We follow the guidelines announced by the Committee on Publication Ethics: COPE and the Council of Science Editors (CSE) and support their ethical publishing principles. These guidelines apply to the journal’s editors, authors and reviewers. (https://publicationethics.org/ https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/publication-ethics/). The journal also adheres to the Lithuanian Institute of History Code of Academic Ethics (https://www.istorija.lt/data/public/uploads/2020/07/lii-akademines-etikos-kodeksas-patvirtintas-2016-06-22.pdf). When assessing possible transgressions, the journal follows COPE structural flowcharts.
Publisher’s ethics and liability
The Lithuanian Institute of History is responsible for organising the publishing process and the journal’s financial management and strategy.
The Lithuanian Institute of History recognises the scientific honesty, objectivity and independence of the journal’s Editorial Board, authors and reviewers, i.e., it does not interfere in the assessment or selection of scholarly papers.
The Lithuanian Institute of History guarantees the Editorial Board, reviewers and authors direct access to its directors and the opportunity to inform them of potential conflicts.
The Lithuanian Institute of History guarantees confidentiality of stored journal-related documents.
The Lithuanian Institute of History guarantees the implementation of conflict of interest management, academic honesty and other procedures.
Publishing malpractice policy
In the case of suspected or proven academic transgression, dishonest publication, plagiarism or autoplagiarism (duplicate publication, redundant publication), the publisher, in close cooperation with the editors, takes all necessary measures to clarify the situation and correct the article under deliberation. This may take the form of a short announcement about a typing error or in more serious cases, complete dissociation from the dishonestly submitted article, eventuating in its withdrawal.
We allow for the possibility of correcting errors when the error was made by the author. Also, in the case of a printing error, the journal publishes a corrected version. Rejection of an article is not considered in those cases when only minor corrections – for language or non-fundamentally inaccurate writing – are required.
The rejection procedure begins when the journal receives information that certain discoveries presented in the publication or the conclusions are erroneous, or if the content of the publication was plagiarised. Any resulting outcomes will abide by COPE (Committee on Publications Ethics) guidelines.
Similarity check procedure
The editorial board actively seeks to stop any scholarly or professional plagiarism, therefore a similarity check procedure is performed prior to reviewing. Special similarity checking and plagiarism prevention tools are used to screen for duplication of information in the submitted manuscripts and identification of authorship. Manuscripts arousing suspicions of plagiarisation are rejected immediately.
If plagiarism is determined already after publication, the guidelines for cases of illegitimate publications are followed.
Conflicts of interest
Conflicts of interest arise when there are grounds to believe that matters unrelated to research may influence the neutrality and objectivity of an article or its assessment. The accountable persons must be informed in advance of any possible conflicts of interest regardless of whether they had any influence on the research or not, so that a reasoned decision may be made. Conflicts of interest may be institutional (when one of the parties is related in some way to an organisation which has an interest in a particular result from the research), financial (when authors receive or expect benefit or other positive gains or perks relating to the object of research, or when an organisation is interested in certain research results), personal (close personal links), etc.
On behalf of the journal, we guarantee that in many cases, the honest declaration of interests does not prevent the article from being printed or from being included in the review process.
If any doubts arise, please inform the editors of possible conflicts of interests or discuss this matter with the Editorial Board. If a conflict of interest relating to the submitted publication is not announced in advance, yet comes to light later on in the review process, the article could be rejected. Printed articles may have to be reassessed.
It is the duty of the Editorial Board to investigate potential conflicts of interest relating to articles submitted for publication between the article’s author and reviewers (including positive or negative information about the authors, relationships with them or the institutions they represent, as well as any funding issues) and to ensure that they will not have any influence on the publication’s acceptance or rejection.
Authorship and AI tools
The journal is in agreement with the COPE position regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific research:
COPE position statement, February 13, 2023 https://publicationethics.org/cope-position-statements/ai-author
The journal abides by the “Guidelines on the Ethical use of Artificial Intelligence in Science and Education”, confirmed by the Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures of the Republic of Lithuania, No. V-14, April 29, 2024 (https://e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/56254af0061111efbcbfb318996800a8 )
As with all content being presented to the journal, the author(s) must ensure that they have permission to use all third-party content incorporated into their submitted material, including that gained using AI.
