Editorial Policy

 1. Aims and scope

The biannual journal erph was founded with the aim of establishing itself as a benchmark for protection of historical heritage, and as such its objectives and structure reflect the requirements and philosophy of the protection process itself. The Journal encompasses protection of historical heritage as a whole at a national and international level (legislation, administration, restoration, dissemination, etc.), as opposed to the fragmentary or partial coverage offered by other periodic publications in this field.

This holistic and integrated approach is also reflected in its geographic scope. The Journal embraces the entire Spanish territory as well as studies at an international level, based on an understanding that historical heritage is grounded on a concept of general interest which should not be interpreted narrowly within the scope of the inevitable administrative and jurisdictional limits. Given that heritage protection is a matter of social interest, its manifestation through citizen initiatives also occupies a relevant role in the publication, thereby contributing to the dynamic social construction of historical heritage.

The Journal includes studies and experiences covering the full spectrum of heritage protection actions from both a current and historical perspective. It considers historical heritage as a diachronous and constantly evolving concept, drawing on the contributions of each period to generate a dynamic historical construction with a social relevance that urges its future continuation. We therefore pay close attention to changes, trends and new developments in all areas of heritage protection.

One of the hallmarks of erph is its electronic format, which we seek to exploit fully through features such as content renewal typical of other scientific publications and use of new technologies to provide links of all kinds in articles, and also in terms of accessibility and visibility.

The aim of all the above is to achieve the maximum possible impact, the greatest possible number of readers and the widest possible scientific recognition for the publications by our authors.

 2.Frequency of publication

Two issues per year: 1 (first semester) and 2 (second semester).

Receipt of contributions

Issue 1 (first period): deadline 1 May; issue deadline 30 July

Issue 2 (second period): deadline 1 November; issue deadline 31 December

 3. Section policies

Concept_ Studies of historical heritage, whether from a current or historical perspective (values, meanings, types of cultural heritage, etc.) with a special focus on new heritage trends.

Legislation_ Analysis of the legal regime for historical heritage at an international, national, regional and local level. Comparative studies and legal approaches to new forms of heritage are also of particular interest to erph.

Management_ Analysis of public and private management and administration of cultural property, including agencies and institutions, strategic planning, programmes and actions. The different aspects of cultural management are also considered.

Intervention_ Analysis of the different types of practical intervention in the field of cultural property (restoration, conservation, rehabilitation, etc.) and from all possible perspectives (theoretical and methodological analysis, experiences, history of restoration, etc.).

Dissemination_ Analysis of the different actions relating to transmission of cultural heritage to citizens (dissemination, interpretation, mediation, etc.), with a special focus on awareness-raising actions.

Heritage and development_ General research and presentation of case studies relating to the consideration of historical heritage as a development factor, particularly through cultural tourism and other means of exploiting its economic dimension.

Citizen initiatives_ Recognition and dissemination of initiatives involving citizen movements to safeguard historical heritage: associations, actions sponsored by citizen platforms, etc.

General studies_ Studies offering a general or interrelated view of the different dimensions of protection or which address important areas not covered by other sections.

Institutions_ Studies of the different national, regional and international historical heritage institutions: museums, archives, libraries, cultural sites, archaeological sites, etc.

Reviews_ Reviews of relevant publications (where possible in the year of their publication) relating to the content of the Journal. 

 4. Open Access Policy

This Journal provides immediate and free access to its content based on the principle of free availability of research for the public in order to foster greater interchange of global knowledge.

We apply the recommendations for the implementation of section 37 of the Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation Act regarding Open Access:

_ Authors whose contributions are accepted for publication in this Journal retain the non-exclusive right to use their contributions for scholarly, research and educational purposes, including self-archiving or deposit in open access repositories of any kind.

_ The published version of scientific contributions (editor’s post-print version) will preferably be used, or failing that the author's post-print version following review and acceptance. The articles will be openly accessible as soon as possible as the Journal does not impose any embargo period.

