Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The Editorial Collective (the “Editors”)

  • The Editors of Critical Ethnic Studies are responsible for identifying peer reviewers, always keeping in mind potential conflicts of interest and making sure that submissions are evaluated in terms of scholarly content and contribution without regard to the identity and affiliation of the author.

  • The Editors of Critical Ethnic Studies ensure the confidentiality of authors and reviewers, directing the Managing Editor in standard practices for peer review.

  • Based on Critical Ethnic Studies’ internal and external review process, the Editors decide whether to accept, reject, or encourage revision and resubmission of the manuscript. 

Author

  • Guidelines for authors appear on the Critical Ethnic Studies website, the University of Minnesota Press website, and can also be provided upon request.

  • Authors are required to state whether the article has been submitted to or is under review with another publication and whether the article has previously been published in another language.

  • Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the submission. Authors should ensure that all the listed authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the manuscript and to the inclusion of their names as co-authors.

  • Authors are expected to respect the intellectual properties of others, through acknowledgement of sources, proper citation and attribution, quotation of direct texts taken from other sources, and recognition of research participants and research funders.

  • Before a submission can be published, authors will be required to sign the University of Minnesota Press Contributor Agreement Form and a Permissions Agreement regarding illustration and artwork.

  • Authors should communicate any errors discovered after publication directly to the Editors and publisher. 

Review Policies

The Editorial Collective (the “Editors”) 

  • The Editors will independently review and select submissions in a confidential process, and reserve the right to reject any submission that does not meet the journal’s standard. Submissions will not be discussed or shared beyond those directly involved in the publication process, such as reviewers and editorial staff.

  • Articles undergo an internal review by the Editors and, when relevant, members of the Managing Board. If submissions are deemed appropriate for the journal, they undergo double-blind peer review. Critical Ethnic Studies sends authors reviewer comments and a decision about publication as expeditiously as possible. 

  • The Editors will make every effort to ensure that the selection process and peer review of submissions is fair and unbiased, and that peer review is undertaken by qualified scholars in the appropriate field who are free of conflicts of interest.

  • The editors’ decision to accept or reject an article for publication in Critical Ethnic Studies is based only on the submission’s relevance to the remit of the journal and the significance of the submission as a work of original scholarship.

Reviewers

  • Reviewers should have no potential conflict of interest.

  • Potential reviewers are provided with the title and abstract of the submission, and if they agree to serve as reviewers and have no conflicts of interest, are sent Critical Ethnic Studies’ review guidelines.

  • In order to protect the anonymity of the double-blind peer review process, reviewers are requested to keep confidential all information regarding submissions to Critical Ethnic Studies.

Authors

  • For revised resubmissions, authors should address all comments and suggestions by reviewers and provide an account of the revisions undertaken. 

Conflict of Interest Guidelines

The Editorial Collective (the “Editors”) 

Conflicts of Interest are considered to occur when the Editors have private interests that interfere with their ability to make an unbiased final decision on any manuscript. In cases where it is deemed an editorial conflict of interest exists, including (but not limited to) financial interest or a close personal relationship with the author, the Editors of Critical Ethnic Studies will disclose this to members of the Managing Board and be recused from making a decision on the article. 

Authors 

Authors are expected to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interests for authors occur when their private interests influence the objectivity of research. In order to avoid conflicts, authors should acknowledge the following upon submission of their manuscript:

  • All sources of research funding

  • Any financial or non-financial interests that may have impacted presentation of their research. 

Reviewers

The following situations are considered conflicts of interest for reviewers and will be avoided and must be disclosed immediately so that the Editors may decide how to proceed:

  • Co-authoring publications with at least one of the authors in the past 3 years, not including edited collections

  • Being colleagues within the same section / department or similar organization unit in the past 3 years

  • Having been or currently being primary supervisor for the doctoral work of the author(s) or being supervised / having been supervised by the author(s)

  • Having a close personal relationship (e.g. family, close friend) with the author(s)

  • Having a direct or indirect financial interest in the paper being reviewed

It is not considered a conflict of interest if the reviewers have worked together with the authors in a collaborative project or if they have co-organized an event.

Allegations of Misconduct

  • The Editors will promptly investigate complaints related to pieces published in this journal following the Allegations of Misconduct Policy (outlined below).

Plagiarism

  • Critical Ethnic Studies considers plagiarism to be the presentation of another author’s work as the manuscript submitter’s own.

  • Critical Ethnic Studies considers text-recycling to be when an author re-uses sections of text from their other publications without proper permissions.

  • Critical Ethnic Studies peer reviewers are instructed to inform the Editors of suspected plagiarism. Upon review of the claims, if the Editors find evidence of plagiarism, they will contact the submitter to respond to the claims. If the author provides an unsatisfactory explanation, the submission will be rejected, and the author’s work will no longer be accepted for review by Critical Ethnic Studies. If the author confirms the case to be an honest error, the manuscript may be rejected, but the author’s future work will be accepted for review by Critical Ethnic Studies.

  • Critical Ethnic Studies understands some degree of text-recycling may be unavoidable in publications on related topics and considers cases of self-plagiarism based on the significance of the text that is repeated. Critical Ethnic Studies will accept a manuscript that presents similar data with a new argument but rejects all submissions that recycle the arguments in authors’ previous publications. In such cases, all relevant previous work must be properly referenced. 

