About the Journal

Focus and scope

Balthazar is a multidisciplinary journal, with a particular but not exclusive focus on these research fields: moral and political philosophy, sociology, anthropology and psychoanalisis. In addition to hosting papers from acknowledged scholars and promising ones, Balthazar also intends to give visibility to contributions outside the academic community.

Frequency of publication

The journal is published biannually, with two issues per year, in February and July.

Open Access Policy

The journal provides open and immediate access to its contents, on the principle that making research freely available to the public improves the dissemination and construction of knowledge at a global level.

Indexing in databases

Balthazar is indexed in DOAJ.

Peer Review process

Balthazar is a peer-reviewed journal. All articles will be evaluated by at least two referees, chosen from a board of scholars not belonging to the Directive or Scientific Board, and with high competency in the domains of the journal. Referees are not allowed to see the authors' names and vice-versa (double blind review).

On the base of the reviews, articles will be accepted for publication, rejected, or sent back to the author for corrections. The final decision will be communicated to the author within three months from the date of receipt of the essay.

Guidelines for authors

The articles must be sent via e-mail to this address: balthazar@unimi.it

The proposed essays must be unpublished. By submitting their essay to Balthazar, the authors certify that it has not already been published (or that Balthazar has the right to republish it) or is in the process of being published.

Images included in the articles can be reproduced only if free from copyright restrictions.

It is the author’s sole responsibility to report which images need authorization and to provide the latter.

The text must be submitted to Balthazar in its final version, following the indications of the editorial norms.

Copyright policies

Authors grant the journal a license to publish their article, but they retain the copyright to their works and are free to publish them again anywhere. Preprint and postprint version of the articles can be archived anywhere under the same license.

Articles are licensed under Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution. Readers have free access to all content and have the right to download, copy, distribute, print, browse or create links to all published texts.

The license terms are available at the following address: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Ethics

It is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behaviour for all parties involved in the act of publishing: author, journal editor, peer reviewer.

 

EDITOR DUTIES

Publication decisions

The decision of the editor whether to accept an article for publication is final. She/He may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Fair play

An editor at any time evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Editors may reject a paper without peer review (desk-rejection) when it is deemed unsuitable for the journal’s readers or is of poor quality.

Confidentiality

The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Editors are not allowed to upload received manuscripts into artificial intelligence software, in order not to risk compromising privacy and copyright.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

Peer review

The editor decides whether to accept the manuscripts, after submitting them to external referees (not belonging to the Directive Board or to the Scientific Board). Referees are not allowed to see the authors' names (double blind).

 

REVIEWER DUTIES

Promptness

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the supposed author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Reviewers undertake not to use artificial intelligence tools to evaluate manuscripts in order to guarantee the application of critical thinking and original assessment.

 

AUTHOR DUTIES

Reporting standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention

Authors are encouraged to make avalaible any data on which the research is based.
Data can be made avalaible either through publication as Supplementary Files published together with the articles, or deposited in a FAIR Data Repository, or be made avalaible upon request.
Authors publishing with Milano University Press can deposit their data in the University's data research repository Dataverse.
If data are avalaible upon request, interested researchers may contact the corresponding author to obtain access. To ensure compliance with ethical standards, data will only be shared after signing a disclosure agreement, which specifies the conditions of use and prohibits unauthorised dissemination.

Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Balthazar acknowledges the importance of artificial intelligence innovations understanding the challenges and opportunities they entail.

Authors who have used artificial intelligence tools in the editing of a manuscript, in the production of images or graphical elements of the article, or in the collection and analysis of data, are invited to explicitly declare their use, mentioning the AI tool, the field of application, the search queries used and the date of use, in order to allow reproducibility and verification.
The author will remain responsible for the accuracy and correctness of any published content and guarantees compliance with the code of ethics and anti-plagiarism rules.
Authors who have used AI, or AI-assisted tools, are required to include a paragraph at the end of their manuscript, entitled "Declaration on Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process", with the following information:

«During the preparation of this paper the author(s) used [TOOL/SERVICE NAME] on [DD/MM/YYYYY] using the search terms: [SEARCH TERMS] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) have reviewed and edited the content as necessary and take full responsibility for the content of the publication».

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Article Submission Charges (APCs)

You can publish in Bathazar free of charge: no payments are required from the authors, as Balthazar doesn’t have article submission charges nor article processing charges (APCs).

Archiving

The journal has enabled the PKP PN (Preservation Network) plugin, in order to preserve digital contents through LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe)  project

Plagiarism

Editors have a duty to act promptly in case of errors and misconducts, both proven and alleged. This duty extends to both published and unpublished papers. In case such as errors in articles or in the publication process, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, appropriate steps will be taken, following the recommendations, guidelines and flowcharts from di COPE.  Corrections will happen with due prominence, including the publication of an erratum (errors from the publication process), corrigendum (errors from the Author(s)) or, in the most severe cases, the retraction of the affected work. Retracted papers will be retained online, and they will be prominently marked as a retraction in all online versions, including the PDF, for the benefit of future readers.