JURISDICTIONAL NEUTRALITY POLICY

The Link journal of Speech, Language and Audiology (JSLA) is committed to maintaining neutrality on jurisdictional and geopolitical matters. The journal serves a global scholarly community and aims to provide an inclusive publishing environment that respects the rights, identities, and academic contributions of all authors, editors, reviewers, and readers. JSLA’s role is to evaluate and disseminate scholarly work based on scientific merit and ethical integrity, not to endorse or oppose political positions, territorial claims, sovereignty disputes, or the legal status of any country, region, or territory.

Geographic Designations and Institutional Affiliations

JSLA requests that all individuals involved in the journal including authors, reviewers, and editors provide their current institutional affiliation and the associated country or region to support accurate scholarly attribution, accountability, and indexing. The journal uses affiliation information as provided by contributors for identification and bibliographic purposes and does not interpret such information as indicating any editorial or publisher position regarding geopolitical status or jurisdictional claims.

Neutral Stance on Disputed Territories

JSLA does not take a position on territorial boundaries, sovereignty disputes, or contested jurisdictional status referenced in institutional affiliations, funding statements, data sources, maps, or manuscript text. Where manuscripts include geographic references, maps, or boundary depictions, such material is published for scholarly and informational purposes only, and its inclusion should not be understood as expressing any view of the journal or publisher concerning legal status, borders, or political claims.

Author Responsibility

Authors are responsible for ensuring that geographic terminology, institutional naming, and location references used in their manuscripts are accurate, respectful, and appropriate to the scholarly context. Where a geographic designation may be ambiguous or contested, authors may include a neutral explanatory note or footnote to clarify meaning for readers without making political assertions. Authors are also expected to use terminology that supports clarity for international audiences, particularly in multi-site studies, epidemiological reporting, and policy-related work.

Editorial Discretion

Editors may request clarification, neutral wording adjustments, or explanatory notes when geographic references could reasonably be interpreted as politically sensitive, misleading, or inconsistent with scholarly attribution practices. Any requested changes are intended solely to preserve academic clarity, reduce ambiguity, and maintain the journal’s neutrality and inclusiveness, while respecting the author’s factual reporting and the integrity of the scholarly record.