Publication Ethics

Historical Horizons and Civilizational Studies is committed to high standards of publication ethics and research integrity and follows principles inspired by the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are expected to:

  • submit original work that has not been previously published;
  • avoid simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to multiple journals;
  • properly acknowledge and cite all sources;
  • accurately represent historical documents, archival materials, archaeological evidence, testimonies, images, and other research materials;
  • avoid fabrication, falsification, alteration, or misleading interpretation of evidence;
  • distinguish clearly between primary evidence, scholarly interpretation, and personal argument;
  • respect copyright and intellectual-property rights;
  • obtain all necessary permissions to reproduce archival documents, photographs, maps, manuscripts, artworks, or other protected materials;
  • disclose any financial, institutional, professional, or personal conflicts of interest;
  • disclose relevant sources of research funding where applicable;
  • ensure that authorship is limited to individuals who made genuine scholarly contributions;
  • obtain ethical approval and informed consent where required, particularly in oral-history, interview-based, anthropological, or community-based research.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to:

  • provide objective, impartial, and constructive assessments;
  • maintain strict confidentiality regarding submitted manuscripts;
  • refrain from using unpublished information, archival discoveries, data, or interpretations for personal or professional benefit;
  • disclose any potential conflict of interest;
  • report suspected plagiarism, source fabrication, evidence manipulation, duplicate publication, or other ethical concerns;
  • evaluate manuscripts according to academic standards rather than personal, ideological, political, religious, cultural, or institutional considerations.

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are expected to:

  • ensure fairness and transparency throughout the editorial process;
  • make decisions based solely on scholarly merit and relevance;
  • protect the confidentiality of authors and reviewers;
  • avoid conflicts of interest;
  • investigate allegations of research or publication misconduct;
  • issue corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other appropriate notices where necessary.

Scientific misconduct, including plagiarism, fabricated sources, falsified historical evidence, manipulated images or documents, duplicate publication, inappropriate self-plagiarism, authorship manipulation, citation manipulation, or interference with the peer-review process, may result in manuscript rejection, restrictions on future submissions, or retraction of published articles.