Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

(Updated April 2026 – Aligned with COPE, DORA, addressing Web of Science link, and Scopus criteria)

  1. Editorial Scope and Mission
 

L’Europe Unie / United Europe is an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed academic journal founded in Paris in 2007 and published by Association “JISR” (“Le Pont”), France.

The journal’s bibliographic identity is formally registered in France through ISSN 2780-8173 for the print edition, eISSN 2743-4052 for the online edition and ISSN-L 2743-4052. Its French publishing institution, Association “JISR” (“Le Pont”), is internationally identified by ISNI 0000 0005 3020 7149 and Ringgold ID 849289, strengthening the journal’s institutional identification, bibliographic traceability and publisher transparency. Further institutional information is available on the  Association “JISR” – L’Europe Unie .

The journal’s central mission is to advance European Studies as an interdisciplinary field. It provides a scholarly forum for theoretically informed, methodologically rigorous and evidence-based research on Europe, the European Union, European integration and Europe’s relations with the wider international system.

Within this overarching European Studies framework, the journal publishes original research drawing on International Relations, Political Science, Contemporary History, European Law, Economics and Security Studies. Its principal areas of interest include European integration; EU institutions and decision-making; EU external relations; enlargement and neighbourhood policies; European foreign, security and defence policy; democracy and the rule of law; contemporary European history; geopolitics; hybrid threats; disinformation; digital transformation; artificial intelligence; human rights; migration; multicultural societies; and relations between Europe and its neighbouring regions.

Particular attention is given to research that connects historical developments with contemporary European and international processes. The journal welcomes comparative, interdisciplinary and transnational approaches, as well as studies examining interactions between national, European and global levels of governance. Submissions must formulate a clear research question, engage critically with the relevant international literature, explain their methodology and present conclusions supported by verifiable evidence.

The journal addresses an international readership comprising researchers, university teachers, doctoral candidates, students, practitioners and policymakers working in European Studies and its related disciplines. Articles are published primarily in English and French to facilitate international scholarly communication. During the 2020–2025 period, among contributions for which a single principal language was identified, approximately 86% were published in English and 14% in French.

The journal’s international reach is demonstrated by the institutional affiliations published with its contributions. Between 2020 and 2025, authors were associated with 47 universities, research institutes and other professional or public institutions situated in 21 countries across 4 continents: Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.

The journal’s Scientific Board is internationally constituted and includes scholars affiliated with universities and research institutions in France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Estonia, Romania, Spain, China and other countries. The United Kingdom is institutionally represented, among others, by Professor Amelia Hadfield of the University of Surrey. British scholarly participation in the journal’s published content is also represented by Colin Swatridge, whose published institutional affiliation is the University of Miskolc, Hungary.

The journal maintains editorial independence and evaluates submissions according to their academic quality, originality, methodological soundness, relevance to its stated European Studies scope and contribution to international scholarship. Editorial decisions are made without discrimination based on nationality, institutional affiliation, political position, gender, religion or academic seniority.

  1. Submission and Publication Process

L’Europe Unie / United Europe accepts original, methodologically rigorous and properly documented manuscripts within its European Studies scope. Submissions must be unpublished and must not be under consideration by another journal.

English is the journal’s primary and preferred publication language. Manuscripts written in French are also accepted as part of the journal’s French academic identity.

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx) to:

Prof. Dr. Habil. Simion COSTEA
editorialteam@leuropeunie.com

Prof. Dr. Habil. Mihaela Daciana NATEA
leuropeunie2025@gmail.com

Authors must comply with the journal’s submission, formatting and referencing requirements:

https://leuropeunie.com/instructions-for-authors/

Research articles should normally contain between 5,000 and 10,000 words. Scholarly book reviews should normally contain between 1,000 and 3,000 words.

Every research article must include:

  • a clear title in English;
  • an English-language abstract;
  • five keywords in English;
  • the main text;
  • complete footnotes;
  • a final bibliography;
  • a funding statement, where applicable;
  • a conflict-of-interest statement;
  • a Data Availability Statement, where applicable.

Articles written in French must provide the title in both ENGLISH and French. Their abstract and keywords must always be provided in English. 

Mandatory Author Identification and Academic Profiles

All authors and co-authors must provide their full names, institutional affiliations, countries and institutional email addresses.

Before final acceptance, every author and co-author must create,  and provide working links to:

  • ORCID iD;
  • Web of Science Researcher Profile and ResearcherID;
  • Google Scholar profile;
  • ResearchGate profile;
  • SSRN author account or author profile.

Authors and co-authors who have previously published articles indexed in Scopus must also provide their Scopus Author IDs and complete working links to their Scopus Author Profiles.

