Correspondences expects mutual respect and integrity from its editors, authors, and readers, in line with the Code of Conduct of the Committee for Publication Ethics.
Responsibilities of the Editors
Evaluation of submissions: The editors will determine the suitability of submissions for publication, based on research quality and originality, soundness of language and structure, suitability to the journal’s scope, and consistency with its submission requirements. They may be guided in their assessment by members of the editorial board or, in rare cases, may consult an outside expert on certain aspects of a submission prior to the peer-review stage. The editors will assess the quality of the submission without regard for the identity, background, or career level of the author. They will, in particular, not discriminate according to the race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, age, gender, or sexual orientation of the author.
Peer-review: Once the editors have given initial approval to a submission, they will be responsible for ensuring a double-blind peer-review by no less than two experts in the field or subject matter relevant to the submission. The editors will make every effort to have submissions evaluated in a timely manner, while respecting the significant time constraints of reviewers.
Potential conflict of interest: The editors will not participate in initial evaluation, or in soliciting peer-review, of publications with which they have been involved. Correspondences may publish book reviews of individual works authored by an editor or member of the editorial board, or of edited volumes including essays by an editor or member of the editorial board, but that editor or member may not be involved with soliciting, authoring, evaluating, or editing the review at any point in the process. Moreover, the author’s position at the journal must be clearly stated (with a statement regarding their lack of involvement) in a footnote on the first page of the review. The author of the review will be free to evaluate the text as they see fit. Editors of Correspondences may not review the work of other editors or members of the editorial board.
Confidentiality: The editors will not share personal information of the authors or peer-reviewers, and will not disclose the contents of a submitted article without the express written permission of the author, except as required for the process of peer-review.
Retraction of articles: The editors reserve the right to reject a submission after acceptance, or to retract articles after publication, if the article’s originality or research integrity are found to be compromised. Unless a submission has failed the principles of research integrity, an incoming editor may not reject a submission that has been recommended by the peer-reviewers and accepted by an outgoing editor.
Responsibilities of Peer-Reviewers
Confidentiality: Peer-reviewers will not disclose the content of the submitted article, except as required for the process of peer-review.
Objectivity: Peer-reviewers will evaluate the article in terms of its research quality and the extent of its contribution to existing scholarship. No personal bias, opinions, or positions should affect the discernment of the reviewer.
Clarity: Reviewers should provide authors and editors with clear, concise feedback that provides solid justification for accepting or rejecting an article. Any requests for revision should also be clearly communicated. Reviewers are encouraged to provide additional feedback that will help authors improve aspects of the paper where suitable.
Timeliness: Peer-reviewers are asked to complete their review within the timeframe agreed with the editors, though it is understood that the significant time pressures of academic work may require extensions. Peer-reviewers are asked to stay in communication with the editors to indicate their need for extension.
Potential conflict of interest: Peer-reviewers should not accept invitations to review work with which they have been involved as an author or primary source.
Plagiarism: Peer-reviewers should immediately alert the editors if they suspect an instance of plagiarism.
Responsibilities of Authors
Research integrity and originality: Submitted articles or reviews should be entirely the original work of the author(s). All sources should be clearly and consistently cited throughout the work, in accordance with the guidelines of the Chicago Manual of Style. If resubmitting work as translation, republication, or expansion of work published elsewhere, authors should make the background to the submission clear to the editors at their first point of contact.
Style: Authors are requested to submit articles and reviews in accordance with the submission requirements of Correspondences.
Discovery of errors: If an author discovers an error in work they have already published in Correspondences, they should contact the editors to append necessary errata.
Confidentiality: Authors should not share personal data of the editors that is not already publicly available, and should not publicly disclose feedback received from the editors or peer-reviewers.
Potential Conflict of Interest: Authors must disclose to the editors any potential conflicts of interest that may affect the objectivity of their research, at the time of first submission of articles or reviews. Examples may include, but are not limited to, funding received from an individual or group related to the subject of the research in question or personal affiliation with the aforementioned individual or group. Publication may still be possible following this disclosure, but authors should include a statement regarding potential conflict of interest in the text or footnotes.
In accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ , authors hold the copyright of their work.