Ethics Regulations for Publication in Journals Issued by the Lithuanian Institute of History

Publication and Authorship of Articles

• Journals shall be prepared and published in accordance with the academic ethics requirements.
• Only articles that have not been previously published elsewhere shall be published in journals. An article may also be published if it has been published in other language and changed at least by 30 per cent.
• Plagiarism, i.e. presentation of the text of someone else’s of publication, research methodology, idea, discovery as if it were your own, presentation (as if they were newly found) of empirical data that have already been introduced into the scientific circulation, failure to cite references to the literature used, shall be prohibited. However, it shall not be necessary to indicate in the footnote all the researchers who previously used that archival source (or an old printed matter) in their works.
• Articles shall be published free of charge. Authors shall not receive any monetary remuneration for their articles as well. Each of all authors of texts published in individual journal issues shall be entitled to a free copy of a respective issue.
• Works shall be published in journals under a non-exclusive licence granted to the Lithuanian Institute of History (unless other terms and conditions are provided for by agreements between individual journals and publishing houses); authors shall retain the exclusive rights to use their works separately from this publication which is considered to be a collective work.
• All texts published in journals shall be subsequently published on the LIH website in an open-access format.

Publication of Reviews

• Publication of reviews shall be commissioned by the Editorial Board. In cases where the preparation of a review is initiated by the author, he/she should contact the Editorial Board first.

Responsibility of Authors

• The articles submitted shall comply with the requirements for a scientific publication and shall be prepared in accordance with the instructions set by journals for authors regarding the article’s structure, citation, references, summary, etc.
• All indicated co-authors of the article shall have made a significant contribution to the execution of relevant research and the preparation of the article.
• If there is more than one author of the article, then they shall be indicated in the way they decide themselves. If necessary, the authors themselves shall indicate in the article the share of work they put in.
• Authors shall ensure that all the data used in the article are reliable and accurate.
• The author shall take into account the errors identified by peer reviewers, their properly reasoned comments on the validity of the statements and conclusions, on the comprehensiveness and consistency of presentation of the analysis, and other reasoned opinion. If the author does not take into account comments of peer reviewers, he/she shall explain his/her reasons for doing so to the Editorial Board in writing.

Peer Review Procedure and Responsibility of Peer Reviewers

• Scientific articles submitted to journals shall be peer reviewed by at least two anonymous peer reviewers selected by the Editorial Board from among experts in the field researched by the author. If conclusions of peer reviewers on suitability of an article for publication are opposite, the Editorial Board shall appoint a third peer reviewer and, having received his/her conclusions, shall decide on suitability of the article for publication.
• Peer reviewers shall be appointed in a confidential manner, i.e. peer reviewers shall not be provided with information about the identity of authors, and the authors – about the identity of peer reviewers.
• Peer reviewers shall notify the journal producer or the Editorial Board in advance of any potential conflict of interest they may have with respect to the articles offered to them for peer review, including financial circumstances or a personal attitude towards the material intended for publication.
• Peer reviewers shall draw the Editorial Board’s attention to works of a similar nature that have already been published if they are not cited in the article they are peer reviewing.
• Peer reviewers shall ensure the confidentiality of the articles they peer review. They are prohibited to publicly discuss, distribute the articles they are peer reviewing.

Responsibility of Editors and Producers

• The final decision on publication or rejection of a submitted article shall be made by the Editor or the Editorial Board. Its decision on rejection of an article may be appealed by the author to the LIH Academic Ethics Commission (if ethical violations related to the decision-making are suspected).
• The Editorial Board / Producer shall have the duty to ascertain potential conflicts of interest related to the articles submitted for publication, as may exist between the author and peer reviewers of the submitted article (including positive or negative information about the authors or relations with them or institutions represented by them, as well as funding issues), and ensure that they do not affect acceptance or rejection of the publication.
• The Editorial Board shall ensure a proper level and procedure of peer review, and shall make objective decisions without taking account of prejudices and knowledge which peer reviewers might have about the author, including the author’s gender, sexual orientation, religion, political beliefs, or ethnic/geographical origin.
• Acceptance of an article for publication shall imply the highest confidence and trust in its value.
• If erroneous information was presented in an article due to the fault of the Editor, the Editorial Board or a publishing house, the Editorial Board shall ensure that a corrigendum and/or an apology is published.

Possibility for the Members of the Editorial Board of a Publication to Publish Research in a Journal

• If members of the Editorial Board submit their articles or studies to a journal, they shall be accepted and peer reviewed in accordance with the usual procedure, just without informing the author (a member of the Editorial Board) about the entire process. In exceptional cases, where an article is submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, the peer review process shall be organised by his/her deputy or other authorised member of the Editorial Board.