- » Aim and Scope
- » Section Policies
- » Publication Frequency
- » Open Access Policy
- » Archiving
- » Peer-Review
- » Publishing Ethics
- » Founder
- » Publication Fees
- » Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
- » Plagiarism detection
- » Preprint and postprint Policy
Aim and Scope
The journal aims to disseminate the results of advanced research in archaeology, history, literary studies, folklore studies, ethnography, and linguistics. Emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary research and studies conducted at the intersection of multiple humanities disciplines.
The editorial policy prioritises selecting significant works that address high-profile scientific topics. The Editorial Office is responsible for upholding ethical standards in all activities and interactions with stakeholders, including authors, reviewers, editors, the publisher, distributors, and readers. Additional responsibilities include facilitating objective, double-blind peer review, evaluating the reliability and scholarly significance of submissions, ensuring compliance with the journal’s scope, legal requirements, and scientific ethics regarding copyright and plagiarism, and maintaining the confidentiality of manuscripts accessible only to authorised individuals.
Section Policies
 Open Submissions |
Indexed |
Peer Reviewed |
| Open Submissions |
Indexed |
Peer Reviewed |
Publication Frequency
2 issues per year (biannual)
Open Access Policy
"Universum Humanitarium" is an open access journal. All articles are made freely available to readers immediatly upon publication.
Our open access policy is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition - it means that articles have free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself.
For more information please read BOAI statement.
Archiving
- Scientific Electronic Library eLIBRARY.RU
- National Electronic Information Consortium (NEICON)
Peer-Review
All scholarly articles submitted to Universum Humanitarium undergo mandatory double-blind peer review.
- Reviews are conducted by members of the Editorial Council, Editorial Board (collectively referred to as the Editorial Office), or by invited external reviewers who are recognised experts in relevant fields of the humanities. The Editor-in-Chief or Deputy Editor-in-Chief selects reviewers, considering input from Editorial Board members. The standard review period is three to four weeks, with extensions granted upon reviewer request.
- Manuscripts are sent to at least one reviewer. If the study is conducted at the intersection of several scientific specialties, the manuscript may be sent to two reviewers.
- A reviewer has the right to decline a request if there is an evident conflict of interest affecting the perception and interpretation of the manuscript materials.
- Based on the evaluation of the manuscript, the reviewer recommends one of the following decisions:
- Accept for publication without revisions.
- Accept for publication after minor revisions (without subsequent re-review).
- Accept for publication after major revisions (subject to re-review).
- Reject the manuscript (not recommended for publication).
- If a review contains recommendations for correction or revision, the Editorial Office provides the author with the review text or specific comments and invites the author to revise the manuscript or submit a reasoned rebuttal within 30 days. Revised articles are subject to re-review if previously determined by the Editorial Office.
- The final decision to accept or reject the article is made following the results of the re-review.
- If the Author declines to revise the materials, they have to notify the Editorial Office of their withdrawal. If the author does not return the revised version after 2 months from the date the review was sent (or within other deadlines set by the editors), the Editorial Office will remove the manuscript from the current issue’s portfolio, even in the absence of a written withdrawal. The Author will be notified accordingly.
- In the event of a dispute or irreconcilable contradictions between the author and the reviewer, or if the editors have reason to doubt the reviewer’s impartiality, the Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to send the manuscript for additional peer review.
- The decision to reject a publication is made by the Editor-in-Chief in conjunction with the Editorial Board based on the reviewers’ recommendations. A rejected manuscript will not be reconsidered. Notification of rejection is sent to the author via email.
- Once the Editorial Board decides to accept an article, the Editorial Office informs the author and specifies the publication timeline.
- A positive review does not guarantee publication. The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board. In cases of conflict, the Editor-in-Chief has the final authority.
- Original copies of reviews are archived by the Editorial Office for a period of 5 years.
Publishing Ethics
The Editorial Office of Universum Humanitarium follows publication ethics principles established by the international scholarly community and relevant organizations, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Association of Science Editors and Publishers (ASEP) Ethics Council.
The scientific communication process involves: 1) the Author; 2) the Editorial Office; 3) the Reviewer; 4) the Publisher; and 5) the Reader.
