Technology and Language is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed scientific journal which meets the definition of Diamond Open Access: Not charging fees to either authors or readers, Technology and Language is community-driven, academic-led, and academic-owned. Published 4 times a year at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, it serves a fine-grained variety of multilingual and multicultural scholarly communities. Like other Diamond Open Access journals Technology and Language is equitable by nature and design. Accordingly, this Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement agrees with the ethical standards adopted by the scientific community, in particular, with the guidelines of the COPE Committee on Publication Ethics. All participants of the editorial process share responsibility in upholding the ideals of Research Integrity in terms of honesty, transparency, and accountability. In the Editorial Process this first concerns the responsibility of authors and the submission of manuscripts.
1. Responsibility of authors
Originality
Technology and Language has an exclusive submission policy. All research papers should be original, neither published previously nor submitted elsewhere. In particular, by submitting a manuscript to Technology and Language, authors declare
- that the paper has not been plagiarized in whole or in part by deliberately incorporating previously published wording or ideas from printed sources or oral presentations without attribution to the original author (both verbatim copying and paraphrasing are considered plagiarism);
- that the submitted manuscript is not under consideration or accepted for publication by another journal or in a book, whereas deposit in a preprint archive or as a manuscript on the author‘s personal website are acceptable;
- that this is not a duplicate and redundant republication as a whole or a considerable part of a previously published paper or book-chapter, with allowable exceptions for translations from another language and substantially revised versions of papers previously published in grey literature or informal conference proceedings, in which case the publication history needs to be fully documented and all copyright questions resolved.
It is the responsibility of authors to ascertain that these conditions are met. We reserve the right to check submissions through available electronic tools. We invite our reviewers and readers to report suspicions of plagiarism to soctech@spbstu.ru. For the case that plagiarism is established only after publication, see the „Corrections, Retractions“ section of this Ethics and Malpractice Statement.
Research and data quality
The authors are responsible for the quality of the paper and especially the quality of their sources, their experimentally produced and collected data, and their methods of data-analysis. Authors are obliged to clearly and honestly present the results of their research; the falsification, fabrication, or misrepresentation of data is fraudulent and automatically implies the rejection of a paper.
As an international Diamond open access journal, Technology and Language promotes and defends freedom of expression but we cannot support the publication of false or otherwise libelous and defamatory statements that harm the reputation of groups or individuals. In the editorial process, we strongly encourage the use of gender-neutral expressions and the avoidance of offensive expressions (even where these are merely quoted).
The sources of data and quoted text need to be referenced as they appear in original sources, whenever possible, and not in derivative works. However, the use of citations as a method for improving the impact factor or to influence rankings of the author, the author‘s organization or affiliates is considered bad research conduct and should be avoided.
Since conflicts of interest and undisclosed funding sources can undermine the credibility of research, authors must disclose potential conflicts of interest to the editors who must decide whether such a potential conflict needs to be disclosed to the readers as well. Conflicts of interest may arise through financial interests in a marketable product that is subject of an article, through funding by a private company or another sponsor who may profit from the publication, through familial or otherwise private (religious, political) commitments to a cause that is addressed in the article, or through favors and obligations to superiors or senior scientists who may advance or hinder a career. Not all potential conflicts of interest are problematic and the disclosure itself may be sufficient to mitigate them. If in doubt, authors should consult with the editors.
(Co-)Authorship
The default assumption for co-authorship is a true collaboration with authors listed in alphabetical order. Exceptions can be justified since authorship should reflect each author’s actual contribution to research and to writing the paper. Guest authorship (i.e. listing an author who didn’t take part in the research and writing) and ghost authorship (i.e. omitting to list an author who actually made a significant contribution) is not acceptable. All authors must read the final version of the article and assume responsibility for the entirety of its content.
Authors‘ stated affiliations will normally reflect their current place of academic employment or, if warranted, the institution where the research was carried out. If the research is specifically indebted to some institute, laboratory, or research environment, authors are encouraged to acknowledge this in their paper.
The corresponding author has special obligations - keeping co-authors informed of the editorial process, agreeing to and signing on behalf of coauthors the Publication or Licensing Agreement, co-ordinating manuscript revision and proofreading, responding to postpublication queries, including concerns about plagiarism, duplicate or redundant publication, research ethics.
Machine learning tools or AI-supported automated text generation cannot be considered as authors or co-authors of submitted texts, however, their employment should be fully disclosed in a footnote to the text, this includes the use of translation software.
When submitted manuscripts include images from other sources, a literary epigraph, or extensive quotations, authors need to obtain copyright clearance prior to publication and include requisite copyright statements in the text.
