All submissions are sent out for double blind peer review to two reviewers who are specialized in the field that corresponds to the submission. The review process determines whether submissions are accepted for publication as is, with minor or more significant revisions, are subject to revision and resubmission, or are rejected. For all revise and resubmit decisions, revised articles are sent out for a second round of double blind review, either to the original reviewers or to new ones. The editors make publication decisions in accordance with the recommendations of the external reviewers. IHS is committed to editorial independence and to professional criteria free from ideological bias or political influence. The editorial process also emphasizes a broad plurality of scholarly theoretical and methodological approaches. IHS does not provide for an appeal by authors once an article is rejected for publication, but it does at all times provide authors with the full and uncensored blind reviews upon which the editorial team bases its decisions. In the case of multi-authored submissions, correspondence is maintained with either the lead author or with the author designated by the team of multiple authors, although it is the policy of IHS to provide the review reports to any author that requests them.
Authors are expected to submit only original work that has not been submitted elsewhere and that is not under review elsewhere. All submissions must make some substantially new contribution to the field, whether theoretical, methodological, or with regard to original data. Plagiarism is defined as “submitting as one’s own work, irrespective of intent to deceive, that which derives in part or in its entirely from the work of others without due acknowledgement.” Plagiarism is a breach of academic integrity and a plagiary is grounds for a rejection of the submission. In general, IHS adheres to the definition of academic misconducts that has been established by Cambridge University Press and is available here: https://www.plagiarism.admin.cam.ac.uk/definition
Falsification, fabrication, and image manipulation is also considered a serious breach of academic integrity and are grounds for rejection of submissions. There may be legitimate reason for modifying an image. In these cases, the author or authors would be expected to explain in the text or as an addendum to the article the justification for such a modification. In the event that any fraudulent research or research misconduct is discovered only after an article is published, IHS will strive to retract the publication and as well to publish in the journal the reasons for the disassociation with the publication.
IHS strives to assure that the editorial process is free from undue influence. Both authors and reviewers are required to make known any potential conflict of interest that could interfere with the objectivity and integrity of the review and publication process. Conflicts of interest include financial and non-financial influences and professional and contractual conflicts. Freedom of expression is critical to the integrity of the scholarly mission. However, we do not support publishing false statements that may harm individual scholars or scholarly associations. Such statements may be grounds for rejecting a submission.
