View our policies on academic misconduct and open access.
Academic Misconduct Policies
Pacific Affairs works from the assumption that article authors and book reviewers are familiar with the basic standards of professional and academic conduct. Our approach to matters of academic misconduct is thus primarily preventive in nature; we ask all authors to provide assurances regarding prior or concurrent submission of their work, and encourage them to use citations to traceable sources and consult our Submissions Guideline, professional guidebooks, and their own legal consultants should there be any questions about the ethics or the legality of any particular passage or citation. Another resource for authors is the Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE.
Double Submissions
We require all authors to provide a cover letter or email with their initial submission that confirms that the article is currently not under review with another journal or publisher, and we require all authors whose submissions are accepted for publication to sign an agreement that contains (among other things) a representation that the article is original, and has not previously been published elsewhere. We do not pre-review articles until we receive a statement to this effect in the cover email or letter.
We require all reviewers to sign an agreement containing (among other things) a representation that the review will be original and will not have previously been published elsewhere, and that permission to publish the review has not been granted to any other person. We do not publish reviews until we receive a signed copy of this agreement.
In terms of what constitutes original, a work should have at least 50% original material relative to any other paper published (or under consideration elsewhere) by the same author. This applies equally to translated works (i.e., a paper that may have been published in a language other than English, but which is now under consideration as an English-language manuscript).
Plagiarism
We require that all authors be aware of, and comply with, all applicable professional practices concerning plagiarism.
Procedures
If we suspect that, despite the authors’ or reviewers’ representations to the contrary, an article or book review has been previously published, is currently under consideration for publication with another journal, has been submitted to another journal while under consideration at Pacific Affairs, or has been plagiarized, we will contact the author or reviewer to inform him/her that we have discovered this possible violation, and we will also inform the other journal(s) involved, if any.
In cases in which double-submission is suspected, Pacific Affairs will consult with the other journal(s) concerned and determine whether a double submission has in fact occurred. In cases in which plagiarism is suspected, Pacific Affairs will conduct its own investigation into the matter.
While the response to each case will vary depending on the extent of the problem, in instances where we confirm that more than two paragraphs have been plagiarized wholesale, or that there was a deliberate and sustained effort to sidestep the requirement for sole review rights, the editors will generally inform both the author(s) and the head of the author’s academic department of the problem. If a problem is confirmed, we will not publish the article or book review in question.
Should a case of double-submission or plagiarism be confirmed prior to publication, we will withdraw the article or review from the refereeing and/or production process and place the author under a seven-year probation (i.e. we would not consider submissions from the author for the next seven years).
Should a case of double-submission or plagiarism be confirmed after publication, the author will be placed under a seven-year probation and further action may be taken, including one or more of the following: publication of a coordinated statement of retraction, removal of the offending piece from all electronic databases, and publication of a statement of retraction by the reviewer or author to be published in the earliest issue possible.
Open Access
If your funder requires your research to be open access, please inform us when/if you receive either an “accept,” “accept with revisions” or a “revise and resubmit” letter from our office and indicate whether you intend to pursue the green or gold open access options.
Green Open Access
Authors whose research has been funded by a national, regional, or international research funder may deposit a copy of the accepted manuscript (i.e., pre-copyediting, pre-typesetting, pre-tagging, but post–peer review) in an institutional repository twelve (12) months after publication of the version of record (i.e., the version available on the journal’s online platform after copyediting, tagging, typesetting, etc.). The deposit must include the article DOI linking out to the version of record. An exception is made for UKRI funded research – these accepted manuscripts may be displayed on any website, with no embargo period with a CCBY license. Once the deposit has been made in the institutional repository, authors must inform Pacific Affairs of the details.
Gold Open Access
Authors whose research has been funded by a national, regional, or international research funder have the option of publishing their article gold open access. Upon publication, the final version of the record will become freely available on our online platform, IngentaConnect. Publishing gold OA requires the payment of an article processing charge (APC), which can be paid directly by the author or on behalf of the author by the author’s institution or funding body. The APC for Pacific Affairs is CAD$3500.