SST follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors). With the exception of book reviews and editorial introductions, all papers published in SST are subject to (at least) double-blind peer review. This standard also applies to papers authored or co-authored by members of the SST editorial board. Peer reviewers are asked to abide by the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers).
Conflicts of interest
Actual, potential, or apparent conflicts of interest must be declared at the time of article submission or as soon as such conflicts arise. Conflicts of interest include professional, business, financial, personal, or legal relationships between an author and an organisation being studied or discussed in a paper, which could influence the manner in which the research has been conducted and/or presented. Conflicts of interest are not in themselves reasons for rejecting a paper, but such conflicts may affect the way in which a paper is assessed. Failure to declare actual, potential, or apparent conflicts of interest may result in the rejection of submitted articles, retraction or a clarification of published articles. For questions involving conflicts of interest and other ethical issues, please contact the SST Executive Editor by email: sst@um.edu.mt.
Plagiarism
Attributing someone else's work as one's own is unreservedly unprofessional. The SST Editor will examine each potential case of plagiarism on its own merits, considering article type, disciplinary norms, and thesis or dissertation policies. SST follows COPE's recommendations not to use a specific percentage of duplication or overlap as a benchmark for conducting an investigation into potential plagiarism. For questions involving actual or potential plagiarism and related ethical issues, contact the SST Executive Editor by email: sst@um.edu.mt.
Before submitting a manuscript, those who intend to publish in SST are required to read the Journal’s author instructions and ethical policies carefully, and to adhere to their terms.
SST promotes good quality scholarship. Nevertheless, errors may sometimes appear in the published version of the journal. In such cases, the SST editor is to be notified immediately and, if the error is verified, a correct version of the published material will replace the former one online at the earliest opportunity.
Situations may also arise where it is alleged that ethical standards have been breached in relation to academic material related to SST. Allegations of research misconduct – such as plagiarism, ghost authorship, gift authorship, guest authorship, and abuse of intellectual property and copyright infringement – may be related either to a published article (or book review) in SST or to a manuscript under peer review for SST. Such allegations are taken most seriously by the Journal. Any such allegations are handled with sensitivity, tact, in confidence, and as follows: