Policies

Open Access and Copyright Policy

Ecclesial Futures provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. It is published under the terms of the Creative Commons 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work provided attribution is made to the authors. This journal does not charge submission charges nor Article Processing Charges (APC's).

Peer Review Policy

Ecclesial Futures is a double-anonymous peer reviewed, international and ecumenical journal. All reviewers must respond to these questions:

  • Does the submission fall within the scope of the journal? Is the article sufficiently original to warrant publication?
  • In your view what is the likely impact of the article, internationally, for readers?
  • Is the writing readable, lively and clear, suitable for an academic and practitioner audience?
  • Do the title and abstract together give an adequate summary of the paper and mention the key concepts and conclusions?
  • Is the literature review/assessment sufficiently comprehensive and critical?
  • Do the conclusions adequately reflect the work/research reported? How would you rate the logic of the argument?
  • Are the bibliography, referencing and any footnotes appropriate and comprehensive?
  • Is the referencing style consistent and according with journal guidelines?

They then have the option to offer one of five possible responses to the article:

  • Accept unconditionally
  • Accept with minor revisions
  • Accept with substantial revisions
  • Return to the author for major rewriting and further peer review
  • Reject

Once both reviews are received the issue editor makes the appropriate response to the author – and if moving towards publication works with them to improve their work according the recommendations. The Editor’s decision on whether an article is published is always final.

We wish to maintain the integrity of our peer-review process and to uphold high standards when evaluating work submitted to us. Once a paper has been assessed for suitability by one of the co-editors, it will then be double blind peer reviewed by independent, anonymous expert referees. 

Research Integrity

We adhere to the best practices in the ethics of scholarly publishing stated in the COPE’s (Committee on Publication Ethics) Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for all parties involved: Authors, Reviewers and the Publisher. If you have questions or concerns regarding research integrity or publishing ethics in this journal, you may contact the editor.

AI Policy

All authors must be human. The use of AI-based technologies needs to be stipulated honestly and transparently to the editors when a submission is made.

Ethics Policy

Research with human participants requires informed consent by the research subjects (or their parents/ guardians). Please provide a brief statement either within the Methods section or a separate statement at the end of the manuscript outlining how consent to publish was obtained from research participants, and, if relevant which Institution provided ethical clearance for the research.

Conflict of Interest

Reviewers are requested to notify the editors of any potential conflict of interest, that could affect the review of a manuscript, such as being or having been colleagues.

Archiving Policy

To ensure permanency of all publications, this journal utilises Portico and the PKP Preservation Network to create permanent archives for the purposes of preservation and restoration.

Repository Policy

Authors are allowed and encouraged to deposit versions of their work in a repository of their choice.

ORCID iD

Authors are encouraged to use their ORCID iD when submitting their manuscript.