About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy publish manuscripts concerning the interaction between the social impact on a wide range as business-related topics, management, accounting, finance and marketing. Proposals must offer original and substantive content based upon expert analysis, professional research or significant experience.

The Journal encourages articles with a theoretical and practical approach supported by real-world examples and ideas that are clearly new, or at least clearly a new way of looking at something of interest to our audience. We also ask that the contributions be persuasive to provide our readers with an intellectual return on time invested in reading. 
ISSN: 2704-9906 

Peer Review Process

Reviewer selection for each article submitted is up to the editors. It considers reviewers' experience, competence, suggestions by authors or different editors, and previous experience in reviewing papers for the European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economic.

Each proposal submitted for publication is read at least by an editor for an initial review. If the paper agrees with editorial policies and with a minimum quality level, it is sent to two reviewers for evaluation. The EJSICE uses a double-blind peer review.

The review process aims to provide authors with a competent opinion on their paper. A review should give authors suggestions, if needed, on how to improve their papers.

The peer-review process is managed with the OJS platform.

The Editorial Office invite you to register on ReviewerCredits platform and claim reviews performed in the European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy. This service is provided free of charge.

Open Access Policy

EJSICE is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. With the CC-BY licence, authors retain the copyright, allowing anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy their contribution. The work must be properly attributed to its author. The entire process is free. 

Requesting further permission from the author or journal board is unnecessary.

This is to the BOAI definition of Open Access.

Publication Frequency

Starting from 2020, EJSICE publishes three issues per year. 

Submission guidelines

The European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy editorial team features articles on a wide range of business-related topics, such as business and management, accounting, marketing, and finance. Proposals must offer original and substantive content based upon expert analysis, professional research, or significant experience.

Only papers that follow our submission guidelines will be considered.

Prospective contributors should forward a detailed and brief outline of proposed content, including a list of the articles being offered to our readership. Any relationship between the author and subject organization must be disclosed. We look for practical applications supported by real-world examples and ideas that are clearly new, or at least clearly a new way of looking at something of interest to our audience. We also ask ourselves if potential contributors are authoritative and persuasive enough to provide our readers with an intellectual return on time invested.

Feature articles are longer, generally 3,000 to 8,000 words (the number of words may vary in special issues). 

Nevertheless, articles must be well-structured with the following elements:

• Abstract (Structured and with the identification of the aim of the study, the main methodology insights, and the conclusions of the article) – less than 300 words. 
• Keywords – please provide 3-6 keywords related to your paper. They are essential for indexing purposes. 
• Introduction (Structured introduction in which authors provide the positioning literature of the paper, the gap, the purpose and aim of the paper, the contribution in terms of literature and the organization).
• Literature review (in case of practical paper, we would suggest authors assess a literature review of the variables under investigation in the study).
• Methodology (This section should provide how the author conducted their study. scientific references provide it).
• Results (This section provides the main theoretical or practical results of the study).
• Discussion (It is highly appreciated. Particularly, this section aims to summarise and interpret the main results achieved).
• Conclusion (This section concludes the paper considering the sum of the paper, the main contribution in terms of the literature, the main practical contribution, the limitations of the study, and the future research possibilities for scholars).
• References in APA Style (https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples)
• Appendices are possible.
• Graphs, tables, and charts are acceptable, but only if they are required to advance an argument and provided as separate high-resolution files that can be edited.
• Acknowledgements are possible; please provide in an additional file. 

PKP Preservation Network (PN)

The PKP Preservation Network (PN) provides free preservation services for any OJS journal that meets a few basic criteria. This journal offers this service for all publications without any charges. 

Code of Ethics

“European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy” is committed to the highest publication standards. The prevention of publication malpractice is one of the important responsibilities of the editorial board. The Code describes the “European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy” policies for ensuring the ethical treatment of all participants in the peer review and publication process. “European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy” Editors, Guest Editors, Reviewers and Authors are encouraged to study these guidelines and address any questions or concerns to the editorial team (paolo.biancone@unito.it).

These guidelines apply to all manuscripts submitted to the “European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy”. They may be revised at any time by the Editor-in-Chief and the Board. The following duties outlined for editors, authors, and reviewers are based on the COPE – Core practices, https://publicationethics.org/core-practices.

Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Updates

The European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy (EJSICE) is committed to maintaining the accuracy, transparency, and integrity of the scholarly record. Concerns relating to published content will be assessed by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board in accordance with the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Where an error does not invalidate the principal findings or conclusions of a published article, EJSICE may issue a correction, corrigendum, or other appropriate post-publication notice.

Where serious concerns arise but the available evidence is not yet conclusive, the Journal may publish an Expression of Concern while the matter is investigated.

A published article may be retracted when its findings or conclusions can no longer be relied upon, or where there is evidence of serious error, research or publication misconduct, redundant or duplicate publication, plagiarism, inappropriate use of data or material, compromised peer review, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other circumstances that materially affect the integrity of the publication.

Retraction is intended to correct the scholarly record and protect its integrity; it is not intended as a punitive measure against authors.

Retraction decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief on the basis of the Journal's assessment of the available evidence. Authors will normally be informed of the concerns and given an opportunity to respond. A retraction may nevertheless proceed where appropriate, even if one or more authors disagree with the decision or cannot be contacted.

Retraction notices will:

• clearly identify the retracted article, including its title, authors, bibliographic information, and DOI;

• state who is retracting the article and provide the reason and basis for the retraction;

• be published promptly and remain freely accessible;

• be published as a separate, citable record and, where technically applicable, assigned a distinct DOI;

• be electronically linked to the original publication, while the original article will remain part of the scholarly record and will be clearly identified as retracted;

• be communicated through appropriate metadata and indexing services whenever technically possible.

EJSICE may also issue other forms of post-publication notices when these provide the most appropriate and proportionate means of maintaining the integrity and transparency of the published record.

These procedures are informed by the current COPE Core Practices and COPE guidance on corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions.

Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI Policy

The European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy (EJSICE) recognises that artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language models (LLMs), AI-assisted research tools, and related technologies are increasingly used in academic research and scholarly communication. EJSICE supports the responsible use of such technologies where they enhance research and communication while preserving transparency, accountability, confidentiality, originality, and academic integrity.

AI and authorship

Artificial intelligence systems, chatbots, large language models, and other AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of a manuscript.

Authorship requires accountability for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical conduct of the work, as well as the ability to approve the final manuscript and respond to questions concerning it. These responsibilities can only be assumed by human authors.

All named authors remain fully responsible for the entire content of the submitted and published work, including any material developed with the assistance of AI tools.

Use of AI by authors

Authors may use generative AI and AI-assisted technologies as supporting tools in research and manuscript preparation, provided that their use complies with principles of transparency, academic integrity, copyright, confidentiality, and research ethics.

Authors must critically review and verify any AI-generated or AI-assisted content. AI-generated outputs may contain factual inaccuracies, fabricated references, inappropriate attribution, bias, or misleading information. Responsibility for identifying and correcting such issues rests entirely with the authors.

Authors must ensure that all references cited in the manuscript have been independently verified and correspond to genuine and relevant scholarly sources. AI-generated references must never be included without verification.

AI tools must not be used to fabricate, falsify, manipulate, or misrepresent data, results, references, images, evidence, or scholarly sources.

Disclosure of AI use

Material use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies must be transparently disclosed.

Where AI tools have been used in the research process, including data collection, coding, analysis, modelling, interpretation, production or modification of images, or other substantive methodological activities, authors must describe the tool and its use in the Methodology or another appropriate section of the manuscript.

Where generative AI has been used to assist substantially with manuscript preparation, authors should include a disclosure statement before the References indicating:

• the name of the AI tool or service used;

• where relevant, the version or model;

• the purpose for which it was used;

• the nature and extent of the assistance provided.

Routine tools used exclusively for spelling, grammar, formatting, reference management, or minor language correction do not normally require disclosure, provided that they do not generate or substantially alter the intellectual content of the manuscript.

A suitable disclosure may read:

“During the preparation of this manuscript, the author(s) used [name and version of AI tool] for [purpose]. The author(s) subsequently reviewed and edited the output and take full responsibility for the content of the manuscript.”

AI-generated images and other media

AI-generated or substantially AI-modified figures, images, graphical material, or other media must be clearly disclosed.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the use of such material does not infringe copyright, privacy, confidentiality, intellectual property, or other third-party rights and does not misrepresent research data or evidence.

