According to the COPE guidelines

1. – Africa e Mediterraneo is owned by the Lai-momo Coop.

The Journal’s aim is to analyse and explore in depth the creative, artistic and literary production of Africa. As well as the social and cultural issues seen in different parts of the continent and the social and cultural changes caused by international migrations and global interdependence.

By adopting a transdisciplinary and plurilingual approach, the Journal confronts the chosen issues through contributions from different areas of humanistic research.

Lai-momo Coop. is the Journal’s publisher.

2. – The bodies and roles involved in the Journal are:

a) the Editor-in-chief

b) the Scientific Committee

c)  the Editorial Board

d) the Editorial Secretary

3.- The Editor-in-chief is appointed following a consultation by the Scientific Committee and the Editorial Board. The role of the Editor is to promote the Journal’s publishing activity and to organise the production of the issues it addresses, inviting scholars to collaborate and managing anonymous peer review procedures. This is to ensure that the Journal and its associates do not discriminate authors for their genre, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs and geographical origins.

4.- The Scientific Committee is composed of professors from different Universities. They are either academics in the Journal’s disciplines of interest, retired academics, or experts with academic collaborations in different fields.

The office is unpaid.

The Committee has an advisory and propositional role, answering to the Editor-in-chief. Any member of the Scientific Committee can propose suggestions or observations to the Editor, who is obliged to give reasons for their response. Upon request by the Editor-in-chief, the Committee can evaluate the quality of contributions (abstracts) that have been submitted for the Dossier Section (except the case of a Dossier assigned to a Guest Editor) or for other Thematic Sections. These submissions will then be judged by external evaluators.

Furthermore, in agreement with the Editor-in-chief and after consultation with the Editorial Board, the Scientific Committee decides the planning of thematic dossiers, agreeing upon the curatorship or the specific collaborations if needed. The Committee and the Editor can, under specific circumstances, decide to publish an issue that is not particularly thematic but rather miscellaneous.

5.- The Editorial Board is composed of volunteers from the association Africa e Mediterraneo. They are experts in the themes addressed by the Journal and are interested in collaborating in its development and diffusion. The Board’s task is to implement the “information” section of the Journal, propose new themes and collaborations, be part of the publishing process, verify that contributions meet the redactional criteria, and write articles for the blog and the periodical newsletter. The office is unpaid.

6.- The Editorial Secretary, appointed by the Editor-in-chief, is involved in every way on an organisational, redactional and promotional level.

7.- Articles submitted to the Journal undergo the following evaluation process:

7.1. Article proposals for the Dossier and the Thematic Sections (i.e. scientific articles external to the monographic Dossier), in the form of abstracts, undergo a first evaluation by members of the Scientific Committee. They are discussed in consultation with the Editor based on their field of research. They are judged on their originality, interest and adherence to the guidelines set out in the monographic call for papers. If the thematic Dossier is assigned to one or more Guest Editors, it is up to him/her to decide whether to accept the article proposal or not, and then to submit the full article to the Editor-in-chief for the anonymous peer review, suggesting possible revisers if needed.

The results of the abstract evaluation are communicated via e-mail to the authors.

Once the final versions of the contributions are received, they are submitted in double anonymous form to an external reviser who is appointed by the Editor-in-chief based on his/her renowned competence in the particular areas of research and interest. The Scientific Committee can decide if a second revision is needed. The evaluation, as stated by the peer review sheet, will consider the following aspects: originality and scientific quality, methodological robustness, clarity and coherence of the exposition, and adequacy of bibliographic references. The results of the revision process are communicated to the authors. If they choose to accept the contribution, albeit with reservation, (i.e. with changes to be made), the author will have to modify the text as requested before the deadline.

The Editor-in-chief will keep the anonymous evaluation judgement for five years, ensuring that the contents will not be disclosed unless requested by the competent authority.

7.2. Contributions for sections Dossier-Cantieri, Events, Books are excluded from the anonymous evaluation phase. The Editor-in-chief will carry out the evaluation (both for the abstract and the full article) either by him/herself or will organize for it to be carried out by the Editorial Board. For the sake of transparency, the sections submitted for peer review are indicated in every issue’s colophon.

8.- Obligations for the authors

In submitting his/her contribution for publication, the author declares:

• That the contribution is original, that it is the result of his/her own research, and that other sources are correctly quoted;
• That the contribution is unpublished or, in the event that it is published, that it is indicated that the contribution is a reduction/translation of a published article;
• Other co-authors are indicated if present;

The author commits him/herself to:

• Respect the Journal’s redactional criteria and to submit an accurate text;
• Declare possible conflicts of interest;
• Accept the anonymous evaluation of his/her contribution;
• Check the accuracy of quotes and bibliographical references within the article;
• Correct the draft of his/her contributions in a timely manner and upon agreement with the Editorial Board;
• Ask Africa e Mediterraneo’s Editor-in-chief for clearance to publish the article or its translation in another context.

The written and published articles are unpaid.

9.- Accessibility

The Journal will only accept unpublished contributions for the Dossier and Thematic Sections. The Editor-in-chief can give authorisation for the authors to publish their contributions in other places, on the condition that the contribution states that it was first published in the Africa e Mediterraneo Journal.

Summaries and abstracts of the issues addressed in the articles will be published on the website through the Open Access mode. Two years after the publication, articles from the Dossier and the Thematic Sections will also be published on the website through the Open Access mode. The Journal requires the authors to submit the articles published in the Journal for the Research Quality Assessment.

10.- Obligations of the Revisers

The revisers commit:

• Not to disclose the content of the proposed contributions;
• To evaluate the text without letting personal beliefs influence their judgement, with the sole goal of implementing research and spreading the scientific results;
• To provide suggestions to improve the submitted article;
• To report whenever they become aware of any conflict of interest or moral conflict about the articles they are reading, any plagiarism, or any unfair or incorrect practice in the case of an already published contribution.

11.- Obligations of the Editor-in-chief

Lai-momo Coop. commits:

• To publish the Journal on a biannual basis;
• To promote and diffuse the Journal;
• To manage relations with subscribers.

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