Editorial, ethical and gender policy

AusArt publishes peer-reviewed research articles, which implies the ethical commitment of all parties involved:

• Authors submitting proposals to AusArt must ensure that their manuscripts are unpublished and original, and that they have cited and referenced in a standardised way (Chicago author-year format) the work of others. Only those who have made significant contributions will be listed as authors, under the responsibility of the submitter of the manuscript. Co-authorship: up to 3 authors will be attributed equal responsibility, regardless of the order in which they appear. It is suggested to mention the rest in "Acknowledgements" or by specifying the role of each contribution using the CRediT taxonomy (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). Where appropriate, the source of research funding behind the published article should be made explicit: funding agencies and project code.
• The reviewers will treat the assigned manuscripts as confidential documents, and will methodically and rigorously argue their decisions in the review forms that will be sent to the authors. They must declare to the editor any conflicts of interest or inabilities, including not feeling sufficiently qualified to carry out the review.
• The editors are responsible for the final editorial decision (publication or non-publication of the reviewed manuscripts). They will guarantee objective dialogue between the parties involved in the editorial process, and will ensure the confidentiality of the manuscript proposals received, ensuring the scientific rigour of the entire process.

For all its editorial and management processes, AusArt adheres to the standards, codes of ethics and practice guidelines established by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).

• Allegations of misconduct
• Authorship and contributorship
• Complaints and appeals
• Data and reproducibility
• Ethical oversight
• Intellectual property
• Journal management
• Peer review processes
• Post-publication discussions and corrections

Code of good practices concerning gender

This journal is pledged to defend gender equality, to give visibility to the scientific works of female researchers and promote the use of inclusive language in scientific publications. Specifically, this is carried out through the following actions:

• Maintaining genderarity in the journal’s directorate, Editorial Board and Scientific Advisory Board.
• Having a minimum percentage of 40% of female reviewers.
• Incorporating in the journal’s Editorial Policy a series of specific recommendations in favor of using inclusive language in scientific publications. Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, is respectful towards people, considers differences and promotes equal opportunities for everybody. Articles should not include suppositions about the beliefs of readers and should avoid statements concerning superiority relative to race, sex, culture or any other similar aspect. A language free of bias, using terms that avoid stereotypes, should be used while writing an article. In that regard, authors are encouraged to read any guideline about bias-free language.
• Requiring authors to inform whether the research’s data take sex and/or gender into account or not, with the intention of identifying any differences that may result from it.
• Use of complete names of authors in the works published by the journal.