The Journal reserves the right to request information concerning the provenance and generation of AI-assisted visual material and may reject material where its reliability or provenance cannot be adequately established.

Confidential and sensitive information

Authors must not upload confidential, proprietary, personally identifiable, unpublished, or otherwise protected research information to external AI systems unless they have verified that doing so is compatible with applicable ethical, legal, contractual, and data-protection requirements.

Use of AI by reviewers

Submitted manuscripts and associated materials are confidential documents.

Reviewers must not upload a manuscript, substantial portions of a manuscript, unpublished data, figures, supplementary material, or confidential editorial correspondence into generative AI systems or other external AI services where confidentiality, data protection, and non-retention of the material cannot be assured.

Reviewers remain personally responsible for the intellectual content, accuracy, relevance, and fairness of their peer-review reports.

AI tools must not replace the reviewer's own critical assessment of the manuscript.

Limited use of AI-assisted tools solely to improve the grammar or readability of a reviewer's own independently written comments may be acceptable, provided that no confidential manuscript material is disclosed to the system. Any substantive use of AI in preparing a peer-review report should be disclosed to the Editor.

Use of AI by editors

Editors and members of the Editorial Office must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and peer-review material.

Manuscripts, reviewer reports, author correspondence, or other confidential editorial material must not be uploaded into external generative AI systems where confidentiality and appropriate data governance cannot be ensured.

AI-assisted tools may support administrative or editorial processes, but final editorial judgments and publication decisions must remain under human responsibility and oversight.

The use of AI must not compromise the independence, fairness, confidentiality, or integrity of the editorial decision-making process.

Undisclosed or inappropriate use

Failure to disclose material use of AI, the fabrication of AI-generated material, the inclusion of unverifiable or fabricated references, the misuse of confidential material, or other inappropriate uses of AI may constitute a breach of the Journal's publication ethics policies.

Where concerns arise before publication, EJSICE may request clarification, supporting documentation, revision, or withdrawal of the manuscript from consideration.

Where inappropriate or undisclosed AI use is identified after publication and materially affects the integrity or reliability of the published record, the Journal may take appropriate post-publication action, including correction, Expression of Concern, or retraction, in accordance with its publication ethics policies.

Because AI technologies and scholarly publishing practices continue to evolve rapidly, EJSICE reserves the right to review and update this policy as necessary.

Duties of Editor in Chief (Editor) and Guest Editor(s)

Editor/Guest Editor(s) are responsible for the journal's content and for ensuring the integrity of all work published in it.

• Publication Decisions: The Editor/Guest Editor(s) have the right to decide whether to accept or reject a manuscript concerning the significance, originality, and clarity of the manuscript and its relevance to the journal.
• Anti-plagiarism: the Editor scans any submitted article with Turnitin software to detect similarities and potential plagiarism.
• Review of Manuscripts: “European Journal of Islamic Finance” follows a double-blind review process, whereby Authors do not know Reviewers and vice versa. The Editor/Guest Editor(s) are responsible for securing timely, independent and anonymous peer review from suitably qualified reviewers who have no disqualifying competing interests of all manuscripts submitted to the journal. The Editor/Guest Editor(s) are responsible for ensuring that the journal has access to an adequate number of competent reviewers. The journal will acknowledge reviewers at the end of each year. Reviewers’ list is public on the journal website.
• Fair Review: The Editor/Guest Editor(s) and their editorial staff must ensure that each manuscript received by “European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy” is reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to sex, gender, race, religion, citizenship, etc. of the authors.
• Confidentiality of submitted material: The Editor/Guest Editor(s) and the editorial staff will ensure that systems are in place to ensure the confidentiality and protection from misuse of material submitted to the journal while under review and the protection of authors’ and reviewers’ identities and will themselves take all reasonable steps to preserve the confidentiality of authors’ and reviewers’ identities.
• Disclosure: The Editor/Guest Editor(s) should ensure that submitted manuscripts are processed confidentially. No content of the manuscripts will be disclosed to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, as appropriate.
• Conflicts of Interest: The Editor/Guest Editor(s) should excuse themselves from considering a manuscript in which they have a real or potential conflict of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, financial or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the manuscript.
• Authority: The Editor in Chief must have ultimate authority and responsibility for the Journal. The Editor-in-Chief should respect the Journal’s constituents (Readers, Authors, Reviewers, Guest Editors, Editorial Staff) and work to ensure the honesty and integrity of the Journal’s contents and continuous improvement in journal quality.

