Ethics statement

Calitatea Vieții (Quality of Life) is an open-access, online-first journal, founded in 1990 with the aim of advancing scientific research on quality of life and social policy issues. The journal features four issues per year and publishes empirical, methodological, and theoretical articles in the above-mentioned areas as well as in the following related fields: living standard(s), consumption patterns, employment and occupations, healthcare, housing, political participation, environmental well-being, education and schooling, social services, social interventions, family and interpersonal relationships, leisure, migration, lifestyles, subjective well-being, and research methods.

The journal follows an editorial policy that aims to encourage articles which bring original contributions to the international literature in its areas of interest without downplaying relevant research that aims to foster local, national, or regional social development. We also support the increasing international visibility of the articles published by our authors, with a positive impact on the number of citations.

Authors’ responsibility and authorship

Prior to submitting an article, authors are required to consult the author guidelines available on the journal website (https://revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/about/submissions) and make sure that the manuscript meets the following criteria:

  • This manuscript has not been previously published, nor is it sent to another journal for consideration;
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines;
  • The research data used was not tampered with to support the conclusions;
  • Arguments, concepts, methodologies or empirical data or any other information taken from other sources are not presented as the creation of the authors (plagiarism). The sources are clearly stated in the format required by Calitatea Vieții (Quality of Life), according to the instructions for authors;
  • The material has received the necessary approvals from the co-authors, cited institutions, cited persons (in case these are not published as public documents), data or images used, etc. before being submitted for publication.

Authors’ ethics statement

Before submitting their manuscript through the online platform, the corresponding author will have to confirm that the manuscript meets the journal’s ethical and formal requirements by checking and ticking a list of items like the one included below.

Acknowledgements

All the contributors who do not meet the authorship criteria should be included in the Acknowledgements section. If the authors consider that the reviewers made a substantial contribution to the paper during the peer-review process, it is possible to include the anonymous reviewers in the Acknowledgements section, should the authors wish to do so.

Disclosure of funding and conflict of interests

When submitting the manuscript, authors have the responsibility to mention any funding that supported the research process and the writing of the manuscript, as well as any conflict of interest that might be seen as having an influence on the research results.

Data sharing

Whenever qualitative or quantitative data is used, the authors should mention the data source, whether it is open access or not, and in which conditions it can be made available to interested readers, provided that this is possible.

Peer review

Authors wishing to publish articles in Calitatea Vieţii (Quality of Life) are asked to make a formal submission on the journal website (https://revistacalitateavietii.ro/journal/about/submissions).

The Corresponding Author sends the anonymised manuscript (i.e. without the author(s)' name or other information which might lead to the author(s)’ identification) which will contain: the title, summary, and key words (in both Romanian and English) and the main manuscript text.
Acknowledgments, funding and conflict of interests, as well as contact details of the author(s) (academic title, current position, institutional affiliation, postal address, e-mail address), ORCID, are written in a separate document.

If the manuscript does not meet basic criteria for a scientific publication or is assessed as not a good fit for the journal’s area of interest, it can be rejected by the editorial board without reaching the peer-review stage. Manuscripts which pass this screening stage go through the peer evaluation process and normally the authors receive a decision response in three to six months.

Articles are reviewed anonymously by two experts in the topic(s) addressed in the manuscript. If the recommendations made by them are contradictory, a third specialist makes a separate report. According to all reviewers’ recommendations, publishers decide to publish/reject the article or send suggestions for improvement to the author/authors. If the version of the article, the editor-in-chief can accept it directly but in most cases the article is sent back to the reviewers. In situations where one of the reviewers is not available for the second round of review, the article could be sent to a third reviewer, if the decision could not be made by the editors.

Articles accepted for publication will be sent to authors for proof. We expect authors to reply within 3 days.

Responsibility of reviewers

The reviewers must assess the manuscript strictly with regard to the scientific content and fit with the journal’s aim, scope and formal requirements within the agreed timeframe. They are not allowed to share the manuscript in any form with anyone apart from the editors. If the persons contacted to review an article know or discover the identity of the authors of the paper they are asked to evaluate, they should inform the editor and decline the invitation. The reviewers will be asked to use the journal’s assessment form that they receive together with the manuscript.

Special Issue

Special issues of Calitatea Vietii (Quality of Life) will be generally coordinated by guest editors in collaboration with the editorial board of the journal. To facilitate the cooperation, one or two board members will be delegated to support the editorial activity.

Publication ethics issues

There is a strict policy against plagiarism, the commitment to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed, and the strict preclusion of business interests from compromising intellectual and ethical standards. Editorial board members monitor and safeguard publishing ethics. If a published paper is found to contain material inaccuracies, misleading statements, or distorted reporting, it will be promptly corrected. If, after a proper investigation, an item is found to be fraudulent, it will be retracted.

Plagiarism

During the peer-review process, the manuscript will be assessed for originality and a specialised  software could be used in this respect. The decision to reject the manuscript on account of plagiarism can be challenged by authors within two weeks from receiving the notification. To do so, authors can write to redactia@revistacalitateavietii.ro and submit evidence that the work is original. If the editorial board considers the new evidence constitutes grounds for doubt of the plagiarism assessment, the manuscript will be evaluated one more time. The second decision is final.

When an article is rejected on grounds of plagiarism, the Calitatea Vietii (Quality of Life) reserves the right to refuse the evaluation of future manuscripts sent by the same  author/s.

Copyright

All rights belong to the Romanian Academy Publishing House. Authors submitting their articles to the journal automatically give their consent for publication under these conditions.

Privacy statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available on any other grounds or to any other party.

Open Access Statement & Online First

Calitatea Vietii (Quality of Life) is an open access journal and provides online first publication. This means that readers can access peer reviewed articles online before print publication. A preliminary version of the article (that can be subject to changes) is ready for online first publication and can be published online.

All content is freely available: users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search for, link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose without asking for prior permission from the publisher or the author but with proper citation.

Articles can be cited using their unique DOI (Digital Object Identifier). However, the commercial use of the freely available articles (e.g. pay per view) is prohibited.

Publication fees

Calitatea Vieții (Quality of Life) does not charge authors a fee for the submission process, review process, and/or publication of manuscripts.