Scope
Vedica Caralitana is a double-blind, peer-reviewed scientific journal, serving as a forum for the discussion of:
- Vedic studies, including Vedic philology, linguistics, culture, and history;
- the Indian technical literatures - notably scientific treatises (śāstra) and the aphoristic literature (kalpasūtra) - spanning grammatical, ritual, dharmic, speculative, rhetorical-poetic topics.
This twofold nature of the Journal is reflected in our logo: the pillar of light projected by the sun onto the water symbolizes the Vedic search for the fundamental principles of the universe, while the circle and the square symbolize indigenous Indian grammar, where an enormous body of knowledge on the old Indo-Aryan language was rationalized and organized in a way that is reminiscent of Euclid's work on geometry.
However, the Journal welcomes contributions on any languages and sources (e.g., Pāli, Ancient Greek, Latin, Iranian) that illuminate aspects of the Vedic world, in a comparative perspective.
The reviews of volumes published on these contents are likewise welcome.
Peer Review Process
The editorial committee establishes whether the submitted manuscripts comply with the Journal's scope within 1 week. If the manuscripts fit the scope of the Journal, they are sent out for review via the OJS platform.
Each manuscript is reviewed by two Reviewers; a third Reviewer is consulted in case of conflicting reviews. Reviewers complete their review within 4 weeks upon receiving the manuscript from the editorial committee. In this way, the reviewing process should not exceed 5 weeks upon the Authors' submission of the original manuscripts to the Journal (1 week for the editorial decision on the manuscript's compliance with the Journal's scope + 4 weeks for the reviewing process).
The Reviewers for each manuscript will be chosen by the editorial committee, following consultation with the scientific committee.
Reviewers are not requested to proofread the submitted manuscripts, but can of course point any spotted typos out to the Author, if they wish to. To evaluate the submitted manuscripts, Reviewers fill out a form provided to them by the editorial committee ("Reviewer's report"). The form is targeted on guaranteeing that the reviews meet the Journal's standards of quality. In their evaluation, Reviewers can opt for one of the following 4 possible recommendations:
- "Accept as is";
- "Accept with minor revisions";
- "Revise and resubmit";
- "Reject".
From Required Revisions to Publication
When revisions are required following the reviewing process, Authors have approximately 4 weeks to revise their manuscripts and return (or resubmit) them to the editorial committee. Depending on the nature and type of the required revisions, additional time may be given to the Authors at this stage.
The editorial committee notifies the Authors of the approval of the revised version of their manuscripts within 2 weeks, and sends them the corresponding final proofs. The Authors then have 2 weeks to send the proofs back to the editorial committee, which takes care of the Authors' requests within 2 additional weeks (and within the limits of a proof-reading process). Finally, the manuscripts are published in Vedica Caralitana as soon as they are ready.
Publication Frequency
Vedica Caralitana is a yearly journal. It is published online as a continuous volume. To support the sharing of research in a timely fashion, articles are made available as they are ready. All publications for a given year are then compiled into a complete issue the following January.
Open Access Policy
Vedica Caralitana does not charge Article Processing Charges (APCs) or submission charges.
The Journal grants open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
The Journal publishes under the Creative Commons License Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0. Accordingly, Authors are permitted and encouraged to upload the Journal's published version of their work to personal and institutional repositories such as IRIS (Institutional Research Information System) or Zenodo.
Data Policy
Vedica Caralitana follows the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) for data handling. It therefore encourages authors to make available all data associated with their submission, including data repositories, archives, databases, or the explicit description of the methodology followed for data collection. In the case in which these cannot be disclosed, we ask the Authors to write a note and clarify why that is the case.
Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in the website of Vedica Caralitana will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this Journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
Code of Ethics
Vedica Caralitana's code of ethics follows the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors developed by the COPE - Committee on Publication Ethics.
Thus, all parties involved in the publication process (authors, editors-in-chief, editorial committee, scientific committee, editors of single issues, reviewers) commit to fulfill the following ethical responsibilities.
A) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITORIAL COMMITTE
i. Publication Decisions
Following the outcome of the peer-review process, the editiorial committee makes the final decision as to whether the submitted manuscipts should be published or not.
ii. Fairness
The assessment of manuscripts is based solely on their scientific quality, irrespective of the Authors' gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, political orientation or academic affiliation.
iii. Confidentiality
The editorial committee must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding Author, the reviewers, and the scientific committee members consulted in view of the peer-review process.
iv. Disclosure Process and Conflict of Interest
The editorial committee commits to make no use whatsoever of unpublished material from submitted manuscripts without the express written consent of the Author.
Members of the editorial committee are permitted to submit their own papers to the Journal. In case an Author is part of the Journal's editorial committee, he/she will be removed from all editorial tasks for that paper and another member of the editorial committee will be assigned responsibility for managing the peer-review process.
B) RESPONSIBILITIES OF REVIEWERS
i. Contribution to editorial decisions
The double-blind peer-review process assists both the editorial committee in their decisions and the Authors in improving their articles.
ii. Promptness
If, during the peer-review process, the appointed Reviewers realise that they are not sufficiently qualified to assess a submitted manuscript confidently, or are unable to complete their review within 4 weeks, they should immediately notify the editorial committee.
iii. Confidentiality
Any manuscripts must be treated as confidential documents. They must not discussed with third parties without the permission of the editorial committee.
iv. Standards of Objectivity
Reviewers should confine themselves to assessing the scientific content of the submitted manuscripts, and underpin their evaluation by means of a clear and objective argumentation. To assist the Reviewers in achieving this goal, a standard form (the Reviewer's report) is provided to them by the editorial committee.
The reviews must conform to the highest standards of courtesy and kindness. Reviewers' criticism of the manuscripts should be constructive, i.e., lead to the correction and improvement of the manuscripts' scientific content. However, any comment regarding the Authors, anything that can be perceived as an insult or a derogatory statement towards the Authors or their work is strictly forbidden.
v. Disclosure Process and Conflict of Interest
All information received by the Reviewers for the peer-review process must be considered as confidential and must not be used for personal purposes. Reviewers are required not to accept to review any manuscript for which a potential conflict of interest exists.
C) RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS
i. Originality and Plagiarism
Submitted manuscripts must contain original and unpublished research. Submission of manuscripts under consideration for publication before other publishers is forbidden. Simultaneous submission of a manuscript to several publishers is likewise forbidden.
ii. Acknowledgement of Sources
The research and work of others must always be acknowledged. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the submitted articles.
iii. Authorship
Authorship must be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, realisation, and interpretation of the submitted manuscript. All those who have made significant contributions to the manuscript should be listed as Co-Authors.
In case of articles authored by more than 1 Author, the submitting Author must ensure that all other Co-Authors are included and properly acknowledged, and that all Co-Authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to its submission to the Journal for publication.
iv. Errors in published articles
When an Author finds out that major inaccuracies occur in his/her article that undermine its scientific validity, he/she has to notify the editorial committee promptly and cooperate with it in order to correct the inaccuracies.
[We would like to explicitly acknowledge our debt to the websites of CaSteR - Cartagine. Studi e Ricerche (Editor-in-Chief: Antonio M. Corda) and Isogloss (Editors-in-Chief: Roberta D'Alessandro & Jaume Mateu), which the present webpage is directly inspired by, and modelled on.]