This section defines the rules of interaction between these participants to ensure objectivity, transparency, and mutual respect.
Ethics for Authors
In accordance with the ASEP Declaration of Ethical Principles of Scientific Publications (2nd edition, May 23, 2024, Moscow), the Editorial Office adheres to the following definition of authorship: “An author is only a person who has significantly participated in writing the work, in developing its concept, scientific design, material collection, analysis, and interpretation.” By submitting a manuscript, the Author enters the jurisdiction of copyright law, which entails the following:
- The Author guarantees they are the author (or co-author) of the article.
- The Author(s) guarantee that all persons who made a significant contribution are included as authors, and no persons who are not authors are listed.
- The Author is responsible for the authenticity of the facts and data reported in the article and its metadata, and for the originality of the research ideas and results.
- The Author guarantees that the article does not contain plagiarism or self-plagiarism (duplicate publication); cited or referenced ideas must be accompanied by appropriate citations.
- The Author guarantees that the data used in the research were obtained legally, that publication of the research does not violate the rights of others, and that any information obtained privately is published only with the informant’s permission.
- The Editorial Office, in turn, may not publish an edited text without the author’s approval or transfer materials to third parties (excluding reviewers) prior to publication.
Eligible authors for Universum Humanitarium include:
- Employees of scientific and educational organization s;
- Students of higher educational institutions;
- Independent researchers.
Upon submission, the Author commits to:
- Treating all participants of the editorial process with respect;
- Responding promptly to editorial requests regarding data, formatting, and revisions;
- Notifying the editors of any errors discovered during or after the publication process;
- Providing evidence of the work’s authenticity and ethical compliance if a post-publication investigation is initiated.
Plagiarism
This section addresses all forms of plagiarism, including appropriation of another’s work and self-plagiarism, which involves presenting previously published work as original. The Executive Secretary of the Universum Humanitarium verifies the originality of all submissions using the elpub.antiplagiat.ru and antiplagiat.nsu.ru systems, which access databases such as:
- Russian State Library, dissertations;
- Consolidated collection of Electronic Library Systems (ELS);
- eLIBRARY;
- Internet (open pages);
- Collection of legal documents;
- Novosibirsk State University.
Depending on a number of factors (source, volume of plagiarism, originality of the fragment, context), cases of plagiarism and self-plagiarism may have various consequences.
The manuscript is not reviewed, and the Author is notified of the refusal to publish if:
- It is a reprinted publication of another Author.
- It is a duplicate publication of the same Author.
- It contains a verbatim repetition of text fragments of more than 100 words without reference to the source.
- It contains research data, conclusions, reasoning, quantitative data, illustrations, etc., from another Author without citing them.
- Its hypothesis and conclusions coincide with those of an already published article by the same Author.
- Verbatim fragments or fragments close in content are found in the objectives or conclusions of the article in the absence of other objectives and conclusions.
The manuscript is returned to the Author with the possibility of revision and re-submission to the Editorial Office if:
- It contains a paraphrase of a significant fragment without reference to the source.
- It contains a verbatim repetition of fewer than 100 words without reference to the source, except for cases where the fragment is widely known or standardized and is not presented as an original idea of the Author (for example, in the description of a widely applicable research methodology or in the statement of the problem—provided there is a close thematic connection with the source article of the borrowing).
It is considered acceptable if:
- The article contains non-original standard phrases or sentences describing widely used research procedures, especially if the Author is not a native speaker of the article’s language.
Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers
Materials received by the Editorial Office (scholarly articles, documentary publications, reviews) are subject to mandatory review (at least one review for each article). “Double-blind” peer review is carried out, in which the reviewers do not know the author’s name, and the author does not know the reviewers’ names.
Upon receiving an article for review, the Reviewer should:
- ensure that they possess sufficient knowledge to review the manuscript;
- ensure that they can review the manuscript within the timeframe established by the Editorial Office;
- ensure the absence of a conflict of interest in the further publication of the manuscript;
- ensure that they have not previously reviewed and are not currently reviewing a similar manuscript for another journal.
Otherwise, the Reviewer must immediately decline the review with an explanation of the reasons or inform the Editor-in-Chief or Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the identified circumstances for further joint decision-making. If the Reviewer suspects the authorship of the manuscript, they must also inform the editor to prevent a potential conflict of interest.
