Publication Ethics

STRATUM Journal

ISSN 3070-8869 · Open Access

Current Issue

STRATUM Journal is committed to responsible scholarly and editorial publishing.

The journal supports work across contemporary art, performance, visual culture, moving image, curatorial practice, artistic research, and critical humanities. Because these fields often involve images, documentation, interviews, archives, translation, collaboration, and practice-based research, STRATUM approaches publication ethics with attention to both scholarly standards and the specific conditions of artistic and cultural work.

STRATUM expects authors, editors, reviewers, and contributors to act with integrity, transparency, and care throughout the publication process.

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Editorial Responsibility

The editorial team is responsible for maintaining the journal’s standards, review processes, publication policies, and editorial independence.

Editors evaluate submissions according to the journal’s aims and scope, the quality and relevance of the work, the clarity of its argument or artistic framing, and its readiness for publication. Editorial decisions should not be influenced by an author’s nationality, race, gender, sexuality, religion, institutional status, political position, or other personal identity markers.

STRATUM is committed to accessible criticism, plural knowledge traditions, and editorial approaches that question inherited cultural hierarchies. This commitment does not remove the need for editorial rigor. It shapes how the journal reads, edits, contextualizes, and supports work across different cultural, linguistic, artistic, and scholarly conditions.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must submit original work.

Submissions should not include plagiarism, unattributed quotation, improper paraphrase, fabricated references, manipulated documentation, or misrepresentation of another person’s ideas, words, images, research, or artistic materials.

All sources should be properly acknowledged. This includes published scholarship, archival materials, interviews, conversations, artworks, exhibitions, performances, films, online sources, translated materials, and other forms of cultural or artistic reference.

If plagiarism or serious misrepresentation is identified before publication, the submission may be rejected. If it is identified after publication, STRATUM may issue a correction, editorial notice, retraction, or other appropriate response.

Authorship and Contribution

Authorship should reflect substantial intellectual, artistic, research, writing, or editorial contribution to the submitted work.

All listed authors should have approved the submitted version and should accept responsibility for the parts of the work to which they contributed. Contributors whose work supported the submission but does not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged where appropriate.

Authors are responsible for disclosing collaborators, translators, photographers, editors, researchers, archives, institutions, funding bodies, or other parties whose contributions shaped the work.

For interviews and conversations, STRATUM expects the editorial process to respect the voices, consent, and final approval conditions of the participants when applicable.

Duplicate Publication and Simultaneous Submission

Submissions should not be under consideration elsewhere at the same time unless this has been clearly disclosed to STRATUM.

Authors should not submit work that has already been published in substantially the same form without disclosure. If a submission develops from a previous publication, conference paper, exhibition text, performance script, artist statement, thesis, lecture, or public talk, the author should explain this relationship during submission.

Republished, translated, or substantially revised materials may be considered when there is a clear editorial reason and proper acknowledgment of the original context.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, and reviewers should disclose any conflict of interest that could affect judgment, evaluation, or publication.

Potential conflicts may include personal, professional, financial, institutional, curatorial, collaborative, supervisory, or commissioning relationships.

Editors and reviewers should not participate in the evaluation of a submission when a conflict of interest may compromise impartiality. When a conflict is identified, STRATUM will seek another editor or reviewer whenever possible.

Image, Media, and Documentation Permissions

Because STRATUM publishes work related to contemporary art, performance, moving image, installation, visual culture, and artistic research, image and media permissions are central to the journal’s publication ethics.

Authors are responsible for securing the necessary permissions for images, film stills, installation views, performance documentation, archival materials, screenshots, audio-visual materials, diagrams, and other media included in their submissions.

All visual and media materials should be accompanied by accurate captions and credits where applicable. Captions may include artist name, work title, date, medium, photographer, venue, copyright holder, and courtesy line.

Authors should not submit images or documentation for publication unless they hold the rights or have obtained permission for journal publication.

Interviews, Consent, and Edited Conversations

Interviews and conversations should be conducted and edited with care.

Participants should understand the intended publication context. Substantial edits should preserve the meaning and integrity of the conversation. When appropriate, interviewees may be given the opportunity to review the edited transcript before publication.

STRATUM may edit interviews for clarity, length, structure, and readability. The editorial process should not distort a participant’s position, voice, or intent.

Research Integrity and Practice-Based Work

STRATUM welcomes artistic research, practice-based inquiry, field-based writing, and experimental forms. These modes of work may not always follow conventional academic research models, but they should still demonstrate integrity, clarity, and accountability.

Authors should describe methods, contexts, sources, artistic processes, field encounters, archival materials, or collaborative conditions when they are central to the work.

Claims should be supported by appropriate evidence, documentation, analysis, or situated reflection. The journal does not require all submissions to follow the same academic form, but it does expect submissions to be clear about how knowledge is being produced, interpreted, or framed.

AI-Assisted Tools

Authors should disclose substantial use of AI-assisted tools when such tools have contributed meaningfully to drafting, editing, translation, image generation, data processing, transcription, summarization, or other parts of the submission.

AI-assisted tools should not be listed as authors.

Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, permissions, citations, and ethical integrity of any material produced with the assistance of AI tools.

STRATUM may request clarification when AI-assisted production affects authorship, originality, image generation, citation, translation, or documentation.

Corrections

STRATUM may issue corrections when published work contains factual errors, citation errors, missing credits, inaccurate captions, broken links, metadata errors, or other issues that do not invalidate the overall publication.

Corrections should be made transparently. When appropriate, the article may include a note indicating that a correction has been made.

Retractions and Editorial Notices

STRATUM may retract a publication or issue an editorial notice in cases involving serious ethical concerns, including plagiarism, fabricated materials, unauthorized image use, undisclosed duplicate publication, substantial misrepresentation, or other violations of publication ethics.

Retraction decisions are made carefully and are based on the nature and seriousness of the concern. When a retraction or editorial notice is issued, STRATUM will aim to provide a clear explanation without unnecessarily exposing private or sensitive information.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, readers, reviewers, artists, or other concerned parties may contact STRATUM about ethical concerns, editorial process concerns, corrections, permissions, or publication disputes.

Complaints should be submitted in writing and should include a clear description of the concern and relevant supporting information. STRATUM will review complaints in good faith and may consult editors, reviewers, authors, rights holders, or other relevant parties when appropriate.

Appeals of editorial decisions may be considered when there is a concern about process, conflict of interest, factual misunderstanding, or procedural error. An appeal does not guarantee reversal of the original decision.

Editorial Independence

STRATUM Journal is published by ELSEHERE International Arts Nexus. Editorial decisions are made according to the journal’s aims, scope, review processes, and publication standards.

The journal’s relationship with artists, institutions, partners, contributors, funders, or affiliated programs does not guarantee publication or favorable editorial treatment.

STRATUM aims to maintain editorial independence while remaining accountable to the artistic, scholarly, and cultural communities it serves.

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