Archiving
The Lithuanian Institute of History digital archive is designed to ensure the safe and reliable protection of digital resources, their accessibility and long-term preservation. This archive makes use of modern technology and strict security measures so as to protect and effectively manage digital resources.
Our digital content protection policy encompasses the following measures:
Internal institutional servers and back-up copies
All digital resources are kept in our internal servers, which are constantly maintained and monitored. Back-up copies are regularly made to ensure data security and to secure against data loss; they are kept in our local server infrastructure. The creation of back-up copies is automated to ensure that renewed data copies will always be available.
Digital resource publicisation
Digital resources are presented on the institution’s website, which is protected by modern security measures complying with Lithuanian national standards. This platform ensures that users can safely and conveniently access digital resources without worrying about data security issues. The institution’s website information is kept in Lithuania’s university servers.
Cooperation with libraries
When new digital resources are released, their copies are shared with our partner libraries (the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, etc.). This process ensures that the institution’s digital resources can be accessed by a wide circle of users via various institutions, thereby contributing to cultural and historical heritage preservation and the creation of data archive copies.
Cloud servers
In order to ensure greater reliability and accessibility, digital resources are also uploaded to cloud servers via a special platform (open.istorija.lt). Cloud computing ensures that our data will be protected from physical server failure and will be accessible from anywhere in the world. This allows ensuring continual access and the rapid restoration of data in the event of a fault/failure.
We guarantee that our digital resources are safe and accessible to users everywhere and all the time. All online connection-related security measures are different and are not interrelated. In the event of possible failures data accessibility will be preserved, along with rapid data restoration.
We do not plan to stop publishing this journal. If for any unfavourable circumstances we will be forced to suspend the journal’s publication, the manuscripts published therein will be stored online and will be accessible to readers for at least the next ten years, and for an unlimited time the journal or copies of its articles will be in libraries.
Article dissemination
The publisher goes to every conceivable effort to increase the visibility of published articles. However, there are a few main ways how you, as the author, can help spread information about the journal and thereby increase the impact of your papers.
Provide information about your published article in your ORCID iD profile.
Connect to social networks aimed at scientists and provide information about published articles in your profile: ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Mendeley, Google Scholar.
Complaints and appeals
Submissions declined without external review with the editor’s statement of the reasons for rejection are not eligible for appeal.
If an article is rejected after the peer-review procedure, the author may lodge an appeal over the article’s rejection, providing a detailed response to the reviewer’s comments. The appeal is analysed by the editor-in-chief.
If the author were to feel unsatisfied with the editor’s decision regarding the appeal, he/she may contact the Lithuanian Institute of History at istorija@istorija.lt
Appealing for post-publication correction
In the event of the identification of any kind of breach relating to the published article, the editor-in-chief will decide whether to retract the article or take other corrective action in accordance with COPE guidelines. The Lithuanian Institute of History reserves the right to take corrective action in order to maintain its transparent and accurate academic record.
Authors may appeal this corrective decision by contacting the editor directly or by writing a complaint to istorija@istorija.lt. Appeals will be discussed with the journal’s editor, the Editorial Board and/or external scientific advisors, depending on the specific situation. Decisions regarding retraction and publications arousing academic concern are final and inappellable.
Other appeals
Please contact us at istorija@istorija.lt if you wish to express a complaint regarding any aspect of the publication process in a Lithuanian Institute of History journal.
Appeals procedure
The Lithuanian Institute of History will confirm the fact of receiving any email sent to istorija@istorija.lt within five workdays. Appeals are considered in line with COPE guidelines. This investigation will decide whether the problems raised by authors or other issues were resolved in an honest and objective manner. All the peer-review history pertaining to a specific paper will be revisited, accompanied by the mutual cooperation of all parties that participated in the review process of the paper in question. Abiding by GDPR rules, we can ask for additional information by communicating directly with parties participating in the investigation. Authors will be informed about the investigation’s results via the same email used to submit their appeal.
We seek to solve problems as quickly as possible, setting a provisional term of 8 weeks. However, some investigations may take longer depending on the nature of the appeal and the information under deliberation, and/or how many parties are involved in the appeal process.
So as to ensure the proper implementation of this process, we ask all participating parties to allow for the analysis to be completed before making any public comments about the case under deliberation.