In the process of reviewing, the Reviewer should:
- Carry out the review conscientiously, objectively, and constructively in order to help the Author improve the manuscript; support their reasoning and conclusions with convincing arguments and references.
- Respect intellectual property rights of the reviewed manuscript.
- Treat the Author of the article with respect; do not allow offensive or disparaging comments directed at the Author and/or third parties.
- In case of doubts regarding the ethics of the conducted research, the absence of a conflict of interest, or insufficient qualifications to review the manuscript, as well as in the event of circumstances preventing the completion of the review within the timeframe established by the editorial board, immediately notify the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.
Conflict of Interest
By conflict of interest (dual obligations, competing interests), the Editorial Office understands a situation where a participant in the publication process is involved in personal, scientific, or financial relationships that may influence their actions.
To prevent a conflict of interest, the Editorial Office establishes the following rules:
- When submitting an article to the Editorial Office, the Author must correctly indicate the place (places) of work and information on the financing of the research (if any).
- The Reviewer must not have a conflict of interest with the Author of the article. This rule is ensured by the following procedures:
- Double-blind peer review (the article is transferred to the Reviewer without the Author’s data; the Author is not informed of the Reviewer’s name).
- Selection of a Reviewer who is not affiliated with the organization where the Author works.
- In the event that the standard procedures of the publication process do not allow for the preservation of the anonymity of the Author and the reviewer (for example, the Author is the Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, etc.), the article is transferred to another member of the editorial board, who appoints a Reviewer.
- Upon receiving the article, the Reviewer must ensure they have no conflicts of interest related to the article. Otherwise, they must report the conflict of interest to the editor, who must appoint another Reviewer.
- If a conflict of interest is discovered after the publication of the article, the Editorial Office is obliged to publish a correction notice in the next issue.
Retraction and Correction
Instances of use
In cases where compliance with the procedures during the preparation of an article does not allow the Editorial Office to prevent the publication of the results of a dishonestly conducted study, the Editorial Office applies correction and retraction procedures.
Cases for applying these procedures include:
- plagiarism, including self-plagiarism;
- duplication of an article in multiple publications;
- multiple (redundant) publication;
- fabrication of data during the research;
- falsification of research results;
- violation of ethical norms during the research;
- incorrect composition of authors.
Editorial Investigation Procedure
Guided by the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Editorial Office adheres to the following procedures for the retraction (withdrawal) and correction of articles.
2.1. An editorial investigation procedure may be initiated by a written report from a Reader, an educational, scientific, or public or state organization reporting plagiarism, fabrication, or falsification of data in a published article, or from the Author.
2.2. The Editorial Office assembles a Commission to review the content of the report and decide on initiating an editorial investigation. The commission includes the Chairman of the Editorial Council, the Editor-in-Chief, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief, the Executive Secretary, and two members of the Editorial Council and/or the Editorial Board of the issue in which the article in question was published. In the event of a conflict of interest, including if the Author of the article under consideration is one of the aforementioned persons, that person is excluded from the Commission. The Commission evaluates the persuasiveness of the data received and decides whether to initiate an editorial investigation or refuse it. In both cases, the Editorial Office notifies the sender of the report of the decision made.
2.3. In case of a decision to initiate an investigation, the Editorial Office requests written explanations from the Author (from each of the authors in the case of co-authorship). The request contains a notification of the identification of a fact of dishonest conduct in a study or plagiarism, with supporting arguments (indicating the source of the plagiarism or facts confirming the dishonesty of the research procedures, etc.). The Editorial Office also sends a request to the organization listed as the article’s affiliation in the metadata so that the organization may conduct an internal investigation. The request is sent in electronic form from the journal’s editorial email, unihuman.nsu@gmail.com, and contains a scanned document signed by the Editor-in-Chief of the journal and dated the day the letter was sent. Furthermore, the Editorial Office informs the article’s reviewers of the initiation of the editorial investigation.
2.4. After receiving the Author (s)’ explanations and/or a response, upon receiving contradictory information, as well as two months after sending the requests if the Editorial Office has received no response from either the Author or the organization, the commission meets again and makes one of five possible decisions:
- The article does not contain elements of a dishonestly conducted study and does not violate ethical norms of article publication; no actions are taken regarding the article.
