Editorial policies

Nordicom applies a number of editorial guidelines that all editors and authors are expected to adhere to prior to publication. The following policies apply to all of Nordicom’s academic publications, and authors and editors should read these policies in full before submission to ensure the requirements are fully met.
Accessibility

Entering into force for all EU countries on 23 September 2018, The EU’s Web Accessibility Directive (EUR-Lex, 2016) reflects the European Commission’s goal for an inclusive “Union of equality”, where all Europeans can be active in the digital economy and society.

As a publicly funded institution, Nordicom is required to meet this Directive, but we also recognise that this initiative is very much in line with our own mission: imparting science-based knowledge about media and communication to decision-makers, professional groups, and citizens in the Nordic countries and internationally.

Therefore, we ensure that all chapters and articles are published in an accessible format for readers with visual impairments or other disabilities that affect reading or understanding.

Conflicts of interest

Any financial, legal, professional, or otherwise potential relationship between the author (or their employer, family, sponsor, etc.) with an organisation or individual that could influence – or be perceived as influencing – the research or interpretation of results should be disclosed to the editorial team upon submission. Any relevant funding information should be provided in a separate document or cover letter upon submission.

Nordicom’s editorial team also commits to transparency regarding any potential conflicts of interests, for example, in the peer-review process. We refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) core practices throughout our publication process.

The scientific quality of Nordicom Review and Nordic Journal of Media Studies is secured with the assistance of the respective editorial boards, consisting of external scholars who are experts in their fields.

Copyright and permission

Nordicom’s publications are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence, which allows for non-commercial, non-derivative types of reuse and sharing with proper attribution.

All works are published Open Access and are available to read free of charge and without requirement for registration. DOIs are assigned to all publications.

The respective authors retain copyright.

Funding model

Nordicom is a unit within the University of Gothenburg, which provides our basic funding. Our academic publishing is supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers through a strategic partnership. Nordicom operates on a non-profit basis. Our publications are distributed with digital Open Access, and retail prices for print copies are set on a cost-covering basis. We do not offer royalties or other forms of financial compensation to participating editors and authors.

Individual book publication projects may be co-financed by external contributors, such as research projects or programmes. Nordic Journal of Media Studies receives funding from the Nordic Board for Periodicals in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOP-HS).

External contributors and research funders have no involvement in Nordicom’s editorial decisions.

 
Peer review

Nordicom follows a double-blind peer-review process for all journal articles and books published in English. A double-blind process means all submitted manuscripts are made anonymous and judged by at least two independent and external anonymous scholars appropriate for the subject.

Reviewers are asked to provide comprehensive comments for the authors. Additionally, reviewers are encouraged to provide comments that are for editors only, including a recommendation about whether the article, chapter, or book should be published, concerns about misconduct, or problems adequately assessing all parts of the manuscript. Reviewers are requested to disclose any potential conflict of interest. The comments provided by the reviewers inform the decision of Nordicom’s editorial team to publish or refuse the submission.

Each issue of Nordic Journal of Media Studies (NJMS) is edited by different members of the NJMS editorial team (independent of Nordicom), which may include invited external guest editors. The peer-review process for NJMS is handled by the issue’s editors. The comments provided by the reviewers inform the decision of the issue’s editors to publish or refuse the article.

Plagiarism and text-recycling

All use of material, either direct or indirect, should be properly acknowledged, including material previously published by the author, which should be rewritten or summarised to avoid text-recycling or self-plagiarism and accompanied by an appropriate in-text citation and reference.

Nordicom publishes original research only; duplicate submissions or publications are not accepted.

All of Nordicom’s academic publications are submitted to Similarity Check – a Crossref service utilising iThenticate text comparison software.

Preservation of published material

The content of Nordicom Review and Nordic Journal of Media Studies are archived in Portico – digital long-term preservation of journals.

 
Publication fees

All of Nordicom’s publications are published free of charge, without publication fees or article processing charges (APC).

All works are published Open Access and are available to read free of charge and without requirement for registration.

 

Research ethics, transparency, and consent

It is the author’s responsibility to determine the ethical obligations of informing and obtaining consent of their research subjects. If consent is deemed necessary, it should be obtained for all material including text or images pertaining to the research subjects. 

Especially if anonymity is required, authors should be prepared to share raw data and collected empirical material with Nordicom’s editors, and potentially the peer reviewers, if questions arise. 

 

Third-party material

As part of the publication agreement authors sign, it is the author’s responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright owner for use of any third-party material. Any such material should be clearly identified and credited within the content of the submission. Alternatively, the author should acknowledge that the use of third-party material is allowed because the material is in the public domain or the author has performed a fair-use analysis and reasonably believes use to be permitted. Such material should still receive full credit.

 


Page last updated September 2023