Ethic Code

Authenticity Studies. International Journal of Archaeology and Art is an international and independent journal based on a peer review system and dedicated to studying the methods of attribution and authentication of archaeological and art-historical artefacts.

Founded by Monica Salvadori (Editor in Chief), Federica Toniolo, Andrea Tomezzoli, Marta Nezzo, Monica Baggio and Luca Zamparo, Authenticity Studies. International Journal of Archeology and Art is a journal of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padova and is published by Padova University Press.

Authenticity Studies supports equal rights and opportunities: each paper is taken into account and assessed for its contents, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political view of the authors. Guest Editors, Reviewers and Authors are encouraged to study these guidelines and address any questions or concerns to the Authenticity Studies Managing Editor, Luca Zamparo (luca.zamparo@unipd.it).

Authenticity Studies will not disclose information about the evaluation processes of an article to any of the cooperating parties in the publication's preparation; the same goes for the new material unless specific consent is given from the authors.

Authenticity Studies does not allow the publication of a manuscript that has been published - in whole or in part - elsewhere.

Authenticity Studies follows a double-blind review process. Authors do not know Reviewers and vice versa and are responsible for securing timely, independent and anonymous peer review from suitably qualified reviewers who have no disqualifying competing interests of all manuscripts submitted to the Journal.

Submitting a paper to Authenticity Studies implies full compliance with this Code of Ethics.

 

Download Ethic Code (PDF)

 

CODE OF ETHICS: duties of Editors

The editors actively work to improve the quality of the publications on Authenticity Studies continuously and are responsible for deciding which submitted article should be published. The Editors must follow the Ethics of Authenticity Studies and provide an unbiased review, only evaluating papers for their intellectual and scientific content. Assessments should be a tool to improve the quality of the submitted documents, so any criticism by auditors must be well-argued. The Editors, the Journal Staff and any Editorial Board, must treat any document received by Authenticity Studies as confidential, they should not use the contents to their advantage, and no information shall be revealed to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher.
Editors should not use new materials described in a submitted paper without the author's express written consent.

The peer-review process works as follows:

  1. The Editorial Board communicates to the author that the article has been received.
  2. The Editors make an initial assessment of the article according to the following criteria: relevance of the topic, overall quality of the contribution according to the standard of the Journal, compliance with editorial standards. Editors may reject the article and communicate their decision to the author. The author will be informed of the editors’ decision no later than 15 days from the date of the article’s submission.
  3. After successfully passing the first evaluation, the article will be sent to two anonymous reviewers, experts on the subject. Reviewers will have a maximum of 3 months to evaluate the article, with the following possible outcomes: 1) article accepted, 2) article accepted with recommendations for minor changes or additions, 3) article accepted with recommendations for substantial changes/additions, or 4) article refused.
  4. No later than 15 days from receipt of the referees' evaluations, the editors will communicate the final decision on the article to the author. In case of requests for minor changes, the author will have 1 month to revise the article by the referees' recommendations. In case of requests for substantial changes, the new version of the article will be submitted again to the peer-review process. In any case, the Reviewer(s) may request the final revision of the submitted text to verify the additions/changes made.
  5. Before the print, the author(s) will receive proof of his article in PDF format. The author has 15 days to correct only minor or typographical errors.
  6. Publication

The Editorial Board will decide in which issue approved articles will be published.

 

CODE OF ETHICS: duties of Reviewers

Reviewers should evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly and professionally, following the specific guidelines and schedule given by Authenticity Studies.
Reviewers should avoid personal biases in their comments and judgments, and they should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. These must avoid a personal attack, sarcastic comments and not include any material that is defamatory, inaccurate, libellous, misleading, obscene, scandalous, unlawful, or otherwise objectionable, or that infringes any other person's copyright, right of privacy, or other rights. Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information.
Reviewers should not discuss the manuscript with anyone other than the Authenticity Studies
Editorial Board, nor should they disclose any information about the manuscript and its content. Respect for timeliness is mandatory.
If a reviewer feels he/she cannot complete the manuscript review within the stipulated time, this information must be communicated to the Editorial Board. In case of unjustified delay, the Editorial Board is allowed to send the manuscript to another reviewer.
Reviewers should refuse to review manuscripts when they have provided written comments on the manuscript or an earlier version to the author or in case of any conflict of interest with any companies, institutions, or people connected to the papers.

