Author Guidelines
Types of contributions
Original articles
We accept work by single or multiple authors that has not been published before and that is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Articles should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words.
Review articles
We are open to articles that survey and summarize previously published studies, rather than report new facts or analysis. Review articles should provide a comprehensive foundation on a topic, present the current state of knowledge on a topic, or identify gaps in existing studies and potential for future research. Review articles should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words.
Event/book reviews
We consider analytical commentaries of significant events, conferences or symposia, and book reviews. In addition, we will consider for review, books sent directly to us. The section can include one contribution or engage various authors in the form of a dialogue. All reviews should be between 1000 and 1,500 words.
Impression
To cherish the richness of the Mediterranean world, we invite submissions of photographs that represent Mediterranean heritage or reflect modern social or natural landscapes in the region. The editors retain the discretion of selecting a photograph to appear on the inner side of the cover. The authors are invited, but not required, to write a one sentence caption describing the photograph. The title, place and date of the photo are however requested.
Special issues
A ‘Special Issue’ is a collection of papers focused on a specific topic. It may also be a collection of papers from a conference associated with the journal or linked association. We welcome proposals for special issues falling within the scope and aim of the journal. Please indicate your intent using this this form and send it to the submission e-mail address: ijems@emuni.si.
Language
While conscious of the linguistic diversity of the region, IJEMS publishes articles in the English language. The authors are expected to submit well-structured and comprehensible manuscripts, even if English is not their first language. It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure that grammar and spelling are correct. For those authors who do not have a strong command of the English language, we offer a proofreading service for a fee.
Preparation of the manuscript
Title Page
The title page should contain the following elements:
Title
A short informative title containing the major key words, without abbreviations if possible.
Authorship
The full names of the authors and institutional affiliation should be provided (if the author’s present address is different from where the work was conducted, this should be annotated). The list of authors should accurately illustrate who contributed to the work and how. You are free to use any existing standard to determine authorship.
Submitting authors should verify that all authors agree to the final version of the submitted manuscript and be accountable for all aspects by ensuring the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work.
Acknowledgments
Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in this section.
Funding Statement
Financial and material support for research should be mentioned.
Conflict of Interest Statement
Authors will be asked to provide a conflict of interest statement during the submission process. Conflict of interest can occur when authors (or author’s employer or sponsor) have a financial, commercial, legal, or professional relationship with other organizations or individuals, that could influence the research. If you have no conflict of interest to disclose, please do so explicitly.
Main Text File
The main text file should not include any information that might identify the authors to ensure a smooth double-blind peer reviewed process.
The main text file should be presented in the following order:
- Title
- Abstract of 150-200 words;
- 4 to 6 keywords;
- Main text;
- References;
- Tables; each table should contain a title and footnotes;
- Figure legends.
The text should be prepared according to the following instructions:
- Paper size should be A4. Margins should be set for a 25 mm (1 in.) top, bottom, left, and right.
- The point size should be 12 and the font should be Times New Roman. Italics should be used for emphasis. Put blank lines between paragraphs.
- Headings should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals and so should subheadings (e.g. 2.1., 2.2., 2.3., etc.). Use no more than two levels of heading below the title. Headline style capitalisation and bold font should be used.
- Figures and supporting information should be supplied as separate files.
- Each figure and table should be clearly labelled with number and caption. Where a figure or table is to be inserted in the text, on a separate line write [figure 1 here].
- Line drawings should be submitted as vector EPS files. Bitmap figures should be submitted as JPG or TIFF files; bitmap figures should be least 300 dpi resolution. All figures should be at least 110 mm wide when printed. Graphs should be attached as separate Excel files, the tables with the data should be included.
- Tables, figures and graphs should not be obtained from already published works. The number of figures, graphs and/or tables combined is limited to 7.
- Words in languages using non-Latin scripts (Arabic, Hebrew, etc.) should be given in Latin transcription.
Reference Style
References should be prepared according to The Chicago Manual of Style (University of Chicago Press 2017). In text citations, the author-date method should be followed whereby the author’s last name and the year of publication for the source appears in the text, followed by page number if a direct quotation is given, for example (Barbé and Izquierdo 1997, 129). The complete reference list (titled ‘References’) should appear alphabetically by name at the end of the paper (please note that initials should be used for the authors' names). Ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full.
A sample of the most common entries in reference lists can be found below. A DOI should be provided for all references where available.
- Barbé, E., and F. Izquierdo. 1997. ‘Present and Future of Joint Actions for the Mediterranean Region.’ In Common Foreign and Security Policy, ed. M. Holland, 120–35. London and Washington: Pinter.
- Dymond, A. 2003. ‘A Politicized Pastoral: Signac and the Cultural Geography of Mediterranean France.’ The Art Bulletin 85 (2): 353–70.
- Ludlow, P., ed. 1994. Europe and the Mediterranean. London and New York: Brassey.
- University of Chicago Press. 2017. The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
The Chicago-Style Citation Guide is available at https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html
Copy Editing. Papers should be copy-edited and spell-checked before submission. British English should be used throughout.
Publishing Ethics and Malpractice Statement
By submitting a manuscript authors certify that their manuscripts are their original work, that the manuscript is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere, and that they have identified all sources used in the creation of their manuscript. All manuscripts are checked for plagiarism using specific software.
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the paper, others, who have participated in the research, should be listed as contributors.
Sources of funding should be acknowledged at the end of the article; the authors should also disclose any conflict of interest.
