Ethics and malpractice statement
Nordlit has developed publication ethics policies for each of the Core Practices described by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). In drawing up these policies, we have followed COPE’s guidelines for editors and publishers. Where suspected cases of malpractice are identified, we follow the flowcharts developed by COPE.
Authorship and contributorship
Nordlit uses the definition of authorship set out by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which is widely used in academic publishing, also in the humanities. An author (or co-author) of a manuscript should meet all four of the following criteria:
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
- Final approval of the version to be published; AND
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Where contributors do not fully meet these criteria, their contribution should instead be credited in an acknowledgement. Corresponding authors are requested to provide their ORCID when submitting a manuscript, and we recommend ORCIDs are supplied for all co-authors.
Conflicts of interest
When submitting a manuscript to Nordlit, authors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interests that may prejudice or compromise their work, such as financial or commercial interests, personal or professional relationships, and political or religious beliefs. If the submission is accepted for publication, a conflict-of-interest statement will be added to the manuscript where applicable.
In line with COPE’s Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, reviewers must declare all potential competing interests that might prevent them from providing a fair and unbiased review when they are approached by editors. The Editor will not participate in decisions regarding publication of their own scholarly work.
Data sharing
Nordlit encourages authors to archive any research data or code underpinning their submission in a suitable open data repository.
Ethical oversight
Authors are expected to follow relevant institutional and national guidelines on research ethics. Informed consent must have been obtained from any human subjects who participated in the research.
Intellectual property
When submitting a manuscript to Nordlit, authors must confirm that their work is original and has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Authors of articles published in Nordlit retain copyright to their work and grant permission to Septentrio Academic Publishing to distribute their work under a Creative Commons licence.
Post-publication discussions and corrections
Once an article has been published in Nordlit, errors that affect the meaning of content or that relate to data or citations can be corrected. A correction notice including a list of changes, publication date of the original article and the date of the correction, and where to obtain the original article will be added to the end of the corrected articles.
In rare circumstances, serious errors may invalidate an article’s results or conclusions. In such cases, we will follow COPE’s Retraction Guidelines and publish a retraction notice that states which parts of the article are erroneous, as well as the grounds for retraction.
Complaints and appeals
Complaints to Nordlit should be submitted by email to the Editor, who can be contacted at morten.auklend@uit.no. Complainants should describe the subject and nature of their complaint and provide supporting documentation. The Editor will, in consultation with the Editorial Board, if necessary, assess any complaint on its merits, take any necessary remedial action, and respond to the complainant promptly.