Disclosures
Authors must be able to provide evidence that results were obtained ethically, especially concerning expert interviews and the presentation of personal opinions of identified or anonymized research subjects and informants. Any research that involves humans or animals has to demonstrably conform to international research standards as well as legal norms at the place of research and the place of publication (Russia). The editorial staff therefore has the right to request information from authors regarding ethics approval and informed consent of research or interview subjects, also regarding the scientific contribution of all co-authors, all sources of funding, copyright clearances, and possible conflicts of interest. In exceptional cases, the editorial board has the right to require the written consent of the co-authors to publish the article in the form submitted to the publication.
Corrections, Retractions
If an author seeks to correct or is found to have made an error, the journal will issue a corrigendum. On the website of the online publication this will appear alongside the published paper. In the downloadable pdf-version of the entire issue, an additional page will be inserted. Similarly, if the journal needs to correct an error, this will be published as an erratum.
Since a publication can never be completely undone, retractions are exceptional measures to give notice that a paper should not be regarded as part of the scientific literature. The online article will be preceded by a screen containing a retraction note that is signed by the authors and/or editors. In the downloadable pdf of the entire issue, the retraction note will appear above the title of the paper.
The retraction mechanism will be triggered by a majority decision of the journal’s Editorial Board (with managing editors abstaining from the vote), it will be applied in compliance with the COPE protocol. The retraction of articles is warranted in case
- the editors, the publisher or authors have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of major error, or as a result of fabrication or falsification, or if the paper constitutes plagiarism;
- the editors or publisher reveal the fact of a deliberate or non-intentional concealment of a conflict of interest, which could have affected the findings, conclusions, or recommendations of the published paper;
- the paper contains material or data illegally acquired or without authorization for use.
Retraction is not warranted when the main findings or conclusions of the paper are still credible and scientifically interesting, and when corrections could sufficiently address errors. It is not justified when there is as yet inconclusive evidence and when editors determine that the newly discovered conflicts of interest were not likely to influence conclusions or recommendations.
2. Responsibility of the editors
The editors make the decision to publish the paper and assume responsibility for this decision. Based on input from the peer review process, the main criteria used by the editors to judge the paper’s eligibility for publication are whether the research submitted makes an important contribution to the state of knowledge or academic discussions, whether it fits with the journal’s subject matter, and whether it complies with its guidelines. The editors’ decision should not be affected by any of the authors’ affiliation, position, race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, origin, nationality, or political preference. We are committed to promoting equity at every stage of the publishing process, actively encouraging submissions from scholars of diverse national and ethnic backgrounds, junior as well as senior scholars, including scholars working outside academic institutions.
The rejection of a submitted paper should always indicate a perspective for future publication in Technology and Language or another venue. If despite of this constructive criticism authors appeal the rejection, three to fives members of the Editorial Board (not including managing editors and reviewers) will consider the complaint, review the editorial process, and determine a further course of action. The editors are responsible for maintaining confidentiality when handling submissions, ensuring, in particular,
- that as yet unpublished findings or data obtained from submitted manuscript are not transferred to third parties (other than reviewers) prior to publication;
- that the identities of reviewers are not revealed during the peer-review process.
Editors should disclose to each other any conflict of interest that may arise from close professional or personal relations to any of the authors, from competition in their field of research, or from institutional and funding arrangements. Given their role in executing collective decisions based on peer review, editors do not normally need to recuse themselves from handling manuscripts or communicating with authors.
3. Responsibility of the reviewers
Peer review is based on mutual respect of author and reviewer who are equals as participants in the scientific process. The main purpose of peer review is to assess the scientific value of the manuscript, whether it complies with general scientific standards, and whether it contributes to discussions of the journal‘s themes. The corrections suggested by the reviewers should aim to improve the manuscript in these respects. The reviewers’ comments and recommendations should be formulated in a helpful, constructive, and easily understandable manner. If reviews are formulated in a potentially hurtful, disparaging, or discouraging manner, the editors will serve as intermediaries and will paraphrase the comments.
The reviewers must keep confidential the contents of the manuscript under review and must not share the article with third parties until it is published.
The reviewers should decline to review the manuscript in case of conflict of interests that may arise from close professional or personal relations to any of the authors, from competition in their field of research, or from institutional and funding arrangements.
4. Marketing Communication and Dissemination
Authors entrust their work to Technology and Language. In return, editors, staff, and editorial board will do their best to ensure that the contributions to the journal achieve visibility in the academic community. As a Diamond open access journal we provide barrier-free access for an international readership. Authors retain copyright and are free to republish their papers, provided that they reference the original publication in Technology and Language.
Published papers will be featured in newsletters and on the journal website. Editors and staff are committed to preserve integrity of content, adequately representing the significance of each contribution. They will be responsive to feedback from authors and readers.