Paper submissions and inquiries can be directed at the Editorial Board at: thelabs@sp.unipi.it.
All articles are subjected to a double-blind peer review process. The journal follows the review process criteria approved by the Committee of the Italian Sociological Journals (CRIS).
The Lab’s Code of Ethics
The Lab’s Quarterly is a peer-reviewed social science journal officially recognized by the ANVUR (National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research System) as an academic journal in the Area 14 (Political and Social Sciences) of the Italian university system.
The journal encourages dialogue among the multiple fields in the social sciences through calls for proposals and special issues, welcoming contributions from young and early-career researchers. Furthermore, it aims to contribute to the national and international sociological debate by adopting the perspective of an open, public and democratic sociology. To this purpose, The Lab’s Quarterly publishes manuscripts under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.
This version of The Lab’s Code of Ethics (updated: June 1, 2021) describes the journal’s ethical guidelines. Guest Editors, Reviewers and Authors of manuscripts processed by The Lab’s Quarterly are invited to follow these guidelines carefully. The current version of The Lab’s Code of Ethics is inspired by COPE’s “Core Practices” (2017) and the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (2017). For any question or concern regarding the journal’s Code of Ethics, please write to thelabs@sp.unipi.it.
Authors must avoid any form of plagiarism or self-plagiarism, falsification, fabrication, or significant omission in their work. Before publication, Authors must sign the journal’s publishing agreement. It is the Authors’ duty to ensure the originality of their manuscripts and possess of necessary permissions to use any third-party materials. All and only significant contributors to the manuscript redaction must be listed as co-authors, and the submitted work must not be submitted to other journals.
Authors ensure that the submitted research work follows the ethical guidelines listed in the European Commission’s “Ethics in Social Science and Humanities” document (2018), whose main principles are the following: a) respecting human dignity and integrity; b) ensuring honesty and transparency towards research subjects; c) respecting individual autonomy and obtaining free and informed consent (as well as assent whenever relevant); d) protecting vulnerable individuals; e) ensuring privacy and confidentiality; f) promoting justice and inclusiveness; g) minimizing harm and maximizing benefit; h) sharing the benefits with disadvantaged populations, especially if the research is being carried out in developing countries; i) respecting and protecting the environment and future generations.
The submitted manuscript should acknowledge all sources that have supported the research as well as any eventual conflict of interest. Authors must make all reasonable efforts to meet the revision deadlines set by the Editor(s). Furthermore, the Editor(s) must be promptly informed of any error in the published paper.
The Authors’ Suspected plagiarism or ethical misconduct will be collegially discussed by the journal’s editorial board (see below the Duties of Editors section). If deemed necessary, access to raw data related to the manuscript will be demanded for editorial review.
Where an article is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or in cases of contested authorship, the Editor(s) reserve(s) the right to take action. If the manuscript is under review, this may include a) requesting corrections, b) rejecting the manuscript, and c) taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the Authors’ affiliation(s). In the case of a published article, this may include a) requesting corrections, b) write a retraction note, and c) taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the Authors’ affiliation(s).
Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts in a fair, objective, and professional manner, by providing solid and constructive scientific argumentations devoid of personal attacks, offensive language, and unlawful or discriminatory content of any kind.
Reviewers must make all reasonable efforts to meet the revision deadlines set by the Editor(s), and immediately inform the Editor(s) in case of unforeseen delays.
Reviewers must ensure that the reviewed manuscripts meet the aforementioned originality criteria and ethical principles (see the Duties of Authors section). In the event of suspected plagiarism or ethical misconduct by the Author(s), reviewers must promptly inform the Editor(s).
Reviewers must ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of the review process, by avoiding discussing the manuscript with anyone other than the Editor(s). Reviewers must promptly notify the Editor(s) if they become aware of the Authors’ identity during blind peer review. Reviewers must refuse to evaluate the manuscript in the case of conflicts of interests due to their relationship of collaboration or competition with the Author(s) or with companies/institutions involved in the funding or preparation of the manuscript.
The Editors – including Guest Editors – and editorial board of The Lab’s Quarterly ensure the fairness, objectivity and professionalism of editorial procedures employed for the evaluation, acceptance, rejection and publication of the submitted manuscripts. In particular, they work to ensure the timeliness, confidentiality and scientific quality of the publication process, by fairly selecting qualified reviewers, making all reasonable efforts to protect the Authors and Reviewers’ reciprocal anonymity during blind peer review, and enhance the public visibility of published articles.
Editors, Guest Editors and editorial board members must avoid processing manuscripts in case of conflicts of interests due to their relationship of collaboration or competition with the Author(s) or with companies/institutions involved in the funding or preparation of the manuscript.
Allegations of ethical misconduct or suspected plagiarism on the part of Author(s), Reviewer(s), or Editor(s) – including Guest Editors – will be collegially discussed by the editorial board.
When deemed appropriate due to proven cases of ethical misconduct or plagiarism by the Author(s), Editors reserve the right to take action. If the manuscript is under review, this may include a) requesting corrections, b) rejecting the manuscript, and c) taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the Authors’ affiliation(s). In the case of a published article, this may include a) requesting corrections, b) write a retraction note, and c) taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the Authors’ affiliation(s). When allegations of ethical misconduct regard Reviewers or Editors/Guest Editors, the editorial board will collegially handle the complaints in accordance with the principles of integrity and fairness indicated in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (2017:9).