Editorial policies

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Editorial Policies
Editorial Policies

1. Editorial Policies

1.1. Overview

Current Criminology is committed to upholding the highest standards of research integrity and publication ethics. The journal follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and applies them in a manner appropriate to criminology and related social science research.

Editorial decisions are made independently by the journal’s editors, based on the quality and integrity of the work, its contribution to criminological knowledge, and its relevance to the aims and scope of the journal.

1.2. Respectful Communication

The journal expects all interactions among editors, authors, reviewers, and readers to be professional and respectful.

Harassment, discrimination, bullying, or aggressive behavior towards editorial staff, reviewers, or other contributors will not be tolerated. In serious or repeated cases, the journal may decline to consider further submissions and, where appropriate, inform the relevant institutions or authorities.

1.3. Authorship Principles

1.3.1. Authorship Criteria

Authors listed on a manuscript should have all of the following:

  • Substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
  • Intellectual contribution to drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
  • Final approval of the version to be published.
  • Accountability for all aspects of the work, including responsibility for ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Individuals who contribute to the work but do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged in an Acknowledgements section rather than listed as authors.

The journal encourages transparency in contributions and recommends the use of structured contribution statements in the "Authors' contributions" part of the Declarations section.

1.3.2. Corresponding Author

One author must be designated as the corresponding author. This author is responsible for:

  • Ensuring that all authors have seen and approved the final manuscript and agree to its submission.
  • Confirming the accuracy of author names, affiliations, and the order of authors.
  • Serving as the primary contact with the journal during submission, peer review, and post-publication communication.
  • Ensuring that all required disclosures are complete and accurate.

1.3.3. Affiliation and Name Changes

The primary institutional affiliation should be the institution where most of the work was carried out. A current address may also be provided.

Authors who later change their name may request updates to the published record. The journal will follow best practices to respect privacy and integrity of the scholarly record and may offer either a silent correction or a formal notice, depending on the author's preference and technical feasibility.

1.3.4. Authorship Disputes

In the case of an authorship dispute during peer review or after acceptance and publication, the journal will not be in a position to investigate or adjudicate. Authors will be asked to resolve the dispute themselves. If they are unable, the journal reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript from the editorial process or, in the case of a published paper, raise the issue with the authors' institution(s) and abide by its guidelines.

1.4. Competing Interests and Disclosures

Authors, editors, and reviewers must disclose any financial or non-financial interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the submitted work.

Relevant interests include, but are not limited to:

  • Research funding, paid consultancies, honoraria, or employment.
  • Financial interests, such as stocks, royalties, and patents.
  • Non-financial interests such as professional positions, editorial roles, advisory roles, advocacy activities, or personal relationships that may create a perception of bias.

Authors should report interests arising within three years of the research being conducted or the manuscript being prepared. Interests outside this period should also be disclosed if they may reasonably be viewed as relevant.

The above should be summarized in a statement and included in a section entitled "Declarations" before the reference list. Other declarations include Funding, Conflicts of interest/Competing interests, Ethics approval, Consent, Data and/or Code availability, and Authors' contribution statements.

Should the information already be mentioned elsewhere in the manuscript (for example under Methods & Materials), please ensure that it is repeated in the Declarations section.

1.5. Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must ensure that their work adheres to recognized standards of research integrity. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Originality and Prior Publication: Manuscripts should not be under consideration by another journal at the same time and should not have been published elsewhere, in whole or in substantial part, in any language. Legitimate secondary publication must be clearly disclosed and agreed in advance with the journal.
  • No Redundant Publication or "Salami Slicing": A single study should not be inappropriately fragmented into multiple papers.
  • Accuracy and Honesty in Reporting: Data must not be fabricated, falsified, or inappropriately manipulated (including image manipulation).
  • Avoidance of Plagiarism: Text, data, and ideas from others must be properly cited, and verbatim material must be clearly indicated as such. The journal may use plagiarism-detection tools.
  • Responsible Use of Language: Manuscripts must avoid defamatory statements and unjustified allegations about individuals, groups, or institutions.

Authors should retain the underlying data and documentation where ethically and legally feasible, and be prepared to provide them to the editors for confidential inspection if questions about validity arise.

Where the journal has reason to suspect research or publication misconduct, it will follow COPE-aligned procedures, which may include contacting authors and institutions, declining or retracting the manuscript, and issuing appropriate notices.

1.6. Ethics and Biosecurity

Criminological research frequently involves human participants, including victims, offenders, practitioners, and members of the public, as well as sensitive administrative or digital data.

For any research involving human participants, their data, or other identifiable personal information, authors must:

  • Ethics Approval or Exemption: State in the manuscript that the study received approval from an appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee, including the name of the committee and, where available, the approval reference.
  • Informed Consent and Consent to Publish: Confirm that freely given, informed consent to participate was obtained from participants, unless a recognized ethics committee has authorized a waiver in accordance with applicable regulations.
  • Protection of Vulnerable and High-Risk Populations: Exercise particular care when the research involves vulnerable groups such as children and young people, persons in custody or under supervision, individuals with impaired decision-making capacity, or people in situations of extreme precarity.
  • Confidentiality, Anonymity, and Data Protection: Describe how confidentiality and anonymity were protected, including any pseudonymization, anonymization, or secure data-handling procedures.

