Policies and peer review
Peer review process
Limnetica will acknowledge receipt of the originals sent by the authors.
Limnetica's editorial board may reject an article, without the need to send it for review, when it considers that it does not conform to the standards, both formal and content, or does not fit the scope of the publication.
After this preliminary analysis, all articles will be subjected to an external review process according to the “peer review” system in which at least two external reviewers to the journal will participate, using a third party if necessary. The evaluators will be renowned researchers who are specialists in the field. The anonymity of the reviewers will be maintained; however, the lists of external evaluators who have collaborated with the journal in previous years will be published periodically, subject to personal authorization.
The decision will be communicated to the authors, which may be a) acceptance, b) minor changes, c) major changes, d) rejection, encouraging the authors to do a new submission or e) definitive rejection of the article.
If authors are encouraged to review and resubmit an article, there is no guarantee that the revised submission will be accepted.
The dates of receipt and acceptance of the article will be indicated in each published article.
The final decision on the publication or rejection of each article will be made by the editorial team, taking into account external reports.
Open access policy
Limnetica provides immediate free access to its contents, at no cost to the user or its institution, and without registration requirements, from the moment of its publication in the electronic edition, based on the principle that making the research available to the public free of charge favors the global exchange of knowledge.
Privacy statement
The names and email addresses obtained in this journal will be used exclusively for the purposes stated by this journal and will not be available for any other purpose or other person.
Copyright
Limnetica articles are Open Access articles, published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The CC BY-NC 4.0 license allows anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute and/or copy the content as long as the original authors and source are cited.
In any case, the material published on this web site cannot be used for commercial purposes.
Use of the article in whole or part in any medium requires attribution suitable in form and content as follows: Title of Article, Author, Journal Title, Volume, Issue (See instructions for authors)
Submitting an article to Limnetica implies that, once it is accepted for publication by the journal, the authors accept the automatic transfer of exploitation rights (copyright) to the journal. Articles are assigned a DOI with the corresponding metadata that facilitate indexing in databases and bibliographic indexes. The authors accept the distribution of the works with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Limnetica makes no warranties or representations as to accuracy of the materials displayed on the web site. Because of the possibility of human and mechanical error as well as other factors, Limnetica shall under no circumstances be liable for any errors or omissions.
Archiving
Limnetica archives the published articles on the website of the journal.
Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
The ethics statements for Limnetica are based mainly on the Core Practices from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement of the journal REGION. This policy should be read in conjunction with the journal’s author and referee guidelines.
Plagiarism, data fabrication and image manipulation are not tolerated. Note that Limnetica uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. If plagiarism is detected after publication, an investigation will take place and action taken in accordance with our policies.
Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, even from your own publications, without giving any credit to the original source.
Reuse of text that is copied from another source must be between quotes and the original source must be cited. If a study's design or the manuscript's structure or language has been inspired by previous works, these works must be explicitly cited.
Image files must not be manipulated or adjusted in any way that could lead to misinterpretation of the information provided by the original image.
Irregular manipulation includes: 1) introduction, enhancement, moving, or removing features from the original image; 2) grouping of images that should obviously be presented separately 3) modifying the contrast, brightness or color balance to obscure, eliminate or enhance some information.
If irregular image manipulation is identified and confirmed during the peer review process, we may reject the manuscript. If irregular image manipulation is identified and confirmed after publication, we may correct or retract the paper.
Aim & Principles
Limnetica aims to make available to the public the results of high quality scientific research in continental aquatic ecology (See scope). The activity of Limnetica is guided by the following principles:
- Scientific quality
- Freedom of expression
- Non-discrimination
- Wide accessibility and ease of access
- Free sharing and use of new knowledge
The journal's editorial policy includes specific recommendations for the use of inclusive language in scientific articles. The journal also reports on whether the source data of the research is gender-sensitive, in order to allow for the identification of possible differences.
Editors' responsibilities
The editor of the journal is responsible for deciding which of the submitted articles are published. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board and constrained by legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making the decision.
Submitted articles are evaluated for their intellectual content without regard to age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
The editor and anyone else who has access to a submitted article (editorial staff) must not disclose any information about the article to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, and other editorial advisors, as appropriate.
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted article must not be used in the own research of an editor or a member of the editorial staff without the explicit written consent of the author(s). Editors will recuse themselves (i.e. ask a co-editor or a member of the editorial board to review or consider instead) from considering articles in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the paper.
Reviewers' responsibilities
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through the editorial communications with the author, may also assist the author in improving the paper. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication and helps maintain scientific quality.
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in an article or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor in due time and excuse him/herself from the reviewing process.
Any article received for review must be treated as confidential document. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by the editor.
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. Reviewers should also call to the Editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the article under consideration and any other published material of which they have personal knowledge.
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider evaluating articles in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the submission.
Authors' responsibilities
Authors reporting results of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the article. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to allow others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. An author should not in general publish articles describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Parallel submission of the same article to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should also cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as coauthors. Where there are others who have participated in no substantive aspects of the research project, they should be named in an Acknowledgement section.
The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list of the article, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
All authors should disclose in their article any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the editor and cooperate with the editor either to retract the paper or to publish an appropriate erratum.
Authors should guarantee the English grammar quality of their article. It is mandatory to include a letter of the language revision at the end of the revision process.