DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT

The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the Editorial Staff or LEARN. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that proper standards of scholarship have been followed, including obtaining approval from review boards, where applicable, and ensuring that informed consent has been given from participants involved in any research studies.

Copyright ©2018 LEARN holds the copyright to each article; however, any article may be reproduced without permission, for educational purposes only, provided that the full and accurate bibliographic citation and the following credit line is cited: Copyright (year) by LEARN, www.learnquebec.ca; reproduced with permission from the publisher. Any article cited as a reference in any other form should also report the same such citation, following APA or other style manual guidelines for citing electronic publications.

 

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ETHICS STATEMENT

The following statement addresses ethical responsibilities related to the ongoing work of LEARNing Landscapes Journal. 

 

Editor Responsibilities:

The Editor is responsible for the overall direction and editorial content of the journal. Responsibilities include decisions on the general theme of each issue, assignment of peer reviewers, which manuscripts to publish, and the issue’s publication date. The decision to send a piece to review is based on academic merit, relevance to the themed issue, and adherence to the general submission guidelines (posted on the journal web site). The decision to publish a submission is made by the Editor and is strongly guided by the work of reviewers. In keeping with the journal’s commitment to inclusiveness and attention to multiple perspectives and voices, the Editor welcomes submissions from all educational stakeholders, regardless of age, race, sexual orientation/identification, political affiliation, religion, ethnicity or gender.

Each issue of the journal has a section made up of commentary from invited guests. Commentaries include short, written pieces or an interview with the Editor, about the theme of the issue. Invitations are based on scholarly or practitioner expertise and an aim to include a variety of voices, at times elementary or secondary students. Commentaries are not peer reviewed.

If an ethical question or issue arises about a manuscript (such as attribution, or plagiarism), the Editor addresses it on a case-by-case basis. The author(s) may be asked to modify the manuscript, or retract the submission.

The Editor is assisted by a Managing Editor, and an Assistant Managing Editor. They report regularly to the Editor and oversee the day-to-day running of the journal. These responsibilities include, for example, responding to author questions, acknowledging receipt of manuscripts, relaying peer reviewer feedback in a timely fashion, assuring revisions match the recommendations of the reviewers, eliciting bio information and visuals/media files when included and assuring that manuscripts are ready for uploading to the open journal online platform. Occasionally, the Editor may consult a member of the Editorial Board about a manuscript. In all instances, details of manuscripts are kept confidential.

The Editor assures that the turn-around time from the manuscript submission deadline to publication is reasonable. In general, authors can expect reviewer feedback within two to three months and have their pieces published three months after that.

 

Reviewer Responsibilities:

The journal places strong emphasis on providing positive, constructive feedback to authors. Individuals are invited to review who have expertise with the manuscript (topic and/or methodology) and are willing to provide extensive feedback, regardless if a piece is to be accepted or rejected for publication, so that authors are able to develop their work. It is expected that, in general, reviewers respond to an invitation to review within a week and do the review work within a month. If there is a conflict of interest, if the manuscript in question is outside of a reviewer’s expertise, or if the reviewer is unable to review promptly a reviewer must decline the invitation. Most pieces are reviewed by two reviewers. As with the work of the editorial team, all reviewers are expected to keep their work confidential.

  

Author Responsibilities:

Before submitting a piece to be considered for publication authors are expected to be familiar with the nature of the journal, the upcoming themed issue Call for Submissions, the Submission Preparation Checklist and the Author Guidelines (all provided on the journal web site). To be listed as an author, each individual must have made a substantial contribution to the writing of the submission. Authors acknowledge other contributors using APA Citation Style Guide (6^th Edition) rules. Authors also need to acknowledge if their contribution is supported by a grant they have received (SSHRC funding, for example) and to include their certificate of ethical acceptability from their Research Ethics Board where appropriate. 

Authors must address requirements made by the Editorial team with respect to revisions, timelines, and any additional requests.  In the case of multiple authors, one author is asked to be the contact person in the publication process. This person must keep other authors informed and engaged in each step in the publication process.

 

Publisher Responsibilities:

The journal publisher (LEARN) assures that the journal is available online and open-access, and that it is permanently backed up through a partner organization (Public Knowledge Project-OJS), as well as LEARN’s own digital archives.