Code of ethics
Plan
Haut de pageThe Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château de Versailles adheres to the principles of transparency and good practice in scholarly publication drawn up by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Comité d’éthique du CNRS (COMETS), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Comité pour la science ouverte.
To ensure the integrity of the construction and dissemination of scholarly research, the Bulletin applies the ethical rules set out in this charter. We invite the members of our committees, authors, publication directors and reviewers to respect these ethical rules.
This charter is inspired by the ethical charters of the journals hosted on OpenEdition Journals.
Editorial commitments
The Bulletin relies on a scientific committee and an editorial committee, as well as on external experts, with the aim of continually improving the scholarly quality of its content. The journal systematically lists the affiliations of its members and all its contributors, and updates its list of peer-reviewers each year. The journal also lists the names of the freelance translators and proofreaders who worked on the articles.
Assessment
The procedures for submitting and reviewing articles are set out in the ‘Editorial policy’ and ‘Submit an article’ sections of the journal.
Articles submitted to the Bulletin are first examined by the editorial committee, which checks that they are relevant to the journal’s editorial policy and meet the formal expectations of a scholarly publication. Not all of the articles received are sent for expert appraisal. The articles selected by the editorial committee undergo a double-blind review – the reviewers do not know the identity of the authors and the authors do not know the origin of the assessments. Each article is assessed by at least two peer-reviewers. Proposals for articles are anonymized before being sent for review. The decision whether to publish articles submitted to the journal lies ultimately with the editorial committee.
Deadlines
The editorial committee ensures that manuscripts submitted are processed as quickly as possible. It responds to queries from authors about the status of their manuscript-in-progress.
Confidentiality
Information concerning a text submitted to the journal will not be circulated outside the editorial committee.
The editorial committee guarantees the confidentiality of the review process and the anonymity of reviewers and authors. The contribution of reviewers is recognized by the publication of a list, updated each year, which does not associate their names with the articles reviewed.
Distribution of articles
The texts are published under an open Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0).
Reviewer commitments
Peer-reviewers are called upon by the journal for their intellectual and scholarly expertize. They are responsible for evaluating manuscripts on their content alone, without making distinctions on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, nationality, academic affiliation or political philosophy.
When they agree to review a manuscript, peer-reviewers attest that they possess the necessary skills and undertake to submit their review within the timeframe agreed with the editorial committee (usually, fifteen to thirty days). Should they feel insufficiently qualified or that they do not have enough time to assess the manuscript, they must inform the journal without delay.
Confidentiality
Peer-reviewers guarantee the confidentiality of the text entrusted to them. In no circumstances may they use it in another context or communicate elements of it (extracts, results, data, etc.) prior to publication. No information about a manuscript submitted for review will be divulged to anyone outside the editorial committee. Peer-reviewers undertake not to retain or copy any manuscript received by them for review.
Conflicts of interest
Peer-reviewers must immediately declare any conflict of interest: proximity within the same institution, current or past collaboration, joint publication, circumstances of professional competition, hierarchical relationship (such as directing a university dissertation), or personal relationship likely to prejudice the quality and independence of the assessment.
Objectivity and impartiality
Peer-reviewers should conduct their assessment objectively and impartially. Writing their assessment entails completing a review form, which can be downloaded from ‘Attachments’ in the ‘Submit an article’ section.
Appraisal reports should be well-argued, constructive and unambiguous in their judgement. Their aim is to improve the article. Personal criticism or scorn, implied or explicit, are not tolerated.
Unless their work constitutes an essential reference in the context of the article, reviewers will refrain from referring authors to their own publications.
Prevention of plagiarism
Peer-reviewers are required to inform the editorial committee of any existing publication known to them that presents significant similarities to or correspondences with the article submitted to the journal.
As far as possible, reviewers should signal in their assessment any borrowings from other, unmentioned research work, published or unpublished.
Use of data
The data presented in the submitted article must not be used, prior to the possible publication of the article, in the research work of any member of the scientific committee or the editorial committee, or that of the reviewers, without the explicit written consent of the author.
Author commitments
Originality
In all but exceptional cases, disclosed to and accepted by the journal, authors undertake not to submit to the Bulletin an article that has already been published in another journal or a new article based exclusively on work already published elsewhere. Similarly, authors undertake not to submit their article to several journals at the same time. The Bulletin may agree, after examination, to publish for the first time in French a text originally written and already published in another language.
Funding
Authors must indicate the funding that enabled them to carry out their research.
References
Any quotation from, or use of work by, other authors must be identified as such and accompanied by the appropriate references, presented in accordance with the ‘Author guidelines’ available on the journal’s website.
In the case of material (particularly images) subject to copyright, authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary rights for its use. If they encounter difficulties, they may contact the editorial secretary for assistance.
Mention of authors
The list of co-authors of an article includes individuals who have made a significant contribution – beyond a formal review or advisory role – to the design of the research presented, the acquisition, preparation or analysis of data, or the critical editing of results. The person who has made the most significant contribution will normally head the list of co-authors. These criteria apply regardless of the professional status of the contributors: established or early-carrier researchers, teachers, students, connoisseurs and amateurs with no academic affiliation, etc.
When an article has more than one author, the person in contact with the journal will ensure that all those involved have read and approved the version of the article submitted to the journal. Similarly, during the evaluation process and right up until publication all the co-authors must be informed if major changes are made to the text.
Defamatory statements
Authors undertake not to exceed the rules of scholarly debate in the articles they submit and not to make defamatory statements that could be interpreted as an attack on the reputation of a third party.
Conflicts of interest
Authors must declare to the journal’s management and editorial committee any potential professional or financial conflicts of interest. All sources of non-public funding for the research presented in the submitted text must be explicitly mentioned.
Corrigenda
If the journal finds significant errors in an article after publication, it may ask the author to correct them in a corrigendum added to the published text. Similarly, if an author discovers significant errors after publication, it is their responsibility to inform the journal promptly and provide a corrigendum. In extreme cases, it is possible that an article be withdrawn, with only the metadata remaining, accompanied by a note from the journal.
Plagiarism
Authors guarantee that their proposed article does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other person or entity.
Publication proposals showing clear signs of plagiarism will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered once the article has been published, the article will be unpublished.