About the Journal

Open Access Policy

The Journal of Comparative Social Work provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

All works in this journal are licensed under the Creative Commons License: Attribution-Share Alike 4.0. Essentially, this means that you are free to use the articles with proper attribution in educational and other settings.

Copyright and Publisher Policy

Authors retain full copyright to their contributions, including the right to make the article available on other platforms or websites. We kindly ask that in such cases a link is provided to JCSW's version of the article.

The published version of an article can be made public on author’s own website, or in scientific repositories.

The accepted version (postprint) of an article can be made public on author’s own website, or in scientific repositories. However, using the published version is recommended if possible.

The submitted version (preprint) of an article can be made public on author’s own website, or in scientific repositories, including repositories for preprints. However, using the published version is recommended if possible.

Authors extend to the editors the right to redistribute their articles via other scholarly resources and bibliographic databases at their discretion. This extension allows the authors' copyrighted content to be included in some databases that are distributed and maintained by for-profit companies.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

(Based on Elsevier recommendations and COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines)

Our journal (The Journal of Comparative Social Work – JCSW) publishes peer-reviewed articles. We uphold the best standards of publication ethics, and take all possible measures against publication malpractices. The editorial team has adopted the following guidelines for the duties and responsibilities of authors, editors and peer reviewers.

Authors' duties and responsibilities

Reporting standards
Authors of manuscripts should present an accurate account of the work performed, as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper, and a manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.

Data access and retention
Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable. In any event, authors should ensure the accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least 10 years after publication (preferably via an institutional or subject-based data repository or other data centre), provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and any legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.

Originality, plagiarism and acknowledgement of sources
Authors will only submit entirely original works, and will appropriately cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work should also be cited. Plagiarism takes many forms, from ‘passing off’ another’s paper as the author’s own paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another’s paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing and is unacceptable.

Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication
In general, papers essentially describing the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Submitting the same paper to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
Manuscripts that have been published as copyrighted material elsewhere cannot be submitted. Moreover, manuscripts under review by the journal should not be resubmitted to copyrighted publications. However, by submitting a manuscript, the author(s) retain the rights to the published material.

Authorship of the manuscript
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors.
The corresponding author ensures that all contributing co-authors and no uninvolved persons are included in the author list. The corresponding author will also verify that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest
All authors should include a statement disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be construed as influencing the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher, and to cooperate with the editor in retracting or correcting the paper in the form of an erratum. If the editor or the publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, it is the obligation of the author to promptly retract or correct the paper, or provide evidence to the editor as to the correctness of the original paper.

Editor’s duties and responsibilities

Publication decisions
The editor is responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published. The editor will evaluate manuscripts without regard to the author’s race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship or political philosophy. The decision will be based on the manuscript’s importance, originality and clarity, as well as the study’s validity and its relevance to the journal's scope. Current legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism should also be considered.

Confidentiality
The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers and the publisher, as deemed appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper will not be used by the editor or the members of the editorial board for their own research purposes without the author's explicit written consent.

Peer reviewers' duties and responsibilities

Contribution to editorial decisions
The peer reviewing process assists the editor and the editorial board in making editorial decisions, and may also serve the author in improving the paper.

Promptness
Any selected peer reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript, or knows that its prompt review will be impossible, should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.

Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must also not be disclosed or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively, and personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of sources
Reviewers should identify cases in which any relevant published work referred to in the paper has not been cited in the reference section. They should point out whether observations or arguments derived from other publications are accompanied by the respective source. Reviewers will notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration, in addition to any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and conflict of interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from any competitive, collaborative or other type of relationship or connection with any of the authors, companies or institutions associated with the papers.

References

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (2011, March 7). Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Retrieved from http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf