1. Duties of the Director, of the editors of each instalment, of the Scientific Committee and the Editorial Board. Decisions about publication.

The Director of the Magazine and the editorial staff are responsible for deciding whether to publish a submitted article or not. The editorial staff can consult the Scientific Committee of the Magazine and shall meet the requirements set forth by the applicable defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism laws.

In taking his/her decisions, the Director shall be supported by the editors of each instalment and by at least two referees, who shall be chosen among scholars and experts who are not members of the Scientific Committee and by the Editorial Board, based on a double-blind peer review procedure.

The Director and the editors of each instalment shall assess the texts in terms of scientific contents, without distinction as to the race, sex, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious, scientific, academic or political belief of the authors.

The Director, the editors of each instalment, the Scientific Committee and the Editorial Board shall not disclose the submitted texts to any party, other than the authors, the referees and any potential referees.

The unpublished materials contained in the reviewed texts shall not be used by the Director, by the editors of each instalment or by the members of the Scientific Committee and Editorial Board for their own research projects, without the written consent of the author.

Should the Director find or be informed about any mistake or inaccuracy, conflict of interest or plagiarism in any published article, the Director shall promptly inform the author and the publisher, shall take the measures required to investigate the matter, and, if needed, shall withdraw such article or shall publish a retraction. Should the authors notice a gross mistake or any inaccuracy in their published articles, they shall promptly inform the Director of the Magazine and assist him/her in reviewing them.

2. Duties of the referees

The referees shall assist the Director and the editors of each instalment in their editorial decisions and may give the author useful suggestions to improve the text.

Those chosen referees who do not feel to be qualified to review the assigned manuscripts or who know they could not complete their reviews by the deadline shall notify their decision to the Director or to the editors of the instalment, and they shall abstain from taking part in the review process.

Reviewed texts shall be treated as confidential documents. They shall not be shown or discussed with anyone, without the prior consent of the Director.

All reviews shall be based on objective criteria. No ad hominem criticism or offense may be raised against the authors. The referees shall clearly express their opinions, with the support of documented arguments. Any statement, comment or argument shall be preferably supported by the relevant quote.

The referees shall not accept any texts in which they may have a conflict of interest resulting from competition, cooperation or any other connection with the authors or with companies or institutions that are related to the subject of the manuscript.

The referees shall inform the Director of any substantial similarity or overlap they may find between the reviewed text and any other published document they are aware of. Any information or ideas received by reviewing a text shall be treated as strictly confidential and shall not be used for personal gain.

3. Duties of the authors

The authors shall ensure that they have written entirely original works, and, if they have used the work and/or words of other authors, then such work and/or words shall be properly paraphrased or quoted verbatim. In any case, any work of any other authors shall be expressly mentioned in the References.

The authors shall mention any publication and/or source that may have affected the nature of their work. Authors of articles based on original research shall include a thorough report of the work done, as well as an objective discussion of the meaning, and all information shall be accurately shown in the manuscript.

The submitted texts must not have been published as copyrighted materials in any other Magazine. While they are being reviewed by the Magazine, the manuscripts shall not be submitted to any other Magazine for publication. By submitting a text, the authors agree that, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, all the rights to the commercial exploitation of such text, in any place and with any existing or future media and technology, shall be transferred to the Magazine.

Authorship of the text shall be limited to those parties (such as the co-authors) who have made a major contribution to the design, planning and development thereof. The lead author shall make sure that all co-authors have been included in the manuscript, have approved the final draft thereof, and agree to have it published.

Should the authors notice a gross mistake or any inaccuracy in their published articles, they shall promptly inform the Director of the Magazine and assist him/her in retracting or correcting the manuscript.

In their texts, the authors shall mention any conflict (financial conflict, general conflict of interest, etc.) that might affect the results or understanding of the manuscript. All the sources of financial support for the project shall be mentioned.

4. Conflict of interest

Conflict of interest occurs when the authors and/or their institutions and/or the referees have personal or economic relations that may affect the appraisal or assessment of a paper. Therefore, all authors shall disclose any financial conflict or any other conflict of interest that might affect the results or understanding of the submitted work. Then, it will up to the Director of the Magazine to handle any conflict of interest in the best possible way, mainly based on a double-blind peer review procedure; as the case may be, the authors may be asked to make a statement to such effect.