Ethical guidelines

Samlaren observes the ethical guidelines for scholarly publication that have been laid down in collaboration between DOAJ, COPE, OASPE, and WAME: ”Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing”.

For the work of the journal, this entails that the following spheres of responsibility can be distinguished:

The responsibility of the editor

The editor receives manuscripts for publication and assesses whether they should be assigned to referees. In this capacity s/he is to act impartially and is sworn not to consider anything other than the scholarly quality of the article. If there is a situation of partiality, this handling of the manuscript must be placed in the hands of another person (for example, the review editor or a member of the editorial board), who is to assume the editor’s duties.

No information about submitted manuscripts may be disseminated outside the circle of members of the editorial board and the referees engaged.

The editor, members of the editorial board, or referees must not personally use information from the submitted manuscripts they are assessing without obtaining the written permission of the author.

The responsibility of referees

Referees solicited must immediately inform the editor if they suspect that there is a circumstance (such as partiality) that renders it less appropriate for them to serve as referees for a certain manuscript.

The assessment must be submitted within the timeframe agreed upon with the editor.

Unpublished manuscripts must be handled with discretion, and the referee is sworn not to discuss the manuscript or the review process with outsiders.

The review must be performed impartially and objectively. The assessment, included any suggested emendations, must be justified by the submitted manuscript. Proposed changes are to be communicated clearly. The assessment must make it clear whether the reviewer recommends that the manuscript be accepted for publication, be accepted for publication with revisions, or be rejected. See further Instructions for referees.

The referee has a special responsibility to inform the editor of clear similarities between the manuscript under review and other publications s/he is aware of.

The responsibility of the author

The author is responsible for ensuring that the research was carried out in accordance with the rules of good research practice.

The author is responsible for ensuring that the research being presented is her/his own and that that the research efforts of others touched upon in the article are clearly identified as such through correct quotations and references.

If the author has presented somewhat similar or related findings in another article, this must be clearly stated. Samlaren does not published previously published material.

The author must submit his/her manuscript for assessment and review by only one journal at a time.

The author is responsible for ensuring that the research has been ethically reviewed if this is called for, and if this is not the case, s/he must be prepared to argue why no ethical review was needed.

To the extent that an article is co-authored, the authors must state the order of the authors. Only authors who have made substantial contributions to the article may be stated as authors. Authors of co-authored contributions must pledge to ensure that all authors agree that the article should be published and that all emendations will be the object of joint decisions.

The author pledges to inform the editor of how the research was funded upon request from the editor.

Should the author on a later occasion become aware of errors in her/his published work, the editor must be immediately informed of this. If the editor or a member of the editorial board is made aware of major errors in an already-published article, the author is pledged to immediately retract the work or to provide reasoned arguments to refute the accusation.

The author may not be an editor of Samlaren, or a member of the executive committee of the Swedish Society of Literature.

Handling of submitted manuscripts

Manuscripts of articles received by the editors are subjected to a preliminary review by the editor. If the manuscript is judged to be of scholarly interest and relevant to the orientation of Samlaren, it will be sent to at least two independent referees for review. Both the referees and the author will be anonymous to each other. Within the time frame laid down by the editor, referees are required to submit their statements about the text and their recommendation regarding its publication in accordance with Samlaren’s Instructions for referees. Based on the statements received, the editor decides whether the text will be published, and the author will be informed of the decision and sent copies of the anonymized referee statements.

The anonymity between the author and referees may be suspended by the editor after the decision regarding publication has been made, and on the condition that the consent of all parties has been obtained.

Referees’ statements may be shared with other individuals than the author on the condition that both the author and the referees have given their consent.