Publication Ethics

Barnboken: Journal of Children's Literature Research is committed to ensuring ethics in publication and quality of the articles published. Full conformity with the standards of ethical behaviour as expressed in the Guidelines and Codes of Conduct issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) is therefore expected from all parties involved: editors, reviewers, authors and the publisher. For more information on COPE’s Guidelines and Codes of Conduct, please see their website: www.publicationethics.org

DUTIES OF EDITORS

Publication Decisions

All submitted manuscripts are considered for publication by the editorial board. Papers submitted to Barnboken will be peer reviewed by the editorial board. Articles considered for publication are then subjected to double-blind peer review by two external reviewers. The editor asks individuals who possess relevant expertise to review the article, provides them with clear guidelines regarding the reviewing process and makes sure the peer review process is objective and completed in a timely fashion.

After the peer review process the editorial board decides which articles are to be published.

If the article is to be published, the editor suggests changes and modifications where necessary. If the submitted article is rejected, the editor provides the author with a clear explanation of why it was rejected.

Articles will be judged on the basis of their relevance to the stated aims of Barnboken, rhetorical and communicative quality, critical insights, use of theory and method, and adherence to submission guidelines.

Papers may be rejected directly by the Editor if judged to be out of scope or if scientifically or formally sub-standard.

Publication Frequency

Articles will be published successively as they become accepted and the final corrections of the master proof have been made. No regular issues will be published but a new volume will be started each calendar year (e.g. 2012: vol. 35, 2013: vol 36 etc.). When posted online, articles will be assigned a DOI number (Digital Object Identifier), which gives the article a permanent identifier, to be used for citation purposes. A DOI replaces traditional bibliometric information (i.e. volume/issue number and page reference).

Open Access Policy

Barnboken is published under an Open Access model and is free for anybody to read and download, and to copy and disseminate for educational purposes. Articles will be published immediately after the final corrections of the master proof have been made. When posted online, articles will be assigned a DOI number (Digital Object Identifier) whereby it becomes possible to search and cite them without delay.

Under the Open Access model used by this journal authors retain copyright.

Archiving

Barnboken is part of the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

Impartiality

Each manuscript is evaluated impartially for its intellectual content, without regard to the gender, citizenship, ethnicity, religious, ideological or political beliefs, academic title, institutional affiliation, academic reputation, etc., of the author(s).

Confidentiality and Disclosure

The editor is responsible for ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of each manuscript submitted to the editorial board of Barnboken.

The double-blind peer review process ensures that the identities of both authors and reviewers are protected.

The names and email addresses entered on the journal’s website will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

The Editor and the members of the editorial board do not disclose any content presented in submitted and unpublished manuscripts, or use it in their own research or in any other way, without the explicit written consent of the author(s).

Conflicts of interest

The Editor requires all members of the editorial board, authors and reviewers to disclose all potential conflicts of interest regarding submitted manuscripts, such as competitive, collaborative or other relationships with any of the parties.

Should a conflict of interest appear that involves the Editor or any of the members of the editorial board, this person should excuse him/herself from the reviewing and decision-making process and delegate it to the deputy editor or another member of the editorial board.

Ethical misconduct and errors

The Editor will respond to all allegations of ethical misconduct and take appropriate steps to rectify possible errors and omissions. The said steps primarily include contacting the author(s) of the paper in question, but may extend to referring the case to appropriate academic or research institutions. If allegations refer to an unpublished manuscript, its publication will be postponed until the case has been satisfactorily resolved.

Should substantial errors or inaccuracies be determined in a submitted manuscript or published paper, the Editor will cooperate with the author(s) in amending the manuscript in question or, in the case of published papers, prepare and publish a correction. In the most severe cases, the Editor can, upon conferring with the author(s) and publisher, decide to retract the paper from the journal.

DUTIES OF REVIEWERS

The role of the reviewer

The reviewer should submit a report consisting of approximately 3000 characters, spaces between words included.

The review should include critical and constructive comments regarding the manuscript in question, as well as an overall recommendation about whether the manuscript should be accepted, accepted after revision, revised and resubmitted, submitted elsewhere (i.e. if the manuscript is better suited for another journal) or rejected.

In their evaluation the reviewer is asked to consider the stated aims of Barnboken, rhetorical and communicative quality, critical insights, use of theory and method as well as adherence to submission guidelines.

Reviewers should also identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the author(s) and warn the Editor of possible cases of plagiarism, copyright infringement, etc.

The peer review process

Reviews should be conducted objectively and strictly on scholarly grounds. Reviewers are expected to express their views in a clear and constructive way, and support them with arguments. Inappropriate comments and personal criticism are deemed unacceptable.

Promptness and conflict of interest

Invited referees who feel unqualified to review a given manuscript or are aware that its timely review will not be possible should immediately notify the Editor.

Reviewers should excuse themselves from reviewing manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interests and should notify the Editor if such a case occurs.

Confidentiality and disclosure

Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. The reviewer must not show or discuss the manuscripts with others, except with special permission from the Editor. Content presented in the submitted manuscripts must not be publicly disclosed, used for one's own research, or used in any other way.

The reviewer is also asked not to identify himself/herself in any way in the submitted report.

DUTIES OF AUTHORS

Reporting standards

Submitted manuscripts should follow the Author Guidelines available on the website of the journal (barnboken.net). Papers should be submitted in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or English. All non-English articles should be provided with an English abstract and title.

The motivation for writing the paper as well as the methods and findings of the study should be set out clearly, as well as the interest the author hopes the published work will evoke. The relevance of the study, both general and within the research context, should also be clearly purported. The author should represent the work of others accurately in citations and quotations from the original publications he/she has consulted.

Authors submitting their manuscripts to the editorial board of Barnboken are held accountable for the originality of their work, as well as for the accuracy of the information and references contained therein. The accuracy and appropriateness of the language used are also the responsibility of the author(s).

Originality and plagiarism

Submission to Barnboken  is taken to imply that the same manuscript is not under consideration by another journal. If the manuscript forms part of a book currently in press, the authors should specify details of the publisher of this book and expected date of publication.

Authors are responsible for obtaining copyright clearance for illustrations, photographs, tables and other material protected by copyright laws. Copyright materials should only be reproduced with appropriate written permission and acknowledgement.

Authors are asked to use iThenticate to screen their work for plagiarism detection before submission by visiting http://research.ithenticate.com.

Authorship of a manuscript

Only those individuals who have made a significant contribution to the manuscript and taken part in its production can be regarded as its authors. The author submitting the manuscript for publication in Barnboken should ensure that everyone who has taken part in the production of the manuscript is included in the list of authors. Please note that at least one of the authors of the article submitted needs to be working on a PhD level (or higher) for Barnboken to consider the article for publication.

The submitting author should also make sure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to its submission to the journal.

Communicating with editors and reviewers

Authors should respond to editorial and reviewers' comments in a professional and timely manner. If authors decide to withdraw a manuscript that has already been submitted for review or if they are not willing to accept reviewers' suggestions, they should immediately notify the Editor.

Errors in manuscripts and published works

If at any time the author(s) discover(s) a significant error or inaccuracy in the submitted manuscript, that error or inaccuracy must immediately be reported to the Editor. In the case of errors or inaccuracies detected in already published papers, the author(s) must promptly notify the Editor and cooperate with him/her on publishing an appropriate correction or erratum, or, in the case of extremely severe errors, retract the paper from the journal.