The publication process of Regards (Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth, Lebanon) involves authors, the journal’s (chief) editors, the scientific committee, the peer reviewers and the copy editor

1. User data

Regards supports a strict open access policy. All public content is available without registering. However, if a user wants to submit papers or reviews, or if a user wants to do a peer review, he/she must register. Registration enables the users to submit contributions, act as editors/peers/advisors (if applicable) and to receive notifications from Regards. This option can be disabled in the user profile, or the cancellation can be requested from the Regards office manager.

User registration requires entering of a name, surname and valid e-mail address. All other data are optional. All personal data are considered strictly confidential and are only used for the purpose of the journal. Under no circumstances will Regards pass personal data to third parties with the exception of legal authorities according to the conditions of law. The users are entitled to request the immediate and permanent deletion of their data.

2. The authors

The authorship of a manuscript submitted to Regards is limited to people who made a significant contribution to the content submitted.

The authors are our estimated partners in the challenge to produce original and creative content. We trust that they submit manuscripts containing an accurate representation of their results, and their objective discussion. If the authors use the work of others (e.g. data, texts, pictures, figures etc.), they are obliged to quote the originator properly according to the standards defined in our style guide. Also, the authors are obliged to point out which publications had an influence on their manuscript and cite them properly.

We expect that the authors refrain from parallel submission of the same work to different journals.

The submitter of the manuscript is responsible to seek permission for submission from his co-authors.

If a submitter has received financial or material support from third parties, especially from entrepreneurs, he or she has to disclose this information.

3. The editorial committee

If the submitter does not enclose an explicit note stating something different, our editorial committee is bound to direct submissions to the editor of the issue that is currently prepared. He/she will never pass manuscripts submitted to third parties prior to publications without written consent of the author. Confidentiality is essential, especially in all respects concerning the double-blind peer review process. The editorial committee will never give away names of authors to peer reviewers and vice versa.

The editorial committee is responsible for the good management of the journal and for the regularity of its publication on the different media.

Each issue of Regards has its issue editor(s). That means that one or two members of the editorial board are responsible for an issue. They ultimately decide which submissions they accept and which they decline, and they decide which of the accepted submissions go to which section of Regards. This decision is made without regard to the person of the submitter.

The editors are obliged to keep every information about submitted works strictly confidential except to other members of the editorial board if appropriate. They will never give a submitted but unpublished manuscript to any third party and/or use it or parts of it for their own work without the written consent of the author(s).

4. The scientific committee

The members of the scientific committee are consultative partners of the editorial board in their respective field of expertise. When considering topics for upcoming issues, they are our preferred respondents. The editors should also submit the call for papers to the members of the scientific committee, for consultation.

They also may be involved in the peer review process.

5. The peers/reviewers

Peer reviewers are esteemed partners in the quality management process of our journal. Their recommendations are of severe influence for both the issue editor(s) and the author(s). Thus, our reviewers commit themselves to these statements:

Objectivity shall be maintained throughout the review process, irrespective of the personal or professional bias of the reviewer. The reviewer may cancel his participation in the review process at any time if he considers himself to be insufficiently expert, professionally biased or personally involved.

Although reviewers are required to critically evaluate the texts, they shall aim to provide constructive critique. Not only will their review be a suggestion for the journals editors to publish or reject a specific paper, it also should provide guidance on how it might be improved.

The reviewers shall maintain full confidentiality. Also, they will not take any advantages of the ideas that are discussed in the paper to be reviewed. 

6. The copy editor

The task of the copy editor is to maintain a consistent level of language throughout each issue. He/she does the proofreading and checks not only for correct grammar and spelling but also for consistency and comprehensibility of a text. Also, he/she checks whether the author has formatted the article according to our style guide and may request improvements.

7. Financial aspects

For the time being, the journal offers its services for free for all involved parties. Please note that the free use of the services of Regards is a privilege, not a right.

USJ Editorial Charter of Publications Ethics

This Charter is essentially a guide of good conduct aiming namely to guarantee the respect for the rights of the author who requests to publish his manuscript in one of the University publications, and to protect its copyrights. This Charter is to be applied to all publications edited by the university or any of its institutions, regardless of their type (books, journals, collections or other paperback or electronic publications).

The editorial process involves, in addition to the authors, the editor and, where appropriate, the members of the peer review committee, those of the editorial board, those of the scientific committee, as well as the proofreaders.

DOWNLOAD THE EDITORIAL CHARTER OF PUBLICATION ETHICS

 

For further details regarding the Ethic’s statement, please refer to: COPE/Principles of Publication Ethics.