The purpose of the following provisions is to present the basic ethical principles to be adhered to by authors, editors and peer reviewers for the publication of an academically outstanding journal. Although these principles are already widely known and upheld in the academic community, the purpose of clarifying and stating these principles here is to provide an opportunity for Acta Via Serica to reconfirm their desirability and to enhance its own pursuit of academic probity and excellence. In addition to the following, Acta Via Serica is committed to following the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidelines on Research and Publications Ethics: https://publicationethics.org/.

Plagiarism

Authors will not present in their articles or essays the results of the research or opinions of others as if they were their own. Even though it is possible to make multiple references together with clearly stated sources concerning the results of others' research, those parts presented as though they are the results of one's own research or one's own opinions will be considered to be plagiarism.

Publication Achievements

1) Authors are solely responsible for the research that they have actually carried out or directly contributed to and are also entitled to receive recognition for it as their own achievement.
2) In the case of joint research the listing order of authors (or translators) for articles and other publications must clearly reflect the degree of contribution to the research regardless of the relative academic rank of the contributors.

Republication of Research or Duplicate Publication

1) Articles that have already been published in or submitted to other journals may not be submitted to this journal, and articles which have already been published or are being considered for publication in Acta Via Serica may not be published in any other journals.
2) In principle articles which have been divided may not be submitted or published in this journal.

Quotation and References

1) In the case of quoting published academic sources authors must do their best to describe their source clearly and in the case of rare, unpublished documents, the authors must clearly identify their sources.
2) When quoting another person's words or borrowing (or making reference to) another person's ideas, clear references to sources must be included in footnotes or endnotes, and through these references the reader must be able to ascertain which portions of the article are the result of previous research and which portions are the author's own original thoughts, opinions and interpretations.

Editorial Board

The editorial board must fairly deal with submitted articles without prejudice or personal bias on the sole basis of the quality of the article and the established provisions for submission. Also in order to evaluate submitted articles, the board must solicit and rely on scholars with specialist knowledge in the field of the particular article and powers of impartial judgment as peer reviewers.

Conflicts of Interest

Editors and board members are not restricted from submitting their papers. However, they must disqualify themselves from involvement in the entire assessment process including peer reviewer assignment and final decision making.

Peer Reviewers

Peer reviewers must fairly and sincerely evaluate articles entrusted to them by the editorial board of the journal according to objective criteria.

Penalties

1) Violations of research ethics beginning with plagiarism and duplicate publication will be investigated and adjudicated by the editorial board.
2) Authors found to have violated the above provisions and research ethics may not submit further articles to this journal for two years. Any additional issues will be decided on by the editorial board.

Date of Enactment: June17, 2016