Publication Ethics Statement

Leuven University Press endorses the Best Practice Guidelines by COPE or the Committee on Publication Ethics. For all parties involved in academic publishing, it is important to agree on and uphold the standards of expected ethical behavior in research and publication. We encourage authors and editors to consult the COPE website for more information.

The following constitutes a general publication ethics statement of Leuven University Press. Information specific to a series or journal can be found on the relevant web page.

Leuven University Press adopts a neutral position on issues treated within its publications.

Publishers are responsible for promoting accessibility (see Accessibility Statement), diversity, equity, and inclusivity in all aspects of the publishing process.

Authorship and Peer Review

Series and journal editors are experts in the subject areas stated in the series’ or journal’s mission statement and scope, as are the members of their editorial and advisory boards. Editors are expected to handle submissions in a timely manner, to treat all material confidentially and to base editorial decisions on scholarly merit. Their judgments should not be affected by the origins of the manuscript, including the nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, or religion of the authors. Manuscripts are not shared with persons outside the editorial board, its advisors, and (possible) peer reviewers.

Authors are expected to submit original work. Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. Authors must ensure that their work does not infringe any copyright or other intellectual property rights. They should obtain permission to reproduce text and images from third-party sources. Works of others should be appropriately cited. Plagiarism, censorship, citation manipulation, fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements, data falsification and other ethical misconduct have no place in a scholarly publishing culture that is based on trust and open communication. Depending on the severity of the ethical breach, the publisher may choose to refrain from publishing. If a fundamental error is discovered during or after the publishing process, the author has the obligation to promptly inform the series editor, the journal editor and/or publisher. Possible solutions are a retraction of the paper or the publication of an appropriate erratum. For reasons of transparency we ask authors to notify the book editor, the series editor, the journal editor or the publisher if the submitted work has previously been submitted to another editor or publisher.

Authors remain responsible and accountable for the accuracy and integrity of the content of their manuscript.

In the case of a co-authored monograph or an edited volume, the proposing author must ensure that the relevant co-author(s) or co-editor(s) and contributing authorsare identified at the time of proposal submission, in the manuscript and in the actual publication. Contributing authors will be sent a consent to publish form that includes information about the relevant publishing licence and archiving possibilities.

All peer-reviewed books published by Leuven University Press carry the Belgian GPRC label, which stands for Guaranteed Peer Reviewed Content. Peer review is central to the qualitative measurement of research output, and helps to improve the quality of submitted manuscripts. A peer reviewer is an expert in (one of) the subject area(s) relevant to the publication and respects the confidentiality of the peer review request, the peer review process and the submitted manuscript. The peer reviewer should disclose a potential conflict of interest when they are invited to review a manuscript.

A conflict of interest is any situation that has the potential to influence a person’s judgement. It could influence peer review, editorial decisions and publication management, and must be disclosed to the editor or publisher.

Use of AI, LLMs and Text and Data Mining (TDM) Rights

Publications by LUP are not allowed to be fed to a generative AI model. All text and datamining rights are reserved.

AI and LLM tools do not qualify as authors and cannot be listed as such on any publication. The publisher will not accept any work that is written by an AI or LLM tool. If the author has engaged AI or LLMs to assist him/her with the creation of non-textual parts of the content of the work, the author is obliged to disclose this and must include references and citations as would be done with any external source. The author is solely accountable for any liability that may ensue from the use of AI or LLMs, such as ethical breaches that may result from the use of such content, and copyright infringements for materials created by others.

Allegations of ethical misconduct can be reported to the director of the press via veerle.delaet@kuleuven.be.

Leuven University Press publishes both paywalled and open access books and articles. Accordingly, open access publications are published under open licences. The correct licence will be indicated in the publication. Please click here for more information on creative common licenses.