- Duties of the Publisher
The Publisher has a supporting role in the activities of the Editor-in-chief and the Editorial Board of the journal and in their co-operation with Reviewers and Authors. It offers technical and legal support to the Editor-in-chief and the Editorial Board. Its role is to ensure the scholarly independence of the Editor-in-chief, the Editorial Board, the Reviewers and the Authors. It is also ultimately responsible for the maintenance of good editorial practices and publishing ethics by the journal.
- Duties of the Editor-in-chief
The Editor-in-chief is responsible for the quality of the editorial practices of the journal and for the process of managing papers from their submission to their publication.
More specifically, the Editor-in-chief is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal are to be published. Before making his/her final decision, the Editor-in-chief consults the opinion of at least two independent external Reviewers and the Editorial Board. The Editor may also consult his/her decision with the members of the Advisory Board. In making his/her decision, the Editor-in-chief does not take into account the ethnic origin, gender, religious beliefs or political views of the Author(s).
It is the Editor-in-chief’s duty to ensure that all papers submitted to the journal are reviewed by at least two external Reviewers in the process of double-blind peer review. If the two reviewers reach opposing conclusions, a third reviewer is appointed.
The Editor-in-chief makes sure that the review process, the revision process, and the publication process are timely. The Editor-in-chief ensures that there is no conflict of interests between the Reviewers and the Authors.
The Editor-in-chief ensures that the articles published in the journal do not involve the use of animal subjects. The use of human subjects must be indicated with a statement confirming that the necessary permissions have been obtained from the subjects and/or their institutions.
The Editor-in-chief is responsible for the implementation of the journal's Anti-plagiarism policy (see: point 6) and the policy for dealing with other forms of research misconduct (see: point 7).
- Duties of the Editorial Board
Members of the Editorial Board assist the Editor-in-chief in the review process, the process of making final decisions concerning the publication of papers submitted to the journal, as well as in the process of preparing papers for publication (revision, communication with Reviewers and with Authors). When a paper is submitted to Crossroads, the Editor-in-chief assigns it to a member of the Editorial Board whose academic expertise overlaps with the subject matter of the paper. Then, the assigned Editor manages the review procedure and the production in co-operation with the Editor-in-chief.
Members of the Editorial Board assist the Editor-in-chief in the implementation of the journal's Anti-plagiarism policy (see: point 6) and the policy for dealing with other forms of research misconduct (see: section 7).
- Duties of the Reviewers
The Reviewers assist the Editor-in-chief in making decisions concerning the publication of papers submitted to the journal.
The reviews are confidential; the Reviewers must not reveal their content to anyone or discuss the details of the papers under review with anyone. The Reviewers must not use any unpublished data obtained from the papers under review in their own research.
The Reviewers should make all efforts to express their opinion on the papers in a fair, objective, and unbiased way.
The Reviewers should be well-qualified to write the reviews. If they feel they do not have sufficient qualifications to review a given paper, they should inform the Editor-in-chief about it.
The Reviewers should inform the Editor-in-chief if they encounter any problems with the publishing ethics in the papers under review, such as cases of plagiarism and other forms of research misconduct, e.g. data manipulation or falsification. They should also inform the Editor-in-chief if they encounter any areas of potential conflict of interests with the Authors of the reviewed articles.
- Duties of the Authors
The Authors must present the results of their research in agreement with scholarly standards. The papers must be original, previously unpublished and not under consideration by another journal. The findings and words of other researchers must be appropriately acknowledged. Plagiarism is not accepted. The Authors must obtain written permission to reproduce any previously published materials.
The Authors should provide information about the funding sources of their research.
If the work involves the use of human subjects, the paper should contain a statement that a written consent was obtained from the subjects and/or relevant institutions for their participation in the research. The authors should respect the privacy of the subjects. The journal does not publish papers involving the use of animal subjects.
All the co-authors of a paper are equally responsible for compliance with the journal’s publication ethics.
- Anti-plagiarism policy
Crossroads does not accept any forms of plagiarism (defined as the use of other authors’ works, their fragments, or other researchers’ data without attribution).
To eliminate cases of potential plagiarism, the journal uses a plagiarism checking service (Crossref similarity check). Additionally, the Reviewers and members of the Editorial Board are asked to inform the Editor-in-chief if they suspect plagiarism in papers submitted to the journal. All cases of suspected plagiarism are carefully investigated by the Editor-in-chief and the Editorial Board. When cases of plagiarism are identified, the Editor-in-chief contacts the Author. If the degree of copying is very small, the Author is asked to revise their work. If the degree of copying is serious, the paper is rejected. In such cases, the Editor-in-chief may also decide to contact the Author’s institution and the publisher of the plagiarized work. If plagiarism is found in a paper which has already been published in Crossroads, the Editor-in-chief may decide to retract it. The specific steps taken by the Editor-in-chief when cases plagiarism have been identified depend on the degree of copying and are in agreement with the instructions provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
7. Policy for dealing with other forms of research misconduct
Other forms of research misconduct (in addition to plagiarism) identified in papers submitted to Crossroads, such as data manipulation or data falsification, are also carefully investigated by the Editor-in-chief and the Editorial Board. When the suspected cases of research misconduct are confirmed, the submission is rejected. When cases of research misconduct are identified in papers which have already been published, the papers are retracted from the journal.
