Ethical Standards

Rivista di Studi Politici Internazionali (RSPI) was founded in Florence in 1934 as a branch of the “Studio di Politica estera” at the Royal Institute “Cesare Alfieri” (now the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Florence). As a quarterly review, RSPI started publishing political and scientific contributions, documents and diplomatic and political witnesses on current affairs in the forms of: essays, articles, profiles of statesmen and diplomats, briefing and documents, review of books.

In 2006 Maria Grazia Melchionni, undertaking the Review property and direction, outset the RSPI-Nuova Serie, whose international and multidisciplinary scientific board is composed by Professors Fabio Bertini, Sabino Cassese, Ottavio De Bertolis, Teresa Freixes, Wolf D. Gruner, Christopher Hill, Bichara Khader, Valeria Piacentini Fiorani, Domenico Tosato, Tatiana Zonova, and by the Ambassadors Pietro Calamia and Luigi Vittorio Ferraris.

RSPI-Nuova Serie, which aims to bare the complexity of the international framework, has a multi-disciplinary approach and hosts contributions of authors coming from all continents. It is stored in international databases as Ebsco Political Science Complete and Jstor.

RSPI-Nuova Serie is an independent and international journal. It is open to different forms of inquiry, welcomes comparative approaches and set up a working alliance among specialists in all branches of social sciences and humanities. It opens to papers in Italian, English, French and Spanish and offers abstracts of the articles in English, French and, since 2015, in Italian.

Presenting research and interpretations on all the aspects of the international relations, RSPI-Nuova Serie arouses the interest of historians, economists, jurists and political scientists, as well as the attention of a wider audience: politicians, diplomats, journalists, officials, and opinion leaders.

RSPI-Nuova Serie is committed to promoting the adoption of its ethical standards at all stages of the publication process. It is a blind review journal. Submission of a paper implies that it is unpublished and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. All papers will be submitted to two anonymous referees, according to the double blind peer review system, in which both articles and judgements remain anonymous.

EDITOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES

To constantly improve the journal, ensuring the quality of the material and identifying authors and reviewers who are experts in the different field of research covered by the journal;
To act in a balanced, objective and fair way, considering and accepting articles solely on their academic importance, originality and clarity, without discrimination on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, ethnic or geographical origin of the authors;
To inform both authors and reviewers on the journal’s ethical standards and publish an author’s guidance that includes technical editing;
To publish a description of the peer review process and ensure that the submitted material is reviewed by qualified and objective reviewers;
To defend the intellectual independence of the journal, having a declared policy on advertising and ensuring that commercial considerations do not affect it;
To deal with possible misconduct and be willing to publish corrections, clarifications and apologies when needed.

REVIEWER’S RESPONSIBILITIES

To assist in improving the quality of the published paper by reviewing the manuscript objectively, in a timely manner and only when they have the subject expertise required;
To maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editor or author;
To not reveal any details of the material under consideration;
To actively promote the journal.

AUTHORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

To avoid sending any material already published elesewhere and plagiarism;
To confirm that the submitted manuscript is not under consideration or accepted for publication elsewhere;
Upon acceptance of a paper, to assign copyrights to the journal;
To obtain permission to reproduce any material in which they do not hold copyright, including appropriate acknowledgements;
To notify promptly to the editor if a significant error in their publication is identified.

PUBLISHER’S RESPONSIBILITIES

To respect the editorial independence.