The edition of an issue of the Journal is conducted by the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is a deliberative body dealing with the creativity aspects of the Journal. The Editorial Board is headed by the Editor-in-Chief. Membership in the Editorial Board and the International Advisory Body has to be approved at the sessions of the partners – the Department of Classical Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology of RAS and the Department of History and Philology, RAS.
All the submitted articles are examined by the experts from the Editorial Board within 30 days. Sessions of the Editorial Board held quarterly deal with the experts’ reports. Article reviews are stored in the editorial office during 5 years. Any manuscript which does not conform to the submission guidelines is not accepted for consideration.
If an article is found to satisfy the line of the journal and its requirements, it is sent for the peer review to one or two external reviewers. Internal reviewers are the Editor-in-Chief and the Deputy Editor.
The Editor-in-Chief takes a decision to choose an external reviewer.
The external peer review carried out by recognized experts in a corresponding field, who have a degree and are not in a scientific, financial or any other relationship with the contributor. Review of articles is performed on a voluntary and free of charge. External reviewers receive manuscripts without mentioning the authors and their organizations ("blind" review). Reviewers are notified that the manuscripts send to them are the property of the authors and are reportedly not be subject to disclosure. Reviewers must refrain from illegal use (including copying) materials send to them for review. Within 30 days of receipt of the manuscript, the reviewers should render a certain opinion on the possibility of the article publication in the present form, and in case of the presence of claims to the manuscript they must present them in writing. The review ascertains the correspondence of the content of article to its title and the subject, and also the compliance of the article to modern achievements of scientific and theoretical knowledge. The review assess the language, style and composition of the material, obviousness of tables, charts, drawings, completeness and correctness of citing references, positive aspects and deficiencies of the article. The review indicates corrections and additions which must be made by the contributor.
The copies of the reviews are forwarded to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation when requested.
An expert reserves the right to refuse to do a review in case of a conflict of interest which could influence the perception and interpretation of a manuscript. Having examined a manuscript, an expert gives a recommendation whether to publish an article (every decision must be well-argued).
If the reviewer recommends correcting and revising the article, the Editorial Board sends a note to the author, asking him or her to consider the recommendations. The revised article is to be resubmitted for review. If authors refuse to make revisions, they must notify the Editorial Board in writing or orally of their refusal to be published. If an author and an expert have irreconcilable controversies about the manuscript, the Editorial Board has the right to submit the article for additional review. In case of conflicts the decision is taken by the Editor-in-Chief at the session of the Editorial Board. The decision to reject a submission is taken at the session of the Editorial Board in accordance with the recommendations of the reviewers. A rejected manuscript is not to be resubmitted. The author will be informed of the refusal via e-mail.
After an open vote on every manuscript and publication approval, the Editorial Board informs the authors of their decision and sets the release date.
The journal’s activities are governed by clause 70 of the Civil Code of Russia (“The Copyright”), the international standards of scholarly publication ethics (publicationethics.org/resources/international-standards) developed by the COPE, and the experience of the world’s leading journals and publishers. The journal’s editor does all necessary to respect ethical provisions as established in the international research community, and to prevent violations of these provisions both in its own activity and in relations with all the participants of the scholarly publication process, including the authors, reviewers, editors, publishers, distributors, and readers.
Publishing research works in peer-reviewed journals helps to establish academic contacts as well as make a significant contribution to a certain field of knowledge. Thus, it is important to set standards of ethical behaviour for all the parties involved: authors, Editorial Board members, reviewers, leading editors and the publisher.
The publisher’s duty is to invest in and maintain academic communications, provide for the compliance with all the relevant recommendations in published works, as well as strictly oversee the submitted materials.
Duties of the Editorial Board and Publication Decision
The editors and members of the Editorial Board are responsible for the contents of the Journal, its high academic level, compliance with the theme and implementation of the requirements set by the regulatory instruments and current legislation of the Russian Federation. The editors of the Journal only accept articles which have not been published before and represent original research works or detailed reviews on one of the themes covered by the Journal. The editors and members of the Editorial Board must assess the intellectual contents of manuscripts regardless of authors’ race, origin, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religious or political beliefs.
Privacy
The editors and the Editorial Board must not reveal the information about submitted manuscripts to anyone except for authors, current and potential reviewers and other academic consultants.
Conflict of Interest
The contents of submitted manuscripts are not to be used in personal research without a written consent of the author. The information or ideas that experts receive while reviewing manuscripts must remain confidential and must not be used in order to obtain personal benefits.
The Editor and the Publisher jointly take adequate measures in case of ethical complaints relating to the reviewed manuscripts or published materials. These measures generally include but are not limited to cooperation with the author of a manuscript and providing arguments for the incoming complaint or demand. They may also consist in cooperation with certain organizations and research centres.
Duties of Authors
Authors must provide original verified results of the conducted research work as well as objective discussion of the academic value of the work in question. The data relating to the research must be represented accurately. The work must contain a considerable number of details and references. Knowingly providing erroneous data is considered unethical and thus unacceptable.
Authors must make sure that the submitted manuscript is an original work. In case of using other authors’ works or statements, authors must provide corresponding references and attribute quotes.
Plagiarism may exist in many different forms: from presenting another person’s work as your own to reproducing passages from other people’s works without attribution or claiming rights over other people’s research findings. Plagiarism in any form is unacceptable.
Any information obtained personally via correspondence, conversation or discussion with third parties or obtained through receiving confidential services can only be used with a written consent of the source.
A person can only be considered the author of a manuscript if he or she has made a significant contribution to the main idea of the research work, its development, implementation and interpretation. All those who have also contributed to the work must be indicated as co-authors. In case of a person’s considerable input in a certain area of the research work, they must be indicated as such.
Authors must report any financial or other existing conflicts of interest which may be considered as those affecting the findings or conclusions presented in the work. Instances of conflicts of interest may include employment by third parties, consulting, providing expert reports, receiving remuneration, grants or other financial support. Potential conflicts of interest must be reported as soon as possible. In case authors discover a significant error in the publication, they must inform the editorial office in order to have the publication immediately withdrawn and the mistakes corrected. If the Editor or the Publisher is informed of errors by a third party, the author must withdraw the publication and make the necessary corrections without delay.
Duties of Reviewers
Peer reviewing helps the Editor to decide whether to accept a publication and through further cooperation with the author it enables the latter to improve the quality of the work. Peer reviewing is an integral part of formal academic communications and the core of the scientific approach. The Publisher believes that all scholars wishing to contribute to a publication must provide their substantial input by reviewing it.
Any submitted manuscript must be considered a confidential document. It must not be revealed to or discussed with any third party except for those authorized by the Editor.
Reviewers must assess submitted works adequately and objectively. Personal critical remarks to the author are unacceptable. Reviewers’ opinion must be expressed clearly and supported with arguments.
Reviewers must not examine a manuscript in case of a conflict of interest resulting in competitive or cooperative relationships with authors, companies or any other organizations related to the manuscript.