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Call for papers

There are four deadlines for submission (the 10th day of March, June, September, and December) every year.

Publications dates correspond to submission deadlines roughly as follows:
- Submissions made by the 10th of March and 10th of June will feature in the January edition of the following year.
- Submissions made by the 10th of September and 10th of December will feature in the July edition of the following year.
Note that in actual practice publication may not follow this schedule exactly, as requirements differ according to the level of completion of the manuscript, its review, and the execution of copyediting.

For those who wish to submit a manuscript, please submit your manuscript after reading through the latest version of the “Guidelines for Manuscript Submission for the Journal ‘NINJAL Research Papers’” [ PDF | 193KB ], and send your “manuscript submission” and “’NINJAL Research Papers’ Manuscript Submission Cover Letter” to the Editing Committee.
If there is relevant data, it shall be submitted with the manuscript, and include the “outline of relevant data.” If necessary, a readme file can be attached.
Contact address for submissions and inquiries can be found at the bottom of this page.

The “Guidelines for Manuscript Submission for the Journal ‘NINJAL Research Papers,’” the “‘NINJAL Research Papers’ Paper Template,” and “‘NINJAL Research Papers’ Manuscript Submission Cover Letter” can be downloaded by clicking the links below:

The Japanese versions of these files are available on the "論文募集" page.

Guidelines for Manuscript Submission (revised September 24 2024) (extract)

1. Publication
To promote research activities, disseminate research results, and provide training for early-career researchers, the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) publishes two issues of the journal “NINJAL Research Papers” online per fiscal year (in principle, once in July and once in January). These journals are published by being registered with the Academic Repository of the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (hereinafter, “Repository”).

2. Qualifications for submission
At the time of submission, satisfaction of any of the following descriptions qualifies an applicant to submit. However, for joint authorships, the first author must satisfy at least one of the descriptions.
(1) Research and Academic Staff at NINJAL
(2) Adjunct Researcher [Should submit the manuscript after consultation with the leader of the collaborative research project in which you are participating.]
(3) Postdoctoral Research Fellow [Should submit the manuscript after consultation with the leader of the collaborative research project in which you are participating.]
(4) Project Collaborator participating in a Collaborative Research Project (including a Joint Resource-use Project) [Should submit the manuscript after consultation with the Leader (or Coordinator if you are the research representative of the project selected via open recruitment) of the project in which you are participating.]
(5) Invited Scholar
(6) Visiting Researcher [Should submit the manuscript after consultation with your Host Academic.]
(7) Student of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies [SOKENDAI] Japanese Language Sciences Course (hereinafter referred to as the "Japanese Language Sciences Course") [Should submit the manuscript after consultation with your academic advisor.]
(8)Emeritus Professors of NINJAL
(9) Other individuals that the NINJAL Research Papers Editorial Board (hereafter, "the Editorial Board") recognizes as qualified
(Note) The eligibility of those who fall under (1) through (6) mentioned above, is valid for five years from the end of the academic year in which you retire or finish your term of service. The eligibility of those who fall under (7) mentioned above, is valid for five years from the end of the academic year in which you were last enrolled in the Japanese Language Sciences Course.

3. Period for submission
The deadlines for submission of manuscripts are on the 10th day of March, June, September, and December every year.

4. Contents of the paper
(1) Submissions are restricted to unpublished, original manuscripts only. It is prohibited to submit manuscripts that are under submission to other journals. Manuscripts published in conference or workshop proceedings, manuscripts in research reports funded by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, parts of unpublished master’s theses or doctoral dissertations (regardless of whether they have been published online), and those appeared (or under permission) as preprints may be submitted as long as there are no issues related to Article 8, “Copyright” and Article 9, "License" and there is a footnote on the first page of the manuscript to this effect.
(2) As long as the contents of the submission are in accordance with the purposes for which NINJAL was established, there are no restrictions on either the methods or the analysis of the theories, descriptions, surveys, or experiments therein. However, contributors who satisfy the descriptions in paragraphs (2) through (6) of Article 2, “Qualifications for submission,” are restricted to content related to research content or results handled during their period of employ or residence.
(3) In principle, contributors who satisfy the descriptions in paragraphs (1) through (4) and (7) of Article 2, “Qualifications for submission” are to present at a NINJAL Salon, research presentation for the project in which they are participating, or at an academic society or research group, and therefore the manuscript should reflect whatever is highlighted therein.
(4) Project Collaborators who submit are restricted to research contents or research results of their Collaborative Research Projects.
(5) Regardless of the qualifications for submission, if the content of a manuscript is the research content and research results of the project in which the contributor is participating, this fact is made clear by including a sentence indicating the name of the project and representative (Project Leader) in the Acknowledgements.
(6) Visiting Researchers who submit are restricted to research contents or research results related to the research topic addressed during their residence. In addition, this fact is made clear by including a sentence indicating the residence period and the research subject in the Acknowledgements of the manuscript.
(7) If a student of the Japanese Language Sciences Course submits a manuscript, the content of the manuscript must be related to the research theme that he/she is pursuing while enrolled in the course.
(8) Interim reports and reports on data supplementing previously published papers are permitted.

