Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

The European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (EJMS) is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research across the social sciences and humanities. EJMS is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity. We adhere to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and other international standards to ensure the quality, transparency and credibility of the journal. This statement sets out the ethical responsibilities of all parties involved in the publication process: authors, reviewers, editors and the publisher.

1. Responsibilities of Authors

  • Originality and plagiarism: Authors must ensure that their submissions are original works that have not been published elsewhere. The work of others must be properly attributed; any form of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism and the unacknowledged use of another’s translation or data, is strictly prohibited. Submissions must not be under review elsewhere.
  • Accuracy of data and sources: Authors present accurate data, quotations and translations. Fabrication, falsification or misrepresentation of data or sources is unacceptable. Authors are encouraged to give access to the data (for example questionnaires or datasets) supporting their findings, where applicable.
  • Multiple or concurrent submissions: Submitting the same manuscript to several journals at the same time is unethical and unacceptable.
  • Authorship and contributions: Everyone who has made a significant contribution to the research is listed as a co-author. The corresponding author ensures that all co-authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission.
  • Affiliations: Authors give their true institutional affiliations at the time the work was done.
  • Disclosure of conflicts of interest: Authors disclose any financial or personal relationships that could influence the research or its interpretation.
  • Acknowledgment of sources: The work of others is always properly acknowledged. Authors cite the publications that have influenced their research.
  • Citation integrity: Excessive self-citation, citations requested in exchange for favours (citation manipulation) and references not justified in the text are unacceptable.
  • Use of generative AI: Authors follow the Generative AI Policy and declare any use of generative AI in the manuscript. AI tools cannot be authors.
  • Research with human participants: Studies with human participants have the approval of an ethics committee and the informed consent of the participants (for minors, of a parent or guardian); personal identifiers are removed. Authors and editors take care of sex and gender aspects where they are relevant to the research design.
  • Language and style: Submissions must be in English, and authors are responsible for the language quality of their manuscripts.

2. Responsibilities of Reviewers

  • Confidentiality: Reviewers treat all manuscripts as confidential documents and do not share or use any information from the manuscript for personal gain.
  • Objectivity and constructiveness: Reviews are conducted objectively, without personal criticism of the author. Reviewers give constructive feedback to help improve the manuscript.
  • Timeliness: Reviewers complete their evaluations within the agreed time; a reviewer who cannot meet the deadline notifies the editor promptly.
  • Conflict of interest: Reviewers decline to review a manuscript if they have a conflict of interest with the authors, their institutions or the funding sources of the research.

3. Responsibilities of Editors

  • Fairness and impartiality: Editors evaluate manuscripts on their intellectual content, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity, citizenship or political philosophy.
  • Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff do not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers and other editorial advisers.
  • Decision-making: Each manuscript is handled by the Editor-in-Chief or one of the Managing Editors, who makes the decision to accept or reject it, taking into account the reports of at least two reviewers and the journal’s editorial policies. Payment of the article processing charge has no influence on editorial decisions.
  • Conflict of interest: Editors recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. Manuscripts by the Editor-in-Chief, a Managing Editor or a board member are handled by an editor with no conflict of interest (see the Peer Review Process).
  • Transparency and corrections: Editors ensure transparency in the publication process and promptly address ethical concerns or errors in published work through corrections, retractions or clarifications.

4. Responsibilities of the Publisher

  • Support for ethical standards: The publisher, Mentisia, supports the journal in maintaining ethical standards and in addressing any instance of misconduct.
  • Accessibility and archiving: The publisher keeps the journal accessible to a wide audience and keeps all published issues and articles, in HTML and PDF form, on its servers. Each article has a DOI registered with Crossref.
  • Open access policy: EJMS is published under the CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International) license. Users may download, distribute and adapt the work for any purpose, provided proper attribution is given to the author(s) and the journal.
  • Handling misconduct: The publisher works closely with the editorial team to investigate and address allegations of research or publication misconduct.

5. Handling Ethical Issues

  • Allegations of misconduct: Allegations of ethical misconduct, including plagiarism, data fabrication or authorship disputes, are investigated thoroughly and in accordance with COPE guidelines.
  • Similarity checks: Every manuscript is checked for similarity with iThenticate before peer review. Plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification lead to rejection or, after publication, to retraction.
  • Appeals: Authors may appeal editorial decisions by giving a detailed explanation of their concerns to [email protected]. Appeals are handled fairly and transparently by an editor not involved in the original decision.

6. Corrections, Retractions and Changes after Publication

  • Integrity of the record: A published article cannot be withdrawn or silently changed. Changes are made through public notices, following COPE guidelines.
  • Corrections: Significant errors are corrected by a published correction notice (corrigendum or erratum), linked permanently to the original article.
  • Retractions: If misconduct, fabricated data or a fundamental error invalidate the conclusions, the article is retracted. The retraction notice is published and linked to the article, which stays available, marked as retracted.
  • Name changes: Authors may ask for their name to be changed on a published article (for example after marriage, gender transition or for religious reasons), in line with COPE guidance.

7. Compliance with Ethical Standards

All parties involved in the publication process are expected to comply with these ethical guidelines. Failure to do so may result in sanctions, including but not limited to the rejection of manuscripts, the retraction of published articles or a ban on future submissions.

8. Submission and Publication Process

  • Submission guidelines: Manuscripts are submitted in Microsoft Word format via the online submission form. If authors encounter difficulties, they may email their manuscript as an attachment to [email protected].
  • Peer review: All manuscripts that pass the initial assessment undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers, to ensure the publication of high-calibre scholarly work.
  • Article processing and publishing fee (APC): A fee of €950 is charged for processing and publishing each accepted article. It is invoiced only after formal acceptance, and a receipt is issued. No fee is charged for submission or review; the APC has no influence on editorial decisions, and payment does not guarantee publication.
  • Publication schedule: EJMS publishes one issue per year (28 December), with a submission deadline of 28 October.

9. Open Access and Licensing

EJMS is committed to open access and the free dissemination of knowledge. Published articles are available under the CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International) license; authors keep the copyright of their work. For more information, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Authors are encouraged to deposit any version of their article (preprint, accepted manuscript or the published version) in institutional or subject repositories and on personal websites, with a link to the published article.

10. Indexing and Abstracting

EJMS is indexed and abstracted in databases including EBSCO, ProQuest, WorldCat (OCLC), RePEc (IDEAS) and Google Scholar, which gives published research visibility to a global audience.

11. Advertising and Direct Marketing

EJMS does not carry commercial advertising on its website or in its issues. Calls for papers and other messages sent by the journal or the publisher are targeted, truthful and unobtrusive; the journal does not use misleading metrics or claims about its indexing.

European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (EJMS) · ISSN 2414-8377 (Print), ISSN 2414-8385 (Online)
Editorial office: Cristina Alexe, Research Institute for Quality of Life, Romanian Academy, Calea 13 Septembrie nr. 13, Sector 5, Bucharest, 050711, Romania · [email protected] · +40 742 220 029
Publisher: Mentisia, Casa Academiei Române, Calea 13 Septembrie nr. 13, Sector 5, 050711 Bucharest, Romania · [email protected]
Last updated 9 October 2026