This page outlines the ethical standards and obligations for all parties involved in the publication process of this open-access journal: the authors, the editorial board, the peer reviewers, and other contributors. These guidelines are grounded in the journal’s Core Values, common standard academic best practices, and the practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In any situation where you cannot find your answer here, you should follow the details established by COPE.

Article 1: Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression

The Journal is firmly committed to maintaining unconditional academic freedom and freedom of speech. The editorial board evaluates submissions solely on their scholarly merit, rigor, and alignment with the journal’s scope, independent of the ideological positions, political tendencies, or theoretical frameworks advanced by the authors. However, any content that is designed to advocate for any form of limitation on freedom of expression might not be easily accepted.

Article 2: Ideological Neutrality

The Journal operates as a neutral forum for scholarly inquiry and does not promote, endorse, or enforce any specific ideology or system of thought. The Authors are expected to keep such neutrality in the body and methodology of their research, even if their theoretical framework is rooted in a specific ideology or their [logically argued] conclusion advocates for a specific thought.

Article 3: Pluralism, Decolonisation of Scholarship, and Non-Discrimination

The Journal values academic pluralism and decolonization of scholarship. Decolonisation is not meant to manifest as DeWesternisation, and the very juxtaposition of different ways of knowing adds to the intended plurality. The Journal proactively seeks to host diverse, variant, and niche methodological approaches to expand the boundaries of the discipline. Evaluation of submissions is conducted without regard to the author’s race, ethnicity, citizenship status, national origin, religious beliefs, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or institutional seniority.

Article 4: Originality, Plagiarism, and Text Recycling

Authors must ensure that their submitted work is entirely original. If the work or words of others are used, they must be appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms (including, but not limited to, verbatim copying, paraphrasing substantial parts of another’s work without attribution, or “text recycling”) constitutes serious publication malpractice and is strictly prohibited.

Article 5: The Use of LLMs or GenAI

The Scattered Pelican with a realistic approach recognizes that the use of GenAI has entered the daily activities of many scholars (specifically on the younger side) and believes that LLMs can be used ethically and responsibly. In this spirit, Artificial Intelligence is not strictly forbidden, if it is not helping for drafting main arguments, writing literature review, or in short, replacing the “intellectual contribution” of the author. It can be used for locating references, outlining the structure, assistance in coding data, and other similar marginal tasks, as long as every single instance of AI-use is acknowledged at the end of the paper.

Article 6: Concurrent Submissions and Multiple Publication

Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently is unethical and unacceptable. Authors must not submit a manuscript that is under consideration elsewhere, nor should they publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one primary journal.

Article 7: Authorship Credit and Responsibilities

Authorship must be limited to individuals who made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All individuals who made significant contributions must be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author ensures that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication.

Article 8: Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is their immediate obligation to notify the journal editor and cooperate to either retract the paper or publish an appropriate erratum or corrigendum.

Article 9: Acknowledgement of Sources and Funding

Authors must accurately acknowledge the work of others and cite publications that influenced the nature of the submitted work. Additionally, all explicit sources of financial support, institutional funding, or relevant material assistance for the research must be clearly disclosed within the manuscript.

Article 10: Double-Anonymized Peer Review and Confidentiality

The Journal utilizes a strict double-anonymized peer review process to ensure objectivity. Reviewers must treat any manuscripts received for review as confidential documents. They must not disclose, discuss, or utilize unpublished materials entrusted to them for their own personal or research advantage without explicit written consent. Likewise, authors are ethically responsible to inform the journal if they realize their work is assigned to a peer reviewer who knows them, which can create all forms of bias.

Article 11: Manipulation and Misconduct

Research and non-research articles must cite relevant, timely, and verified literature (peer-reviewed, where appropriate) to support any claims made in the article. You must avoid excessive and inappropriate self-citation or prearrangements among author groups to inappropriately cite each other’s work, as this can be considered citation manipulation. The use of third-party data without appropriate permissions and Image or data manipulation or fabrication are other forms of common misconduct. In the field of comparative literature, inaccurate and guided translations are a common data manipulation.

Article 12: Authors’ Ethical Responsibilities and Legal Obligations

Authors are ethically responsible to make sure that they are following all the eleven articles above (at least), as well as any COPE guidelines in cases where they cannot find appropriate information here. They are also legally obliged to obtain all the necessary permissions, approvals, and documents before submitting the manuscript to the journal. Finally, they are both ethically and legally required to keep a state of “Shared Copyright” for their manuscript and not publish it anywhere else (Conference Presentation is not a case of publication, but conference proceedings are off limits) until they receive a final decision on their submission.