Volkson Press journals are guided by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines, ensuring the highest standards of editorial integrity and ethical publishing practices. Our journals maintain independent editorial decisions based on established policies and principles.
License Policy
Journal of Rock Art is an open access journal. All published articles are made freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication. Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. Authors retain copyright of their work.
Author Responsibilities and Ethics
Authorship
All listed authors must have made a substantial scholarly contribution to the work and must approve the final version of the manuscript before submission. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all eligible contributors are appropriately listed as authors and that no inappropriate authorship is included.
Originality and Proper Attribution
Submitted manuscripts must be original and must not be under consideration elsewhere. Authors are responsible for properly acknowledging the work, ideas, data, and words of others. Plagiarism, duplicate publication, and inappropriate reuse of previously published material are not acceptable.
Research Integrity and Accuracy
Authors are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and scholarly reliability of their work. Data, interpretations, images, and references should be presented honestly and accurately. Fabrication, falsification, and misleading representation of evidence are considered serious breaches of publication ethics.
Competing Interests
Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, or personal relationships that could be perceived as influencing the research, interpretation, or publication of the manuscript.
Permissions and Use of Third-Party Materials
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any copyrighted material, including images, figures, tables, or extended quotations, where such permission is required. Proper acknowledgment must be provided in all cases.
Preprint Policy
Authors may share their manuscripts on recognized preprint servers or institutional repositories before submission. Authors should inform the journal at the time of submission if a preprint version is publicly available.
Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Issues
Where necessary, the journal may publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, or other post-publication notices to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record. Allegations of misconduct or ethical concerns will be handled in accordance with established editorial and publication ethics principles.
Data Availability and Standards of Reporting
Data Availability Statements
Authors must provide clear statements about data availability and sharing policies.
Standards of Reporting
Research must follow appropriate reporting guidelines (e.g., CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA) where applicable.
Peer-Review Policy
Review Process
All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment to determine suitability for the journal’s scope and basic quality standards. Suitable submissions are then sent for double-blind peer review by at least two independent experts in the relevant field. Based on the reviewers’ reports, the Editor-in-Chief or handling editor will make one of the following decisions: accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject. The journal is committed to a fair, objective, and timely review process.
Reviewer Guidelines
Reviewers are expected to evaluate submissions based on originality, scholarly quality, methodological soundness, relevance to the journal, and clarity of presentation. All reviews should be constructive, respectful, confidential, and free from conflicts of interest. Reviewers are requested to submit their reports within the agreed review period.
Editorial Standards
COPE Guidelines
Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines for editorial best practices.
Open Access Policies
Our journals support open access publishing while maintaining high editorial standards.
ORCID Integration
We encourage all authors to register for an ORCID iD to ensure proper attribution of their work.
Crossref Registration
All articles in our journal have been registered with DOI to improve discoverability.