Information For Authors

Instructions for Authors

Submission guidelines

Thank you for choosing to submit your paper to Sustainable Multilingualism.

Section Policies
Original research contributions are accepted on the following themes (but not limited):

  • Language Policy
  • Society. Identity. Language Maintenance
  • Language Preservation and Revival
  • Linguistic Diversity: Language Rights
  • Language Education in Multilingual and Multicultural Settings
  • Plurilingual Competence Development in Higher Education
  • Issues in Language Didactics
  • Issues in Comparative Linguistics and Sociolinguistics
  • Digital Technologies in Language Education and Translation
  • Languages in Societal Discourse
  • Issues in Translation
  • Language in Context: Discourse and Terminology

The Invited Contribution section is reserved for contributions invited by the Editor-in-Chief. They are indexed but are not open submissions and are not peer reviewed. Invited contributions are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and are intended for position papers, keynote papers, and similar scholarly contributions.

Guidelines
These guidelines will ensure we have everything that is required for your manuscript to go through peer review, copyediting, production, and publication processes smoothly.

To submit your manuscript to Sustainable Multilingualism, please follow the procedure outlined below:

1. Initial Email: Send an email containing the following information to sustainable.multilingualism@vdu.lt

  • Full name(s) and surname
  • Institutional affiliation
  • ORCID ID (if applicable)
  • Title of the manuscript

 2. OJS Registration: Upon receipt of your details, you will receive an email invitation to create your profile in the Open Journal System (OJS).       

 3. Submission: Use your new profile to upload and submit your manuscript directly through the system.

Important: The OJS registration invitation is valid for 24 hours only. Please ensure you complete your profile setup promptly.

After the manuscript is submitted to Sustainable Multilingualism, each manuscript receives an individual identification code that is used in all correspondence concerning the publication process.

The journal editor screens and makes a preliminary assessment to determine its suitability for the focus, target audience, and style of the journal, i.e., if the manuscript complies with the journal’s Author Guidelines.

The journal is registered in the CrossRef system and uses the plagiarism detection system CrossCheck powered by iThenticate to screen newly submitted manuscripts for plagiarism and text overlap before they are sent to reviewers.

Submission Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements:

  • This submission meets the requirements outlined in Author Guidelines
  • This submission is original and has not been previously published, nor is it under consideration elsewhere.
  • Permission has been obtained to publish all photos, datasets, and other material provided within this submission.

A submission may be declined by the Editor without review if the studies reported are not sufficiently novel or important to merit publication in the journal. Manuscripts deemed unsuitable (fail to meet the criteria listed above) are rejected without review.

AUTHOR ANONYMITY

To ensure the integrity of the blind peer-review for submission to this journal, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. This involves the authors, editors, and reviewers (who upload documents as part of their review) checking to see if the following steps have been taken concerning the text and file properties:

1.     To ensure anonymity, the authors replace their names and source details with 'Author' and the publication year in all footnotes and references.

2.     For Microsoft Office documents, the author identification should also be removed from the file properties. In Windows, this is done via File > Info >Check for Issues > Inspect Document. On a Mac, navigate to the Review tab and select Protect document to check the setting that removes personal information when you save.

3.     For PDF files, the authors' names should also be removed from the Document Properties, which can be found under the 'File' menu in Adobe Acrobat.

4.     The authors will be asked to add their names and affiliation to the manuscript only after copyediting.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION REQUIREMENTS

  • The text should include all standard structural elements: Introduction (with research questions at the end); Literature Review; Methodology; Results; Discussion (including limitations and implications at the end); Conclusions; References.
  • The text should be between 4000–7000 words, including Abstract in the main language (250-300 words; containing rationale, methods, and results) and References.
  • 4-6 keywords in the main language of the article should be provided after the Abstract (in alphabetical order, in the same line, separated by semicolons).

Formatting Requirements

  • Articles should follow the requirements of the APA style (see Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). (2020).
  • Spelling can be English (U.S.) or English (U.K.) as long as usage is consistent.

Page size: 17.6 x 25.01 cm

Margins: Normal (2.54 x 2.54 x 2.54 x 2.54 cm)

Header position from top: 1.25 cm

Footer position from top: 1.25 cm

Font type: Verdana.

Title in the main language of the article: 14pt bold, capital letters, align left.

  • Abstract in the main language of the article: 9pt bold; text 8pt
  • Keywords in the main language of the article: 9pt bold; actual words 8pt, 4–6 words
  • Text of the article: 9pt

After copyediting, to celebrate the linguistic diversity of our contributors, the authors will be invited to provide the translation of the title, affiliation, abstract, and keywords in their home language, where possible.

Line spacing: Single for Abstract and tables, 1.5 for the main text with one space left after the title and before and after the section headings.

Headings in the article:

All headings are written in Title Case (important words capitalized) and boldface.

Level 1: 10pt bold, centered, Title Case Heading, text starts as a new paragraph;

Level 2: 10pt bold, left-justified, Title Case Heading, text starts as a new paragraph;

Level 3: 10pt bold italic, left-justified, Title Case Heading, text starts as a new paragraph;

Level 4: 10pt bold, indented, Title Case Heading, ending with a period; text starts on the same line and continues as a regular paragraph.

Level 5: 10pt bold, indented, Italic, Title Case Heading Ending with a Period. Paragraph text continues in on the same line and continues as a regular paragraph.

References: 10pt bold; entries 9pt; 15–30 entries; entries are not numbered, follow alphabetical order. For several entries of the same author, a chronological order is applied. Titles of books and journals are written in italics. If electronic sources are assigned a DOI, it is to be indicated; hanging by 1,27 cm.

