Publication Ethics Policy
I. Introductory clauses
I.1. The preparation and publication of the journal Meno istorijos studijos is conducted in accordance with the requirements of academic ethics. The publication follows the guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Council of Science Editors (CSE) and supports ethical publishing principles. These guidelines apply to the journal’s editors, authors and reviewers (https://publicationethics.org/ https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/publication-ethics/).
I.2. The journal also acts in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute (https://www.lkti.lt/uploads/akademine_etika/Akademines_etikos_kodeksas_v.15.pdf) and the Scientist’s Code of Ethics (http://www.lma.lt/mokslininko-etikos-kodeksas). In assessing potential cases of misconduct, the journal follows COPE’s structural schemes and recommendations.
I.3. The journal Meno istorijos studijos is a fully open access (diamond) journal. Its entire content is available free of charge, and the right to read it, save it on a computer, copy, distribute, print, search or link to full text documents is granted; prior authorisation by the publisher or author is not required. Access to articles published in the journal is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, CC BY 4.0, https://cc.lnb.lt/cc-by-nc-sa/ .
I.4. The journal declares the principle of equal opportunity; submitted manuscripts are evaluated according to their scientific value, regardless of the author’s age, race, gender, origin, religious beliefs, political opinions, citizenship, current positions, or personal and institutional ties.
I.5. Articles in Meno istorijos studijos are published free of charge. Authors shall not be subject to any fees for the submission or publication of articles, nor shall authors be remunerated for published texts. All authors of the texts published in separate volumes of the journal have the right to receive one copy of the relevant volume free of charge.
I.6. The Lithuanian Culture Research Institute undertakes to preserve the published content for future generations. Under certain circumstances, due to which the publication of Meno istorijos studijos would be discontinued, the published electronic archive of the journal would continue to be stored and freely accessible to readers for at least ten years. The entire archive of the journal is stored in one server owned by the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute, located in Vilnius. Electronic versions of the articles are also stored in the Lithuanian Academic Electronic Library (eLABa) (https://www.elaba.lt).
II. Authorship, authors’ rights and responsibilities
II.1. Authors must adhere to the high ethical standards established by COPE and CSE for authors submitting manuscripts to the journal. Any unethical conduct will be taken very seriously and decisions will be taken in accordance with the guidelines established by COPE and CSE (https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/publication-ethics/2-2-authorship-and-authorship-responsibilities/).
II.2. Meno istorijos studijos publishes original articles that have not been published in other publications. The journal does not tolerate or accept, under any circumstances or conditions, any instance of unethical scientific practice, such as: plagiarism of scientific publications; plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of scientific results or conclusions; suppression of data; duplicate publication, autoplagiarism, redundant publication. Exceptions are made only for new articles which meaningfully add to earlier publications. An author or a group of authors must submit information about the re-use of material.
II.3. On the first page of a text, an author must provide information on the sources of funding for research and the preparation of articles when the providing of such information is a mandatory condition, for example, of grants or of funding from research foundations.
II.4. The work of others must always be properly recognised. The journal Meno istorijos studijos does not tolerate cases of unethical authorship, such as pseudo-authorship, ghostwriting, gift authorship, guest authorship, honorary authorship, mutual admiration authorship, mutual support authorship, self-plagiarism, text-recycling, etc. To avoid such cases, we recommend that authors follow the COPE and CSE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/files/2003pdf12_0.pdf; https://publicationethics.org/files/ghost-authorship-submitted-manuscript-cope-flowchart.pdf; https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/publication-ethics/).
II.5. If a publication is prepared on the basis of a student’s research, such student must be the first author. In view of a student’s autonomy and contribution to the writing of a text, a student’s research advisor may remain unmentioned among the authors of an article, but such student’s research advisor must be listed in a footnote on the first page of a text, together with the title of the work, the institution where the work was performed and the year of performance.
II.6. All researchers on the list of authors share collective responsibility for the results of the research and the content of the article. All persons who have made a significant contribution to the drafting of the article must be included in the list of authors, not in alphabetical order, but in terms of input to the research and writing. The person who contributed most to the publication must be listed as the lead author (first in the list of authors). If all authors consider their contribution to be equal, this must be indicated in a footnote and the authors are to be listed by surname in alphabetical order. When a manuscript is accepted for publication, the authorship or sequence of authors can no longer be changed.
II.7. Authors must indicate any potential conflict of interest, including past, current and future benefits (financial, service, personal, interinstitutional, etc.). The editorial board assures authors that, in many cases, an honest declaration of interests does not by default prevent publication or participation in the review process.
