Editorial Policy

Journal of Studies on Art, Culture and Society (JACS) is committed to transparent, fair, independent, and responsible scholarly publishing. The following policies govern manuscript submission, peer review, publication ethics, open access, copyright, editorial integrity, and post-publication procedures.

1. Peer Review Policy

JACS applies a double-anonymous peer review process, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from each other throughout the review process.

Manuscripts that pass initial editorial screening are normally evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with relevant scholarly expertise.

Initial screening considers relevance to the journal's focus and scope, originality, academic quality, methodological or analytical soundness, ethical compliance, clarity of presentation, and adherence to submission requirements.

Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, confidential, and evidence-based assessments. Recommendations may include acceptance, revision, resubmission, or rejection.

The final decision remains the responsibility of the Editor and is based on reviewer reports, editorial assessment, scholarly contribution, relevance, originality, and compliance with journal policies.

2. Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

JACS is committed to maintaining integrity, fairness, transparency, and academic independence in scholarly publishing. Its ethical practices are informed by internationally recognized principles of publication ethics, including guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Authors are responsible for submitting original, accurate, appropriately referenced, and ethically prepared work. Manuscripts must not be simultaneously submitted to another journal.

Reviewers must maintain confidentiality, provide impartial assessments, disclose relevant conflicts of interest, and refrain from using unpublished material for personal or professional advantage.

Editors are responsible for independent editorial decisions based on scholarly merit, relevance, originality, methodological or analytical quality, and ethical compliance.

Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, manipulation of the peer-review process, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and other forms of misconduct may result in rejection, correction, retraction, or other appropriate action.

3. Plagiarism Policy

Submitted manuscripts may be screened using similarity-detection software before or during the editorial process.

Similarity reports are used as editorial assessment tools and are interpreted in context. JACS does not rely solely on a numerical similarity percentage when determining whether plagiarism has occurred.

Substantial unattributed copying, inappropriate paraphrasing, duplicate publication, or unethical reuse of previously published material may result in rejection. If identified after publication, appropriate correction or retraction procedures may be initiated.

4. AI Use Policy

Artificial intelligence tools, including generative AI systems, cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for scholarly content, originality, integrity, or ethical compliance.

Authors remain fully responsible for all submitted content. Substantive use of generative AI in preparing text, analysis, images, creative materials, code, or other research content should be transparently disclosed in the manuscript where relevant.

Editors and reviewers should not upload confidential manuscripts, reviewer reports, or unpublished material to publicly accessible AI tools where confidentiality, intellectual property, or data security cannot be assured.

5. Authorship and Conflict of Interest Policy

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual or creative contributions to the conception, design, research process, analysis, interpretation, or preparation of the work and who agree to take responsibility for the published content.

Individuals whose contributions do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately.

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must include a clear justification and agreement from all affected authors.

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived to influence the research, review, or editorial decision.

6. Copyright and License

Authors retain copyright in their published work and grant JACS the right of first publication.

Published articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

This license permits sharing and adaptation of published material, provided appropriate credit is given to the author and original publication, a link to the license is provided, and any changes are indicated.

7. Open Access Policy

JACS provides immediate open access to its published content. Readers may access journal articles without subscription or registration fees.

The journal supports open scholarly communication and believes that unrestricted access to research promotes wider dissemination, dialogue, collaboration, and scholarly impact.

8. Article Processing Charge (APC)

JACS does not charge authors any manuscript submission fee or Article Processing Charge (APC).

Manuscript submission, peer review, editorial processing, and publication are provided without publication charges to authors.

9. Archiving and Digital Preservation Policy

JACS is committed to maintaining the accessibility and long-term availability of its published scholarly content. Published articles and associated metadata are maintained through the journal's online publishing platform.

Additional recognized digital preservation mechanisms may be adopted as they become available. Any specific preservation service will be publicly stated when actively implemented by the journal.

10. Repository Policy

Authors may deposit and share their published articles in institutional repositories, subject repositories, personal academic websites, research profiles, and other lawful scholarly platforms in accordance with the CC BY 4.0 license.

Authors should provide complete bibliographic information and, where available, link to the official published version and DOI.

11. Corrections, Retractions and Complaints Policy

JACS is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record. When significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, the journal may issue a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other appropriate notice.

Corrections may be published when errors affect the accuracy, interpretation, attribution, or completeness of an article without invalidating its overall contribution.

Retraction may be considered in cases involving unreliable findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication, falsification, unethical research, serious authorship problems, manipulation, or other substantial breaches of publication ethics.

An Expression of Concern may be issued when substantial concerns exist but an investigation has not yet been completed.

Complaints concerning editorial procedures, peer review, publication ethics, or published content should be submitted to the journal's official editorial office and will be reviewed objectively.

Authors may submit a reasoned appeal when they believe a significant factual or procedural issue affected an editorial decision. Appeals do not guarantee reconsideration or acceptance.