Code of Ethics

PHRG is an open access journal that publishes original peer-reviewed research articles, practitioner papers, policy papers, review papers and book reviews.

The ethic statements of PHRG concerning the duties of the Editors are based on the 2011 version of the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

PHRG follows a double-blind review process, whereby Authors do not know reviewers and vice versa. The Editors are responsible for securing timely, independent, and anonymous peer review from suitably qualified reviewers who have no disqualifying competing interests, of all manuscripts submitted to the journal. The Editors are responsible for ensuring that the journal has access to an adequate number of competent reviewers.

Non discrimination policy

PHRG supports equal rights and opportunities: each paper is considered and assessed for its contents, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnicity, citizenship, or political view of the authors. Guest editors, reviewers and authors are encouraged to study these guidelines and address any questions or concerns to the PHRG Managing Editor.

Ethical oversight - Allegations of Misconduct

The Editorial Board is responsible for the general ethical oversight of PHRG; any information about possible ethical issues to be considered should be directed to the Managing Editor. The Board will identify the issue, gather information and inform the Director.

When available, COPE flowchards and guidelines will be applied.

PHRG will take any allegation of misconduct both pre-publication and post-publication seriously. Internal audits will take care of all the preliminary inquiry to collect the relevant facts and to assess the credibility and severity of the alleged misconduct. In case of legal relevance of the findings, the Authority is immediately reported. The publication is suspended (or - if already published - is temporarily made inaccessible) until the end of all the inquiries.

Internal audits will be directed by the Journal Director, who will take all the consequent decisions.

Anonymous whistleblowing will not be considered unless supported by clear and promptly verifiable facts.

Complaints and appeals

Any complaint and appeal based on misunderstanding or debatable interpretation of the Journal policies will be managed informally by the Editorial Board, which will assure collaboration and dialogue. In case of complaints revealing structural deficiencies and need for policy upgrade, the Editorial Board will refer immediately to the Director providing a full informed documentation of the case.

DUTIES OF EDITORS

The Editors actively work to improve the quality of PHRG and are responsible for deciding which of the papers submitted should be published or not, evaluating manuscripts for their intellectual/scientific content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political orientation of the Authors.

The Editors and the Editorial board must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding Author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other Editorial advisors, and the publisher. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used by Editors without the express written consent of the Author.

DUTIES OF REVIEWERS

Reviewers should evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly and professionally, following the specific guidelines and time scheduling given by PHRG. Reviewers are asked to fill the evaluation form which will be sent to them avoiding personal biases in their comments and judgments and they should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. These must avoid personal attack, sarcastic comments and not include any material that is defamatory, inaccurate, libellous, misleading, obscene, scandalous, unlawful, or otherwise objectionable, or that infringes any other person’s copyright, right of privacy, or other rights. Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information. Reviewers should not discuss the manuscript with anyone other than the PHRG Editorial Board, nor should they disclose any information about the manuscript and its content. The respect of timeliness is mandatory. If a reviewer feels it is not possible for him/her to complete review of manuscript within stipulated time, this information must be communicated to the Editorial Board. In case of unjustified delay, the Editorial Board is allowed to send the manuscript to another reviewer. Reviewers should refuse to review manuscripts when they have provided written comments on the manuscript or an earlier version to the author, or in case of any conflict of interest with any of the companies, institutions, or people connected to the papers

DUTIES OF AUTHORS

Authors must ensure that no part of their work is copied from any other work, either authored by themselves or others, and that the work is original and has not previously been published in whole or substantial part. The Author should not submit concurrent manuscripts (or manuscripts essentially describing the same subject matter) to multiple journals.

If applicable, the Authors must demonstrate that their manuscript have met fundamental ethical issues (including informed consent for interviews, and permission from third-party materials).

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. Others who have made significant contribution must be listed as co-Authors. The Author should ensure that all co-Authors have affirmed the final version of the paper and have agreed on its final publication.

All work in the manuscript should be free of any plagiarism, falsification, fabrications, or omission of significant material. Plagiarism and self-plagiarism constitute unethical publishing behaviour and are unacceptable. PHRG reserves the right to evaluate issues of plagiarism and redundancy on a case-by-case basis.

The Author should indicate explicitly all sources that have supported the research and declare any conflict(s) of interest, should this apply.

Authors should be prompt with their manuscript revisions and strictly commit to the journal form and style guidelines. If an Author cannot meet the deadline given, the Author should contact the PHRG Managing Editor as soon as possible to determine whether a longer time period or withdrawal from the review process should be chosen.

The Author should promptly inform the Editor/Guest Editor(s) of any obvious/significant error(s) in his or her published paper and cooperate earnestly with the Editor-in-chief in retraction or correction of the paper. If the Editor-in-chief is notified by any party other than the Author that the published paper contains an obvious error, the Author should write a retraction or make the correction based on the medium of publication.

Use of generative AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the writing process

The use of generative AI is strictly limited to enhancing manuscript readability and language. Authors are required to disclose the use of any AI or AI-assisted tools in the manuscript, specifying the software and its version.

Post publication discussion and corrections

PHRG encourages post-publication discussions in the form of letters to the editors to be sent to phrg.journal@unipd-centrodirittiumani.it. Any request, question, opinion or criticism must be expressed in an appropriate and respectful way. The Editorial Board will manage all the requests and will decide whether Authors need to be involved to collaborate to an academic enriching dialogue when discussion are generated by their work.

Data Ethics

PHRG does not ask Authors or Correspondents for their personal data except name, affiliation and a valid (and preferably institutional) email address which are shown in the published papers.

Authors are the only responsible for the data used in their papers (see above) and any misconduct in gathering, use, sharing, will be treated by PHRG along with the general policy for misconduct.

Closing policy

For any other issue not dealt with in this section or in the “For Authors” one, PHRG will resort to COPE guidelines.

Copyright

PHRG allows Authors to hold the copyright retain publishing rights and readers to read, download, copy, print articles