Data Sharing. Authors are encouraged to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. A data availability statement should be provided, including a link to the repository they have used.
All manuscripts are double-blind peer reviewed. All submitted manuscripts are initially screened by the Editors in Chief to ensure relevance, academic rigor and integrity and, if found suitable for further consideration, are submitted to a double-blind peer-review process. Reviewers perform work for the journal on a volunteer basis; they are obligated to disclose to Editor any conflicts of interest, to keep information pertaining to the manuscript confidential and to evaluate manuscripts only for their intellectual content. Reviewers should argue their statements and personal criticism is not permitted.
The final decision for the publication of a submitted manuscript is the responsibility of the Editors. The Editors should confer with the members of the Editorial Board in making this decision. All submissions will receive an answer from the editors, either if the manuscript is rejected or accepted for publication. Manuscripts should be processed in less than 6 months from the date of submission. Authors, Editors and Reviewers should follow guidelines and standards developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Complaints and Appeals. Anybody wishing to raise a concern or make a complaint about any aspect of being published in the International Journal of Euro-Mediterranean Studies, may email ijems@emuni.si. The investigation will be carried out according to COPE guidelines.
Proofs. Page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author; proofs should be corrected and returned within five days. Proofs should be used only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the paper. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication are not permitted.
Ethical Oversight. In dealing with unethical practices, the journal will follow COPE guidelines. In case of misconduct, steps will be taken to correct the scholarly record.
Correction and Retraction. Errors in an article that affect its content will be corrected through a correction notice. Retractions will be considered in cases of evidence of unreliable data, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical research. Retractions will be issued where required following COPE guidelines.
Author Fees. No article submission or article processing fees are charged.
The Use of AI Technology. In line with COPE guidelines, artificial intelligence tools (e.g. ChatGPT) cannot be listed as named authors on submitted articles. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their article, even those parts produced by any AI tool, and are thus liable for any inaccuracies or breaches of publication ethics. Authors who have used AI tools to develop their article and/or to write, generate or edit text must include a note in the article's Acknowledgements section describing the technologies used and their purpose. Please note that this policy does not apply to software such as spelling or grammar checkers or reference managers. Authors using such tools do not need to include a note about them in the Acknowledgements section.
Handling Research Data
International Journal of Euro-Mediterranean Studies supports open access to research data, which is the foundation of modern scientific research.
About Research Data. Research data are data obtained by different methods that serve to learn about, test or confirm hypotheses and draw conclusions that have been generated or processed in research. They come in a variety of formats: from notes, interviews, photographs, transcriptions, numerical survey data, etc. If the data are not in digital form, it is useful to assess whether such material can be digitised to facilitate its preservation in a data repository. A data repository provides storage and access to different types of data, e.g. research, public sector data, and related documentation.
Data accessibility increases the transparency and verifiability of research findings and enhances their usability in future research, thus increasing the value for money of the data already collected. Sharing data can help to develop researchers’ careers by raising the profile of their work and enabling them to collaborate with new partners.
Policy on Mandatory Reporting of Research Data. In accordance with the Regulation on the Conduct of Scientific Research, the co-sponsor of the journal (the Public Agency for Scientific Research and Innovation of the Republic of Slovenia) requires the journal’s editorial board to ensure that authors have open access to the research data used in the preparation of the article before the article is published. The data must be prepared in accordance with the FAIR principles (findability, accessibility, compatibility, reusability).
Exceptions to Full Open Access. However, there are also cases where data cannot be shared fully openly for legal, ethical or other legitimate reasons, for example when dealing with personal data subject to protection (see EU General Data Protection Regulation), when dealing with material involving trade secrets or other commercial information regulated by law, or when dealing with data posing security risks. The Regulation understands open access to research data and other research results from co-funded research in line with the principle of ‘open as far as possible, closed as far as necessary.’
List of Trusted Repositories. Authors should publish research data in trusted data repositories, archives or centres that provide appropriate access regimes. The trusted repositories recommended by the journal’s co-sponsor are published here.
The journal’s editorial board recommends Slovenian researchers to publish their research data in Slovenian trusted repositories such as:
Other authors can search for a relevant data repository using online tools such as https://fairsharing.org or https://www.re3data.org. It is only necessary to check that the data repository is also published on the list of the Slovenian Public Agency for Research and Innovation, which is a co-sponsor of the journal.
We recommend that the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 or equivalent licences are used when publishing research data.
Citation of Research Data. Authors should cite all data sources used appropriately, according to the repository guidelines and the citation style used by the International Journal of Euro-Mediterranean Studies (Chicago Style), or describe the data appropriately in the Access Statement if the data are not digitised or not published due to other restrictions (e.g. Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA-2)). A link to published research data (e.g. DOI) should necessarily be included in the reference list of the paper and also in a footnote, if appropriate.
Obligations of Authors, Editors and Reviewers. During the submission process, authors will be required to ensure that the research data is accessible at least to editors and reviewers. When the article is published, the final version of the research data must be published in an appropriate data repository. It is the responsibility of the editor to assess whether the article is based on research data (the author’s own or others’). If the editor judges that such data exist and have not been properly cited by the author, the editor is obliged to warn the author to complete his/her article. The same obligation applies to the reviewer of the journal.
Additional Information. For further clarification, authors may contact the data administrator at their institution or the journal editorial office or the relevant research data management support institutions.