 

CODE OF ETHICS: duties of Authors

The authors of original research and studies should present an accurate account of the work done, an objective discussion of the purpose, and the methods and/or the theoretical point of view endorsed. Where applicable, authors should also keep the data that appeared in articles on Authenticity Studies for at least five years after publication.
All work in the manuscript should be free of any plagiarism, falsification, fabrications, or omission of significant material.
Plagiarism constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and will lead to the denial of publication and the cancellation from the archive of the article when already. The authors should guarantee the originality of their work and the correct and complete reference from the work of others used in their own, both in terms of specific contribution and as a general reference or theoretical orientation, including people who have been influential in determining the nature the work reported.
The authors should ensure that all co-authors that gave a significant contribution to the work are mentioned and that any of them have seen and approved the final version of the document, as well as they, agreed for submission. If applicable, the author must demonstrate that its articles have met fundamental ethical issues (including informed consent for interviews).
The author should explicitly indicate all sources that have supported the research and declare any conflict(s) of interest.
The author must avoid submitting a manuscript already published (whole or partially) or submitting the same article simultaneously to several journals.
If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, he/she is required to immediately report to Authenticity Studies in order to allow the withdrawal or the correction of the paper.

In particular:

  1. Submission of a manuscript implies that:
    • the article has not been published before. This includes publication in different languages;
    • the article is not under consideration for publication elsewhere;
    • all co-authors have approved the article;
    • the article represents the authors' original work;
    • the Author is free from any conflict of interest;
    • the Author assumes full responsibility for the contents presented in the submitted paper;
    • the Author assumes complete responsibility for the dissemination of photographic and illustrative material present in their work;
    • the Author transfers the printing and digital distribution rights of their work to Authenticity Studies;
    • the Author accepts this Code of Ethics in all its parts.
  1. Authorship
    Authenticity Studies. International Journal of Archaeology and Art discourage guest and ghost- authors, and authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the article and who share responsibility for the research. In dubious cases, Editors can require a statement of each author's contribution to the research and publication.
    Changes to authorship (adding or deleting authors) will be accepted only before publication, with a request by the principal investigator sent to editor.authenticity.studies.dbc@unipd.it
     
  2. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism and acknowledgement of sources
    Authors should therefore clearly cite, reference and acknowledge all instances where they have used others' work, including their own previously published articles.
     
  3. Reproduction rights and permissions
    Each author must clear reproduction rights for any photos or illustrations credited to a third party he/she wishes to use (including content found on the Internet).
     
  4. Reviewers suggestion
    If asked to provide a list of suggested reviewers, authors must provide the details for reviewers with the appropriate experience to review, ensuring that the suggested reviewers do not have a conflict of interest.
     
  5. Refereeing
    The Journal operates a policy of anonymous peer review. Papers will typically be scrutinised and commented on by at least two independent expert referees.
    The referees will not be aware of the authors' identities. All the data about authorship, including personal acknowledgements and institutional affiliations, should be confined to the title page, and the text should be free of any clues such as identifiable self-citations ("In our earlier work…").
     
  6. Conflict of interest/economic interests
    Authors must declare any conflicts of interest with the members of the Editorial Board as well as they must exclude the presence of economic or business interests in the publication of attribution or authentication.
    Under no circumstances Authenticity Studies will accept contributions intended solely to increase the economic value of an archaeological or art-historical object for sale or from an undefined/undocumented provenance.
    Authenticity Studies reserves the right to verify the author’s employment position and any information provided.
     
  7. Sanctions
    A manuscript that does not follow these publication ethics will be subject to sanction at the Publisher's and Editors' absolute discretion.
    In cases of plagiarism or self-plagiarism are discovered after the publication, authors will be banned from future submissions for 10 years.
    In cases of plagiarism or self-plagiarism recognised before publication, Editors can ask to cut or substantially change the article to publish it.
    If any economic interests are identified, authors will be banned for 10 years.