Communications has adopted stringent ethical rules and requires that contributors, authors and experts conform to these rules. They are based on recommendations issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Research Integrity
The contributors, authors and experts must uphold the principles of :
— honesty in research ;
— research integrity ;
— rigour, precision and excellence in research practice ;
— transparency and open communication ;
— all participants in and subjects of research must be respected ;
— should a breach of these standards be identified, please notify the journal by emailing to revue-communications@ehess.fr.
Editorial Process
Communications is a fully independent journal. It warrants that the dossiers and articles proposed abide by rigorous scientific standards, be free from pressure of any kind and be not influenced by commercial, financial, political or corporate interests.
The journal Communications ensures that dossiers and articles are selected with the utmost impartiality, regardless of the gender, nationality, institutional affiliation, disabiliy, seniority, religion, sexual orientation or ethnic origin of the authors.
It encourages the submission of dossiers and articles from researchers from diverse backgrounds, in particular concerning gender, nationality, institutional affiliation, disabiliy, seniority, religion, sexual orientation or ethnic origin.
It warrants that all submissions be treated fairly endeavours to increase diversity as far as contributors are concerned.
The evaluation of the dossiers and articles submitted thoroughly abide by these rules.
For the thematic dossiers, call for proposals shall be issued. Authors in publishing their pieces may submit an abstract of approximately 3,000 characters, along with a title, presenting the issue tackled by the article, the main lines of argument, as well as the material on which it is based.
Proposals will be selected following a double-blind process by the members of the Review Panel on the basis of their relevance, originality, scientific quality, their contribution to the state of the art and the general economy of the thematic dossier, the aim being to embrace diverse fields, fieldworks, and points of view.
A reply will be sent to the authors within 2 months from the deadline for receiving proposals.
For both the thematic dossier and the varia, articles must be original and meet the criteria of scientific integrity. An article proposal that does not conform to the editorial line of the journal may also be discarded without double-blind peer review.
The articles received for thematic dossiers or for the varia section are then double-blind peer reviewed by at least two experts, one of whom not a member of the journal. The article must also be in line with the editorial line of the journal. Consistency, rigour of the demonstration, quality of the analysis and of the field data mobilized as well as of the writing will also be taken into account in the evaluation. The evaluation grid is available on the website.
Following the experts’ opinions, the article may either be accepted for publication with minor modifications, or may be published subject to major modifications, or may be rejected. A reply is sent to the authors within 4 months of receiving the article. In case of rejection, a motivated notification is provided.
The article is processed in accordance with the rules of editing.
Authors are expected to collaborate with the editorial team of the journal who may provide suggestions for corrections ahead of publication ; in so doing authors authorize the editors to make any changes deemed necessary. Before publication, the authors will receive proofs of their article for proofreading and validation.
Any verbal or written abuse towards members of the journal Communications, experts or other participants involved in the editing process shall not be tolerated. Should this occur, the article may be subject to rejection.
Peer Review
The journal Communications encourages peer reviewers to refer to the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers and to apply good practices.
Independent referees approached by the journal who feel that they are not sufficiently competent in the subject matter or who are unable to complete the review within the allotted time are to inform the journal’s management as soon as possible. In case of conflicts of interest, referees must also inform the editorial management.
The article shall be evaluated objectively and with respect for the intellectual independence of the authors. The expertise must be supported by precise arguments. The review shall not contain indelicate language.
The peer review process is strictly confidential. No information about the process is to be disclosed to outside parties, nor is the content of the articles, except prior consent of the authors. Moreover, the content of the papers shall not be used before publication unless the authors give their consent.
The journal warrants that the evaluation be effectively double-blind.
The experts are provided with an evaluation grid.
Issues arising during the peer review must be reported to the journal’s management : revue-communications@ehess.fr.
Authorship and Contributorship
Authors are requested to cite all participants in the writing of the manuscript as co-authors and that they read and approve the final version of the article.