The journal reserves the right to request evidence of ethics approval or consent and may decline or retract work where ethical standards have not been met.

1.7. Data Availability and Standards of Reporting

Reproducibility and transparency are crucial to the integrity of criminological research; however, the journal acknowledges that legal, ethical, and security constraints may limit the open sharing of data, particularly for sensitive crime-related information.

All submissions must therefore include a Data Availability Statement that clearly indicates:

  • whether data and/or code are publicly available, available on reasonable request, restricted for legal/ethical reasons, or not available; and
  • if available, where and how they can be accessed, and under what conditions.

Where data cannot be shared, authors should explain the reasons and, where possible, describe alternative means of verification.

1.8. Citations

Authors should cite relevant, up-to-date scholarly work in a way that is accurate, fair, and proportionate. In particular, authors should:

  • Avoid excessive self-citation or coordinated mutual citation designed to inflate citation counts.
  • Avoid citing work that they have not read or that does not actually support the claim being made.

Any form of citation manipulation, including coercive or inappropriate citation requests, is contrary to the journal's policies and may lead to rejection or correction of the affected article.

1.9. Peer Review

All research articles submitted to Current Criminology are subject to double-anonymous peer review, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are not disclosed to one another.

Manuscripts are first screened by the editorial team for fit with the journal's scope and basic quality. Submissions may be desk-rejected without external review.

Suitable manuscripts are typically reviewed by at least two independent experts. In rare cases, such as highly specialized topics, a decision may be based on one detailed report.

Editors consider reviewers' comments and recommendations, but are not bound by them. The final decision (accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject) rests with the Editor-in-Chief or delegated editors.

1.10. Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to:

  • Treat the manuscript and all associated materials as confidential.
  • Decline to review if they have a competing interest that may compromise impartiality.
  • Provide fair, constructive, and timely evaluations focused on the scholarly merits of the work.
  • Comment on the robustness of methods, the appropriateness of analyses, and the justification of conclusions.
  • Refrain from using or sharing unpublished information obtained through peer review.

1.11. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

Large Language Models (LLMs) and other generative AI systems do not meet the journal's criteria for authorship. Authorship implies responsibility and accountability, which cannot be attributed to AI tools.

  • Authors must not list AI tools as authors.
  • Substantive use of AI tools must be clearly and specifically disclosed in the Methods section or in the Declarations.

1.12. Corrections, Retractions, and Matters Arising

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record.

  • Corrections: Substantial errors that affect the accuracy of the publication but not the main conclusions may be corrected through a formally published correction that is linked to the original article.
  • Retractions: When the reliability of the findings is seriously undermined, the article may be retracted.
  • Editorial Expressions of Concern: Where serious concerns have been raised and an investigation is ongoing, the journal may publish an expression of concern to alert readers.

1.13. Appeals and Complaints

Authors who wish to appeal an editorial decision or raise a complaint about the editorial process or publication ethics should contact the editorial office in writing, clearly stating the grounds for the appeal or complaint.

1.14. Breaches of Policy

Where serious or repeated breaches of these policies are identified, the journal may take one or more of the following actions, as appropriate:

  • Rejecting the manuscript or withdrawing it from consideration.
  • Publishing a correction, expression of concern, or retraction.
  • Notifying authors' or reviewers' institutions or funders.

2. Ethics and Disclosures

Current Criminology is committed to upholding the highest standards of research and publication integrity.

The journal operates a clear policy on competing interests and requires all authors, editors, and reviewers to declare any potential conflicts of interest.

Authors must ensure that their work complies with all relevant international, national, and institutional guidelines on the conduct and reporting of research. This is particularly important for studies involving human and/or animal participants, vulnerable populations, sensitive data or biological materials, and procedures for obtaining informed consent.

Current Criminology adheres to the principles and Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and follows COPE guidance when addressing concerns about research or publication misconduct. Allegations of misconduct are investigated, and where necessary, appropriate corrective actions are taken to safeguard the integrity of the scholarly record.

All research articles published in this journal are subject to double-anonymous peer review.

Current Criminology is an open-access journal. The copyright of published articles remains with the authors. All articles are distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

This license permits anyone to copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s), a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are clearly indicated. By submitting a manuscript, authors agree to this licensing policy.

4. Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing

Current Criminology is committed to the highest standards of transparency and ethics in scholarly publishing. We fully adhere to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing as set forth by the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA). This commitment is reflected in our clear editorial policies, rigorous peer-review process, proactive disclosure of potential conflicts of interest, and strict adherence to recognized ethical standards. Our goal is to foster trust and ensure the integrity of the scholarly record.

5. Publication Frequency and Continuous Publishing

Current Criminology operates on a continuous publication model. Accepted articles are published online immediately upon completion of the production process. For archiving, indexing, and citation purposes, these articles are subsequently compiled into consecutively numbered monthly volumes and issues.

6. Dispute Resolution and Ethics Handling

In the event of a dispute regarding publication ethics, Current Criminology follows the COPE guidelines for handling such cases. If any ethical concerns or disputes arise during the review process or post-publication, the journal will follow established procedures for investigation and resolution, and may seek guidance from relevant institutions or bodies.