About

Focus and Scope

[sic] – a Journal of Literature, Culture and Literary Translation focuses on theoretical, empirical and artistic research in the fields of culture, literature and literary translation. [sic] thus welcomes the submission of works that focus on various theoretical or empirical problems within the fields listed above, as well as original translations. By publishing research papers, reviews, literary criticism, interviews and literature in translation, [sic] wishes to offer a wide, interdisciplinary approach to dominant, but also marginal and/or currently unrecognized as well as emerging literary and cultural trends and practices and in this way open a dialogue between proponents of different approaches to the said areas. As such, [sic] is seen as an international platform for scholars, practitioners and artists dealing with culture, literature and literary translation.

Publication Frequency

[sic] is published twice a year, in fall and spring semesters of the ongoing academic year. The fall issue usually has a predetermined theme defined by the editor of the current issue, while the spring issue is open themed.

Indexing

The journal’s editors focus on making content discoverable and accessible through indexing services.

[sic] is thus currently indexed in the following services: Emerging Sources Citation Index - Web of Science, SCOPUS, ERIH PLUS, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), EBSCOHost, MLA International Bibliography, MLA Directory of Periodicals, Hrcak - Portal of scientific journals of Croatia and Google Scholar.

The Journal is archived by Portico, as well as in the Croatian Web Archive and Hrčak – Portal of scientific journals in Croatia

Open Access Policy

[sic] is an open access journal and all of its content is available without charge to the users and/or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, make copies, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI (http://www.soros.org/openaccess) definition of open access.

[sic] does not charge article submission or processing fees.

Copyright Policy

[sic] holds the copyright on all published materials. The author retains the right to republish their own work in a work they are authoring; for example, as a chapter in a book they have written. Third party publishers, however, must obtain permission from the original publishing institution (University of Zadar) and the Editorial Board of [sic] – a journal of literature, culture and literary translation.

Retraction Policy

In case the Editorial Board has clear evidence that the findings presented within a publication are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct, or honest error, the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper crossreferencing, permission or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication), the published material constitutes plagiarism, or reports unethical research, the published materials will be retracted in accordance to the COPE retraction guidelines.

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to [sic] are initially assessed by the journal’s editors who decide whether or not the received submission is suitable to be considered for publication. Research articles considered suitable for publication are subject to an international blind peer review process conducted by a minimum of two independent external experts, who assess the article for clarity, validity, and sound methodology. If an agreement is not reached by the initial two reviewers, the submission is sent to a third reviewer in order to reach a final decision about accepting or rejecting the work.

The journal strives to make the peer review process as open as possible, and authors can expect to see a full disclosure of the comments provided by the reviewers to editors.

The processing, reviewing and publishing generally lasts up to six months from the moment of the submission of the article.

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

[sic] is dedicated to following best practices on ethical matters, errors and retractions, and the prevention of publication malpractice is one of journal’s important responsibilities. Any kind of unethical behavior is not acceptable, and [sic] does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Authors submitting to [sic] affirm that all contents of their work are original. Furthermore, they warrant that the submitted work has neither been published elsewhere in any language fully or partly, nor is it under review for publication anywhere.

The journal’s editors will not be held liable for possible cases of plagiarism detected in submissions received. The authors bear full responsibility for any case of plagiarism, whether it was discovered during the review process or after the publication in the journal.

In an effort to ensure the highest standards and the best quality of academic papers published in [sic], the originality of content of all submissions considered for publication is verified using CrossCheck Plagiarism Screening Service.

Duties of [sic]

The following duties outlined for editors, authors, and reviewers of [sic] are based on the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors.

Duties of Editors

1. Reviewing: each submission is initially evaluated by the journal’s editors who decide whether or not it is suitable to be considered for publication in [sic]. After the initial evaluation, all research papers are checked for originality, using appropriate channels to do so, and then forwarded to two independent external reviewers for two separate blind peer reviews. Each reviewer will make a recommendation to accept, reject, or modify the manuscript. The review period lasts for about 30 days.
2. Fair Play: the journal’s editors make sure that each received submission is reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to sex, gender, race, religion, citizenship, etc. of the authors.
3. Confidentiality: the journal’s editors must ensure that information regarding authors’ submissions is kept confidential.
4. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: the journal’s editors will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted contributions for their own research without written consent of the author.

Duties of Authors

1. Reporting Standards: authors should present an accurate account of their original research as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Contributions will follow the journal’s submission guidelines (see Submissions).
2. Originality: authors must ensure that the work they submitted to [sic] is entirely original and the result of their own work.
3. Concurrent Publications: [sic] does not accept simultaneous submissions and the authors should not concurrently submit the same work to journals other that [sic]. It is also expected that the author will not publish works describing the same research in more than one journal.
4. Acknowledgement of Sources: authors should acknowledge all sources of data used in the research and cite publications that have been influential in their research work. All sources should be cited according to MLA standards of citing and listing bibliography as outlined in the journal’s submission guidelines (see Submissions).
5. Authorship: authorship over the work submitted to [sic] 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 also ensure that all the authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the work and their inclusion of names as co-authors.
6. Fundamental Errors in Published Works: if at any point of time, author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in the work submitted to and published by [sic], the error or inaccuracy must be reported to the editor.

Duties of Reviewers

1. Confidentiality: information regarding contributions submitted by authors should be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information.
2. Acknowledgement of Sources: reviewers must ensure that authors have acknowledged and properly cited all sources of data used in the research. Any kind of similarity or overlap between the submissions under consideration or with any other published paper of which reviewer has personal knowledge must be immediately brought to notice of the journal’s editors.
3. Standards of Objectivity: all submissions must be reviewed objectively and the reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
4. Promptness: in the event that a reviewer feels it is not possible for him/her to complete the review within stipulated time, this information must be communicated to the journal’s editors, so that the work could be sent to another reviewer.