Opuscula is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. The annual contains articles within classical archaeology, ancient history, art, architecture and philology, as well as research reviews and book reviews within these subjects. Serving as the main channel for Swedish archaeological research in the Mediterranean, Opuscula strives to provide a strong international academic impact for its peer reviewers, as well as its authors and their research.
Journal Policies
Editorial policy
All submitted manuscripts are first assessed by a member of the Editorial Committee, who decides whether the manuscript is suitable to be sent for peer review.
Manuscripts deemed suitable for further review are sent to two or more experts who are tasked with highlighting the manuscript's general and specific merits and shortcomings.
The journal uses a double-blind review procedure before acceptance/rejection of manuscripts, which means that authors and reviewers are anonymous throughout the review process.
The review process is expected to take 8 to 10 weeks but may vary.
Based on the review, the editor then compiles a recommendation to a) accept the manuscript for publication without revision; b) accept the manuscript after minor revision approved by the Editorial Secretary; c) accept the manuscript with revisions, which must be approved by one external peer reviewer; or d) reject the manuscript.
The overall publishing responsibility rests with the journal's Editor-in-Chief, who has a qualified Editorial Committee for support in various issues regarding the publication of individual manuscripts, the journal's development, etc.
Original articles are externally peer reviewed, but research reviews and book reviews are approved by members of the Editorial Committee without external peer review.
In cases where a manuscript’s author is in some way associated with the editorial team, they will be removed from all editorial tasks for that article. An independent editor will be tasked with organizing the peer-review process. The author's affiliation with the journal will also be indicated in the final publication of the article.
The journal accepts manuscripts that have previously been uploaded for review as preliminary versions, on personal websites, presented at conferences, or made available through other informal communication channels. However, authors must hold copyright for the text in question. Authors are also encouraged, when available, to include links to previous versions of the article in the final version of the article published in the journal.
Duplicate publication, also called "redundant publication" or "dual publication", is not permitted. This refers to the publication of the same article in more than one journal or to the publication of a document that is substantially similar to one already published without reference to the original publication.
Authorship policy
All authors must meet the following criteria:
- Have made a significant contribution to the design of the research, relevant data collection, analysis, and/or interpretation of the results;
- Have contributed substantially to the writing of the publication;
- Have approved the final version of the publication;
- Have accepted responsibility for the content of the publication, unless otherwise stated in the publication.
Those who do not meet these criteria but have nevertheless made a substantial contribution to the final manuscript should be included in the Acknowledgements section.
These authorship criteria are based on the Vancouver Recommendations (or ICMJE Recommendations) regarding authorship and contributorship. They align with the principles outlined in the ALLEA European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and the guidelines described in the Swedish Research Council’s Good Research Practice (2024, p. 81).
Policy on the use of AI tools
In accordance with COPE’s position statement on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, AI tools such as Large Language Models, chatbots and image creators cannot be credited with authorship of any manuscript submitted to this journal. Authorship attribution implies responsibility for the integrity, originality, accuracy and validity of a work, and AI tools cannot take such responsibility.
In any instance where generative AI tools have been employed in the creation of written content, generation of images or graphical elements, or the collection and analysis of data within a submitted work, authors are required to disclose these uses within the manuscript. This acknowledgement should provide explicit information about the specific tasks performed by AI tools, including the identification of the tool(s) and their respective versions. AI tools used to improve or correct spelling and grammar need not be credited.
Authors bear full responsibility for the content of their manuscript, including any portions generated with the assistance of AI tools. Consequently, they are liable for any potential breaches of publication ethics. Authors must ensure that all quoted and referenced material is appropriately credited.
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.
Policy for open data
As open research data requirements from research funders and universities become increasingly common, some authors may be required to make their empirical material open and publicly available.
Where this applies to the journal's authors, the journal's editors encourage making the data available according to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).
Authors should, in these cases, link from the submitted manuscript to the material made available. Research data should then be made public when the article is published. Empirical material obtained from other researchers must be cited in the same way as other scientific sources. For questions regarding guidelines for open data and handling and publishing of data, please contact your university.
Archiving policy
Beginning when the journal joins Publicera, its current and future content is made available via Publicera and stored long-term on a secure and central server at the National Library of Sweden (KB).
In the event that the journal ceases publishing, the journal's content on Publicera will remain archived at KB.
Policy for self-archiving
Article authors have the right to self-archive the submitted ("preprint") version of the manuscript and the published version without any embargo period.
Submitted manuscripts and published versions of articles can, for example, be archived on:
- the author's personal website
- the author's company website and/or institutional repository or archive
- non-profit preprint servers or subject-based archives
Policy for the use of ORCiD
The journal's editors strongly recommend that authors who submit manuscripts register an "Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier" or ORCiD.
This registration provides a unique and stable digital author identity that ensures that the article is attributed to the correct person and improves the searchability of all the author's publications. This helps to ensure that the author receives recognition for their work. As a person's ORCiD remains the same as long as the account exists, any name changes, change of employment, department affiliation or research field do not affect the searchability of previous publications. This facilitates correspondence between research colleagues.
The journal's editors encourage all authors to include ORCiD along with other author information when the manuscript is registered in the system. If the article is accepted, this will be published with the article.
Policy for previous versions of articles
The journal's editors allow authors to make available earlier drafts of manuscripts/articles on the condition that authors agree to the following:
Authors retain all rights to any previously published version and are permitted to submit their updated manuscript to the journal.
Authors accept that the journal's editors cannot guarantee full anonymity in the review process, even if the author anonymizes his/her manuscript when earlier versions of the manuscript are made available.
If the manuscript is published in the journal, the author is expected to cross-link, with DOI link where possible, the different versions of the manuscript/article.
Policy for changes and corrections of published material
The conditions of publication with persistent identifiers such as DOIs include that the published object is final and not changed without readers being clearly informed.
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 corrections.
Complaints and appeals policy
In the case of formal complaints, disputes, or appeals, authors should contact the editor-in-chief, who is 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 handled in accordance with COPE's recommendations and guidelines.
Publication fees
The journal does not charge any fees to authors or readers.
