Ethical standars

Recognizing the need to explicitly define the criteria and procedures that must safeguard the relationships between this journal and its authors, as well as to clarify the rights and responsibilities of each party involved in the public communicational space, Palimpsesto outlines and promotes a suitable framework of dissemination practices as detailed below. These practices are based on the guidelines proposed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in their Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

General Duties and Responsibilities of Editors:

  • To meet the needs of readers and authors.
  • To continually improve the journal.
  • To ensure the quality of the material published.
  • To defend freedom of expression.
  • To protect the integrity and confidentiality of academic records.
  • To prevent commercial needs from compromising the free access to and use of content, intellectual standards, and editorial integrity.
  • To be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when necessary.

Specific Duties Towards Readers

Whether through direct mention or specific requirements, editors will always provide all relevant information about the origin of the publication, sources of funding, the role of potential funders or sponsors, and the financial origins or sponsorships of the published articles.

Additionally, the journal will publicly disclose information about its editorial policy, editing criteria, and indexing practices.

Relationship with Authors

Editors will take all necessary steps to ensure the quality of the material they publish, specifying, if applicable, the objectives and standards required for the different sections in which the content is organized.

Editorial decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript for publication will be based solely on the importance, originality, and clarity of the manuscript, and the relevance of the study to the declared scope of the journal.

By publishing manuscript preparation requirements or guidelines on the journal’s homepage, the editor will inform authors of these requirements.

The editor will also communicate the evaluation process for submissions, review guidelines, response times, appeal mechanisms, copyright management, and conflict resolution procedures through the journal’s homepage.

Changes in editorial leadership or criteria will not affect authors (and their submissions) accepted for publication prior to the changes.

Relationships with Reviewers

Palimpsesto will publish the guidelines or criteria for the review of submissions, so that authors understand the criteria to which their work will be evaluated.

Palimpsesto will take measures to ensure and protect the privacy of the identities of the reviewers. Any changes to this policy will be communicated to the authors.

The Editorial Team will have a mechanism for receiving and addressing complaints and appeals, with procedures for response and appeal at various levels, potentially leading to an impartial final arbitration process appointed on a case-by-case basis.

Promotion of Debate

The Editorial Team will publish all well-founded criticisms or oppositions related to the publication of an article or opinion. Only criticisms involving offensive language or personal attacks will be excluded from publication. Authors of criticized materials will have the opportunity to respond, adhering to standards of respectful and cordial communication.

Promotion of Ethical and Academic Integrity

The Editorial Team will ensure that the content to be published adheres to internationally accepted ethical standards. If necessary, they will request ethical proofs from authors (ethics committees, review boards, etc.). However, obtaining these proofs does not guarantee the ethical quality of the materials proposed by the authors. The Editorial Board reserves the right to make the final decision on any sanctions.

Editors will promote ethical practices for both published and unpublished works. To address ethical concerns, they will prioritize discussions with the authors or the directly concerned parties. If the ethical violations are significant or have broad implications, the cases may be referred to other individuals or institutions.

If significant inaccuracies, misleading statements, or distorted information are identified in published articles, Palimpsesto will contact the authors for immediate correction in the online version of the journal. Such actions will be clearly explained in the publication. If the correction is not made, the editors reserve the right to retract the content.

Conflict of Interest

Palimpsesto has mechanisms and procedures to address and resolve conflicts of interest among its managers, between managers and authors, between authors and reviewers, and between the content and the readers.

For internal conflicts within the Editorial Board, team meetings, bilateral consultations among members, and final decisions by the publication’s management are used to address and resolve issues.

Regarding the journal and its editorial environment (authors, reviewers, readers), there is a process for receiving complaints, appeals, and responses, which the editor will handle, determining the steps to take and relevant parties or institutions to involve.

If complaints are directed against the editor, they should be addressed to the editor first. If the issue is not resolved satisfactorily, the complainant can escalate the matter to the journal’s management, which may, if necessary, appoint a final arbitrator for binding resolution.

Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism

The misuse of third-party or self-generated resources constitutes one of the most serious breaches of ethics in research and scientific publishing. There is extensive literature addressing this issue in its multiple dimensions (for reference, see Editorial Ethics: How to Detect Plagiarism Using Automated Means).

This journal addresses these concerns through the following actions:

  • Electronic Detection: Titles of works, author names, and contents are checked using web search engines (Google; DDG) and specialized open-source tools such as Plagiarism Detect and Turnitin. The editorial team also follows guidelines from HTW, a leading resource in this area (see HTW site) for identifying suspicious paragraphs.

  • Style Detection: The editorial team checks for stylistic issues and potential instances of plagiarism.

  • Addressing Suspected Plagiarism: The following steps are taken:

    • Assessment of suspicion or breach by the Editorial Board.
    • Communication of doubts or evidence of fraud (with data and proof) to the author(s).
    • Request for clarifications or responses within a non-extendable deadline of 30 days.
    • Evaluation of clarifications and evidence provided by the questioned authors.
    • Final resolution and verdict by the Executive Committee within 60 days, with the verdict being final and non-appealable.

The entire process will be documented in writing and archived. The Executive Committee may seek external expert advice for the best resolution.

The sole sanction for authors who are found guilty of plagiarism or self-plagiarism (and do not provide clear and conclusive responses) will be a three-year ban from submitting new texts and communications to the journal. The journal reserves the right to make the results public and/or refer the matter to relevant administrative or legal authorities depending on the nature and effects of the issue.

Note: For definitions of concepts and the classification of detected violations, the journal will adhere to COPE and Plagiat-HT guidelines.