Duties of reviewers

• Fair reviews: Reviewers should evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly, and professionally. Reviewers should avoid personal biases in their comments and judgments, and they should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. Reviewers must provide substantiated and fair reviews. These must avoid a personal attack and not include any defamatory material, inaccurate, libelous, misleading, obscene, scandalous, unlawful, or otherwise objectionable, or that infringes any other person’s copyright, right of privacy, or other rights.
• Confidentiality: Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information. Reviewers should not discuss the manuscript with anyone other than the Editor/Guest Editor(s), nor should they discuss any information from the manuscript without permission.
• Acknowledgement of Sources: Manuscript reviewers must ensure that authors have acknowledged all data sources used in the research. Any similarity or overlap between the manuscripts under consideration or any other published paper of which the reviewer has personal knowledge must be immediately brought to the Editor/Guest Editor(s)' notice.
• Timeliness: If a reviewer feels him/her can't complete a review of the manuscript within a stipulated time, this information must be communicated to the Editor/Guest Editor so that the manuscript could be sent to another reviewer.
• Right of refusal: Reviewers should refuse to review manuscripts: a) where they have provided written comments on the manuscript or an earlier version to the Author, b) in which they have any conflicts of interest resulting from collaborative, financial, institutional, personal, or other relationships or connections with any of the companies, institutions, or people connected to the papers.
• Complain: Any complaint relating to the journal should, in the first instance, be directed towards the Editor-in-Chief of the “European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy”.

 
Duties of Authors

• Originality: Authors must ensure that no part of their work is copied from any other work, either authored by themselves or others. The work is original and has not previously been published in whole or substantial part. The author should not submit concurrent manuscripts (or manuscripts essentially describing the same subject matter) to multiple journals.
• Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. Others who have made significant contributions must be listed as co-authors. The author should ensure that all co-authors have affirmed the final version of the paper and have agreed on its final publication.
• Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism: All work in the manuscript should be free of any plagiarism, falsification, fabrications, or omission of significant material. Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism constitute unethical publishing behaviour and are unacceptable. “European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy” reserves the right to evaluate issues of plagiarism and redundancy on a case-by-case basis.
• Acknowledgement of Sources and Conflict(s) of interests: The author should explicitly indicate all sources supporting the research and declare any conflict(s) of interest.
• Data Access and Retention: The author should provide raw data related to their manuscript for editorial review and retain them.
• Timeliness: Authors should be prompt with their manuscript revisions. If an Author cannot meet the deadline given, the Author should contact the “European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy” Managing Editor as soon as possible to determine whether a longer time period or withdrawal from the review process should be chosen.
• Fundamental Errors in Published Works: The author should promptly inform the Editor/Guest Editor(s) of any obvious error(s) in his or her published paper and cooperate earnestly with the Editor-in-Chief in retraction or correction of the paper. If the Editor-in-Chief is notified by any party other than the author that the published paper contains an obvious error, the author should write a retraction or make the correction based on the medium of publication.

This Code of Ethics draws heavily from the following online source, which is recommended reading on ethical guidelines:

• COPE – Core practices, https://publicationethics.org/core-practices (accessed July 2020).

Articles and submissions processing charges (APC)

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy does not ask for Articles Processing (APC) or submissions charges

Information for authors

Interested in submitting to the European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy? We recommend that you review the Focus and Scope section page for the journal's interest areas, as well as the Submission Guidelines. Authors need to register with the journal before submitting, or if already registered, they can log in and begin the 5 step process. 

Information for librarians

We encourage research librarians to list the European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy among their library's electronic journal holdings.

It may also be worth noting that this journal's open source publishing system is suitable for libraries to host for their faculty members to use with journals they are involved in editing (see Open Journal Systems).

Anti-plagiarism

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy adopts Turnitin software to detect plagiarism. Any submitted article is checked to detect similarities and potential plagiarism.