Journal Policies

All submissions should be submitted through the journal's submissions system. All submissions are initially assessed by an Editor, who decides whether or not the article fits the scope of the journal and is suitable for peer review. Submissions considered suitable are assigned to two independent experts, who assess the article for clarity, validity, and sound methodology.

The journal operates a double-blind peer review process, meaning that authors and reviewers remain anonymous for the review process. The review period is expected to take around six to eight weeks. Reviewers are asked to provide formative feedback, even if an article is not deemed suitable for publication in the journal.

Based on the reviewer reports the editor will make a recommendation for rejection, minor or major revisions, or acceptance. Overall editorial responsibility rests with the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, who is supported by an expert Editorial Board.

Authorship Criteria

See the full Authorship Guidelines.

Policy for Peer Reviewers

  • Authors of manuscripts and reviewers of the same manuscript must not be close colleagues, family members, work on the same research project, or otherwise have a close collaboration.
  • Reviewers should only accept to assess manuscripts that fall within their own subject area.
  • Reviewers should respond to invitations without delay and submit completed reviews within a reasonable time.
  • Reviewers' comments must not be influenced by the author's nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender or commercial interests.
  • Reviewers' comments must not contain hostile or provocative language and must not include personal attacks, slander or other derogatory comments.

Read our Reviewer Guidelines to learn more about what reviewers are asked to consider as they review NJES manuscripts.

Preprint Policy

The journal allows authors to deposit draft versions of their paper into a suitable preprint server, on condition that the author agrees to the below:

  • The author retains copyright to the preprint and developed works from it, and is permitted to submit to the journal.
  • The author declares that a preprint is available within the cover letter presented during submission. This must include a link to the location of the preprint.
  • The author acknowledges that having a preprint publicly available means that the journal cannot guarantee the anonymity of the author during the review process, even if they anonymise the submitted files.
  • Should the submission be published, the authors are expected to update the information associated with the preprint version to show that a final version has been published in the journal, including the DOI linking directly to the publication.

ORCID

The journal strongly recommends that all authors submitting a paper register an account with Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID). Registration provides a unique and persistent digital identifier for the account that enables accurate attribution and improves the discoverability of published papers, ensuring that the correct author receives the correct credit for their work. As the ORCID remains the same throughout the lifetime of the account, changes of name, affiliation, or research area do not effect the discoverability of an author's past work and aid correspondence with colleagues.

The journal encourages all corresponding authors to include an ORCID within their submitting author data whilst co-authors are recommended to include one. ORCID numbers should be added to the author data upon submission and will be published alongside the submitted paper, should it be accepted.

Open Data Policy

As research funders' and universities' demands for open research data become increasingly common, some authors may be obliged to make their collected empirical material open and available to everyone.

In cases where this applies to the journal's authors, the journal's editors encourage that the material be made available according to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

The material thus made available must be linked to within the submitted manuscript under a special heading. Research data should then be made public when the article is published. Empirical material obtained from other researchers must be referenced in the same way as other scientific sources. For further questions about guidelines for handling open data and guidelines about how data should be handled and published, please contact your university.

Archiving policy

The journal's current and future content, beginning when the journal joins Publicera, is made available via Publicera and stored long-term on a secure and central server at the National Library of Sweden.

The journal's owner and the National Library of Sweden aim for the journal's archive to be transferred and made available via Publicera, and thus the archive will also be stored long-term on a secure and central server at the National Library of Sweden.

In the event that the journal ceases operations, the journal's content on Publicera will remain archived at the National Library of Sweden.

Corrections and Retractions

The conditions of publication with persistent identifiers such as DOIs include that the object published is final and not changed without clearly informing readers of such changes.

Articles published in the journal cannot therefore be changed without a) an erratum or b) a change notice being published and linked to the original article.

If a factual error in an article is discovered, this should be reported to the editor-in-chief, who decides on possible actions and possible corrections.

Competing Interests Policy

See the full Competing Interests Policy for authors and reviewers.

Complaints and Appeals Policy

In the case of formal complaints, disputes, or appeals, authors should contact the editors-in-chief, who are responsible for ensuring that a fair, deliberative, and thorough investigation is conducted.

Policy for Ethical Oversight

The journal follows the ethical guidelines and best practices set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All cases of ethical misconduct will be dealt with in accordance with COPE's recommendations and guidelines.