Focus and Scope
Ex Chordis – A Bowed Strings Journal [ISSN 3034-8781] is an open access and peer-reviewed ANVUR accredited scientific Journal (area 10), edited by 'Niccolò Piccinni' Conservatory of Music, Bari (Department of String Instruments) and published by Milano University Press. The Journal is designed and edited by Alessandro Cazzato. The title is inspired by the 'motto' of the Italian renowned violinist Gioconda De Vito (Martina Franca, 1907 – Rome, 1994): "Ex chordis ad corda" [From the strings to the hearts]. From an interdisciplinary perspective, the Journal promotes original papers on key topics for bowed string players, whether through the contribution of established experts or by welcoming the contributions of young and promising scholars. The published contributions explore the main issues of bowed string players. The aim is to create a shared hub to link music practice, education and research, providing new tools from different research fields, including: Musicology, Music Analysis, Performance Studies, Artistic Research, Pedagogy, Music Psychology, Aesthetics of Music, Electroacoustic Music and New Technologies (2013 ISCED-F: Arts and Humanities, 0215/Music and Performing Arts).
Promoting Organisations and Sponsorships
Ex Chordis is edited by 'Niccolò Piccinni' Conservatory of Music, Bari (Department of String Instruments) and published by Milano University Press. Furthermore, the Journal is supported by international organisations and Institutions that share its aims and goals:
- MUR - Ministry of University and Research;
- AEC - European Association of Conservatoires;
- Royal Conservatoire Antwerp;
- AIV - Viola Italian Association.
Journal Sections
In its guidelines, Ex Chordis provides the following sections: (1) ESSAYS, subjected to a peer review process, provides submissions by professors from Academic Institutions or independent researchers; (2) THESES & PROJECTS, subjected to a peer review process, provides submissions by students from degree Theses or research projects within Academic Institutions; (3) REVIEWS & INSIGHTS, edited by Editorial Board, provides focus on specific topics, publications (books, manuals, scores) or innovative projects; (4) DOCUMENTS provides historical records and unpublished musical materials to enhance knowledge of the repertoire, performance practice and teaching for bowed string players.
Peer Review Process
Each manuscript submitted by Call for Papers that passes the preliminary review by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board is generally reviewed by at least two external reviewers under a double-blind peer review process, where both the reviewers and the authors are kept anonymous. Reviewers are asked to evaluate the manuscript based on its originality, scholarly relevance, soundness of methodology, solidity of argumentation, and appropriateness to the journal’s aims and areas of interest. Peer Reviewers are asked to assess research and publication ethics issues and inform the Editors of any conflict of interest that might be perceived as relevant. The review process usually takes 4 to 10 weeks.
Publication Frequency and Costs
Ex Chordis is published on an annual basis numbered for each year. Numbering is consecutive and is always accompanied by the Issue’s year of reference. In certain cases, at the Editor Board’s discretion, the annual Issue may be divided into two or more Sub-Issues that may also be published separately while still corresponding to the general numbering. The Journal does not charge publication costs (APC) or subscription fees.
CC License
Ex Chordis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Share alike 4.0 International License.
Endogeny
The proportion of published research papers where at least one of the authors is an editor, editorial board member, or referee must not exceed 25% in either of the latest two issues. Papers written by a member of the Editorial Board are guaranteed a review process in line with the Code of Ethics and free of conflicts of interest. An author's membership of the Journal's Board is made explicit in the full-text or metadata of the article.
Open Access Policy - APC
Ex Chordis provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Interfaces does not charge either submission or publication fees nor article-processing expenses. Publisher copyright policies and self-archiving: (1) authors retain the copyright of their works; (2) authors can archive post-print (e.g. final draft post-refereeing); (3) authors can archive publisher’s version/pdf. Open Access Policy is based on rules of Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).
Archiving and Indexing
Ex Chordis has enabled the PKP PN (Preservation Network) service, in order to preserve digital contents through LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) project. Ex Chordis is indexed in DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals.
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 (Committee on Publication Ethics). Corrections will happen with due prominence, including the publication of an erratum (errors from the publication process), corrigendum (errors from the Author) 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.
iThenticate
Ex Chordis performs a Similarity Check on the submissions received, through iThenticate software.
Rights notice
The author grants Ex Chordis the right to publish for the first time and the perpetual right to distribute it free of charge to the public in any medium and anywhere in the world, including communication to the public via the magazine's website. The author retains the right to create derivative works and to reproduce, distribute, perform or publicly display his work in lectures, conferences or presentations, or other works of a scholarly nature and professional activities, making explicit the place of publication. The author retains the right to disseminate the work in open access, through his own website or through an institutional or disciplinary archive, from the moment of its publication. The author renounces, in agreement with the Publisher, any form of remuneration granted by current national legislation to authors and publishers for the rights of reprography for non-profit purposes and library lending.
