«Studi Germanici» is an academic journal with a double-blind review process that adheres to the best practices recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines. The journal is committed to maintaining an editorial policy based on principles of quality, fairness and transparency.

The journal’s code of ethics defines the responsibilities, roles and duties of all those involved in the production and dissemination of scientific research. Editors-in-chief, members of the editorial board, authors, reviewers and editorial staff commit to upholding the following recommendations within their respective roles.

 

DUTIES OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD AND EDITORIAL STAFF

Publication Decisions

Editorial Board

«Studi Germanici» adopts a peer-review evaluation system. The editors and the editorial board conduct a preliminary assessment of every submitted work. This assessment aims to verify the relevance of the contribution in relation to the journal’s cultural strategies and to provide an initial evaluation of the adherence of the work to the principles of good scientific practice outlined in this code. Meeting these requirements is a condition for the contribution to be sent for peer review, which is conducted using a ‘double-blind’ system (separate, anonymous evaluations by two independent reviewers). Each text is assigned to two anonymous reviewers (double-blind peer review). In the event of conflicting opinions, a third reviewer will be consulted. The editor-in-chief and managing editor are responsible for accepting or rejecting a submission for publication, based on the reviewers’ feedback and the views of the editorial board.

Articles submitted for publication are evaluated based on their content, without discrimination regarding race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship or political beliefs of the authors, or their academic affiliation. The editor-in-chief and the editorial board are committed to selecting reviewers based on their scientific expertise and establishing a relationship of trust with them, guaranteed by confidentiality in the use of sources and in handling all information related to the review process. In particular, the editors-in-chief and the editorial board are bound not to disclose any information that could undermine the reviewer’s neutrality, nor to reveal details about authors or contributions unless strictly necessary for the proper conduct of the peer-review process. The editors-in-chief and the editorial board are committed not to assigning review tasks to reviewers who, to the best of their knowledge, have familial or academic ties with the authors.

The editor-in-chief collects the opinions of the reviewers, informs the author of their content while protecting the reviewers’ anonymity and takes the subsequent actions in agreement with the editorial board, inviting the author – if appropriate – to make revisions to the submitted text. The editorial board responsibly considers the outcomes of the peer review, valuing their role in the decision-making process and using them to form a balanced conclusion about the proposed publication.

The editorial office keeps a record of the results of the peer review processes, both for accepted and rejected submissions.

The editor-in-chief and editorial board commit to not disclosing information about submitted articles to any persons other than the author and reviewers. They also commit to not using the content of an unpublished article in their own research without the author’s consent.

«Studi Germanici» applies the same anonymous and objective peer review procedure to contributions submitted for publication by the editorial board members and editors.

The editorial board and staff review the peer-review process annually to implement any potential improvements.

Duties and Responsibilities of Authors

The author agrees to submit to the journal original contributions, which are not simultaneously under review or publication elsewhere, unless explicitly agreed upon by the editorial board. If the work is later republished, in whole or in part, in a journal, volume or website, the author is required to inform the editorial board and explicitly state the place of first publication.

By submitting a work, the author guarantees compliance with the principles of originality, transparency and verifiability that govern scientific work. Specifically, primary and secondary sources must be unequivocally identified using current graphic systems and in accordance with the editorial conventions adopted by the journal. The incorporation of sources and their critical discussion must be done in a manner that does not compromise the intellectual property of the work, which must be clearly attributed to the author. Direct quotations and paraphrases must be clearly distinguished and marked as such, each in accordance with the common practices in the relevant scientific community.

The author is required to strictly follow the formatting guidelines provided by the journal, establishing preliminary agreements with the editorial staff where deviations from these instructions are necessary due to specific needs.

The author commits to appropriately acknowledging the contributions of other individuals involved in significant stages of the research, production or correction process of the work. In the event of co-authors, their involvement must be communicated to the editorial board from the initial proposal of publication and clearly highlighted with, where possible, specific indications of the portion of the work to be exclusively attributed to them.

At the end of the review process, the editorial board may ask the author to make improvements in line with the journal’s requirements. At this stage, both the editorial board and the author commit to collaborating in the best interest of the quality of the work, taking into account comments and counter-arguments with a sense of practicality. Ultimately, the editorial board makes the final decisions.

By submitting their work to «Studi Germanici», authors implicitly admit that their proposed interpretations have not been influenced by conflicts of interest.

When an author identifies a mistake or a significant inaccuracy in their article, they are required to promptly inform the editorial board, providing all the necessary information to facilitate the necessary corrections.

Duties of Reviewers

Peer review is a process that helps the editors and editorial board make decisions about submitted articles and can assist the author in improving their contribution.

Reviewers agree to provide their judgment within the time frame set by the journal to ensure the orderly progression of all tasks related to the production of the printed text. Any deviation from the agreed deadline must be reported as promptly as possible. The editorial board reserves the right to set a final extension to ensure that the journal’s activities are not hindered.

In smaller scientific communities, it is not uncommon for reviewers to deduce the author’s identity. Reviewers commit to not accepting or to returning assignments where there is a conflict of interest due to existing academic or professional relationships with the author or individuals involved in the editorial board and the organisation of the journal.

Peer review must be conducted objectively. Reviewers are required to justify their opinions adequately, using a standardised form provided by the editorial board. Any personal opinion about the author is inappropriate. Reviewers agree to assess the submitted manuscript solely based on its conformity to the common criteria of scientific quality. The evaluations aim to ensure the quality of the journal in a constructive spirit. Therefore, the goal is not to discuss the merits of the theses and methodologies, or to judge the originality of the findings, but to ensure the adherence to appropriate quality standards. Submissions should address topics of established scholarly relevance and demonstrate a well-structured organisation of material, familiarity with the state of the art, a consistently applied methodology, strong interpretative skills and clear presentation. It is important that judgments are clear and unambiguous to facilitate the decisions of the editorial board.

Suggestions for fundamental texts not considered by the author must include complete source information. The same duty of detailed reporting applies if the reviewer identifies citations or paraphrases in the manuscript that are not properly marked as such.

Reviewers commit to handling the proposed work and all information acquired during the peer review process with confidentiality and discretion, and to not using this information for personal gain. The author’s identity, the content of the publication proposal and the results of the review process must not be disclosed outside the confidential relationship with the editorial board and must not be used for personal advantage. Every manuscript assigned for review must be treated as confidential. Therefore, these texts must not be discussed with others without explicit authorization from the editorial board.

 

SANCTIONS IN THE EVENT OF VIOLATIONS OF THE CODE OF ETHICS

If a member of the journal’s editorial board, a reviewer, or an author violates the above-mentioned principles, they will no longer be able to collaborate with «Studi Germanici». If a manuscript does not adhere to these principles, it will be removed from the journal.

The Editors-in-Chief and members of the Editorial Board commit to taking prompt action in the event of errors and misconduct such as plagiarism and fraudulent publication, following the recommendations and guidelines of COPE (https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines). Complaints and appeals will also be handled according to these guidelines.

 

Corrections will be made with due prominence, including the publication of an erratum (publication process errors), corrigendum (author errors) or, in more severe cases, the retraction of the affected work.

Ultimo aggiornamento 21 Marzo 2025 a cura di Luisa Giannandrea