They ought also to mention, in the footnotes or the acknowledgements, all contributors who participate in a significant way in the conception, realization and analysis of the research on which the article is based. They also ensure that only those who significantly contribute to the research are listed.
We encourage authors to refer to COPE on issues of authorship. We also support initiatives to better identify authors (e.g. ORCID).
Authors authorize the publication of their article in print and digital formats on the Cairn.info and Persée portals.
Affiliations
Authors are to state their institutional affiliation(s).
Plagiarism
Authors warrant that their article steer away from any form of plagiarism. Authors are to properly cite all the publications used in their article. They ensure that their article does not infringe the intellectual other parties’ property rights.
Following Cambridge University Press’s definition, plagiarism consists in ‘using someone else’s ideas, words, data, or other material produced by them without acknowledgement’. Plagiarism may regard text, illustration, material downloaded from websites, published or unpublished text, grey literature or oral presentations. If a submitted article does not comply with the rules of citation in its referencing other scholarship or in case of plagiarism, it will be discarded by Communications editorial board. We also reserve the right to vet submitted articles for plagiarism.
Peer reviewers are urged to be particular attention to plagiarism and to notify the journal’s management if they suspect plagiarism. If the reviewers ascertain that the article under review uses work published by others without appropriate referencing, they will inform the journal’s management. If plagiarism is exposed after publication, the article shall be removed from the journal’s website and an erratum published in the paper journal.
Duplicate and Redundant Publication
Articles submitted must be unpublished.
Redundant publication or self-plagiarism is constituted when a text, or an important part of a text, is published several times by its author, without precise referencing and without republication being justified. Peer reviewers are urged to pay special attention to this issue and to inform the journal’s management in case of suspected self-plagiarism.
The authors also guarantee that their paper not be concurrently submitted to other journals, or accepted or in press within a different publication.
If the manuscript provides many passages from an article or text previously published by the author or submitted simultaneously to another journal, the referee shall inform the journal’s management.
Research with Humans
The research on which published articles are based must adhere strictly to ethical standards, including those governing fieldwork.
The authors also guarantee the strict anonymity of the respondents quoted or mentioned in their article.
Competing Interests and Funding
Authors are also required to state all sources of funding for the research on which their articles are based. They must disclose to the review’s management any conflict of interest that may affect the empirical material used, the methodological choices made or the results of the analysis.
Reviewers should also disclose any conflict of interest to the review management as soon as possible.
In case of conflicts of interest with authors or the content of an article, the editorial board members concerned shall withdraw from the editorial process.
Conflicts of interest can be reported to : revue-communications@ehess.fr.
Libel, Defamation and Freedom of Expression
The authors guarantee that their text is free of any defamatory, fraudulent or deliberately inaccurate statements. The Author also guarantees that his or her paper does not contain any criminal offence that may engage the journal’s liability.
Retractions, Corrections and Expressions of Concern
Should authors realize that their text contains one or more significant errors, they shall inform the journal and propose an erratum.
If the journal identifies one or more significant errors in an article published, the authors will be informed and will be urged to propose corrections or to provide evidence of the accuracy of their statements.
Image
When the article is illustrated by images, they must not be altered in case such alterations may produce falsification.
In the event that it contains extracts of texts or illustrations borrowed from other works, the Author will provide the Journal with all necessary waivers for reproduction for publication purposes.
Fraudulent Research and Research Misconduct
Authors warrant that their article meet the criteria of scientific integrity. Any article based on fraudulent results will be rejected.
Transparency
The journal Communications endorses the good practices of COPE scholarly publishing and adheres to the principles of transparency.
Ethical Business Practices
. Fair Access
The publication of articles is free of charge for the authors. There is no processing charges.
The issues of the journal Communications published since 1961 are available online,
in open access on the Persée portal and on Cairn.info, except for the latest issues, which are available in restricted access (on article basis) on Cairn.info (with a moving wall of 1 year for subscribers).
. Censorship
The journal Communications rejects censorship. Its mission is the dissemination of knowledge and research results.
. Advertising
No advertisement is publicized in the journal.