 5. Article processing and submission costs 

This Journal does not charge authors any amount for the submission or processing of articles. It does not charge access to the articles, which can be downloaded entirely free of charge.

 6. Research Funding

The journal erph is funded through the following sources:

  • Research Group HUM 222 "Artistic Culture and Historical Heritage," Department of Art History, University of Granada.

  • Vice-Rectorate for Research and Transfer, University of Granada. Journal Grants Program of the University of Granada: https://investigacion.ugr.es/plan-propio/programas/p4

  • When applicable, articles should include a footnote at the end of the title with the funding agency(ies) and the project code(s) under which the research supporting the publication was carried out. The author submitting the article to the platform must enter these metadata in the corresponding field at the time of submission.

 7. Peer review process

In order to guarantee the quality, relevance and importance of the articles published, the manuscripts received undergo a double-blind scientific peer review process by external reviewers as outlined below:

_ The manuscripts go through an initial review process by the Editorial Board, which may directly reject any manuscripts that do not comply with the Journal’s editorial policies or rules or the minimum standards of development, quality or relevance for the submission of contributions. In exceptional cases, the authors may be required to make certain amendments in order to continue in the selection process.

_ Once the article has been accepted for evaluation, the authors are notified and it is then reviewed using a double-blind peer review system involving external reviewers. The paper is sent anonymously to two external experts of renowned prestige in the field, who issue a brief in accordance with a template which includes a list of instructions to be applied depending on the nature of the paper (Study or Experience).

_ The peer review must be objective and comply with our ethics and malpractice statement. The reviewers may not have any conflict of interest with the content of the articles and will note the presence of material already published that has not been properly cited. Reviewed articles will be kept strictly confidential until their publication.

_ The Journal will keep a record of all the manuscripts received, indicating whether they have been accepted or rejected. Due to reasons of confidentiality, this record will not be public, although it will be available upon request by any researcher or institution.

_ The Journal will publish the list of external reviewers on its website, which will be periodically updated.

_ The dates of reception and acceptance of articles will be included on the first page when they are published.

 8. Proceso Editorial

The Editorial Board will decide on the procedure to apply to each manuscript depending on the briefs received from the external experts, whether publication, rejection or notification to the authors of amendments that must be made prior to publication. The reasoned decision and the reviews received will always be sent to the authors anonymously. Any amendments will be checked by the reviewers and reviewed by the erph Editorial Board once they have been introduced in the manuscripts by their authors. If a positive evaluation and a negative evaluation are received, the Editorial Board has the following options: 1) Require the authors to make the amendments indicated by the reviewers and decide regarding its publication once the amendments have been confirmed; 2) Send the corrected and checked manuscript for a third evaluation if it requires an in-depth reassessment. This third evaluation may be performed by one or both initial experts or by other experts in the field; 3) In exceptional cases, reject the manuscript if the arguments of the negative evaluation are so persuasive that publication is impossible in accordance with the quality criteria of the Journal and numerous objections are also raised in the positive evaluation. In any event, the decision adopted by the Editorial Board will be duly notified to the authors and accompanied by the evaluation reports received.  

When the authors send the revised version of the manuscript, it must include:

_ The text with the changes marked using Track Changes.

_ A detailed document responding to the matters raised by the reviewers.

_ The text with all the changes accepted without tracking of changes and with the Track Changes tool disabled.

_ A footnote marked with an asterisk * associated with the name of the author(s), outlining the criteria chosen to decide the order of signature and the specific contributions made by each of the authors to the published article.

Papers, articles and reviews that have been accepted will be sent to the authors once they have been formatted for them to make any necessary corrections to the text. At the same time, the Chief Editor or head of the section will indicate the maximum deadline for resubmission of the amended texts. Following expiry of the proposed deadline without the author(s) having resubmitted the corrected texts, the Editorial Board will adopt the decision it deems appropriate regarding publication of the work. erph does not have a team responsible for proofing of articles, so the authors are responsible for ensuring that all the necessary corrections have been made to the final published version.

