This statement is based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
COPE is a global organization that provides independent advice to academic publishers on best practices for handling publication misconduct, and educates editors and publishers about publication ethics more broadly.
Duties of the publishing house
The publishing house adopts a strategy of consistency and transparency: following its own editorial line, it selects the journals and declares any sources of funding; it also promotes adherence to the highest international editorial standards (especially with regard to evaluation procedures, promoting the use of peer review as the main method for selecting articles, the editing of texts, etc.) and requires the publication of original works written in compliance with copyright.
Relations between the publishing house and the editors of the journal are marked by independence. Editorial decisions concerning the publication of articles are based on quality and scientific criteria. The management and the other editorial bodies of the journal are required to comply with the COPE guidelines.
Duties of the authors
Authors may submit unpublished works that are not currently under submission to other journals, accepting the selection and publication process adopted by the journal.
Authors must always explicitly acknowledge the sources of the content of their work and the works to which they refer, be in possession of any authorizations to publish images or other, according to the rules established by the current legislation on copyright, and indicate the use of any funding sources.
The authors guarantee the truthfulness of the data reported in their work and the objectivity of their interpretations.
All those who have participated in drafting the text, who have approved the final version and who consent to its publication must appear as authors. Any other persons who have made a substantial contribution to the work presented must be explicitly indicated.
The authors agree to promptly notify the journal of any errors or inaccuracies in the published articles and at the same time provide the errata corrige of the case.
Duties of the editors of the journal
The editorial board is ultimately responsible for the acceptance and publication of manuscripts and guarantees the correctness of the procedures adopted for evaluating articles submitted to the journal (double-blind peer review), maintenance of the anonymity of authors and reviewers, the absence of conflicts of interest and discrimination based on author’s ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, nationality, university affiliation or political views. The management also guarantees the scientific validity of the published works, as well as respect for freedom of expression and the right to reply. In the event that untrue declarations are found in a published article, or if it contains verified cases of plagiarism or copyright infringement, the management informs the publishing house, and if deemed appropriate disseminates an erratum.
The editorial board has the task of communicating to authors the editorial rules which must be followed, and must not provide information on the articles submitted to the journal, except to the authors themselves or to previously authorized persons. Members of the editorial board cannot use material and content of articles submitted to the magazine for their own research, except by written consent of the authors.
The editor-in-chief supervises the activity of the journal so that no crimes of any kind are committed.
Duties of reviewers
The reviewers assist the management in the evaluation process of articles submitted to the journal. Reviewers are required to respect scheduled times, to be completely objective in their judgment, to argue their assessment clearly and document it, and to report any cases of missing references to sources, untruthful statements, plagiarism or copyright infringement. They are also required to refuse to evaluate texts with which they have conflicts of interest of any kind. One of their non-secondary tasks is to provide the authors with useful information through comments and suggestions, for the purpose of improving their work.
Articles in possession of the reviewers for the purposes of evaluation cannot be disclosed or shared with other subjects, unless the latter have been authorized by the journal.