Fe Journal is a peer-reviewed publication focusing on gender, sexuality, and women's studies. It aims to provide a platform for interdisciplinary intellectual production that adopts a feminist critical perspective in these fields. Fe Journal interrogates structural inequalities based on sex assigned at birth, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, class, ethnicity, national affiliation, religion, ablebodiedness, and other forms of social hierarchy, aiming to generate knowledge geared towards dismantling these inequalities. The Editorial Ethics and Publication Policy of Fe Journal have been shaped accordingly and encompass all stakeholders of the journal.

Fe Journal does not charge any article processing or submission fees.

Regarding research and publication ethics, Fe Journal operates in adherence to the guidelines formulated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and expects all stakeholders to comply with these principles.

Ethical Guidelines for Authors

1. Anti-Discrimination and Equality Principles

Authors are expected to maintain an active awareness of structural inequalities based on sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, class, ethnicity, national affiliation, religion, disability, and other forms of social hierarchy. Authors acknowledge and ensure that the processes of researching, drafting, and submitting their work to our journal are conducted free from discrimination and violence associated with these inequalities.

2. Protection of Participants and Ethics Committee Approval 

·      Informed Consent: For research articles based on field data, authors acknowledge and ensure that informed consent has been obtained from all participants. When referring to real individuals in their studies, authors demonstrate utmost sensitivity in protecting participant confidentiality to prevent any potential harm. Personal or identifying information of individuals may only be shared provided that explicit written permission has been granted.

·      Ethics Committee Approval: All qualitative or quantitative studies that involve data collection from human participants—utilizing methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, experiments, observations, or discussion techniques—are required to upload their Ethics Committee Approval Reports.

3. Originality, Plagiarism, and AI Policy

·      Originality: It is the sole responsibility of the authors to ensure that their work is original, that all sources used are cited in accordance with academic standards, and that the text is entirely free of plagiarism.

·      Definition of Plagiarism: Authors acknowledge that plagiarism can also occur when ideas or arguments from an original source are presented without proper citation, even if the exact words are not used. Translating a work produced in another language into the language of the manuscript without appropriate attribution also falls under the scope of plagiarism. Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism will be returned to the authors and will not be considered for evaluation.

·      Similarity: Authors are expected to submit their similarity screening reports (e.g., Intihalnet, Turnitin, iThenticate) along with their manuscripts. Studies with an overall similarity index exceeding 15% and/or a similarity rate of more than 3% from a single source are not admitted to the peer review process. The journal prefers the overall similarity index to remain below 10%. These specified rates do not imply automatic acceptance or rejection; editors reserve the right to request revisions or reject a manuscript if they detect any ethically concerning issues, even in cases where the similarity index is low.

·      Artificial Intelligence Declaration: Authors may use artificial intelligence technologies solely to support the production process; they cannot use this technology as a tool to replace the original creative process. Authors must assume full responsibility for the accuracy of all content and verify that all claims, citations, references, and analyses align with their own expertise and research.

Transparency is vital to our journal's commitment to integrity. Authors must submit an AI Declaration Form alongside their manuscripts.

Citations to non-existent sources, as well as misleading or unverifiable errors in author, work, or publication information, are considered ethical violations and may constitute grounds for immediate rejection.

4. Duplicate Submission and Simultaneous Submission

Authors are expected to ensure that their manuscript has not been submitted to other journals concurrently (simultaneous submission is strictly prohibited).

5. Authorship and CRediT Roles

·      Authorship Criteria: All individuals listed as authors on the manuscript are expected to have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the research, and this contribution must be explicitly specified within the manuscript or editorial correspondence. Fe Journal does not accept guest, gift, or ghost authorship, nor does it tolerate the hierarchical ordering of authors based on institutional title, age, or gender without regard to actual contribution, as such practices violate publication ethics.

·      Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT): To ensure transparency, authors of multi-authored manuscripts are required to provide detailed statements specifying their individual contribution roles in alignment with the CRediT framework (e.g., conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, supervision, writing – original draft, editing, software, etc.).

6. Conflict of Interest

Authors are required to declare any financial or personal relationships with other individuals or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Potential conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, as well as research grants or other funding sources. If no conflict of interest exists, authors must explicitly state the following expression during manuscript submission: "The authors declare no conflict of interest regarding the conduct and publication of this study."

7. Correction and Retraction Policy

·      Corrections: If a significant error or inaccuracy is discovered in a published article, the journal will publish a formal Corrigendum or Errata to correct the record without altering the original scholarly database unnecessarily.

·      Retractions: The journal adheres to COPE Retraction Guidelines. Articles may be retracted if there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g., data fabrication) or honest error (e.g., miscalculation or experimental error). Retractions are also applied in cases of plagiarism, redundant publication, or unethical research. A formal retraction notice will be linked to the original article, clearly stating who is retracting the article and the reasons behind it.

