Publication Ethics and Complaint Policy

Publication Ethics
Firenze University Press is committed to upholding ethical behavior standards during every stage of the publication process. In order to do so, we abide by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)’s Best Practice Guidelines. With regard to the issues treated within its publications, Firenze University Press adopts a neutral position.

Authors of books and book chapters
Authors should declare that the submitted work is original and does not violate the intellectual property rights or other rights of any individual or body. Authors must ensure their book or chapter does not contain any libelous matter; does not violate any copyright or other intellectual property rights; does not violate any other right of any third party. Authors should cite content from other sources appropriately to avoid plagiarism. The list of authors should accurately reflect who carried out the research and wrote the book or chapter. In case of multiple authorship, the order of the names should be determined jointly by all the co-authors.
Submitted manuscripts must not be under consideration or accepted for publication with another publisher. In case some sections of the manuscript overlap with a published or a submitted content, this should be acknowledged and cited. Authors should earn the permission to reproduce any kind of content from third-party sources. Any funding sources should be clearly identified in the manuscript, typically in the form of an acknowledgement.

Series editors and book editors
Editors are accountable for everything that is published in their series or volume. This includes applying suitable measures to assess the quality of the material they approve for publication.
Editors should act in a fair and balanced way when carrying out their duties, free of any form of discrimination, including discrimination of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religious or political beliefs; they should manage the submissions in a timely manner; treat all material as confidential and only distribute it to others for peer reviewing purposes; provide guidance to authors on everything that is expected of them; make decisions on which books to publish based on their quality and suitability for the series.
Series editors should provide new editorial board members with guidelines on everything that is expected of them; update existing members on new policies and developments; have systems for managing conflicts of interest, both their own or the other editorial board members’.
Peer review editors should clearly describe the available peer review processes and be ready to justify any important deviation from the described processes; ensure that the peer reviewers’ identities are protected, unless they use an open review system that has been disclosed to the authors and reviewers; in cases of alleged misbehavior (including plagiarism) or disputed authorship, editors should be abide by the COPE flowcharts.

Reviewers
Reviewers should immediately inform the publisher, the series editors and book editors of any real or potential conflicts of interest that could affect the impartiality of their reviews, and refuse to review where appropriate; behave fairly and impartially; review the material in a timely manner; assist in improving the quality of a submitted proposal or typescript by reviewing the material with care, consideration and objectivity; inform the publisher of any published or submitted content that is similar to the material under review, or of any suspected plagiarism; maintain the confidentiality of any information or material submitted during the review process.

Complaint policy
Complaints are managed on a case-by-case basis. Authors wishing to file a legal or general complaint following a rejection should, in the latter instance, contact the series editor or book editor. General complaints can be addressed to the publisher.
If FUP receives a complaint about the copyright infringement or the violation of other intellectual property rights, or about material inaccuracies, libelous materials or otherwise unlawful materials in one of its publications, FUP will investigate the complaint. The investigation procedures may include a request to the involved parties to give proof for their claims. FUP will decide in good faith whether to announce the retraction of the work or to take any other relevant measure.
FUP shall document its investigation and decision.

Email for complaints to FUP: direzione@fup.unifi.it



Published by FUP
CC BY 4.0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/fup_best_practice.8