ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

 

The journal's Publications Ethics and Malpractice Statement is based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as well as the Guidelines for Detecting Plagiarism in Scientific Articles (Ghidul pentru identificarea plagiatului în lucrări științifice) developed by the Ministry of Research and Innovation through the National Council on Ethics in Scientific Research, Technological Development and Innovation. Anyone who feels these guidelines has not been followed can contact the editors with their objections at the email  secretariat@icsusib.ro.

Editorial process

Historia Urbana is the journal of the Romanian Academy's Commission for the History of Towns in Romania and publishes interdisciplinary research in the field of the history of towns and the history of architecture and urbanism. The evaluation process of the articles submitted for publication is coordinated by the editorial board, which enjoys complete independence in  selecting the published works. Editorial decisions on articles submitted for publication are based on the  peer reviewers’ reports. Editorial staff are suitably qualified and up to date with the latest guidelines, recommendations and evidence on peer review of scientific publications and journal management.

The editorial staff will try to avoid any compromises that could result from conflicts of interest or financial and political interference.

Obligations and responsibilities of editors

The editor-in-chief is responsible for the selection of articles to be published in the journal. All articles are evaluated through a double-blind peer-review process.

Nediscriminarea și egalitatea de șanse

Selecția se face pe baza conținutului științific, a politicilor colegiului de redacție și a dispozițiilor legale în vigoare privind defăimarea, drepturile de autor și plagiatul, fără a lua în considerare vârsta autorului, statutul lui profesional, rasa, sexul, orientarea sexuală, religia, convingerile politice, etnia sau cetățenia.

Ensuring non-discrimination and equal treatment

Selection is made  based on scholarly content, editorial board policies and applicable legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright and plagiarism, without regard to the author's age, professional status, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political beliefs, ethnicity or nationality.

Confidentiality

Editors respect the confidentiality of material submitted for publication and do not disclose information about ongoing editorial decision-making processes to third parties without permission. Editors will disclose information about manuscripts submitted to the journal only to those directly involved in the peer review process. The exception is in the case of allegations of plagiarism and/or other duplicitous practices, in which case manuscript content will be disclosed to third parties as described below. In the peer review process, the  author’s identity is not revealed to the reviewers, and the identity of the reviewers is not revealed to the author or third parties. The identity of the reviewers may be disclosed in the journal's annual thank-you list of reviewers, with their permission, without being associated with the manuscript published in the journal.

Preventing and fighting plagiarism

The journal adheres to the National Council for Ethics in Scientific Research, Technological Development and Innovation (CNECSDTI) definition of plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as „the taking by an author of elements of another author's intellectual work and presenting them in the public domain as components of one's own work. Plagiarism is the result of the act of plagiarizing and refers to work generated by illegitimate, intentional or unintentional, deontologically wrongful taking”. Plagiarism can occur in all types of intellectual products (ideas, texts, data, illustrations, maps, plans, extracts from unpublished manuscripts, including lectures, presentations, etc.) under the signature of the person claiming to be the author.

Papers that contain suspicions of plagiarism, in whole or in part, will be rejected, and editors will take appropriate measures to report any ethical misconduct discovered and documented during the editing process (officially informing the institution to which the author belongs, contacting the Romanian Index of Plagiarism Complaints in order to follow the procedure in force to combat attempted plagiarism or other improper practices). If plagiarism is discovered after publication, it will be reported in the Addenda et Corrigenda section.

Authors' responsibilities

The journal publishes original work, the result of the author’s own research, which is objective, freely and accurately expressed. The editors have zero tolerance for  publishing circulus vitiosus arguments and false or potentially defamatory statements that damage the reputation of individuals, groups or organisations. Authors take scientific responsibility for the material submitted for publication and must also ensure that they quote correctly from the work they have used without misrepresenting the sources cited.

Authors are required to follow the journal guidelines available on its website and to attend the article review process.

Copyright

If the manuscript contains material protected by copyright, the author(s) must obtain express written permission for its use from the copyright owner before submitting the text to Historia Urbana.

Corrections or additions after publication

The author(s) or a third  party may publish clarifications, corrections or additions to articles already published in the Addenda et Corrigenda section.

Conflict of interests

The author(s) is (are) responsible for disclosing any conflict of interest of any kind they may have in relation to the content or publication of the manuscript.

Multiple, redundant or parallel publication

Intention to republish a work or substantial parts of a work by the author(s) without reference and without adequate justification of the overlap is considered unacceptable practice and leads to rejection of the article. This may be in the same or a different language. Republication of a paper in another language will only be accepted if the editors consider that this will improve academic discourse and if the author(s) indicate at the time of submission that the paper has already been published in another language. Publication of a translation is only possible with the clear approval of the original publication and if the article includes citation of the original source. Translated versions of articles published in Historia Urbana may be published elsewhere only if the author(s) acknowledge(s) in a full bibliographic reference published with the translation that the journal is the first place of publication.

Manuscripts submitted to the journal may not be considered for acceptance for publication in any other journal, book or any other publication unless permission or express agreement has been obtained from all the organisations involved. However, posting a preprint on the author's personal website, institutional database, etc. does not constitute pre- or additional publication. When sending a manuscript, the author(s) must submit all related work, such as conference presentations, preprints, etc. to the editors.

Auto-plagiarism

Auto-plagiarism, i.e. taking a text from the author(s)' own work without specifying that the current work reproduces, in whole or in part, an older work by the same author, is one of a series of practices of inappropriate scholarly conduct that is discouraged by the journal, since reproducing the same work as evidence of new intellectual production may lead to unwarranted professional acknowledgement. The editors assess the extent of auto-plagiarism  according to several factors, and if there is a case of copyright infringement, the work may be rejected.

Obligations and responsibilities of evaluators

Evaluators/reviewers help select manuscripts for publication. To accept an invitation to review a manuscript, they must have the necessary expertise and be able to evaluate the manuscript impartially. The evaluation will be anonymous, using a review form provided by the editors. Reviewers' comments should be clear, constructive and respectful.

Conflicts of interests

Suppose a reviewer suspects the author’s identity of an article under review and believes the author may have a conflict of interest. In that case,  the reviewer should notify the editor and decline the invitation to review the article. A conflict of interest may include commercial, financial, intellectual, professional, political or religious issues, family or personal relationships, etc.

Confidentiality

The reviewer has no right to use or disseminate the manuscript or parts of it for the personal benefit of himself or a third  party. The reviewer may not use or disclose information obtained during the peer review process without the express consent of the editor or, where appropriate, the author. The reviewer examines the manuscript independently, without involving anyone else in the peer review process. If further expertise is required, the reviewer will inform the editor, and they will decide together on the most appropriate procedure. Suppose a third party is involved in the review process, with the express permission of the editor. In that case,  it will become the evaluator/reviewer and comply with the provisions described here.

Taxes and costs

Historia Urbana does not charge a fee for submitting, evaluating, and publishing materials.