As part of our efforts to promote a valid forum for the study of organised crime and to maintain the quality of our articles, we would like to emphasize the importance of maintaining high ethical standards when publishing in the European Review of Organised Crime. The prevention of publication malpractice is the responsibility of every author, reviewer, and editor involved in the publication process.

Authors shall ensure that their work is entirely original works. Plagiarism and self plagiarism all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. The corresponding author should ensure that there is a full consensus of all co-authors in approving the final version of the paper and its submission for publication. Knowingly inaccurate or fraudulent statements, data, or discussions constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. Authors also have to fully disclose any potential conflict of interest and ensure that they research was carried out in line with academic ethical standards.

Reviewers have to treat any manuscript received for review as confidential document and not use it in any way for personal advantage. Reviewers should do their best to send a prompt response, and notify the editors in the case of any delay. They shall disclose any conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors or institutions connected to the paper. Reviewers should acknowledge whether they recognise the author from the manuscript. Reviews are carried out according to professional standards of objectivity, and constructive feedback is expected.

Editors will evaluate manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit, and will do their best to ensure a timely, accurate, and double-blind peer review process. They will maintain strict confidentiality over  an author’s unpublished research, and acknowledge any conflict of interest. Editors shall take reasonable responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted or published manuscript, including publishing corrections/errata, acknowledging retractions, and banning fraudulent authors and reviewers from publishing with EROC.