Footnotes: Verdana, 8pt, single spacing, justified.

Tables, Illustrations, and Figures

Given that the journal is published as a colorful online issue, the figures and graphs should be prepared so that the colorful figures are clear and visible in white and black text.

Table or Figure number (in bold, left-justified) and the heading (in italics, left-justified, all major words start with a capital letter) are written above the table or the figure, 9pt; text within figures and tables 8pt, single spacing (in the place where they have to appear in the text).

In-text Citations

Author-date method of citation: the author’s last name and the date of publication in the appropriate place of the text in parentheses, e.g., (Brown, 2014, p. 1). Use the word “and’ between the authors’ names within the text and use the ampersand in the parentheses and References. 40-word and longer quotations are placed in a free-standing block, single-spaced and indented in entirety by 1.27 cm from the left and right margins with quotation marks omitted.

REFERENCES: Example Entries

Books

Aronin, L. (2022). An advanced guide to multilingualism. Edinburgh University Press.

Edwards, J. (2023). Multilingualism: Understanding linguistic diversity (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing.

Chapters of a Book

Lüdi, G. (2022). Promoting plurilingualism and plurilingual education: A European perspective. In E. Piccardo, A. Germain-Rutherford, & G. Lawrence (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of plurilingual language education, pp. 56-74. Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group.

Articles in journals

Korb, F., & Polzin-Haumann, C. (2026). Language policy implementation: The role of applied linguistics for knowledge transfer. Sustainable Multilingualism, 28, 1-21. Vytautas Magnus University. https://doi.org/10.2478/sm-2026-0001

Conceição, M. C. (2025). Multilingual realities and language policy: Education, identity, and space. European Journal of Language Policy, 17(2), 161-163. Liverpool University Press. https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/55867

Peer review

All manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo a rigorous peer-review process. Submissions assessed by editors as potentially suitable are sent to anonymous peer reviewers for an in-depth review, typically to two-three experts. Reviewers are selected from the pool of experts in the appropriate field.

The peer review process aims to ensure high-quality publications. Reviewers make an objective, impartial evaluation of the scientific merits of the manuscript, judging submissions for the following aspects:

  • novelty and originality, timeliness of the topic,
  • significance to the field,
  • research design and clarity,
  • methodological soundness,
  • substantial evidence supporting claims and conclusions,
  • technical quality.

In cases of contradictory reviewer recommendations, the manuscripts are sent to an additional reviewer.

Outcomes of the review process include

  • Accept without any changes
  • Tentatively accept (pending minor revisions reviewed by the author)
  • Revise and resubmit (for full review by the initial reviewer)
  • Reject

If a manuscript is believed not to fully meet the standards of the journal or contains major deficiencies, the reviewers will attempt to provide constructive criticism to assist the authors in improving their work.

Extensive reviewer comments are provided only when necessary to authors whose manuscripts are conditionally accepted for publication.

The results of the review process are normally available within one-two months of submission. Especially long submissions, highly technical articles, or articles from niche subject areas may require additional time. If authors are encouraged to revise and resubmit a submission, there is no guarantee that the revised submission will be accepted depending on the quality of revision. Submissions with a recommendation to revise and resubmit may be resubmitted only one time.

Articles that are rejected include those that are poorly written or organized, too elementary, or that cover material outside the areas dealt with in Sustainable Multilingualism.

The reviewers state their general conclusion; the final decision to accept or reject the manuscript for publication rests with the journal editors.

Article processing charges

APCs are currently not applicable. However, the journal reserves the right to review and adjust its publication fee policies.

Copyright

Sustainable Multilingualism uses CC BY-NC 4.0 Creative Commons license:

CC BY-NC 4.0

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

CC BY-NC 4.0 license allows others remix, make adjustments and build upon a work non-commercially. The new works must acknowledge the original creator and remain non-commercial.

Permitted uses:
You can share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material for any non-commercial purpose).

The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

License terms and restrictions:

Attribution (BY): You must give appropriate credit to the original creator, provide a link to the license, and indicate if any changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in a way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

NonCommercial (NC): You cannot use the material for commercial purposes (i.e., intended primarily for or directed toward commercial advantage or monetary compensation).

No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures (such as DRM) that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

The copyright holder of the published articles is Vytautas Magnus University. When the manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors receive the License to Publish, sign it and return to the journal editor: https://reference-global.com/download/document/journal/SM/Open_Access_License.pdf

The License to Publish is the copyright transfer agreement that includes the following:

  1. Information on the non-commercial use of the article, governed by the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International license as currently displayed on https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/, throughout the world, in any form, in any language, for the full term of copyright, effective upon acceptance for publication;
  2. Author’s warranties: the author guarantees that the work is original, unpublished before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, and that proper permissions for external quotes have been obtained by the author;
  3. User rights: anyone can share and adapt the work non-commercially, provided proper credit/ attribution is given;
  4. Rights of authors: authors retain copyright, non-commercial proprietary rights, and the right to reuse, reproduce the article for own (non-sale) purposes;
  5. Co-authorship: if the article was prepared jointly with other authors, the signatory guarantees that they have full authority to sign on behalf of all co-authors and agrees to inform them on the agreement terms
  6. Termination: this agreement can be terminated by the author or the Journal Owner upon two months’ notice in cases of uncorrected breach, without cause after 40 years (with two years’ notice), or at any time by mutual consent;
  7. Royalties: authors receive no royalties or fees and waive royalty collection rights for the journal’s use;
  8. Miscellaneous: publication is contingent on editorial process completion. The journal may edit style, make the work open-access (free to readers), sublicense rights, and enforce rights against third parties. This agreement will be governed by the laws of Lithuania.