PEER REVIEW PROCESS
The articles published in NEW MEDIT undergo a double-blind peer review. It aims to assess the validity of the reported research and suitability for journals’ scope and aims. The international relevance of the data to be published and the significant contribution to the advancement of knowledge are major requirements. Submissions are first evaluated by the Editor and by the members of the Editorial Boards. If the manuscript is considered suitable for publication, it is sent to at least two reviewers. The peer review process is double-blind, whereby both referees and authors are kept anonymous. If the reviews are positive, but the manuscript requires to be revised and resubmitted, the author is expected to submit the revised version.
The Journal Provides a Manuscript Tracking System that allows online submission of manuscripts by authors, tracking of peer review and decision making concerning acceptance/rejection of submitted manuscripts by the Editor-in-Chief or by members of the Journal’s Editorial Board who are authorized by the Editor.
OPEN ACCESS, ARTICLE LICENSING AND COPYRIGHT
All articles published in the Journal shall be published on an open access basis.
We encourage authors to post their pre-publication manuscript in institutional repositories or on their websites prior to and during the submission process and to post the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version after publication without embargo. These practices benefit authors with productive exchanges as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
The Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) shall apply to all articles published in the Journal. In order to reflect updates to the CC BY license the Publisher reserves the right to update its Copyright Policy and License Agreement.
By submitting the manuscript, the authors certify the following:
- They are authorized by their co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
- The work described has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or proceedings-type publication – including discussion papers – or as part of a published lecture or thesis); it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; and its publication has been approved by all the author(s) and by the responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – of the institutes where the work was carried out.
- They have secured the right to reproduce any material that has already been published or copyrighted elsewhere.
- They agree to the following licence and copyright agreement:
Copyright
- Bologna University Press acknowledges that copyright in articles published in the Journal shall remain vested in the authors or original copyright holders (e.g. authors’ institution).
- Occasionally a different licensing and copyright arrangement may be required for individual articles, for instance if mandated by funding agencies. To the extent possible the open access nature of such articles shall not be affected.
- Authors grant any third party the right to use the article freely under the stipulation that the original authors are given credit and the appropriate citation details are mentioned.
- The article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Unless otherwise stated, associated published material is distributed under the same licence.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
Anyone is free to share — to copy, distribute, and transmit the work to remix — to adapt the work under the following conditions:
- Attribution — The original authors must be given credit.
- For any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the licence terms of this work are.
- Any of these conditions can be waived if the copyright holders give permission.
- Nothing in this licence impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights. The full legal code of this licence.
Copyright transfers
Many authors have strict regulations in their employment contract regarding their publications. A transfer of copyright to the institution or company is common as well as the reservation of specific usage rights. In open-access publications in combination with the Creative Commons License, a transfer of the copyright to the institution is possible as it belongs to the author anyway. Any usage rights are regulated through the Creative Commons License. A copyright transfer from the author to his/her institution/company can be expressed in a special “copyright statement” at the end of the publication. Authors are asked to include the following sentence: “The author’s copyright for this publication has been transferred to institution/company”.
Reproduction Request
All articles published by NEW MEDIT are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (see details above) together with an author copyright. Therefore, there is no need from the publisher’s side to give permission for the reproduction of articles. We suggest contacting the author to inform him/her about the further usage of the material. However, as the author decided to publish the scientific results under the CC-BY licence, he/she consented to share the work under the condition that the original authors be given credit.
PUBLICATION ETHICS
It is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer and the publisher.
The Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Editor(s)-in-Chief are expected to follow the COPE guideline entitled Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
The Publisher has responsibility to ensure that journals published by the Publisher adhere to editorial and publication ethics standards recommended by COPE, and the Publisher will support Editor(s)-in-Chief in their pursuit of adhering to such COPE standards.
Publication decisions
The editor of the NEW MEDIT is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published.
The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.
Editor is expected to provide a professional service to authors. Correspondence should be handled in a timely and professional manner. Arrangements should be in place to ensure editorial staff absences do not result in a reduced service to authors.
Fair play
An editor at any time evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
Confidentiality
Editor(s)-in-Chief are expected to respect and uphold the confidential status of materials submitted to the Journal and should ensure that material remains confidential while under review.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author.
Editor is expected to inform the Publisher of any interests that may influence, or may be perceived to influence, their decisions as Editor of the Journal. Financial and non-financial interests (including, but not limited to personal relationships, professional interests or personal beliefs) should be disclosed.
Although Editor may publish in the journal for which they are Editor, it is expected to ensure that a (senior) member of the Editorial Board is assigned to assume responsibility for overseeing peer review and making decisions regarding acceptance or rejection of any manuscript submitted and/or co-authored by the Editor.
DUTIES OF REVIEWERS
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.
Promptness
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
Standards of Objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
DUTIES OF AUTHORS
Reporting standards
Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
Data Access and Retention
If applicable, authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data, and should, in any event, be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
Originality and Plagiarism
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication
An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
Acknowledgement of Sources
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.
The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
Fundamental errors in published works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.
