The Editor-in-chief has full authority for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the “Rivista del Diritto della Navigazione” should be published.

Duties of the Editor-in-chief

The Editor-in-chief should:

• constantly improve the «Rivista del Diritto della Navigazione», protecting its reputation through rigorous standards of publication ethics;
• meet the needs of Readers and Authors;
• guide Authors and Reviewers on their responsibilities, adopting comprehensive, honest and ethical editorial policies;
• assure the quality of the material, only accepting manuscripts based on their importance, originality and relevance to the mission of the «Rivista del Diritto della Navigazione» and exclusively publishing works of the highest quality selected through objective, fair, competent, impartial and confidential procedures (if not otherwise specified, by a double-blind peer review) with full respect and care paid to the Authors. Manuscripts will be evaluated for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, or citizenship, as well as the scientific, academic and political orientation of the Authors;
• ensure that the material submitted remains confidential during the review process;
• protect peer reviewers’ identities;
• clearly identify non-peer-reviewed articles and sections in the «Rivista del Diritto della Navigazione»;
• promote freedom of expression and respect the intellectual independence of Authors;
• maintain the independence of editorial decisions, precluding commercial considerations and business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards;
• publish corrections of errors in the publication, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed, giving due prominence in the «Rivista del Diritto della Navigazione»;
• support initiatives designed to reduce research and publication misconduct, instructing Authors and Reviewers about publication ethics.

Duties of Authors

Authors should:

• ensure that their manuscript is original, free of plagiarism, falsification or omission of significant material;
• ensure that their manuscript is not under review by another publication or has not been previously published or accepted for publication elsewhere, either in whole or substantial part, in Italian or avoid writing anything that might be actionable, such as defamation or denigrating;
• ask for permission to publish their articles (or a selection from their articles) elsewhere;
• declare explicitly all possible sources that have supported the research and openly disclose any financial or other substantive conflict of interest;
• use the correct methods of analysis;
• list and cite appropriately, in accordance with the instructions of the Journal, any third party works and ideas and add quotation marks to any text of other Authors;
• avoid self-plagiarism by recycling portions of their previous writings by using identical sentences from earlier writings without reference;
• word carefully self-referencing so as to avoid compromising the double-blind review process;
• not include in the manuscript any self-revealing information to the Reviewers or post the paper on websites where it could be easily discovered;
• avoid writing anything that might be actionable, such as defamation or denigrating;
• ensure accurate attribution of authorship for each article, declaring as co-authors all authors having made a significant contribution to the research;
• comply with the Editor-in-chief in any requests for source data, proof of authorship or originality;
• be prompt with their manuscript revisions, contacting the Editor-in-chief as soon as possible if they cannot meet the deadline given;
• promptly notify the Editor-in-chief if they discover significant mistakes in the paper and cooperate to retract or correct the errors.

Duties of Reviewers

Reviewers should:

• keep their identity hidden, avoid writing, doing or saying anything that could identify them to an Author;
• refuse to make assessments for which they do not feel qualified or if they know the Author’s identity;
• declare potential conflicts of interest resulting from collaborative, financial, institutional, personal, or other relationships or connections with the «Rivista del Diritto della Navigazione»;
• treat the manuscripts as confidential and not disclose any details during or after the evaluation process or not discuss the manuscripts with anyone without permission;
• avoid use of the information contained in unpublished articles for any purpose, including for their own personal research;
• report any suspected ethical misconduct and alert if a manuscript contains plagiarized material;
• review manuscripts objectively, fairly and professionally, avoiding personal attack, defamatory, unfair or unnecessarily derogatory comments;
• explain and support their judgments adequately, providing sufficient detail to the Authors, indicating what should be modified and, where necessary, suggesting relevant references that were not being cited;
• indicate any changes in the first revision of the manuscript, avoiding new recommendations when the reworked item is returned;
• meet the deadline of the process and immediately inform the Editor-in-chief in the event that it is not possible to complete the review within stipulated time.