supply concise alternative text for every informative figure and mark decorative images accordingly.
Data, code, and reproducibility
Include a Data Availability Statement in every research article. Deposit supporting material in a trusted repository such as Zenodo, OSF, an institutional repository, or an appropriate disciplinary archive when ethically and legally possible. Provide a persistent identifier, exact version, reuse license, and README or equivalent documentation. Explain legal, ethical, privacy, security, or commercial restrictions.
Authorship and disclosures
Provide each contributor's full publication name, institutional affiliation, country, and authenticated ORCID iD when available. Include a CRediT-style author-contribution statement. Disclose funding, competing interests, ethics approval or exemption, participant consent, and material generative-AI use. Use explicit “None” or “Not applicable” statements rather than omitting a category.
Preprints and conference versions
Preprints are permitted when disclosed and linked. After publication, update the preprint with the version-of-record DOI. Extended conference work must cite the earlier version, explain the relationship in the cover letter, and make a substantial new scholarly contribution; at least 30% new analysis, evidence, methods, or interpretation is normally expected.
Files to upload
Anonymous PDF of the review manuscript.
Separate title page with author names, affiliations, ORCIDs, corresponding-author contact, CRediT contributions, funding, acknowledgements, and competing interests.
After acceptance, editable manuscript source and final figure and table files.
Editorial process
Editors screen submissions for scope, completeness, originality, ethics, reproducibility, accessibility, and scholarly quality. Suitable manuscripts normally receive at least two independent reviews. Reviewers are ordinarily asked to report within four weeks. The journal aims to acknowledge complete submissions within five business days and communicate an initial editorial decision within twelve weeks. See the Editorial and Publication Policies for peer review, appeals, corrections, licensing, and publication-ethics procedures.
Submission Preparation Checklist
All submissions must meet the following requirements:
The submission fits JCL's scope and follows the Author Guidelines.
The work is original, is not under review elsewhere, and related manuscripts, preprints, and prior versions are disclosed.
All authors meet the journal's authorship criteria, approved the submission, and appear in the correct order with accurate affiliations.
The review manuscript and file metadata are anonymized.
Title, abstract, keywords, references, tables, figures, captions, and alternative text are complete and accurate.
Ethics approval, participant consent, funding, competing interests, and AI use are disclosed where applicable.
A Data Availability Statement is included with repository links and persistent identifiers where material can be shared.
Permissions have been obtained for third-party and identifiable material.
Every reference has been checked for accuracy and includes a DOI URL when available.
Copyright Notice
By submitting, the corresponding author confirms that all authors have approved the work; that the submission is original and does not infringe third-party rights; and that necessary permissions and consents have been obtained. Copyright and license terms are recorded on the published article. Unless an article states otherwise, JCL content is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).
