The Editorial and Advisory Boards of the journal Arxiu de Textos Catalans Antics (ATCA) maintain a firm commitment towards the academic community to ensure compliance with the highest standards, both ethical and qualitative, within the works the journal publishes. For the purpose of regulating such aspects, the journal adheres to the Code of Conduct and Good Practice established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Core Practices (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices).

In compliance with this code, ATCA stresses a series of fundamental principles for the parties involved in the oversight and dissemination of the academic results in question, namely, editors, referees and authors.

 

1. EDITORS

 

 

The journal’s editors are responsible for satisfying the needs of all those involved in the publishing process, in the most principled and ethical manner, by establishing mechanisms, periodically reviewed, for the purpose of ensuring the quality of the publication.

 

 

The Editorial Board shall always assess the manuscripts in terms of their intellectual content. Editorial decisions shall always be motivated by and based upon the importance, originality and validity of the work submitted, as well as upon its affinity to the thematic line followed by the journal, not to mention the directives applicable to authors, and shall not be swayed by reasons pertaining to an author’s nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political beliefs, race, religion or institutional affiliation.

 

 

The Editorial Board shall not reveal any information regarding the contributions submitted apart from to the author, to the referees, to potential referees and to the Advisory Board. ATCA shall make no undue use of unpublished materials it receives.

 

2. REFEREES

 

 

Referees contribute to the editorial decisions and, via communication between the editors and the authors, can also assist in enhancing the manuscript.

 

 

Any chosen referee who does not feel qualified to peer review the research set forth in the manuscript or who is aware that s/he will not be able to carry out an imminent peer review is obliged to notify the editor of this fact and to bow out of the reviewing process.

 

 

The manuscripts sent to the refereee must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with any extraneous individuals, unless authorisation is given by the editor.

 

 

The act of refereeing undertaken must be honest, constructive and representative of quality. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees must express their viewpoint with clarity and in a well-argued manner.

 

 

The referees shall make known on the basis of the published works identified any important scholars who have not been cited by the author(s). The referee is obliged to advise the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under peer review and any other publication of which s/he has personal knowledge.

 

 

Any privileged information or ideas obtained via the process of refereeing must be kept confidential and must not be used in one’s own interests. Referees should not accept manuscripts if there exists a conflict of interests resulting from a competitive or collaborative relation with the author(s).

 

3. AUTHORS

 

 

The principled, ethical and responsible conduct advocated and pursued by ATCA is required of all authors. Each and every author interested in publishing in the journal must guarantee his or her express compliance with this Declaration of editorial ethical conduct and avoidance of malpractice.

 

 

Authors shall ensure that they submit completely original texts fully attuned to ATCA’s standards for publication and undertake to adopt the necessary measures in order to guarantee anonymous peer review. They declare that their submissions have not previously been published, nor have they been submitted for consideration by any other journal, nor shall they be while they are under peer review at ATCA.

Authors shall not send manuscripts which are substantially based upon research which they themselves have previously published in other journals or academic publications. Submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal constitutes unethical and, therefore, unacceptable behaviour with respect to publication. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, multiple and superfluous publication, as well as the invention or manipulation of data constitute grave ethical faults and are considered to be academic fraud by ATCA. Should any instance or indication of plagiarism be detected, appropriate measures shall be taken into consideration and adopted, it being possible, among other things, to take down pieces of work already published.

 

 

Proper acknowledgement of work carried out by others must always be explicit. Authors must identify and cite in their bibliography the original sources and publications which have served as the basis for their research and for the formulation of its content. At all events, authors shall guarantee that they do not omit to observe the intellectual property rights attaching to the potential material they may employ within their texts whose authorship is not their own. Authors remain responsible, moreover, for all the effects which may follow from the opinions expressed within a particular manuscript submitted for publication.

 

 

When an author discovers a serious or significant error in his or her work, s/he is obliged immediately to communicate such to the relevant editors of the journal for the purpose of modifying the manuscript, withdrawing it, recanting or publishing a list of errata.