Ethical Guidelines for Scientific Publishing

Publishing Guidelines

Vittorio Klostermann Publishers is an academic publisher specialising in the fields of philosophy, literature and linguistics, cultural studies, law and book and library science. More than 4,000 books have been published since the publishing house was founded in 1930. Around 1,500 titles are currently available, many of which have gone through several editions.

Ethical Guidelines for Program work

All academic titles undergo a strict reviewing process. Dissertations or other qualifying theses must have been awarded excellent grades (summa cum laude) in order to be published by Klostermann. In addition, most of our books are published as part of various series edited by renowned scholars. The editors of the series, who, without exception, are not employees of Klostermann  publishers, are responsible for the overall concept and structure of the series and review the submitted manuscripts. To ensure that the published articles meet the required quality standards, the series editors may forward the articles to external reviewers who are leading experts in their respective fields. The editors ensure that the reviewers are unbiased and qualified. The final decision on publication lies with our editors, who usually have academic qualifications in their respective fields.

Our editing processes and review guidelines are held transparent for authors and reviewers. It is important to us to build long-term and trusting relationships with our authors and editors of book series and journals. Should conflicts of interest arise, we endeavour to resolve them immediately.

Rules of Good Scientific Practice

To ensure compliance with the rules of good scientific practice, each author is obliged by publishing contract to follow the rules of their scientific institution. In case there is sufficient reason to suspect plagiarism, we will reject the submission in question and inform the author(s) and editors accordingly. If plagiarism is only discovered after publication, distribution of the work will be stopped immediately until the case has been clarified.

Copyrights

We take the greatest possible care to protect the copyrights of our authors.

Guidelines for advertising

We ensure that it is clearly labelled whether the content in our titles is editorial or advertising. The decision to publish adverts is made by the publisher and is independent of editorial decisions.

We reserve the right to reject advertising orders on the grounds of content, origin or technical form in accordance with the publisher's standardised principles. We also reserve the right to reject orders that have already been confirmed as legally binding if their content violates laws, official regulations or common decency. Orders for inserts are only binding for the publisher after a sample of the insert has been submitted and approved. Inserts which, due to their format or layout, give the reader the impression that they are part of the newspaper or magazine or which contain third-party adverts will not be accepted. The client will be informed immediately if an order is rejected.

Data protection

The publisher shall ensure that sensitive data is handled in accordance with the applicable data protection laws.

Memberships

Vittorio Klostermann publishers is a member of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association The publishing house was honoured with the German Publishing Award in 2019 and 2021 and the Hessian Publishing Award in 2020.