II.8. Authors must ensure that all data used in an article are reliable and accurate. Detailed references and information must be submitted in order to allow other researchers to repeat the research or to verify its validity. Authors are responsible for ensuring that a submitted manuscript contains the necessary and correct references and that the data, results, quotations, references, visual and/or other material submitted in the text are not fabricated or falsified. It is prohibited to omit mention of literature or sources used (including illustrations, tables, etc.). Information obtained in conversations (interviews), correspondence, discussions or third-party manuscripts may be submitted only with the prior consent of such persons and indicating their name(s) and date of receipt of such information. If the manuscripts of deceased persons are stored in memory institutions, it is necessary to list the precise archival data of the document.
II.9. Articles submitted to the editorial board must comply with the requirements for a scientific publication and must be prepared in accordance with the instructions for authors specified by Meno istorijos studijos regarding the structure of the article, quotations, references to sources, abstracts and other subjects (see the guide for authors). Articles in the Lithuanian language shall be edited by an editor on the Meno istorijos studijos editorial board; manuscripts (texts) in other languages must be submitted after having been edited by a professional who is also a native speaker of the text’s language.
II.10. An author must submit to the editorial board the permissions received from memory institutions, private persons and artists for publication of illustrations (for an indefinite period) in the journal and in the electronic version of the journal. An author submitting illustrations together with a text bears full legal liability for the unlawful use of illustrations or violation of copyright or of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Copyright and Related Rights.
II.11. An author must take into account the errors identified by reviewers of an article, comments made regarding the analysis, consistency and completeness of the presentation of facts and regarding the validity of statements and conclusions, and any other reasoned opinion of the reviewer.
II.12. The content of articles shall not contain any degrading or offensive wording, statements or terms expressing discrimination against persons or groups in relation to age, race, sex, sexual orientation, origin, religious beliefs, political opinions, citizenship, or abilities.
II.13. Prior to publication of the article, authors must sign a copyright and open access rights agreement. When publishing a text, an author retains the copyright and publishing rights without any limitation and grants the journal the right of first publication. If an article is written by a group of authors, such agreement is signed by the lead author of the article.
II.14. By submitting the manuscript of a scientific text to the editorial board, an author or a group of authors confirms that such author is authorised by the other authors to conclude such agreements and, on the author’s own behalf and on behalf of the other authors, guarantees and assures that:
II.14.1. The article is original, and does not infringe any copyright or rights of third parties.
II.14.2. The article does not violate other copyrights, the Republic of Lithuania Law on Copyright and Related Rights, or the norms of professional ethics, and agrees to double-anonymous review.
II.14.3. The article does not contain any practice related to scientific fraud, any unlawful information, defamation, disinformation or data, the publication of which would violate any contract or obligation to maintain confidentiality or privacy.
II.14.4. The authors agree to the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons License agreement according to which an article published in the journal is licensed, and such authors grant permission to the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute to publish in the journal a previously-unpublished original manuscript and an abstract forming an inseparable part of such manuscript, all related supplemental material and subsequent corrections, if such are necessary, under the terms of a Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0; https://cc.lnb.lt/cc-by-nc-sa/).
II.15. In case of a suspected fraudulent scientific practice, the publisher and the journal’s editors shall take all necessary measures to clarify the situation and correct the article in question. When considering the withdrawal or correction of a published article, the journal’s editorial board refers to the withdrawal guidelines published by COPE and CSE. The journal provides the possibility to correct errors when such error has been made by an author, editor or the publisher. The journal publishes all corrective comments in the following volume.
II.16. In a case of proven plagiarism or other unethical scientific practice, the publisher and the journal’s editors completely retract the unethically submitted article and its author or group of authors, by retracting and withdrawing the article. The retraction procedure shall begin as soon as the journal receives information about an unethical scientific practice. Any action(s) shall be based on the retraction guidelines published by COPE and CSE.
II.17. An author may publish the final, reviewed and edited version of the publication in an institutional repository or in various personal profiles on social networks for researchers (e.g. ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Mendeley, Google Scholar), but must indicate precisely the publication in which the article is published, article title, year of publication, volume, pages, DOI, and article permalink.
III. Review procedure and reviewers’ responsibilities
III.1. Reviewing is the main way to evaluate the quality of a submitted manuscript. All scientific articles submitted to the journal Meno istorijos studijos are reviewed by at least two anonymous reviewers, selected by the editorial board from experts in the field of science and arts researched by the author. The journal applies the principle of double-anonymous peer review: reviewers are appointed confidentially, i.e., reviewers are not provided with information about authors, and authors are not provided with information about reviewers. Upon receipt of contradictory or unfavourable assessments of a submitted manuscript, an additional (third) review or evaluation shall be made by one of the editors of the publication.
