International Studies
Publication Ethics Statement
The International Studies scholarly journal aims to uphold the highest standards of publication ethics, within which it is guided by the general principles and examples of best-practices developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics, COPE.
This Statement lists and describes the ethical duties and rights of all stakeholders within the publication process of the journal and especially those of the Editors, authors, and reviewers.
Male pronouns used in this Statement apply equally to both sexes. The word “author” used in the singular applies equally to the plural form for co-authored papers, and vice versa.
- GENERAL GUIDELINES
Personal conduct. International Studies expects all stakeholders to relate to one another with courtesy, respect, and without resorting to discrimination, and to uphold at every moment accepted academic and ethical norms and customs. The journal also expects all stakeholders to aim towards the highest scientific and professional standards and good practices.
Complaints. Stakeholders who believe that their academic, professional, or ethical rights have been violated should first contact the Editor-in-Chief who will attempt to resolve the problem. Should the stakeholder still deem that the problem was not adequately resolved, he may submit a complaint to the Publication Ethics Commissioner for Libertas International University journals, prof. Marijan Cingula (mcingula@libertas.hr). After receiving the complaint, the Commissioner will investigate the issue within a reasonable timeframe based on COPE general principles and best-practices in collaboration with the Editors and the stakeholder and will submit to the Editor-in-Chief his documented recommendation on how to resolve the issue. Should the stakeholder still not be satisfied with the decision of the Editor-in-Chief, he may further complain to the Publisher, Libertas International University, represented by Director Aleksandar Ostojić, univ. spec. oec., whose decision will be binding and final.
Corrections and article retractions. In collaboration with the authors, the Editors will correct errors that occurred within the publication process in the form of an erratum, and in the form of a corrigendum will correct significant errors of the authors that might undermine the scientific value or ethical integrity of already published articles. The Editors will retract already published articles should they later notice gross violations of scientific and ethical integrity. The Editors will be willing to publish an erratum or corrigendum whenever this is necessary and appropriate.
- DUTIES OF THE EDITORS
Equality of access and non-discrimination (fair-play). The Editors will assess submitted manuscripts only on the basis of their academic and professional quality and whether they fit within the scientific fields covered by the journal. Hence, the Editors will not discriminate authors based on race, gender, nationality, geographical origin, religion, sexual orientation, political orientation or philosophy, age, academic titles, or personal relationships.
Independence. In making decisions, the Editors will be independent of any other person or organization except, exceptionally, the Publisher.
Confidentiality. The Editors will keep as an official secret all information relating to submitted manuscripts except, as needed, towards other Editors and editorial counselors, reviewers and potential reviewers, journal staff, the Publisher, and the authors themselves. The Editors are obliged to permanently keep secret the identities of the reviewers in relation to specific manuscripts and in the case of unpublished manuscripts must not use insights and data developed by the author in their own research without the written consent of the author.
Manuscripts submitted by the Editors. Should an Editor submit to the journal a manuscript that would require a review process, it will be led in such a way that this Editor will at no point learn the identity of the reviewers, nor be able to influence their appointment, the review process or the final decision whether to publish the article or its categorization.
Conflict of interest. The Editors are required to remove themselves from decisions should a conflict of interest arise that might undermine their objectivity.
Proactive ethics. The Editors are required to proactively prevent the publication of articles in which they notice major ethical, scientific, or professional shortcomings and to remedy them in cases where they are smaller. The Editors shall in no case encourage ethical, scientific, or professional shortcomings, nor knowingly allow them to take place. Should the Editors notice such shortcomings they will act in an appropriate manner, taking into account the applicable professional good practices.
- DUTIES OF AUTHORS
Authorship. Following COPE (2019) recommendations on authorship presented in “Discussion Document: Authorship”, the journal International Studies defines a (co)author to be a person or persons who significantly contributed to the research as a whole or to any of its parts and/or to the manuscript and who simultaneously take full responsibility for the published article. Hence, upon submitting the manuscript, authors should include all persons to whom this definition applies and not those to whom it does not.
Acknowledgments. Authors may acknowledge persons who contributed to the article, but insufficiently to be considered authors according to the aforementioned definition, in the section “Acknowledgments” or in a footnote.
Reproducibility of empirical research. Authors of articles published in the journal that include empirical research are required to preserve the categorical apparatus and data based on which the results were obtained and to be willing to share them with interested readers.
Originality. Authors are expected to submit manuscripts that are wholly their original work and that have not been already published or submitted for publication in another scholarly journal. Manuscripts must also not be in large part based on already published research.
Plagiarism. Submitted manuscripts must comply with all rules and customs of proper citation and the acknowledgment of sources. The Editors will check each submission utilizing the “Turnitin” software for the detection of plagiarism and will reject the manuscript in case of plagiarism or return it to the author for corrections in case of smaller mistakes.
Conflict of interest. When submitting a manuscript, the authors are required to indicate whether a conflict of interest exists that would bring into question their scientific objectivity or motivation. In the absence of such an indication, it will be understood that they declare that such a conflict of interest does not exist.
Research funding. When submitting a manuscript, the authors are required to state all sources of funding that backed the research process and the writing of the manuscript, especially in cases of possible conflict of interest. Should such a statement be absent, it will be understood that they declare that the research and manuscript were not financed by special sources except those of the author’s employer or the author’s personal contributions.
Legality and ethics of conducted research. The authors are obliged to conduct their research in accordance with all legal regulations and codes of ethics that define the responsibilities of researchers. Where this is necessary they must obtain the consent of the committee for the evaluation of the ethics of research.
Errors noticed after article submission. Should the author notice a major error that might compromise the scientific or ethical integrity of the research at any stage of the article’s publication process or after its publication, he is obliged to inform the Editors as soon as possible so that the error can be corrected or the article withdrawn.
- DUTIES OF REVIEWERS
Timeliness. After accepting to participate in the review process, reviewers are obliged to submit their filled-out review forms to the Editors in the agreed time. Should this not be possible for any reason, they must inform the Editors of this as soon as possible.
Objectivity and thoroughness. The journal expects reviewers to provide an objective analysis of the submitted manuscripts backed up by arguments and to conduct their duty conscientiously and thoroughly.
Confidentiality. Reviewers are permanently obliged to keep as an official secret their participation in the specific review process. Until the publication of the paper, they must not discuss it publicly or to other parties, nor use the insights and data obtained or developed by the author in their own research.
Conflict of interest. In case of a conflict of interest or any other reason that would hinder high quality, objective and scientifically founded judgments, the reviewer is obliged to inform the Editors of this as soon as possible.