Declaration on Artificial Intelligence
Ex Chordis 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.” Editors are not allowed to upload received manuscripts into artificial intelligence software, in order not to risk compromising privacy and copyright. Reviewers undertake not to use artificial intelligence tools to evaluate manuscripts in order to guarantee the application of critical thinking and original assessment, as required for this work.
EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES & ETHICAL CODE
1. Accountability and responsibility for Journal content. Journal’s editors take responsibility for all works published on Ex Chordis. They strive to grant both scientific and editorial quality by double-blind peer review and careful editing. The Journal maintains the integrity of the published record and grants long time preservation of all published content by using the LOCKKS system.
2. Editorial independence and integrity
2.1 Independence of editorial decisions from commercial interests. Ex Chordis editors make their decisions about proposals submitted to the journal and published works on academic merit alone and take full responsibility for their decisions. Ex Chordis embraces an open access policy and has no commercial interest, so the journal’s editorial processes and editors’ decisions are independent of any commercial consideration.
2.2 Editors’ relationship to the journal publisher. Ex Chordis editors work on a volunteer basis. The journal’s website is hosted by Milan Università degli Studi, a public institution which has a scientific research and teaching mission and does not interfere with Ex Chordis editors’ freedom of choice and activities, as long as their work is coherent with the scholarly mission of the journal.
2.3 Journal metrics and decision-making. Ex Chordis editors do not attempt to influence the journal’s ranking by artificially increasing any journal metric. In particular, they strive to ensure that submitted papers are reviewed on purely scholarly grounds and that authors are not pressured to cite specific publications for non- scholarly reasons.
3. Editorial confidentiality
3.1 Authors’ material. Ex Chordis selects papers to be published through double-blind peer review. Peer reviewers are chosen by editors, who strive to protect the confidentiality of authors’ material and remind reviewers to do so as well. Submitted papers are never shared with editors of other journals, unless with the authors’ agreement or in cases of alleged misconduct (see below). Editors do not give any indication of a paper’s status with the journal to anyone other than the authors. Ex Chordis web-based submission system prevents unauthorised access. In the case of a misconduct investigation, it may be necessary to disclose material to third parties (e.g. an institutional investigation committee or other editors).
3.2 Reviewers. Ex Chordis selects papers to be published through double-blind peer review. Therefore, reviewers’ identities are always protected, unless an alleged or suspected reviewer’s misconduct compels the journal to disclose the reviewer’s name to a third party.
4. General editorial policies. Ex Chordis aims at granting authors, readers, reviewers, and all other parties involved maximum transparency and complete and honest reporting about its work.
4.1 Authorship and responsibility. All signing authors of works published on Ex Chordis take responsibility for the conduct and validity of their research and for what is written in their contributions. Authors acknowledge that all contents are published under a Creative Commons Attribution - Share alike 4.0 International License. Should any authorship dispute arise, it will be resolved at the appropriate institutional level or through other appropriate independent bodies. Ex Chordis editors will then act on the findings, for example by correcting authorship in published works.
4.2 Conflicts of interest and role of the funding source. Authors are required to declare any relevant financial or non-financial conflict of interest at the moment they submit their papers for publication on Ex Chordis. Declarations of conflicting interests are published alongside the paper so that readers are informed about them.
4.3 Authors’ publishing ethics. Ex Chordis editors work to ensure that all published papers make a substantial new contribution to their field. They discourage ‘salami publications’ (e.g. publication of the minimum publishable unit of research), avoid duplicate or redundant publication unless it is fully declared and acceptable to all (e.g. publication in a different language with cross-referencing), and encourage authors to place their work in the context of previous work (e.g. to state why this work was necessary/done, what this work adds or why a replication of previous work was required, and what readers should take away from it).
5. Responding to criticisms and concerns. Ex Chordis welcomes and encourages criticism and debate.
5.1 Ensuring integrity of the published record - corrections. When genuine errors in works published on Ex Chordis are pointed out by readers, authors, or editors, which do not render the work invalid, a correction (or erratum) will be published as soon as possible. The paper will be corrected with a date of correction. If the error renders the work or substantial parts of it invalid, the paper will be retracted with an explanation as to the reason for retraction (e.g. honest error). 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.
5.2 Ensuring the integrity of the published record – suspected research or publication misconduct. If serious concerns are raised by readers, reviewers, or others, about the conduct, validity, or reporting of works published on Ex Chordis, the editors of the journal will initially contact the authors and allow them to respond to the concerns. If that response is unsatisfactory, editors will take the matter to the appropriate institutional level. The editors of Ex Chordis will also do their best to respond to findings from research integrity organisations that indicate misconduct relating to works published on Ex Chordis. Editors can themselves decide to retract a paper if they are convinced that serious misconduct has happened even if an investigation by an institution or national body does not recommend it. Editors will respond to all allegations or suspicions of research or publication misconduct raised by readers, reviewers, or other editors. In general, they acknowledge collective responsibility for the research record of the journal and will act whenever they become aware of potential misconduct if at all possible.
