Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

(Updated April 2025 – Journal registered in CEEOL, ERIH PLUS, Ulrich, Google Scholar, Zenodo, Policy Commons, History Commons, ResearchGate with DOI, ORCID-linked, and WorldCat. Aligned with COPE, Web of Science, and Scopus criteria.)

1. Editorial Scope and Mission

L’Europe Unie / United Europe, Paris, is an international peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the advancement of European Studies, published in France under French ISSNs [ISSN 2780-8173 (print) et ISSN 2743-4052 (online), ISSN-L 2743-4052]. Inspired by the EU Jean Monnet Programme (Brussels) vision on European Studies, the journal is focused on the EU Studies from multidisciplinary perspectives, such as Wider Europe contemporary history studies, political science, international relations, EU law, EU external action, EU neighbourhood policy, Wider Europe society and culture, EU and its Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood. The journal welcomes interdisciplinary approaches and regional perspectives, promoting scholarly diversity and academic innovation.

The editorial and scientific board is composed of distinguished scholars from the EU and beyond, including France, Belgium, Romania, Estonia, Tunisia, Algeria, China, Moldova. It has published good authors from 3 continents and countries, such as the Netherlands, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, France, Romania, Belgium, Tunisia, Algeria, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia and more.

2. Submission and Publication Process

Submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under review elsewhere. They are accepted in English or French, and must comply with the formatting instructions published on the journal website https://leuropeunie.com.

Submissions are evaluated in two stages:

• Initial editorial screening: to verify topic relevance, academic value, and originality. This includes strict anti-plagiarism and anti-self-plagiarism checks.
• Double-blind peer review: each article is reviewed by at least two independent scholars. Authors receive feedback and may be asked to revise before final decision.

The journal charges no fees (Diamond Open Access).

Accepted authors must sign a copyright agreement.

Articles should be between 5,000–10,000 words (studies) or 1,000–3,000 words (book reviews).

Footnotes are required at the end of each paragraph, or where appropriate, referencing the exact source. A bibliography is mandatory at the end of each article.

3. Authors’ Responsibilities

Authors must guarantee the originality of their work, and cite all reused or third-party material. Any form of:

• Plagiarism,
• Self-plagiarism,
• Ghost-writing, or
• Redundant publication

will result in immediate rejection and possible blacklisting.

The order of authors must be agreed before submission and respected during the process. All authors must approve the final version and contribute substantively.

Authors are also required to:

• Disclose conflicts of interest, if any;
• Ensure factual accuracy and data integrity;
• Avoid manipulation of findings or exaggerated claims;
• Provide a brief academic bio (max. 100 words) and a photograph for editorial use;
• Register for an ORCID ID, WoS ID, ResearchGate, Scopus, and Google Scholar
• Participate in peer review, when invited, as part of academic reciprocity.

Articles will be rejected for lack of scientific added value, superficial analysis, insufficient sources, outdated literature, or speculative, undocumented claims, plagiarism, malpractices.

4. Editors’ Responsibilities

The editorial team assesses manuscripts based solely on their scholarly quality and relevance to the journal’s scope. National origin, religion, gender, race, age, institutional affiliation, or ideological stance of the authors have no bearing on editorial decisions.

Editors apply the highest academic standards, following the principles of:

• Integrity and transparency;
• Confidentiality throughout peer review;
• Laïcité, academic fairness, and multicultural harmony;
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Submissions that promote ultranationalism, chauvinism, racism, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, agism, anti-EU, or anti-NATO propaganda will be categorically rejected.

Special Issues and Editorial Responsibility

L’Europe Unie / United Europe does not appoint guest editors for Special Issues. All Special Issues are coordinated and supervised by permanent members of the editorial team, whose names and institutional affiliations are publicly listed on the journal website. Final editorial decisions for all Special Issues are taken by the Editor-in-Chief and the permanent editorial leadership.

Should guest editors be appointed in the future, their names, institutional affiliations, and specific responsibilities will be clearly indicated, while final editorial authority will remain with the permanent editorial team.

5. Reviewers’ Responsibilities

All articles undergo a double-blind peer review. Reviewers are selected for their expertise and are required to provide:

• Objective, respectful, and constructive feedback;
• Ethical observations, including suspicions of plagiarism or self-plagiarism;
• Timely evaluations, ideally within 3 months.

Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest and maintain full confidentiality. Reviews must be based solely on academic criteria, with no ideological or personal bias.

6. Publisher’s Responsibilities

L’Europe Unie is published by a joint consortium including the:

• Association “JISR” (“Le Pont”), Villeneuve d’Ascq (France)
• Prodifmultimedia, Paris (France)
• Institute of Research in European Studies (Romania)
• Napoca Star Publishing House (Romania)

The publishers uphold the principles of editorial independence, scientific excellence, non-discrimination, and freedom of research.

No commercial, political, or institutional interests influence the editorial process. The journal is inspired by the EU Jean Monnet Action at a level of excellence, and promotes European academic integration and democratic values.

The journal has been supervised by 2 Chevaliers de la Legion d’honneur et Chevaliers des Palmes academiques, agrégés in History (Dr Hedi Saidi, Dr Michel Labori), by several Jean Monnet Professors, from divers EU countries (France, Belgium, Romania, Moldova, Estonia, UK, such as Dr Michel Labori, Dr Simion Costea, Dr Mihaela Daciana Natea, Dr Vasile Cucerescu, Dr Maria Costea, Dr Lucian Sacalean, Dr Tanel Kerikmae, Dr Archil Chochia, Dr Amelia Hadfield, Dr Nicolae Paun, Dr Gabriela-Melania Ciot etc),  by scholars who already published in WoS and Scopus journals (such as Dr Mihaela Daciana Natea, Dr Simion Costea, Dr Maria Costea, Dr Tanel Kerikmae, Dr Archil Chochia, Dr Amelia Hadfield, Dr Gabriela-Melania Ciot etc)

The Board members and the authors are required to have and develop academic profiles on WoS, Scopus, ORCID, ResearchGate, Google Scholar.

The Board Members are required to have a strong academic background, high academic titles and involvement in academia, PhD, excellent ethical academic reputation. The authors are required to have a strong academic background, academic titles and involvement in academia, PhD (or PhD students), clean ethical academic reputation.

7. Handling of Ethical Misconduct

L’Europe Unie follows a zero-tolerance policy toward:

• Plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Data fabrication/manipulation
• Inaccurate author attribution
• Redundant publication
• Superficial or non-academic content
• Lack of relevant and credible sources

Complaints or alerts may be submitted by any stakeholder and are handled in strict confidence. Authors will be informed and given the right to respond. Depending on severity, the editorial board may apply the following sanctions:

• Dismissal of complaint (if unfounded);
• Editorial correction or warning;
• Retraction and publication of erratum;
• Temporary or permanent ban from publication, blacklisting.
• Notification of the authors’ institution or funders.

All decisions are formally documented, and corrections or retractions are publicly issued where required.

8. International Standards and Good Practices

This ethical framework follows:

• COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics): https://publicationethics.org/
• ERIH PLUS indexing requirements
• CEEOL and Ulrich’s Web quality criteria
• Open Science and FAIR data principles

The journal L’Europe Unie is indexed in CEEOL (all 22 volumes, full text, open access, since 2007), ERIH PLUS (since 2020), Ulrich’s, Google Scholar, WorldCat, Mir@bel, DOI & ORCID-linked via Zenodo, ResearchGate with DOI, HAL, Policy Commons, History Commons, Africa Commons, and OpenAire.

L’Europe Unie is also archived in Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Harvard, Stanford, EU Council in Brussels, and many other academic libraries.

 Publication Ethics, Integrity, and Malpractice Policy

L’Europe Unie / United Europe adheres to internationally recognised standards of academic integrity and publication ethics. The journal follows the COPE Core Practices (Committee on Publication Ethics) and applies these principles consistently throughout the editorial, peer-review, and publication process.

All parties involved in the publication process—authors, reviewers, editors, and members of the editorial board—are expected to comply with the ethical standards outlined below.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the research, the evaluation process, or editorial decisions. Conflicts of interest may be financial, institutional, professional, or personal. Authors are required to declare any relevant competing interests at the time of submission. Reviewers must decline invitations where a conflict exists. Editors recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. Failure to disclose relevant conflicts of interest may result in rejection, correction, or retraction, depending on the severity of the case.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship is limited to individuals who have made a substantial scholarly contribution to the conception, design, analysis, or interpretation of the research. All listed authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that authorship is accurate and complete. Honorary, guest, or gift authorship is not permitted. Any changes to authorship after submission must be justified in writing and approved by the editorial team.