III.2. Reviewers must adhere to the high ethical standards established by COPE and CSE for peer reviewers of a scientific journal (https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/publication-ethics/2-3-reviewer-roles-and-responsibilities/; https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/publication-ethics/2-3-reviewer-roles-and-responsibilities/)
III.3. Reviewers must inform the editorial board or volume editor about the limits of their competence. Reviewers need not be familiar with all aspects of the content of a text at an expert level, but reviewers should agree to review only if their education and knowledge are sufficient to perform a professional assessment. Otherwise, reviewers should refuse to review a proposed text.
III.4. Reviewers must immediately provide the editor with an answer as to whether reviewers agree to review a manuscript, reviewers must follow the review instructions and submit the review in a timely manner. If it is not possible to prepare the review on time, the reviewer must report such delay to the editorial board. The reviewer may refuse to review the article further or may request an extension of the review period. The postponement of the final date of review must not significantly interfere with the process of preparing a volume of the journal.
III.5. Reviewers must inform in advance the journal’s editorial board or the editor of a volume about any potential conflict of interest in relation to the articles offered to such reviewers, including previous instances of cooperation with an author or a group of authors, direct subordination, financial circumstances or a personal attitude towards the material being reviewed.
III.6. Reviewers must respect the independence of authors, provide a correct, objective, constructive, impartial, reasoned and clear opinion on the quality and scientific value of a manuscript. The reviewer’s comments must highlight the positive aspects of the reviewed text, constructively present the shortcomings and identify the elements to be improved so that an author can improve the manuscript.
III.7. The reviewer must base the review on the following universally-recognised criteria for reviewing an academic article:
III.7.1. Formulation and clarity of the topic and the stated objective;
III.7.2. Relevance of the topic;
III.7.3. Novelty, originality of the article;
III.7.4. The use of research methods and their suitability;
III.7.5. A critical overview of research already performed on the topic;
III.7.6. Properly analysed research data;
III.7.7. Relevant and reasoned discussion (data analysis);
III.7.8. Reasoned conclusions and summaries based on the arguments set out in the text;
III.7.9. A well-thought-out and logically coherent structure of the work;
III.7.10. Writing style, soundness and correctness of the professional language and of the use of terms.
III.8. Individual (personal, ad hominem) or unsubstantiated criticism by reviewers is prohibited under any circumstances, and upon receiving an abusive or ad hominem review the editorial board rejects such review and organises a new review of the submitted manuscript.
III.9. Reviewers are not obliged to search for evidence of potentially unethical scientific practice, but reviewers must draw the attention of the editorial board to inappropriate, unethical scientific behaviour such as forgery of data, abuse of authorship, plagiarism, manipulation of images, unethical research, text-recycling or self-plagiarism, if such practice becomes apparent during the review or at any point during the publication process. Allegations of unethical scientific practice must be supported by evidence.
III.10. An honest error is not a breach of ethical scientific practice, but reviewers must identify and report such errors to the editorial board or to the volume editor. The journal provides authors and reviewers the opportunity to correct such honest error.
III.11. Reviewers must draw the attention of the editorial board to published works of a similar nature, if such works are not listed in the manuscript under review.
III.12. If reviewers are aware of previous scientific work that is directly related to the submitted manuscript, reviewers may recommend and advise an author to consider including such material in the manuscript. However, a reviewer cannot give such recommendation and advice for a reviewer’s own benefit. A demand or requirement to incorporate quotations from a reviewer’s works into a manuscript under review shall be considered inappropriate conduct by a reviewer.
III.13. Reviewers must ensure the confidentiality of the review procedure. Reviewers are prohibited from publicly discussing or distributing material, arguments and interpretations of articles under review, the manuscripts themselves, references to sources used in a text, etc. Reviewers are prohibited from disclosing information about authors, manuscript content, reviewers’ comments, remarks, recommendations and any final decision about publication of an article. All information contained in a submitted manuscript is confidential until such text is published.
III.14. A reviewer is strictly prohibited from make use of scientific, financial, personal or other possible benefits gained from the review process. Reviewers are strictly prohibited from using material of manuscripts under review for their own purposes, including for a reviewer’s publications or teaching of students.
III.15. A manuscript under review is an author’s work and a reviewer is prohibited from rewriting the work in a reviewer’s own style, but a reviewer may suggest changes to improve the clarity of expressions or separate phrases.
IV. Rights and responsibilities of editors and editorial staff
IV.1. The editorial board and the volume editor organise the preparation and review process of the journal’s volume. The volume editors are given the opportunity to express their views and to assess the content of a volume and its articles.