 9. Anti-Plagiarism Policy

To ensure the originality of submissions, erph will subject all received articles to anti-plagiarism software before initiating the peer review process. Any submission found to engage in plagiarism or scientific fraud will be rejected during the preliminary review or at any stage of the editorial process.

 10. Digital Preservation Policy

The journal follows the following digital preservation strategies in collaboration with the Editorial of the University of Granada and through the OJS system:

  • Daily Backup: The EUG performs backups every 24 hours to preserve and archive content, allowing for recovery in case of loss.
  • Digital Object Identifier (DOI): Each article is assigned a DOI managed by Crossref, ensuring its persistent identification and preventing location issues due to URL changes.
  • PKP Preservation Network (PN): Through OJS, MEAH-AI uses the PKP Preservation Network, which digitally archives articles in LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) to ensure long-term preservation.
  • LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe): The journal is compatible with LOCKSS to ensure permanent archiving. Archived articles can be accessed through the LOCKSS Editorial Manifesto.
  • Indexing in Databases: MEAH-AI is indexed in several databases, ensuring the preservation and permanent access to its content.

 11. Interoperability Protocols

OAI-PMH Interoperability Protocol: The journal implements the OAI-PMH protocol to facilitate access and transfer of its content via https://revistaseug.ugr.es/index.php/erph/oai.

 12. Copyright and Licenses

Authors who publish in this journal agree that they retain the copyright to their works, granting the journal the exclusive right of first publication, including the rights of reproduction, editing, distribution, public communication, and exhibition. Furthermore, the works will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license, which allows third parties to share the work as long as the authorship and initial publication in this journal are acknowledged, and its use is non-commercial, thus ensuring the protection of the authors' rights and the ethical dissemination of knowledge.

Authors are free to establish additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of their work published in the journal. This includes, for example, the possibility of archiving the work in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book, as long as the initial publication in this journal is acknowledged.

The journal is not responsible for the opinions expressed by the authors in their works.

 13. Retraction and Correction Policy

In the event of significant errors or scientific misconduct, erph has a retraction and correction procedure in place, following COPE guidelines to ensure editorial transparency and rigor.

 14. Self-Archiving and Repository Deposit Policy

Authors are encouraged and permitted to electronically disseminate the published version of their works (the publisher’s post-print version) or, if applicable, the author's post-print version that has been peer-reviewed and accepted. This practice may facilitate productive exchanges and contribute to earlier and broader citation of published works.

 15. Conflict of Interest

All authors must declare any conflicts of interest upon submission of their manuscript. This includes, but is not limited to, financial relationships, personal relationships, or involvement in related studies. A statement must be included in the manuscript indicating whether there are any conflicts of interest or not.

Reviewers must also declare any conflicts of interest before agreeing to review a manuscript. If a reviewer has a conflict of interest, they must decline the review.

The editorial board will evaluate conflict-of-interest statements and decide on the continuation of the review and publication process. Our journal is committed to maintaining trust in the peer review process and the integrity of the publication process. Any situation compromising this integrity will be managed in accordance with our policies.

Failure to declare a conflict of interest may result in the retraction of the article once published, or a revision of the manuscript if the omission is discovered during the review process.

 16. Communication with authors and external reviewers

One of the authors must be in charge of or responsible for the work as a whole and communication with the Journal from the outset and until it has been published.

Communication with authors and external reviewers (acknowledgement of receipt, notice of acceptance, consultation of queries, etc.) will be carried out via the Journal’s OJS system. For any other queries, authors and reviewers may contact their section editor using the email indicated in the correspondence and with the Editorial Board by writing to redaccionerph@ugr.es.

 17. Code of Ethics

This journal adheres to strict ethical standards in the publication of manuscripts and expresses its commitment to preventing inappropriate conduct in all its editorial activities. The full code of ethics can be consulted at the following link: Ethical Code.