The publication of an article in a peer reviewed journal is an essential model for the journal "Il Naturalista Siciliano”.
It is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behaviour for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer and the publisher.
Our ethic statements are based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
Open access Open access is the free and unrestricted access to peer-reviewed scholarly content, predominantly journal articles
Policy on open access to Il Naturalista Siciliano articlesArticles published in “Il Naturalista Siciliano” are freely accessible through the online website, as pdf files. Each printed issue of the journal is sent to all members of the Società Siciliana di Scienze Naturali, but also to Libraries, Museums, Societies and Institutions in Italy and abroad, according to subscriptions or exchanges. The Società Siciliana di Scienze Naturali, editor of Il Naturalista Siciliano, believes that free and open access to publicly-funded research offers significant social and economic benefits. As major bodies charged with investing public money in research, the Research Councils take very seriously their responsibilities in making the outputs from this research publicly available – not just to other researchers, but also to potential users in business, charitable and public sectors, and to the general public.
CopyrightAuthors of articles retain copyright under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use provided the original author and source are credited (see
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Peer Review SystemsAll the Ms submitted for publication on Il Naturalista Siciliano are subject to peer review by two anonymous referees who pass their revision reports to the Editors; on that basis Editors may decide if an article is suitable of publication and if minor or major revision is needed.
Publication decisionsThe editor of Il Naturalista Siciliano is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published.
The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.
Fair playThe editor of Il Naturalista Siciliano at any time evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
ConfidentialityThe editor and the editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
Disclosure and conflicts of interestUnpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.
Duties of ReviewersContribution to Editorial DecisionsPeer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.
PromptnessAny selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
ConfidentialityAny manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
Standards of ObjectivityReviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Acknowledgement of SourcesReviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
Disclosure and Conflict of InterestPrivileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
Duties of AuthorsReporting standardsAuthors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.
Data Access and RetentionAuthors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data (consistent with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
Originality and PlagiarismThe authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication
An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
Acknowledgement of SourcesProper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
Authorship of the PaperAuthorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.
The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
Hazards and Human or Animal SubjectsIf the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.
Disclosure and Conflicts of InterestAll authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
Fundamental errors in published worksWhen an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.