Originality, Plagiarism, and Redundant Publication

All submissions must be original, unpublished work and must not be under consideration elsewhere. The journal applies systematic plagiarism screening using similarity-detection software prior to peer review. Plagiarism, including self-plagiarism and undisclosed redundant publication, is strictly prohibited. Manuscripts presenting unacceptable levels of similarity or unethical reuse of previously published material are rejected or returned to authors for clarification. Confirmed cases of plagiarism constitute grounds for rejection or retraction.

Editorial Decision-Making and Integrity

Editorial decisions are based exclusively on academic merit, originality, methodological rigor, and relevance to the journal’s scope. All submissions, including those authored by members of the editorial board, are subject to the same double-blind peer-review process. Editorial roles do not confer any preferential

treatment. The Editor-in-Chief and the permanent editorial leadership retain final responsibility for publication decisions.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

If errors are identified after publication that affect the interpretation or reliability of the research, the journal may issue a correction. In cases of proven research misconduct—such as plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or unethical publication practices—the journal will issue a retraction, in accordance with COPE retraction guidelines. Where appropriate, expressions of concern may be published while investigations are ongoing.

Appeals, Complaints, and Ethical Oversight

The journal maintains a formal appeals and complaints procedure. Authors may submit a reasoned appeal within 30 days of a final decision, limited to procedural issues or documented factual errors in reviewer reports. Appeals are handled by an editor not involved in the original decision and, when necessary, by an external senior reviewer. Complaints related to editorial conduct, peer-review integrity, or ethical matters are examined in line with international best practices and recorded internally for transparency and accountability.

Commitment to Ethical Publishing

L’Europe Unie / United Europe is committed to maintaining high ethical standards, protecting the integrity of scholarly communication, and ensuring transparency, fairness, and accountability at all stages of the publication process.

Editorial Procedures and Peer-Review

Following the submission of the manuscript, the editors begin the peer review process. The first stage is an evaluation of the manuscript by the editorial board, which will assess the compliance with the editing requirements and ethical standards of the Journal. Manuscripts that do not meet Journal’s criteria will be rejected prior peer review. In this stage the manuscript will be sent to the Managing Editor and/or Chief Editor who will assess the scientific value of the manuscript and the compliance with the Journal’s topics. Any rejection decision at this stage will be verified by the Chief Editor or the Managing Editor and will not represent a peer review of the work.
After having passed first evaluation, the article will be sent to two independent reviewers that will conduct a blind review.

Peer review model L’Europe Unie

Editorial decision
Within 1-2 months following submission authors will receive a reply from the editors in regard to the acceptance or rejection of the manuscript. This reply can consist in:
Accept – the manuscript is accepted without any modification concerning scientific or methodological matters.
Accept with minor revisions – the acceptance of the manuscript will depend on minor revisions suggested by the reviewers. Authors are to make these modifications within two weeks following reception of notice.
Reconsider after major revisions – the acceptance of the manuscript will depend on major revisions suggested by the reviewers. In this case the author must revise point by point the reviewer’s comments and resubmit. The article will be subjected to another peer-review process.
Reject – in this case the author is to completely revise the document and resubmit the manuscript which will be subjected to the whole process of editorial procedures and peer-review.

Statements to be filled for publication:

Copyright Statement L’Europe Unie 

Open Access Statement

Articles published in the L’Europe Unie Journal are fully open access: immediately freely available to read, download, and share. Articles are published under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Creative Commons license which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Under this license:

• Attribution— You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
• NonCommercial— You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
• No derivates — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
• No additional restrictions— You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Open Access License L’Europe Unie 

Archive policy

The Journal L’Europe Unie will function by having an archive for all published electronic information. Archived content will include all primary publications, additional materials and online services. The original content of the information will not be changed, but references and other developments occurring after the original publication can be annotated or supplemented in errata. For a safe efficient operation of the online service, the journal L’Europe Unie will take measures of disseminating and security its publications.  The journal is committed to archiving (namely the long-term preservation of and access to) the research information published in electronic form within the journal.