Code of Ethics
Metis has a strong commitment to research and to dissemination of knowledge of the challenges and opportunities arising from contemporary international debates. This commitment focuses on the need for states and international actors to develop the strategic capacity and skills required to navigate an increasingly uncertain international environment, characterised by disputes between established and emerging power poles. Such trends call for in-depth and rigorous analysis capable of identifying their principal causes and consequences, as well as of proposing solutions to the problems and crises they may generate. Within this framework, the present Code of Ethics aims to ensure that published articles comply with international standards of scientific quality and safeguard the academic integrity of the results disseminated.
Ethical Conduct
- 1. Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board and Guest Editors
The Editor-in-Chief, or, where applicable, the guest editor, shall always be responsible for ensuring the quality of the publication. The editorial team shall take the final decision on the content published in the journal, considering, in an overall manner, the journal’s needs and objectives.
The Editor-in-Chief shall be supported by its community—boards, authors, reviewers and readers—by making available the necessary tools and guidelines, and by establishing communication channels to receive proposals for improvement, complaints, or declarations of any conflicts of interest from all members of the journal community.
The Editorial Team retains responsibility for all content published in the journal, including special issues where elements of the editorial process are delegated to guest editors. In these instances, a member of the editorial team shall supervise the process, ensuring that both the peer-review stages and the final published content comply with quality standards and objectives equivalent to those applicable to regular issues.
The selection of articles for publication shall be based solely on their importance, originality, and relevance to the journal’s scope. The Editorial Team shall maintain an open approach to new lines of research, including those that challenge findings previously published in the journal itself.
- 2. Authors
By submitting a manuscript, authors agree to comply with the guidelines and policies that are publicly available on this website.
Upon submission, the author confirms that the work is entirely original, that any previously published research has been appropriately cited, and that the manuscript is not under consideration by any other journal.
If an article includes supplementary research data or any other supporting material, the author(s) confirm that such data were generated during the research and have not been manipulated to yield specific results. Where the Editor-in-Chief or reviewers have concerns at any stage of the evaluation, authors may be requested to provide the raw data. Such requests may also be made after publication; authors must therefore retain the data for a reasonable period. Authors are encouraged to consult the journal’s data policy for further guidance.
Where an article has multiple authors, the submitting author is responsible for ensuring that all those who have contributed significantly to the work are appropriately credited, and for avoiding unethical practices such as gift authorship.
The author(s) commit to appropriately citing all sources used in their research. All references included in the article must correspond exclusively to sources consulted during the research process, and by submitting the manuscript the author(s) certify that no unethical practices, including citation manipulation, have been undertaken.
- 3. Reviewers
Reviewers shall inform the Editor-in-Chief if they are not adequately qualified to assess a manuscript.
Reviewers shall preserve the confidentiality of the material entrusted to them and shall inform the Editor-in-Chief of any conflict of interest that arises at any stage of the process, as well as of any suspected unethical practices.
Reviewers may identify gaps in the references or recommend their expansion, based on their independent scientific judgement; however, they shall not, under any circumstances, require the inclusion of references that would entail unethical practices.
Sanctions
In cases of plagiarism, redundant publication, or any other form of unethical practice, the author or authors shall assume full responsibility for any consequences arising therefrom, whether economic, legal, or of any other nature. The procedure to be followed and the measures adopted shall depend on the severity of the misconduct identified.
- 1. Malpractice
The journal employs of plagiarism-detection software that reviews multiple digital content sources and generates a report indicating similarity percentages. Articles in which plagiarism (the use of ideas from other authors without proper citation) or redundant content (work previously published by the author) is identified will not be accepted, whether such issues are detected during the pre-evaluation stage or the peer-review process.
Articles in which any form of misconduct related to the falsification of sources or citation manipulation is identified shall also be rejected. Where deficiencies in source identification are detected, the editorial process shall be suspended until the issue has been remedied. The Editor-in-Chief or the guest editor reserves the right to reject the manuscript due to a lack of scientific rigour.
Likewise, articles in which irregularities in authorship are identified shall be rejected.
The use of artificial intelligence that compromises originality or has a substantial impact on the content of the article or its conclusions shall also be considered an unethical practice. Authors are encouraged to consult the journal’s AI Tools Usage Policy for further guidance.
- 2. Article Retraction
In the event that malpractice is detected after an article has been published, the journal reserves the right to mark the article with a watermark indicating “Retracted Article” displayed prior to the article title. Where appropriate, an editorial note by the editorial team may also be issued.
Where the Editor-in-Chief has evidence that plagiarism, prior publication of results, copyright infringement, undisclosed conflicts of interest involving any of the parties engaged in the process, data or citation manipulation, authorship irregularities, or any other practice that seriously undermines the integrity of the publication has occurred, the article shall be retracted.
In any event, an article shall be withdrawn if its content infringes legal rights or is subject to a court order. The metadata shall be retained, and the article shall be replaced by a notice indicating that it has been withdrawn for legal reasons.
This Code has been developed considering the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