- The article contains minor and unintentional violations of publication ethics; a warning is issued to the Author, and no further actions are taken regarding the article.
- The article contains minor intentional violations of publication ethics; a correction is published.
- The article contains a description of dishonestly obtained results and/or seriously violates ethical norms of article publication (with specification); the article is retracted, and the Editorial Office refuses future cooperation with the Author.
- A reliable decision cannot be made regarding the article; the Editorial Office publishes an expression of doubt regarding the text and notifies the Author of this.
Publication of the Results of an Editorial Investigation
When withdrawing (retracting) an article, the Editorial Office:
- In the nearest issue of the journal, under the heading “Notice of Withdrawal (Retraction) of a Publication,” indicates the bibliographic data of the article (in Russian and English), the DOI, the initiator of the editorial investigation, the grounds for withdrawal, and the date the decision was made.
- Replaces the PDF file of the electronic version of the article—adding the header “Article Retracted” at the beginning of the document, indicating the date of publication of the retraction notice and a link to it.
- Sends the minutes of the commission meeting to the Ethics Council for Scientific Publications and to all scientific information databases in which the journal is included.
When expressing doubt regarding an article, the Editorial Office:
- In the nearest issue of the journal, under the heading “Notice of Expression of Doubt Regarding a Publication,” indicates the bibliographic data of the article (in Russian and English), the DOI, the initiator of the editorial investigation, the grounds for doubt, and the date the decision was made.
- Replaces the PDF file of the electronic version of the article—adding the header “The Editorial Office Expresses Doubt Regarding the Article” at the beginning of the document, indicating the date of publication of the notice of doubt and providing a link to it.
- Sends the minutes of the commission meeting to the Ethics Council for Scientific Publications and to all scientific information databases in which the journal is included.
When correcting an article, the Editorial Office:
- In the nearest issue of the journal, under the heading “Notice of Correction of a Publication,” indicates the bibliographic data of the article (in Russian and English), the DOI, the initiator of the editorial investigation, the amendments with links to the source, and the date the decision was made.
- Replaces the PDF file of the electronic version of the article—adding the header “Article Correction” at the beginning of the document, indicating the date of publication of the correction notice and providing a link to it.
- Sends the minutes of the commission meeting to the Ethics Council for Scientific Publications and to all scientific information databases in which the journal is included.
Founder
- Novosibirsk State University (NSU)
Publication Fees
Publication is free of charge for all the authors.
The Editorial Office does not charge fees for processing, submission, or printing.
Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Unpublished data obtained from manuscripts submitted for consideration may not be used in personal research without the written consent of the author. Information or ideas obtained during peer review and associated with potential advantages must be kept confidential and not used for personal gain. Reviewers should not participate in the consideration of manuscripts in the event of conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other interactions and relationships with any of the authors, companies, or other organization s associated with the submitted work.
Plagiarism detection
When considering an article, the Editorial Board of the journal Universum Humanitarium conducts a mandatory check of the material using the Antiplagiat system. In the event that numerous borrowings are discovered in the manuscript, the Editorial Office acts in accordance with COPE rules.
Preprint and postprint Policy
During the article submission process, the author must confirm that the article has not been published or accepted for publication in another academic journal.
When citing an article published in the journal Universum Humanitarium, it is necessary to provide a link (the full URL of the material) to the official website of the journal.
Manuscripts published as preprints in the repositories OSF Preprints, Preprints, PREPRINTS.RU, SocArXiv, etc., or on the website of the organization with which the author(s) are affiliated at the time of submission to the journal, are eligible for consideration. When submitting such articles, it is necessary to notify the Editorial Office of the journal and provide a link to the preprint (for example, in the field for additional comments).
In the event that such a manuscript is accepted for publication, the author(s) must include the following statement in the preprint: “This manuscript is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in the scholarly journal Universum Humanitarium (ISSN 2713-1165),” and after the publication of the article, insert a link (full URL) in the preprint to the webpage with the article metadata hosted on the journal’s official website https://www.universum-humanitarium.ru/.