IV.2. The editorial board and the volume editors declare that they comply with the general principles of equal opportunity, avoidance of conflict of interest and confidentiality in the process of preparing and publishing the journal:
IV.2.1. The submitted manuscripts are evaluated according to their scientific value, regardless of the authors’ race, gender, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, political opinions and other possibly discriminatory aspects.
IV.2.2. The volume editors impartially assess the submitted manuscripts, without prejudice to academic or personal views, organise the review process honestly and objectively, and respectfully communicate with authors and reviewers.
IV.2.3. The texts of the editor-in-chief (chief editor) are not published in the journal.
IV.2.4. The volume editor does not make a decision on the publication of articles by such editor, such editor’s current or former students or colleagues. In this case, the review process is organised by the editor-in-chief (chief editor), and at meetings of the editorial board such editors recuse themselves (withdraw) from consideration of the publication of such texts.
IV.2.5. If a submitted manuscript is directly and closely related to research performed by the volume editor, such editor does not evaluate such a manuscript, but relies on the opinion of the editorial board and the reviewers to ensure impartial decision-making.
IV.2.6. The editorial board and the volume editor ensure the confidentiality of a submitted manuscript. All information contained in a submitted manuscript is confidential until the text is published.
IV.2.7. The editorial board does not tolerate any conflicts of interest of any kind (institutional, financial, personal, etc.).
IV.2.8. The views and ideas of an author of an article published in the journal may or may not coincide with the opinion of the editorial board.
IV.3. The editorial board actively seeks to prevent cases of unethical scientific practice, and for this reason a text-similarity check is performed prior to review. The text-similarity checking and determination of authorship of a submitted manuscript is performed using the Crossref Similarity Check on the iThenticate platform. Manuscripts giving rise to suspicion of plagiarism shall be immediately rejected. If plagiarism is identified after publication, and when considering cases of unlawful publication, the guidelines established by COPE and CSE shall be followed.
IV.4. The editorial board takes the final decision regarding publication or rejection of a submitted manuscript. As a general rule, the editorial board relies on the evaluation by the reviewers and the volume editor. The author may appeal the decision of the editorial board to the LKTI Academic Ethics Commission (https://www.lkti.lt/akademine-etika-2/ ). In certain cases, a decision not to publish a submitted manuscript may be taken alone by the volume editor. Such a decision may be taken when a scientific work does not meet the requirements of the journal for the preparation of a text or the subject matter of Meno istorijos studijos, is written in unprofessional or improper language, the topic of the article does not meet the criteria for relevance and originality, or for other reasons which are explained in the reply to the author.
IV.5. It is the responsibility of the editorial board and the volume editor to clarify potential conflicts of interest between an author and reviewers of a submitted manuscript (including positive or negative information on authors, relationships with them or the institutions they represent, as well as funding issues) and to ensure that such matters do not affect the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript.
IV.6. The editorial board and the volume editor ensure an appropriate level and order of review and take objective decisions, taking into account the opinions of the reviewers. The editorial board may disregard the opinions of the reviewers if the editorial board suspects that the reviewers perhaps have prejudices or knowledge of authors, including an author’s ethnicity, geographical origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political beliefs or other possibly discriminatory aspects.
IV.7. Acceptance of a manuscript for publication in Meno istorijos studijos means a maximum level of belief in the value of the text.
IV.8. Upon notice of incorrect information published in an article, the editorial board arranges for the following volume of the journal to include a correction and an apology.
IV.9. In certain cases, the editorial board may allow publication of spirited criticism of another researcher’s publications, ideas, etc., but at the same time will ensure there is no ad hominem (personal) criticism in the text. Text in which criticism predominates will be published in a commentary section, with an opportunity for the criticised researcher to respond to such criticism in the same volume of the journal.
V. Publisher’s responsibilities
V.1. The Lithuanian Culture Research Institute is responsible only for the financial management and strategy of journal publication.
V.2. The Lithuanian Culture Research Institute recognises the scientific integrity, objectivity and independence of the journal’s editorial board, the authors and the volume editors, i.e., does not interfere with the evaluation, selection or editing of scientific works.
V.3. The Lithuanian Culture Research Institute ensures that the editorial board, volume editors, reviewers and authors have direct access to the management and have the opportunity to report potential conflicts.
V.4. The Lithuanian Culture Research Institute ensures the confidentiality of stored documents of the journal Meno istorijos studijos (e.g. manuscripts, reviews, protocols).
V.5. The Lithuanian Culture Research Institute ensures the implementation of procedures to avoid conflict of interest and to maintain academic integrity, etc.