Victorian Studies (VS) is dedicated to following best practices on ethical matters, errors, and retractions. The prevention of publication malpractice is one of the important responsibilities of the editorial board. Any kind of unethical behavior is unacceptable, and VS does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Authors submitting articles to VS affirm that manuscript contents are original.
The following duties outlined for editors, authors, and reviewers are based on the MLA guidelines.
Duties of Editor
Publication Decisions: Based on external review report(s) and/or at his/her own discretion, the editor can accept, reject, or request modifications to the manuscript.
Review of Manuscripts: Editors must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated by the editor for originality. Following desk review, the manuscript will be sent out for blind peer review, which the editors will use to determine whether to accept, reject, or request revisions for the manuscript. Editors will rely on outside reviewers for expertise whenever necessary.
Fair Review: The editors must ensure that each manuscript received by VS is reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to the sex, gender, race, religion, citizenship, etc. of the author.
Confidentiality: The editors must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: The editors of VS will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research without written consent of the author.
Duties of Authors
Reporting Standards: Authors should present an accurate account of their original research as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Manuscripts will follow the submission guidelines of the journal.
Originality: Authors must ensure that they have written original work and have properly cited other scholarship whenever necessary.
Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publications: Authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently. It is also expected that authors will not publish redundant manuscripts or manuscripts describing the same research in more than one journal.
Acknowledgement of Sources: Authors should acknowledge all sources of data used in the research and cite publications that have been influential in the research work.
Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to conception, design, execution or interpretation of the reported study. Others who have made significant contribution must be listed as co-authors. Authors ensure that all the co-authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the manuscript and to their inclusion as co-authors.
Data Access and Retention: Authors should provide raw data related to their manuscript for editorial review and must retain such data.
Fundamental Errors in Published Works: If at any point an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in a submitted manuscript, then it must be reported to the editor.
Duties of Reviewers
Confidentiality: Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information.
Acknowledgement of Sources: Manuscript reviewers must ensure that authors have acknowledged all sources of data used in the research. Any kind of similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any published book or essay of which the reviewer has personal knowledge must be immediately brought to the editor’s notice.
Standards of Objectivity: Review of submitted manuscripts must be done objectively; reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Promptness: In the event that a reviewer feels it is not possible for him/her to complete the review of a manuscript within the stipulated time, then this information must be communicated to the editor, so that the manuscript can be sent to another reviewer and/or a decision can be made in-house.