TETFLE Policies
Focus and scope
The TETFLE journal is an independent, open-access publication, and serves as a medium for articles of interest to researchers and practitioners in distance teacher education. The journal provides a unique platform for researchers from faculties of education to share knowledge on educational issues that especially affect Africa. It gives particular issue preference to research presented at the DETA Conference, which takes place biennially.
The views expressed in the journal are those of the respective authors.
Editorial Policy
TETFLE strictly complies with the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors by the Committee on Publication Ethics.
Section policies
Open-access policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
TETFLE Plagiarism Policy
Plagiarism is the unethical and punishable act of presenting another person's intellectual property either published or not, without duly acknowledging the original source and author.
TETFLE follows COPE guidelines on plagiarism. Please note that TETFLE uses Turnitin software to screen all submitted manuscripts for originality and similarity. By submitting your paper to TETFLE you are agreeing to originality checks during the peer-review and production processes. Redundancy/ Self-plagiarism without proper citation is also not acceptable. Any manuscript found to be plagiarized is automatically rejected and disallowed from publication in the journal. Affected author(s) are banned from submitting any paper to the journal for 12 months.
TETFLE Repository policy
TETFLE encourages authors to post all versions (preprint, reviewed and published) of their article in institutional repositories or websites without restriction or embargo. Published articles are protected by copyright, and reuse by users is restricted to non-commercial purposes. Users with access to an article through a repository may download a local copy of the article for their personal reference. TETFLE’s repository policy aims to benefit authors as their work can further be cited and referenced (See: The Effect of Open Access).
Retractions and corrections: TETFLE maintains a defined process for retracting or correcting published articles found to contain errors, instances of misconduct, or plagiarism. Concerns, comments, or replies relating to a published article are first reviewed by an associate editor, with escalation to the Editor-in-Chief or the wider editorial board when warranted. Where circumstances require, a matter may be referred to an independent external party for guidance. TETFLE reserves the right to remove content from its website and associated indexing databases, whether temporarily pending resolution or permanently, where the issue cannot be resolved. In such cases, the original metadata is retained, accompanied by a notice explaining why the content is no longer available.
Use of AI: The use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools is limited to refining the language of a manuscript and may not substitute for the author’s own writing process. Authors remain fully responsible for the content of their submissions. Where AI tools are used as part of the research methodology itself, their use must be clearly disclosed, with an appropriate justification and citation. AI tools may not be listed as authors.
Handling conflict of interest: Authors, reviewers, and editors involved with TETFLE are required to disclose any financial, professional, or personal relationship that could reasonably be seen to influence the objectivity of a submission, review, or editorial decision. Where a potential conflict is identified, the individual concerned will be recused from the relevant stage of the review or editorial process. TETFLE reserves the right to request further disclosure or independent verification where a conflict of interest appears unresolved.
