Publication ethics

Terra Linguistica is a peer-reviewed scientific journal which meets the definition of Diamond Open Access: Not charging fees to either authors or readers.

Terra Linguistica complies with the ethical standards adopted by the scientific community, in particular, with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics. All participants of the editorial process share responsibility in upholding the ideals of Research Integrity in terms of honesty, transparency, and accountability. In the Editorial process this first concerns the responsibility of authors and the submission of manuscripts.

1. Responsibility of the authors

Originality of the research

All scientific papers should be original. Violations of this principle include:

  • plagiarism, i.e., deliberately appropriating someone else’s work or citing someone else’s work without attribution to the original author; both verbatim copying and paraphrasing are considered plagiarism;
  • simultaneous submission to multiple journals;
  • republishing a paper or a considerable part of it, including translations from another language; this does not concern papers published as part of conference proceedings.

The authors of the paper must ascertain that the research submitted for publication is original. Works or statements by other authors must be cited and quoted correctly. Plagiarism in any form is unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

Data validity

The authors are responsible for the validity of the paper; this includes both presenting complete and accurate data, and objective discussion of the data. Authors are obliged to clearly and honestly present the results of their research; the falsification, fabrication, or misrepresentation of data is fraudulent and automatically implies the rejection of a paper.

As an international Diamond open access journal, Terra Linguistica promotes and defends freedom of expression but we cannot support the publication of false or otherwise libelous and defamatory statements that harm the reputation of groups or individuals. In the editorial process, we strongly encourage the avoidance of offensive expressions (even where these are merely quoted).

Authorship

The authorship assigned in the paper should reflect each author’s actual contribution to research and to writing the paper. “Guest authorship” (i.e. listing an author who didn’t take part in the research and writing) and “ghost authorship” (i.e. omitting to list an author who made a significant contribution to the research and writing) should be avoided at all costs.

All authors must read the final version of the article and be responsible for all of its content.

Machine learning tools or AI-supported automated text generation cannot be considered as authors or co-authors of submitted texts, however, their employment should be fully disclosed in a footnote to the text, this includes the use of translation software.

Citation

All previously published data, results or conclusions (both by the authors themselves and by others) must be cited. The original source should be cited whenever possible, not the derivative works.

Using citation as a method for improving the author’s, journal’s or organization’s impact factor or rankings is unethical.

Disclosures

Authors must be able to provide evidence that results were obtained ethically, especially concerning expert interviews and the presentation of personal opinions of identified or anonymized research subjects and informants. Any research that involves humans or animals has to demonstrably conform to international research standards as well as legal norms at the place of research and the place of publication (Russia). The editorial staff therefore has the right to request information from authors regarding ethics approval and informed consent of research or interview subjects, also regarding the scientific contribution of all co-authors, all sources of funding, copyright clearances, and possible conflicts of interest. In exceptional cases, the editorial board has the right to require the written consent of the co-authors to publish the article in the form submitted to the publication.

Corrections, Retractions

If an author seeks to correct or is found to have made an error, the journal will issue a corrigendum. On the website of the online publication this will appear alongside the published paper. In the downloadable pdf-version of the entire issue, an additional page will be inserted. Similarly, if the journal needs to correct an error, this will be published as an erratum.

Since a publication can never be completely undone, retractions are exceptional measures to give notice that a paper should not be regarded as part of the scientific literature. The online article will be preceded by a screen containing a retraction note that is signed by the authors and/or editors. In the downloadable pdf of the entire issue, the retraction note will appear above the title of the paper. 

The retraction mechanism will be triggered by a majority decision of the journal’s Editorial Board (with managing editors abstaining from the vote), it will be applied in compliance with the COPE protocol. Retraction is not warranted when the main findings or conclusions of the paper are still credible and scientifically interesting, and when corrections could sufficiently address errors. It is not justified when there is as yet inconclusive evidence and when editors determine that the newly discovered conflicts of interest were not likely to influence conclusions or recommendations.

2. Responsibility of the editors

Decision to publish

The editor makes the decision to publish the paper and is responsible for this decision. The criteria that the editors use to assess the paper’s eligibility for publication are (primarily) whether the research submitted makes an important contribution to the given field, and whether it complies with the journal’s subject matter and guidelines. The editors’ decision should not be affected by the authors’ affiliation, position, race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, nationality or political preferences.

Confidentiality

The editor is responsible for maintaining confidentiality when handling submissions, in particular:

  • Unpublished data obtained from the manuscripts submitted for consideration should not be transferred to third parties (other than reviewers and editors involved in handling the specific manuscript) and cannot be used for personal gain.
  • The identities of the reviewers and the authors remain concealed until a decision is made to publish the manuscript.

Conflict of interests

Editors should withdraw from handling the manuscripts (by contacting another editor or by cooperating with other members of the Editorial Board when handling the manuscript instead of reviewing the manuscript or making the decision about publication on their own) in the event of conflicts of interests due to competing or common or any other activities and relationships with authors, companies and any other organizations associated with the manuscript. The editor should also consider any potential conflict of interests.

3. Responsibility of the reviewers

Assessing the manuscript

Review is based on mutual respect of the author and reviewer who are equal participants of the scientific process. The main purpose of review is to assess the scientific value of the manuscript and whether it complies with the general requirements for research. The corrections suggested by the reviewers should improve the quality of the manuscript. The reviewers’ comments and recommendations should be clearly argued and based on objective data.

Confidentiality

The reviewers must keep confidential the contents of the manuscript under review until it is published, and must not reveal or transfer the article to third parties without the express permission of the editors.

Conflict of interests

The reviewers should decline to review the manuscript in case of conflict of interests due to competing or common or any other activities and relationships with authors, companies and any other organizations associated with the manuscript. Conflicts of interest may arise through financial interests in a marketable product that is subject of an article, through funding by a private company or another sponsor who may profit from the publication, through familial or otherwise private (religious, political) commitments to a cause that is addressed in the article, or through favors and obligations to superiors or senior scientists who may advance or hinder a career. Not all potential conflicts of interest are problematic and the disclosure itself may be sufficient to mitigate them. If in doubt, authors should consult with the editors.

4. Marketing Communication and Dissemination

Authors entrust their work to Terra Linguistica. In return, editors, staff, and editorial board will do their best to ensure that the contributions to the journal achieve visibility in the academic community. As a Diamond open access journal we provide barrier-free access for an international readership. Authors retain copyright and are free to republish their papers, provided that they reference the original publication in Terra Linguistica.

Published papers will be featured on the journal website and scholarly databases. Editors and staff are committed to preserve integrity of content, adequately representing the significance of each contribution. They will be responsive to feedback from authors and readers.