Faith • Civilization • Theology is committed to honest scholarship, accurate attribution, responsible authorship, fair review and the integrity of the scholarly record. Authors, reviewers and editors share responsibility for maintaining these standards.
Plagiarism, fabricated or falsified evidence, manipulated quotations, fabricated references, undisclosed duplicate or simultaneous submission, inappropriate authorship, deliberate misrepresentation and other forms of research or publication misconduct are unacceptable.
Author responsibilities
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of factual claims, quotations, references, research data, interpretations and disclosures contained in their submissions.
Submissions must be original, must not be under consideration elsewhere and must not be subject to any agreement granting another journal, conference, publisher, repository, organization or other party conflicting or exclusive publication rights.
Any prior conference presentation, working paper, preprint, repository deposit or substantially related publication must be disclosed clearly.
Authors must disclose funding, competing interests, generative-AI assistance, permissions and ethics approvals where applicable.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that quotations, images, tables, figures and other third-party material are properly attributed and that any necessary permissions have been obtained.
Generative AI
Generative AI may be used only where its use is transparently disclosed.
Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, references, arguments, interpretations and final content of submitted work. AI systems may not be listed as authors.
Undisclosed or inappropriate AI use may result in revision, rejection, correction or other editorial action where it affects authorship, originality, accuracy or research integrity.
Responsible review
Reviewers must declare relevant conflicts of interest, maintain confidentiality, assess manuscripts fairly and provide constructive reasons for their recommendations.
Unpublished manuscripts, arguments, data, ideas or other material obtained through peer review may not be used for personal, professional or competitive advantage.
Reviewers should alert the Editor to suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated material, undisclosed conflicts or other significant integrity concerns.
Editorial responsibility
Editors must handle submissions fairly, maintain confidentiality, disclose relevant conflicts of interest and base editorial decisions on scholarly quality, relevance, integrity and journal policy.
The Editor and Faith • Civilization • Theology may make routine editorial and copyediting changes in accordance with the Author Guidelines, including grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, readability, consistency, house style, formatting, citation style, references, typographical errors and minor objectively verifiable factual or bibliographic corrections.
Such changes will not materially alter an author’s argument, interpretation, findings, conclusions or intended meaning without consultation.
Substantive changes will normally be referred to the author before publication.
Research involving people
Where applicable, submissions must explain ethical approval or exemption, informed consent, privacy protections and the treatment of sensitive or identifiable information.
Authors must not assume that ministry, pastoral, church, case-study or practitioner contexts remove these obligations.
Copyright, permissions and legal responsibility
Authors must have the right to submit the work and remain responsible for obtaining any permissions required for third-party material.
To the best of the author’s knowledge, submitted work must not infringe copyright, privacy, confidentiality or other legal rights and must not contain knowingly false, defamatory or unlawful material.
Corrections, retractions and removal
The editorial office assesses reported concerns, seeks relevant evidence and responses and takes proportionate action to protect the scholarly record.
Where concerns arise regarding accuracy, authorship, plagiarism, duplicate publication, copyright, ethics, legal risk, fabricated material or research integrity, the journal may:
- request clarification or correction;
- postpone or decline publication;
- issue a correction or amendment;
- retract an article;
- or remove material where necessary for legal, ethical or integrity reasons.
The journal may act before or after publication where credible concerns arise.
Complaints and concerns
Concerns regarding published or submitted material may be sent to:
editor@faithcivilizationtheology.org
The journal will consider concerns fairly, seek appropriate evidence and responses, and take proportionate editorial action.
Publication ethics guidance
Faith • Civilization • Theology draws on publicly available guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) where relevant.
This statement does not claim COPE membership, endorsement or certification.