A. Statements

A.1. Schedule

Literature Reviews in Education and Human Services (LREHS) is a peer-reviewed, open access, electronic journal that exclusively publishes literature reviews on any topic in education or human services. Issues are published biannually in the spring and fall.

A.2. Integrity in Research

The LREHS editor and editorial board (i.e., the “editorial staff”) are committed to upholding high standards in publication honesty. Concerns or questions related to any articles (submitted or published) should be sent to the current editor at [email protected].

A3. Editorial Process

The College of Education and Human Services (COEHS) is the publisher of LREHS. The editorial staff will not discriminate against authors or staff members with respect to any personal characteristics (e.g., race, gender, national origin) unrelated to their work.

Submitted manuscripts are initially reviewed by the editor who will determine if the manuscript supports the journal’s purpose and adheres to the submission guidelines. If satisfied, the editor will select members of the editorial board (typically 2) and initiate a double-blind review process. The reviewers will consider the manuscript's substance and offer recommendations of acceptance, conditional acceptance, revision and resubmission, or rejection; based upon the reviewers' recommendations and comments, the editor will decide how to progress while preserving the double-blind process.

The editorial staff is committed to academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas; thus, the editorial staff will not engage in censorship but rather will focus entirely on the merits of submitted manuscripts in making recommendations and decisions. To support wide dissemination, there are no publication charges associated with LREHS.

A.4. Retractions and Corrections

The editorial staff is committed to the integrity of LREHS; thus, errors in published articles will be addressed either by retraction or correction based upon the circumstances related to the error and its cause. The editor is responsible for addressing errors that come to his or her attention and involving other editorial staff members as he or she deems necessary.

A.5. Archival

LREHS is committed to making available online all published articles. If LREHS no longer publishes new articles, previously published articles will remain available online for as long as the COEHS maintains the LREHS website.

B. Requirements

LREHS adheres to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association, 2020); thus, the following requirements reflect the ethical guidelines provided in this manual (pp. 11-26) in order to define and avoid publication malpractices.

B.1. Author Requirements

B.1.1. Only use literature from credible sources.

B.1.2. Objectively present the findings from literature reviews without modification or delimitation used to support or present a biased perspective.

B.1.3. Only submit unpublished manuscripts for publication consideration.

B.1.4. Master's theses and doctoral dissertations are considered unpublished; thus, manuscripts developed from their literature reviews may be submitted for publication with the limitation of one published article per completed (i.e., successfully defended) thesis or dissertation; associated manuscripts must indicate the academic provenance in an Acknowledgement section.

B.1.5. Only submit for publication consideration manuscripts not under consideration elsewhere or in the public domain.

B.1.6. Plagiarizing the work of others or the published work of oneself is prohibited.

B.1.7. Obtain permissions and bear (in total) associated costs for any parts of the submitted manuscript that require permission.

B.1.8. Ensure the manuscript does not contain defamatory or illegal material; does not infringe upon copyright, trademark, privacy, or any other constitutional, contractual, or statutory rights of others; and does not purposefully include false statements.

B.1.9. Include and order a manuscript's authors to reflect the substance and extent of contributions.

B.1.10. Adhere to the submission guidelines.

B.1.11. Adhere to the “Ethical Compliance Checklist” (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 26) as applicable.

B.1.12. Immediately communicate to the editor any manuscript errors identified during the review process or after publication.

B.2. Reviewer Requirements

B.2.1. Conduct objective, fair, and timely reviews that promote academic freedom.

B.2.2. Recuse oneself if an objective, fair, or timely review is self-determined as improbable.

B.2.3. Protect submitted manuscripts and any associated details from disclosure.

B.2.4. Discuss any issues with the review process solely with the editor.

B.2.5. Make publication recommendations in the best interest of LREHS.

B.3. Editor Requirements

B.3.1. Adhere to LREHS's submission guidelines.

B.3.2. Assign reviewers from the editorial board fairly.

B.3.3. Facilitate an objective, fair, and timely review process.

B.3.4. Maintain a productive editorial board.

B.3.5. Protect submitted manuscripts and any associated details from disclosure.

B.3.6. Give substantive academic deference to the reviewers.

B.3.7. Facilitate the improvement of submitted manuscripts via the review and editing processes.

B.3.8. Edit manuscripts appropriately for readability, clarity, style, and conformity.

B.3.9. Discuss any issues with the editorial process solely with the editorial staff as deemed appropriate.

B.3.10. Make publication decisions in the best interest of LREHS.

Reference

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).