5. Category of the submission
Submissions are to be of the category “Academic paper,” excluding research notes and literature reviews.

6. Format of the manuscript
(1) The language of the text shall be either Japanese or English.
(2) The manuscript should be on A4 or letter size paper, typed on one side of the page only.
(3) For English text, format your document so that a page with no figures, no tables and no example sentences contains about 550 words. The length of the manuscript, including figures, tables, references, and abstract, shall in principle not exceed 30 pages.
(4) For Japanese text, manuscript shall be with horizontal lines, 43 kanji per line and 36 lines per page with font at 10.5 pt. (Vertical lines may be permitted at the discretion of the Editorial Board: 2 columns with 30 kanji and 24 lines per column.) The length of the manuscript, including figures, tables, references, and abstract, shall in principle not exceed 30 pages....
(5) Figures, images, graphs, etc., in the manuscript should be in black and white. Color may be used; however, in this case, the authors should give due consideration to the diversity of color vision and try to create figures that are easy to understand both in color, and black and white.
...
(7) When writing in a language that is not the author’s native language, it is the responsibility of the author(s) to ensure that the text meets the standards of an academic paper in the language concerned. (It is advisable to have the text checked by a native speaker if necessary.)
...
(9) Data used or explained in the manuscript may be submitted with the manuscript as relevant data....

7. Method of submission
(1) The manuscript and relevant data are to be submitted to the Editorial Board either by post or by e-mail....

8. Copyright
(1) In principle, the copyright of each paper and relevant data shall belong to the author.
(2) If the copyright of the original manuscript is not held by the author(s) for reasons such as having transferred the copyright of the manuscript to an academic society, or if the author(s) only authorize an academic society to exercise the rights of reproduction and public transmission of the manuscript as requested by the academic society, it is the author’s responsibility to submit the manuscript to the “NINJAL Research Papers,” and to obtain permission for (a) through (d) of the following section.
(3) When submitting a manuscript, the author accepts the following point:
NINJAL shall a) reproduce the papers and relevant data and store them on the server on which the Repository is hosted; b) make the copied materials available free of charge to any number of unspecified persons via the network; c) make copies and media conversion as necessary for use and storage; and d) permit all third parties to freely use the abstracts (e.g., reproduction, translation, and redistribution) through collaboration between the Repository and the Japan Link Center.
(4) The author is responsible for any copyright processing necessitated by the reprinting of illustrations featured in other written works, and for licensing by related parties with regard to the use or publication of data.

9. License
In principle, the paper and relevant data shall be published under a Creative Commons license.

10. Acceptance and rejection
The acceptance or rejection of a manuscript is decided by the Editorial Board upon peer review.

11. Proofreading

12. Payment for manuscripts
Appendix: Details concerning formatting, the use of color in figures, charts, etc., and licenses for papers and relevant data.

Contact for submissions and inquiries

NINJAL Research Papers Editorial Board
Inter-University Research Institute Corporation, National Institutes for the Humanities,
National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics
10-2 Midori-cho, Tachikawa City, Tokyo, 190-8561 JAPAN

Make your submission to the following e-mail address: papers-submission[at]ninjal.ac.jp
Make inquiries to the following e-mail address: papers[at]ninjal.ac.jp
Please change [at] to @.

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