Ethical code

Ethical Code of publication

The Effetti di lettura / Effects of Reading editorial board applies a rigorous peer-review process along with strict ethical policies and standards to ensure the addition of high-quality scientific work to the field of academic publications. The Editorial Board expects all parties involved in the publication to adhere to the following ethical principles inspired by the Code of Conduct for Publications prepared by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and addressed to publishers, reviewers, and authors (interested parties are invited to carefully read the COPE). Any work that does not meet these standards will be rejected/removed. In the event that our editorial board becomes aware of allegations of research misconduct relating to an article published in the journal, COPE’s guidelines in dealing with the allegations will be followed.

 

The AUTHORS of Effetti di lettura / Effects of Reading have the following responsibilities:

  • Originality and plagiarism: authors must ensure that they have written completely original works and, where they have used the works and/or words of others, that these have been appropriately quoted by placing the relevant passages in inverted commas. Plagiarism, data creation, and image manipulation are not tolerated. Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source – even from one's own publications – without giving credit to the original source.
  • Multiple and/or repetitive submissions to competitor publications: in general, an author should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Concurrent submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal constitutes unethical and unacceptable editorial behaviour.
  • List of sources: appropriate acknowledgement of the sources of others is always necessary. Authors must cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported.
  • Data and methods: the data and methods used in the research should be presented in sufficient detail in the article, so that other researchers can replicate the work. Preferably, raw data should be publicly deposited by the authors prior to submission of the manuscript. Authors should at least have the raw data readily available for submission to referees and journal editors, if requested.
  • Authorship: authorship of the article must 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 a significant contribution must be listed as co-authors. If other persons participated in certain substantial aspects of the research project, they must be acknowledged or listed as collaborators. The corresponding author must ensure that all appropriate co-authors, and no inappropriate co-authors, are included in the article. Furthermore, the corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the article, and have consented to its submission for publication.
  • Disclosure and conflicts of interest: all authors must disclose any financial or other conflicts of interest in their manuscript that could be construed as affecting the results or interpretation of the manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project must be disclosed.
  • Fundamental errors in published articles: when an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they have an obligation to promptly inform the journal editor or publisher and work with the latter to retract or correct the article.

 

Citation policy

  • Authors must ensure that when material is taken from other sources (including their own published writings) the source is clearly credited and that, where appropriate, permission has been obtained.
  • Authors must not engage in excessive self-quotation of their own work.
  • Authors must not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work.
  • Authors must not preferentially cite their own publications or those of friends, colleagues, or institutions.
  • Authors must not cite advertisements or publicity material.
  • In accordance with COPE guidelines, we expect that "original words taken directly from other researchers' publications must appear in inverted commas with appropriate citations". This condition also applies to the author's work. In order to foster best practice COPE has produced a discussion paper on the handling of citations with recommendations

 

REVIEWERS of Effetti di lettura / Effects of Readingare responsible for the following:

  • Contribution to the editorial decisions: peer reviewing helps the editor to make editorial decisions, and can also help the author to improve the article, through editorial communication with them.
  • With respect to time: selected referees who do not feel qualified to review the research reported in a manuscript, or who know that a timely review will be impossible, should inform the editor, and exempt themselves from the review process.
  • Confidentiality: each assigned reading should be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown or discussed with others except with the permission of the editor.
  • Standards of objectivity: reviews must be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers must express their opinions clearly and with supporting arguments.
  • Acknowledgement of sources: reviewers must identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Every claim that an observation, derivation, or argument that has been previously reported must be accompanied by the relevant citation. The reviewer must also draw the editor's attention to any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and any other published work of which they are personally aware.
  • Disclosure and conflict of interest: insider information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential, and must not be used for personal gain. Reviewers should not consider (or review) manuscripts for which they have conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships and connections with the authors, companies, or institutions related to the work.

 

EDITORS of Effetti di Lettura / Effects of reading must assume the following responsibilities:

  • Fair play: an editor at all times evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.
  • Confidentiality: the editor and editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
  • Disclosure and conflicts of interest: unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript should not be used in the publisher's research without the explicit written consent of the author.

 

Authorship

In order to obtain authorship of a manuscript, the following criteria must be met:

  • Having made a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work; or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;
  • The drafting of the work or critical revision of it for important intellectual content;
  • Final approval of the version to be published;
  • Agreeing to be responsible for all aspects of the work, ensuring that issues relating to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are properly investigated and resolved.

Those who have contributed to the work, but who do not qualify for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgements.

Any changes to the list of authors must be approved by all authors, including those who have been removed from the list. The corresponding author must act as a point of contact between the publisher and other authors, and must keep co-authors informed and involve them in major publication decisions. We reserve the right to seek confirmation that all authors fulfil the conditions of authorship.

 

Editors and Editorial Staff as Authors

Editorial staff/editors are not involved in the evaluation process for the publication of their academic work. Editorial staff/editors will be assigned to at least two independent external reviewers. Decisions will be made by other members of the editorial board who have no conflict of interest with the author.

 

Conflict of Interest

All authors must declare any relationships or interests that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to, financial interests (such as corporate membership, employment, consulting, stock ownership, fees, grants or other funding, paid expert testimony, and patent licensing agreements) and non-financial interests (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, personal beliefs).

Authors may declare potential conflicts of interest via the online submission system during the submission process. The corresponding author must include a summary declaration in the manuscript in a separate 'Conflicts of Interest' section immediately before the list of references. The statement must reflect all potential conflicts of interest.

If no conflicts exist, authors must make a declaration to this effect.

Conflicts of Interest: Authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

 

Studies involving human subjects

Research involving human subjects must be conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki. Studies involving human participants must be conducted in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines, with prior approval of the appropriate institutional ethics committee, and written informed consent from all human subjects involved in the study, including for the publication of results. Confirmation of this approval is required at the time of submission of a manuscript to Effetti di lettura / Effects of Reading, by submitting an ethical statement (also to be included in the manuscript for publication), as follows:

"Studies involving human participants have been reviewed and approved by [Full name and affiliation of ethics committee]. Patients/participants have provided written informed consent to participate in this study".

Effetti di lettura / Effects of Reading requires that consent for participation be informed and in writing, unless waived by an ethics committee or otherwise required by local law.

If the study is exempt from ethics approval or consent procedures, authors must clearly state the reasons in the statement. Effetti di lettura / Effects of Reading may request a letter from the authors, obtained from an ethics committee, in cases where the committee has waived full review and approval.

 

In order to protect the anonymity of subjects, identifying information should not be included in the manuscript, unless such information is absolutely necessary for scientific purposes, and explicit approval has been granted by the participants.