Retractions

The Editors will consider retraction if they have evidence that:

  •  the article presents unreliable findings, includes unethical or fabricated research, plagiarizes other materials, or infringes upon copyright.  

  • The author(s) and / or reviewer(s) failed to disclose a major conflict of interest during the peer-review process that impacted the decision to publish by the editors. 

In all cases, The Editors will promptly publish a retraction statement that clearly identifies the article and explains the reason for retraction. 

Allegations of Misconduct Policy

Ethics Committee Composition and Charge

  • A standing Ethics Committee of no more than 5 members from the Editorial Board will self nominate and be appointed by the Editorial Collective (the “Editors”) in consultation with the Managing Board.

  • For each investigation, at least three members of the standing committee will investigate and adjudicate any reasonable allegation of misconduct. If for any reason three members of the Ethics Committee cannot serve on an investigation, then the Editorial Collective (the “Editors”) in consultation with the Managing Board will appoint additional ad hoc committee members from the Editorial Board.

Definitions of Misconduct

  • Misconduct shall be defined as research misconduct (such as plagiarism, fabrication, or deception in proposing, carrying out or reporting results of research; deliberate, dangerous, and/or negligent deviations from accepted practice in carrying out research; or other unethical research practices, including violations of peer review or other editorial processes (failure to protect confidentiality, misappropriation of authorship); or other conduct that compromises research integrity. 

  • Misconduct includes fraudulent misrepresentation of identity or status to gain professional, financial, or academic advantages and/or the misappropriation of traditional knowledge, stories, and artifacts.

  • Misconduct does not include honest error or honest differences in interpretation or judgement in evaluating research methods or results, or misconduct (including gross misconduct) unrelated to the research process.

  • The Ethics Committee has the authority to dismiss allegations of misconduct that do not rise to the level of a violation of journal policies and procedures, as outlined above.

Investigatory Process and Outcomes

  • The Ethics Committee is empowered to collect verifiable information related to the adjudication of the alleged misconduct. This includes the ability to request and review correspondence and conduct interviews as needed with complainant(s) and respondent(s), including staff, editors, authors, and peer reviewers.

  • Upon completion of an investigation, the Ethics Committee will submit a confidential report communicating its findings and recommendations to the Managing Board and, if the complaint does not implicate them, the Editors, who will in consultation determine appropriate action, if any. In turn, if the complaint involves the Managing Board, the Ethics Committee will submit its report solely to the Editors. The Ethics Committee will submit reports involving allegations of wrongdoing by the Editors to the Managing Board. 

  • Investigations will proceed in a reasonably timely manner.

  • To protect the confidentiality of peer review and other editorial processes and dissuade retaliation, the composition of the committee conducting a particular investigation will not be publicly disclosed and all committee products will remain confidential. 

  • Upon the close of an investigation, the findings and recommendations, if any, of the Ethics Committee and any actions taken by the Editors and/or the Managing Board will be reported to the Editorial Board. 

  • The investigation will be conducted in a neutral manner. If the Ethics Committee chooses, it may designate its authority to an individual neutral party to pursue further investigation. All investigatory processes and products will remain confidential. 

Submitting a Complaint

  • Complaints must be submitted by email to the Managing Editor or the Editors, so that they can be best audited. 

  • A complaint will be acknowledged within 3 working days of receipt and the complainant will be kept updated with the expected process and timelines from that point until a resolution is found or the investigatory process concludes.

  • Complaints must be submitted in writing in a timely fashion, within 90 days of the original incident. 

Expected Behavior

  • The journal does not tolerate abusive behaviour or correspondence towards its staff, academic editors, authors, or reviewers. 

  • Any person engaged with the journal who resorts to abusive behavior or correspondence will have their contribution immediately withdrawn and future engagement with the journal will be at the discretion of the Editors.

  • The Journal prohibits retaliation from any party involved in a dispute.

  • The Journal will not retaliate against any complainant/s who bring forth an allegation in good faith, nor will the Journal retaliate against any individual who participates in the investigatory process in good faith.

Critical Ethnic Studies Journal Structure

The Editorial Collective (the “Editors”) will consist of no more than three faculty. An Editor must be able to secure institutional support for the Journal. The main funding needed is for a single, continuous, full-time, 12 month managing editor position. Editors serve three year terms. No Editor will serve more than two consecutive terms .

The Managing Board is a working group that helps support the Editors and the Managing Editor primarily with tasks related to visioning, processes, policies, and managing submissions. The group consists of the Editors, Managing Editor, and 3 members of the editorial board who serve 3-year terms, with at least 6 members at any given time and no more than 10. Editors will ideally be drawn from the Managing Board, but may also be drawn from the Editorial Board. The Managing Board will meet twice per year at minimum.

The optimal Editorial Board size will include no more than 25 faculty, post-docs, graduate students, and independent scholars who will each serve a 3-year term. Members of the Managing Board will be drawn from the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board will meet once a year at a minimum. 

Beginning in 2026, the Editors will issue a call every two years to the Editorial Board and Managing Board for nominations for Editorial Board membership, Managing Board membership, and the next Editors. The Editorial Board will nominate the Managing Board members. Managing Board members will be chosen by the Editors to ensure 1) the guarantee of institutional sponsorship and 2) diverse representation of fields and methods. The Managing Board, in consultation with the Editors about the Journal’s needs (institutional sponsorship, diverse representation of fields, etc.) will determine their successors.

Meetings for the Managing Board and Editorial Board will be scheduled for the academic year each August.