8. Publishing Malpractice and Allegations of Misconduct

The journal takes all allegations of publishing malpractice seriously. In cases of suspected misconduct (including but not limited to plagiarism, citation manipulation, data fabrication/falsification, authorship disputes, or redundant/overlapping publication), the Editorial Board will initiate an investigation following COPE flowcharts. If misconduct is proven, the journal reserves the right to reject the manuscript, issue a formal correction or retraction, and, if necessary, contact the authors' institution or funding body.

Ethical Guidelines for Reviewers

Fe Journal operates under a double-blind peer review process. The identities of the authors are kept confidential from the reviewers until the article is officially published.

·      Purpose and Expertise: Reviewers acknowledge that the sole purpose of peer review is to improve intellectual knowledge production, and they accept invitations to evaluate manuscripts only within their specific areas of expertise.

·      Objectivity: Reviewers evaluate the manuscripts in an objective manner, adhering strictly to high academic standards and ethical principles. They ground their judgment solely on academic criteria, regardless of whether the views presented align with their own theoretical or political stances.

·      Confidentiality and Public Sharing: Reviewers maintain the strict confidentiality required by the double-blind peer review process. They do not share or disseminate unpublished manuscripts with third parties, nor do they discuss or comment on these works on any public platform, including social media. In compliance with the confidentiality principle, reviewers are strictly prohibited from uploading manuscript under evaluation into any generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools or large language models, and they must not delegate the drafting of peer review reports to AI. Reviewers submit their evaluations anonymously, exclusively through the journal's management system.

·      Conflict of Interest: In cases where reviewers detect a conflict of interest or a collaborative alignment (such as institutional proximity, etc.) with the authors, they must promptly inform the editors and recuse themselves from the review assignment.

Review Tone and Style: Reviewers must maintain a professional, respectful, and constructive tone, strictly avoiding any patronizing, offensive, or derogatory language. Feedback should be delivered on an equal peer-to-peer basis. Any negative evaluations or rejections must be rigorously justified with concrete evidence and grounded in relevant scholarly literature.

·      Notification of Ethical Violations: If reviewers detect any misconduct in the manuscript under evaluation, such as plagiarism, duplicate submission, or data falsification, they must immediately report the situation to the editors.

Ethical Guidelines for Editors

Fe Journal editors are responsible for ensuring that all submitted manuscripts are reviewed and that the publishing process is conducted strictly in accordance with the Fe Journal Ethical Guidelines and Publishing Policy.

·      Final Publishing Responsibility: The final decision regarding the publication of manuscripts submitted to Fe Journal rests solely with the editors. Editorial decisions are made objectively and exclusively based on the originality, academic quality, and relevance of the produced knowledge to the scope of the journal.

·      Confidentiality and Transparency: Editors ensure the preservation of anonymity and confidentiality throughout the double-blind peer-review process. They guarantee that the specific reasons for rejected or revised manuscripts are shared with the authors in an open, constructive, and transparent manner. Unpublished manuscripts cannot be disseminated or shared with third parties without the explicit consent of the authors.

·      Anti-Discrimination Commitment: Editors commit to maintaining a non-discriminatory publishing policy, free from biases based on sex assigned at birth, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, ability/disability status, age, or any other forms of social hierarchy. They ensure that all submissions are evaluated objectively, without regard to the authors' political views, institutional affiliations, or academic seniority. Editors are furthermore responsible for preventing any discriminatory approaches or biased attitudes from the editorial board, publishing committee, or reviewers.

·      Conflict of Interest: In the event of any conflict of interest (personal, academic, or financial relationship) between the authors of manuscript and the editors, the relevant editor shall recuse themselves from the evaluation and decision-making process. In such cases, the management of the review process is delegated to an impartial member of the Editorial Board.

Ethical Guidelines for the Editorial Board

The Fe Journal Editorial Board consists of scholars who are experts in the fields of gender, sexuality, and women's studies. Committing themselves to the ethical and intellectual vision of the journal, the members of the Editorial Board adopt the following principles:

·      Academic Advisory and Reviewer Recommendations: Board members provide internal consultations on manuscripts falling within their specific fields of expertise. They offer reviewer recommendations objectively, based exclusively on academic competence and merit.

·      Responsibility of Confidentiality: They rigorously protect the anonymity and confidentiality of both authors and reviewers as required by the double-blind peer-review process.

·      Pre-Publication Security: They do not share or disseminate unpublished manuscripts under review with third parties. Furthermore, they strictly abstain from making any statements, disclosures, or evaluations regarding these manuscripts on public platforms, including social media.

·      Conflict of Interest: If members detect a conflict of interest or a collaborative alignment (such as a personal, academic, or financial relationship) with the author of a manuscript, they must immediately notify the editors and recuse themselves from all internal evaluation and guidance processes related to that specific manuscript.