Echinox Journal is a biannual academic journal in world and comparative literature, dedicated to the study of the social, historical, cultural, religious, literary and arts imaginaries

 

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

 

Cultural diversity and research standards

Following in the footsteps of Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, the first academic journal of comparative literature in the world, which was founded in Cluj in 1877 and published articles in no less than thirteen languages, Echinox Journal endorses the idea of planetarity, of linguistic diversity and intercultural exchanges. Assuming this worldwide openness, the journal’s politics is to foster the geographical and cultural diversity of authors and editors, and to promote a variety of languages in which critical thought and scientific discourse gain consistency.

Echinox Journal encourages and values original research, which contributes to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of imagination studies, comparative literature and world literature and abides by the standards of high intellectual inquiry.

The contributors are invited to submit papers which bring fresh perspectives on the topic addressed. The papers must be original, innovative, accurate and attuned to the current state of research.

Authors shall ensure that their submissions to Echinox Journal have not been published elsewhere, whether partially or in full.

The authors should not submit the same manuscript to any other journal concurrently.

The articles should not infringe the copyright of a third party or make unlawful statements and harmful allegations.

The authors shall assume all responsibility for the ideas expressed in the published materials. The opinions expressed in an article shall be regarded as the author’s own and not as expressing the editors’ standpoint.

 

Acknowledgement of sources

The authors are required to give full acknowledgement of their sources and to use the appropriate system of quotation and referencing for all ideas and theories that are not their own. The articles should include a complete bibliography, with full references to the books, articles, websites and other sources cited.

The authors should observe copyright laws and conventions. If they want to use material under copyright (e.g. images, pictures, etc.), they should obtain publication permission from the owner and to give appropriate acknowledgement of its use.

Self-citation is not encouraged. However, if the authors wish to make reference to their own previously published work (possibly in other languages), they should give full acknowledgement of these publications.

If a paper has several co-authors, the corresponding author shall ensure that all other co-authors are mentioned in the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

 

Confidentiality and impartiality

The editor and the peer reviewers shall respect the confidentiality of the authors. They shall not disclose information about the manuscripts submitted for evaluation. They shall not make use of the innovative and original research presented in the manuscript for their personal advantage.

The editor and the peer reviewers should not make any discrimination between authors based on race, gender, religious belief, ethnic origin, or political ideas.

The peer reviewers should take an objective attitude towards the papers they evaluate. Their commentaries and observations should give an impartial opinion and specific criticisms of the manuscript. They should avoid unfounded accusations and pejorative comments.

 

Research malpractice and unethical conduct

Echinox Journal complies with COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, abiding by its guidelines as regards the issues of plagiarism, fraud, data fabrication, authorship, intellectual property, conflict of interests and confidentiality.

The editor strongly disavows any research misconduct and will take appropriate measures against articles and authors guilty of intellectual fraud and plagiarism, citation manipulation, data falsification, text fabrication, etc.

For articles potentially suspected of fraud, the editor will make recourse to an antiplagiarism programme, TurnItIn.

Any manuscript suspected of malpractice will be sent back to the author, with indication of the suspect elements and a clear warning.

Any manuscript that is proved to be fraudulent will be rejected from publication and the author will be permanently banned from collaboration with the journal.

 

Corrections

The editors encourage the readership to signal any malpractice that may be found in the texts. In these cases, the editors will follow COPE’s guidelines for dealing with the malpractice allegations.

If genuine or honest errors are discovered in already published papers, the editor will publish an erratum. For the print version of the journal, the correction will be published in the immediate subsequent issue published after the error has been identified. For the online version of the journal, the correction will be published in the pdf form of the paper.

If a published article is proved as fraud, it will be deleted from the website of the journal. Depending on the nature of the fraud, a correction, a clarification or a retraction will be published on the website and in the next print issue, and the malpractice will be publicly exposed.

An apology to the plagiarized author will be issued.

 

Privacy Statement

The data collected from users of this journal fall within the scope of the standard functioning of peer-reviewed journals. It includes information that makes communication possible for the editorial process; it is used to informs readers about the authorship and editing of content; it enables collecting aggregated data on readership behaviors, as well as tracking geopolitical and social elements of scholarly communication.

The editors of this journal seek to be compliant with industry standards for data privacy, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provision for “data subject rights” that include (a) breach notification; (b) right of access; (c) the right to be forgotten; (d) data portability; and (e) privacy by design. The GDPR also allows for the recognition of “the public interest in the availability of the data,” which has a particular saliency for those involved in maintaining, with the greatest integrity possible, the public record of scholarly publishing.