Editorial Policies

All submitted manuscripts are first assessed by the editors who decide whether the manuscript is suitable to be sent for peer review. If the editors consider the language of the manuscript to be in need of revision, the responsibility for the revision lies with the author(s). The editors may also suggest that the author(s) make changes to the manuscript before sending it to reviewers.

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. As an aid to reviewers, the editors have drawn up guidelines with specific questions; this document can also serve as a form to be filled in. Reviewers may also include comments directly in the manuscript (normally using the ‘Comments’ function in Microsoft Word).

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.

When the reviews have been received, the editors decide whether or not the manuscript can be publish, and specify the revisions (if any) that need to be made. If the decision is ‘reject’, the editor-in-chief informs the author(s). If the editors find that the manuscript can be published, with or without revisions, the reviews are sent to the author(s), together with the editors’ comments. When the author(s) have submitted a revised manuscript which is approved by the editors, further copy-editing and  proof-reading follows. During this process, the editors may need to contact the author(s), for instance with requests for clarification. The final decision on publication is made by the editor-in-chief.

Based on the review, the editor then compiles a recommendation to a) accept the manuscript for publication b) ask the author to revise the manuscript or c) reject the manuscript.

The overall publishing responsibility rests with the journal's editor-in-chief, assisted by the other members of the editorial staff. The editors has a qualified editorial board representing specialized competences in different areas of the journal’s scope. The editorial board meets regularly with the editor-in-chief and the other editors for support  and discussion on various issues regarding the journal's development, etc.

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.

Peer review policy

• 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.

Copyright and licensing

Authors contributing to STM–SJM agree to publish their articles under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 license, allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, for any purpose, even commercially, under the condition that appropriate credit is given, that a link to the license is provided, and that you indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. Authors retain copyright of their work.

Authorship criteria

Each author (and any co-authors) must meet the following criteria:

1. All must have made a significant contribution to the design of the study, the collection of data, or the analysis and interpretation of data;
2. All must, either by writing or by helping to edit the manuscript, have contributed to the design of its intellectual content to a significant degree;
3. All must have approved the submitted manuscript.

Each author must also be able to take responsibility for part of the article's content and be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for the remaining parts.

Preprint policy

The journal's editors allow authors to upload 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 the 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, the different versions of the manuscript/article.

ORCID

The journal’s editors strongly recommend that authors submitting 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.

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 or the organization financing your research.

Archiving policy

The journal's current and future content, beginning when the journal joined 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.

Correction and retraction policies

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.

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, possibly with the assistance of the editorial board.

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; see in  particular: https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/cooperation-between-research-institutions-and-journals-research-integrity