The journal adheres to ASSAf’s Code of Best Practice in Scholarly Journal Publishing, Editing and Peer Review. For specific statements and policies, consult the following pages:

-Editorial Policy

-Guidelines for Editors & Board Members

-Confidentiality & Privacy

-Reviewer Guidelines

-Reviewer Ethics

-Open Access Statement, Copyright and Licensing

 

Southern African Field Archaeology follows the Core Practices in publishing as developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, 2017), for dealing with matters pertaining to:

-Data and reproducibility:

FIELD supports the publication of research data sets to promote transparency, replicability, and trust in the scientific process by avoiding data fabrication and falsification. Where relevant, reporting guidelines and standard research procedures should be made available and accompany publications. Data sharing is facilitated by online hosting of data sets, readily available to readers of FIELD through published hyperlinks.

-Ethical oversight: 

FIELD supports ethical research, particularly when studies involve vulnerable populations, or animals and human subjects. Such research should follow the regulations of the journal’s discipline and be conducted in accordance with the relevant rules, laws, and regulations of the host institutions and countries. Where ethical breaches are suspected, please contact the Editor-in-Chief directly. 

-Academic misconduct

 

Guidelines for reporting suspected research and publication misconduct

Southern African Field Archaeology, as part of UJ Press, is committed to upholding the highest standards of academic integrity. As per our guidelines (https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/safa/Author_guidelines), authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work accepted for publication in terms of its accuracy and/or integrity. The Editorial Team and reviewers are also committed to upholding accuracy/integrity, and when noticed, will flag potential problems before publication. Notwithstanding all efforts, readers of published articles may find reasons to raise concerns about potential misconduct. Below we provide the steps for doing so, and explain the journal’s policy/process for handling such matters.

 

Before submitting concerns to the journal

NOTE: It is not within the ambit of the journal to launch full investigations into potential misconduct. According to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines (e.g., Wager 2014, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v15i2.829) to which UJ Press subscribes (https://ujonlinepress.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujp/plagiarism), such responsibility resides in the institution/s of the author/s. Therefore, whistleblowers or complainants may want to lodge concerns to the author’s institution/s directly to expedite the investigative process. The journal is committed to act on remedial steps suggested by the author/s’ institution/s.

 

Guidelines for lodging a Letter of Concern to Southern African Field Archaeology

1. Draft a formal Letter of Concern (word or PDF document), using clear, concise and professional language throughout. In the letter:
   • a: Clearly state the main concern/s about the article in question (e.g., plagiarism, fraudulent reporting, etc.);
   • b: After introducing the main concern/s, use a numbered dropdown list to highlight each component or occurrence of the misconduct you want to report;
   • c: If you have communicated or intend to communicate your concerns/complaints to the authors directly, or any other person/s or institution/s, please add the details and dates of such correspondence to your letter. This is necessary because the journal is committed to protect the identity of whistleblowers/complainants and handle the case in confidence to its completion. If whistleblowers/complainants have, however, already identified themselves it may impact on how the journal processes the case.
   • d: NOTE: Before the journal can assess the case, we are obliged to provide the author/s with the opportunity to explain or correct allegations of suspected research and publication misconduct. To do so, we will anonymise the main concern/s and list provided in a Letter of Concern and ask the author/s to address each point. For this reason, it is critical that whistleblowers/complainants are as precise and professional as possible when listing concerns.
2. Once the Letter of Concern is complete, write a short email to the Editor in Chief declaring your wish to submit such a letter.
   • a: Do not provide any concerns in the body of the email;
   • b: Instead, simply attach the formal Letter of Concern;
   • c: NOTE: Once submitted, the letter becomes a legal document that can no longer be changed. Its key components will thus become known to the authors and the journal’s Ethics Committee appointed for the case, and where necessary to other parties such as UJ Press and/or the author/s’ institution/s.
3. Complainants may expect formal acknowledgement of Letters of Concern/Complaint within 14 days of submission
   • a: NOTE: For ethical and legal reasons, no member of the Editorial Team will enter into informal/unprofessional email correspondence regarding suspected research and publication misconduct.
   • b: Once acknowledged, the Letter of Concern will be allocated a unique Case Number, and the journal will follow the procedure outlined below.

 

Editorial procedures upon receiving a formal Letter of Concern

Depending on the nature of the concern/s, the Editor in Chief may follow any of the following steps:

1. In the case of clearly unevidenced concern/s or minor, potentially unintentional errors:
   • a: Declare that no further action is required;
   • b: Refer minor/unintentional errors to the author/s for remedial action.
   • c: NOTE: Corrections will be published in the form of a corrigendum linked to the original online article (https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/safa/editorial_policy).
2. In the case of more complicated concerns:
   • a: Establish an ad-hoc Ethics Committee for the Case Number, chaired by the Editor in Chief;
   • b: Committee members will include the published article’s Handling Editor and two senior members of the Editorial Board;
   • c: Should the Editor in Chief and/or the Handling Editor recuse themselves from the Ethics Committee, three senior members of the Editorial Board will form the committee, one of whom will act as Corresponding Chair;
   • d: The members of the Ethics committee will assist the Editor in Chief or Corresponding Chair to:
     • i: Document and anonymise (unless identities are already known or wished to be known) the concerns raised by whistleblowers/complainants;
     • ii: Request further corroborating evidence from whistleblowers/complainants if necessary;
   • e: Once the necessary documentation is compiled, and the Ethics Committee decides to continue the case:
     • i: The Editor in Chief/Corresponding Chair will inform the author/s about the case, and the journal’s policy/procedures for such cases;
     • ii: Provide the author/s with the documented concerns raised;
     • iii: Invite the author/s to explain and suggest remedial action based on the documentation;
     • iv: Provide the author/s with a reasonable deadline (usually 30 days) for submitting their explanations/remedial actions.
   • f: Upon receiving explanations/remedial actions from the author/s the Ethics Committee will:
     • i: Assess both the concerns raised by the whistleblowers/complainants and explanations/remedial actions provided by the author/s;
     • ii: Suggest additional remedial steps the journal may deem appropriate.
   • g: The Editor in Chief or Corresponding Chair will communicate the outcome of the assessment and suggested remedial actions to both the whistleblowers/complainant and the authors. Remedial actions may include:
     • i: Corrections published as a corrigendum linked to the original online article (https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/safa/editorial_policy).
     • ii: Under exceptional circumstances papers may need to be retracted, removed or replaced in order to protect the integrity of the literature (https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/safa/editorial_policy).

3. In the most serious cases, if whistleblowers/complainants do not accept process or its outcomes, or if authors refuse to provide explanations/corrections:
   • a: The Editor in Chief/Corresponding Chair will refer the case (together with all its documentation) to UJ Press;
   • b: UJ Press will then act according to policy (see: https://ujonlinepress.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujp/plagiarism);
   • c: If UJ Press refers the case to the author/s’ institution/s for investigation, the journal will follow remedial actions recommended by the author/s’ institution/s.
   • d: UJ Press may consult the University of Johannesburg’s Ethics or Law Divisions at any time during the process.