The following statements concerning the commitment to uphold ethical standards at all stages and by all parties involved in the publication process of a journal are based on the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. All parties involved – editorial boards, scientific committees, authors, publisher, editors, and reviewers – are aware of and share the following ethical requirements.
DUTIES OF THE EDITORS AND EDITORIAL BOARD
Publication Decisions
The directors, the scientific and editorial boards are responsible for deciding whether to publish submitted articles. In making their decisions, they may consult the journal’s scientific committee and must comply with current laws regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.
Fairness
The directors and the scientific and editorial boards evaluate submitted articles based on their scholarly content, without discrimination of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political orientation of the authors. Areté. International Journal of Philosophy, Human and Social Sciences is committed to overseeing the ethical aspects of research practices, including respect for and promotion of the principles of solidarity, equality, cultural support, and freedom of intellectual research.
The decision to accept or reject a manuscript is based solely on the importance, originality, and clarity of the text, as well as the validity of the study and its relevance to the journal’s aims. The peer review process is conducted impartially, without prejudice, and in a timely manner. The academic institution and publishing house affiliated with Areté must not interfere with the editorial board’s decisions regarding article selection. All stages of the review process follow the journal’s editorial protocol to ensure impartiality and confidentiality of submissions throughout the evaluation process.
Confidentiality
Editors, the editorial board, and any member of the editorial or scientific committee are obliged not to disclose any information about submitted manuscripts to anyone other than the author or reviewers.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Editors, editorial board members, and scientific committee members agree not to use unpublished materials from submitted manuscripts in their own research without the explicit written consent of the author.
Post-publication Discussion and Corrections
The journal’s editorial board is open to well-founded criticism of published works and welcomes submissions that challenge previously published research.
They are also responsible for publishing corrections, clarifications, or retractions when necessary. Areté’s editorial bodies ensure authors the opportunity to respond to critiques.
Intellectual Property Policies
The journal does not charge authors any fees or reimbursements for the publication of their work.
Regarding intellectual property policies, the journal allows authors to republish their work or include it in databases recognized by the international scholarly community, provided that they clearly cite the original publication’s source and date.
DUTIES OF REVIEWERS
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review is essential to the editorial decision-making process. Through editorial communication with the author, it may also assist in improving the manuscript, through a dedicated section in the review form. Manuscripts must be treated as confidential documents and should not be shown to or discussed with anyone not authorized by the editorial staff.
Reviewers should ideally support their statements with relevant citations from the text under review. They must inform the editors of any substantial or partial similarity or overlap between the manuscript and other works of which they are aware. Any information or ideas obtained through peer review must remain confidential and not be used for personal gain.
Timeliness
If a selected reviewer feels unqualified to review the manuscript or knows they cannot complete the review in time, they must notify the editors and editorial staff promptly.
Confidentiality
Double-blind review requires that the identities of authors and reviewers remain concealed throughout the process. If a reviewer inadvertently discovers the author’s identity, they must inform the editors immediately, who will take appropriate steps to preserve objectivity, including reassigning the manuscript to another reviewer. To protect reviewers, the journal commits to keeping their identities confidential, even after the review process has concluded.
Objectivity
Reviews must be conducted objectively, following the criteria outlined in the review form. Personal criticism is inappropriate. Reviewers should support their judgments with clear and documented arguments.
Citation of Sources
Reviewers are expected to indicate any relevant published works that the author may have overlooked. Reviewers must also report to the editor any substantial similarities or overlaps with other known works.
Conflicts of Interest and Disclosure
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must remain confidential and not be used for personal advantage. Reviewers must not accept to evaluate manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest arising from previous collaborations or competition with the author or their institution.
DUTIES OF AUTHORS
Access to and Retention of Data
Authors of original research must make available the data underlying their study so that they may be retained for a reasonable period after publication and potentially accessed by others. False or inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour.
Originality and Plagiarism
Authors must ensure the originality of their submissions. When using others’ work or words, appropriate citations and references must be provided.
If conflicts of interest, significant errors, or instances of plagiarism are discovered in a published article, the editors will notify the author and, if necessary, issue a correction or request retraction.
Articles may be removed from the journal’s website in cases of proven plagiarism or legal violations. Anyone who identifies a case of plagiarism, conflict of interest, or copyright violation is encouraged to contact the editorial team at aretejournal@unimarconi.it.
Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication
Authors should not submit the same research to more than one journal simultaneously. Doing so is unethical and unacceptable.
Acknowledgment of Sources
Authors must properly cite all sources and contributions mentioned in the article.
Authorship of the Work
Authorship should be limited to those who made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the research. All such contributors must be listed as co-authors. Others who contributed to certain aspects of the research should be acknowledged appropriately. In the case of multiple authors, the submitting author must confirm that all co-authors are listed correctly, have approved the final version, and agree to the publication.
Conflicts of Interest and Disclosure
All authors must disclose any financial or other conflicts of interest that could influence the results or interpretation of their work. All sources of financial support must be disclosed.
Errors in Published Works
If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they are obliged to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate to correct or retract the article.
AI-Assisted Technologies and AI-Generated Content
Areté. International Journal of Philosophy, Human and Social Sciences does not accept articles written using AI-assisted technologies.
All contributors listed as authors must have participated in writing the text and take full responsibility for ensuring that no AI tools were used in its creation. In line with COPE’s position statement on AI tools (https://publicationethics.org/cope-position-statements/ai-author), such tools cannot be listed as authors.
Authors who have used AI technologies to assist in drafting, producing images or graphics, or collecting/analysing data must clearly disclose which tools were used and how, in the methodology section or a footnote.
Authors remain fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, including any parts generated with AI tools, and for any potential breaches of publication ethics.