5.3 Encourage scholarly debate
Ex Chordis welcomes readers’ criticisms to works published by the journal and will consider publishing them to foster scientific debate, as long as they are proposed in a timely manner. The authors of the original works will be given the opportunity to reply to further promote the debate. Any criticisms that raise the possibility of misconduct will be further investigated even if they are received a long time after publication.
6. Ensuring a fair and appropriate peer review process. Ex Chordis editors organize and use peer review fairly and wisely. The peer review processes is clearly explained in the information for authors' page on the journal's website, where it is also indicated which parts of the journal are peer reviewed.
6.1 Decision whether to review. Ex Chordis editors may reject a paper without peer review when it is deemed unsuitable for the journal’s readers or is of poor quality. This decision is made in a fair and unbiased way and the criteria used to make this decision are made explicit to the author. The decision not to send a paper for peer review is only based on the academic content of the paper, and it is not influenced by the nature of the authors or their host institution.
6.2 Interaction with peer reviewers. Ex Chordis editors use appropriate peer reviewers for papers that are considered for publication by selecting people with sufficient expertise and avoiding those with conflicts of interest. Ex Chordis editors ensure that reviews are received in a timely manner. Peer reviewers are told what is expected of them and are informed about any changes in editorial policies. Peer reviewers are asked to assess research and publication ethics issues (e.g. whether they think the research was done and reported ethically, or if they have any suspicions of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or redundant publication). Ex Chordis editors have a policy to request a formal conflict of interest declaration from peer reviewers and ask peer reviewers to inform them about any such conflict of interest at the earliest opportunity so that they can make a decision on whether an unbiased review is possible. Certain conflicts of interest may disqualify a peer reviewer. Ex Chordis editors stress confidentiality of the material to peer reviewers.
6.3 Reviewer misconduct. Ex Chordis editors take reviewer misconduct seriously and pursue any allegation of breach of confidentiality, non-declaration of conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), inappropriate use of confidential material, or delay of peer review for competitive advantage. Allegations of serious reviewer misconduct, such as plagiarism, are taken to the institutional level.
6.4 Interaction with authors. Ex Chordis editors make it clear to authors that the role of the peer reviewer is to provide recommendations on acceptance or rejection. Correspondence from editors is usually with the corresponding author, who have the responsibility to involve co-authors at all stages. Ex Chordis editors communicate with all authors at first submission and at final acceptance stage to ensure all authors are aware of the submission and have approved the publication. Normally, Ex Chordis editors pass on all peer reviewers’ comments in their entirety. However, in exceptional cases, it may be necessary to exclude parts of a review, if it, for example, contains libellous or offensive remarks. Ex Chordis editors guarantee that such editorial discretion is not inappropriately used to suppress inconvenient comments. Should there be good reasons to involve additional reviewers at a late stage in the process, it is clearly communicated to authors. The final editorial decision and reasons for this are clearly communicated to authors and reviewers. If a paper is rejected, Ex Chordis editors welcome appeals from authors. Editors, however, are not obliged to overturn their decision.
7. Editorial decision-making. Ex Chordis editors guarantee that decisions on publications are as fair and unbiased as possible.
7.1 Editorial and journal processes. All editorial processes are made clear in the information for authors on the journal's webpage, where it is stated what is expected of authors, which types of papers are published, and how papers are handled by the journal. All editors are fully familiar with the journal policies, vision, and scope. The final responsibility for all decisions rests with the managing editor.
7.2 Desk rejection. Editors may make a desk rejection if they consider an article to be of poor quality or unsuitable for the journal, even before peer review. This decision is made fairly and impartially, within 60 days of receipt of the submission, and the criteria are made explicit to the author. The decision not to accept a submission is based solely on its academic content and is not influenced by the nature of the authors or their home institution.
7.3 Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB), Gender and Multilingualism. The Steering Committee evaluates articles proposed for publication on the basis of their content without discrimination on the basis of language, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political orientation of the authors.
7.4 Editorial conflicts of interest. Ex Chordis editors are not involved in decisions about papers in which they have a conflict of interest, for example if they work or have worked in the same institution and collaborated with the authors, if they own stock in a particular company, or if they have a personal relationship with the authors. Ex Chordis has a process in place to handle papers submitted by editors or editorial board members to ensure unbiased and independent handling of such papers. This process is stated in the information for authors.
Open to all authors:
Ex Chordis is committed to openness and inclusivity in scholarly publishing without author-facing charges for reading or publishing. We welcome submissions from all authors, regardless of their institutional affiliation, geographical location, or academic status. Submissions only must align with the aims and scope of the journal and meet the required quality standards once the reviewing process is completed.
Community-owned:
Ex Chordis is owned by Milano University Press, a public institution/organisation dedicated to advancing research and scholarship. The journal’s ownership and governance structure reflect its mission to support open and accessible academic publishing. We confirm that any commercial service providers involved in our operations only deal with service-related aspects of journal publishing. All content-related aspects of publishing, such as submission, peer review, acceptance, publication frequency, and scope of the journal, are controlled by the editors / the owners of the journal.