These requirements apply to every author and co-author, regardless of authorship order, academic seniority or institutional affiliation. A manuscript cannot receive final acceptance until the required author information, identifiers and working profile links have been provided and verified by the editorial team. These profiles support accurate author identification, institutional-affiliation verification, transparent attribution, bibliographic metadata interoperability and international scholarly discoverability.

Editorial Evaluation

Every research manuscript undergoes two stages of evaluation.

1. Initial Editorial Screening

The Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor assesses the manuscript’s:

  • relevance to the journal’s European Studies scope;
  • originality and scholarly contribution;
  • research question;
  • theoretical and methodological quality;
  • use of relevant and reliable sources;
  • engagement with international scholarship;
  • clarity of language and argument;
  • compliance with ethical and formatting requirements.

All manuscripts undergo systematic similarity screening before external peer review.

A manuscript may be rejected at this stage if it falls outside the journal’s scope or lacks sufficient originality, scientific added value, methodological rigour, engagement with relevant international literature or adequate documentation. A rejection at this stage is a desk rejection and does not constitute external peer review.

2. Double-Blind External Peer Review

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial screening are evaluated by at least two independent external academic experts in the relevant field.

The reviewers do not receive the authors’ names or institutional affiliations. The authors do not receive the reviewers’ names.

Reviewers assess the manuscript’s:

  • originality;
  • research question;
  • theoretical framework;
  • methodology;
  • use of primary and secondary sources;
  • engagement with current international literature;
  • structure and clarity of argument;
  • findings and conclusions;
  • scientific contribution to European Studies.

Authors receive the reviewers’ observations and, where revisions are required, must submit:

  • a revised manuscript;
  • a point-by-point response explaining how each recommendation has been addressed.

Possible editorial decisions are:

  • Accept subject to minor revisions;
  • Accept subject to Major revisions;
  • Reject.

Manuscripts undergoing major revision may be returned to the original reviewers or evaluated by an additional independent reviewer.

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

All research manuscripts, including those submitted by members of the Editorial or Scientific Board, are subject to the same double-blind peer-review requirements. An editor who is an author takes no part in selecting reviewers, accessing confidential reviewer identities or making the editorial decision.

Manuscripts submitted for thematic or conference-related volumes may first undergo Scientific Committee screening. They must subsequently complete the journal’s full double-blind peer-review process. Scientific Committee approval does not guarantee publication.

Editorial Timeline

Initial editorial screening is normally completed within 1–2 weeks.

The first editorial decision following double-blind peer review is normally communicated within approximately 6–8 weeks of submission.

Authors are normally allowed up to four weeks for revisions. Additional time may be approved where substantial further research is required.

Substantially revised manuscripts may be returned to the reviewers. The evaluation of a revised manuscript is normally completed within 2–3 weeks after resubmission.

Authors should not withdraw their manuscript during the peer review process. 

Documentation and Referencing Requirements (Footnotes, Bibliography)

L’Europe Unie / United Europe applies an adapted Chicago Notes and Bibliography referencing system.

Authors are required to insert at least one footnote per paragraph, as a general editorial rule.

Footnotes must identify the precise academic, archival, legal, statistical or institutional sources supporting the paragraph’s factual claims and interpretative arguments. References must not be added artificially or used merely to satisfy a numerical requirement.

Numbered footnotes must appear at the bottom of the relevant page. Each footnote must provide sufficient bibliographic information to identify the source and, where applicable, the exact page, archival file, legal provision, DOI or stable URL.

A complete bibliography is mandatory. DOI links and stable URLs must be supplied whenever available.

Diamond Open Access and NO Author Fees

L’Europe Unie / United Europe operates according to the Diamond Open Access model.

The journal charges NO:

  • submission fees;
  • Article Processing Charges;
  • editorial-processing fees;
  • peer-review fees;
  • publication fees.

Editorial evaluation, peer review and publication are provided without cost to authors. The absence of author fees has NO influence on editorial standards or publication decisions.

First Online and Annual-Volume Publication

After successful double-blind peer review, final acceptance and editorial preparation, an article may be published individually as a First Online Article on the journal’s website and in the L’Europe Unie / United Europe Zenodo Community.

First Online Articles are peer-reviewed and accepted publications. They receive complete bibliographic metadata and persistent DOI identification and are made immediately available in Diamond Open Access, normally within 2–4 weeks of final acceptance.

Each First Online Article must display:

  • the article title;
  • the names and affiliations of all authors;
  • the submission date;
  • the acceptance date;
  • the First Online publication date;
  • the DOI;
  • the applicable open-access licence.

First Online Articles are subsequently included in the journal’s complete annual volume. The DOI and bibliographic metadata of each First Online Article are updated to include the final volume details.

L’Europe Unie / United Europe publishes its complete annual volume in both online and print formats no later than 30 December of the corresponding year.

This publication model ensures the rapid dissemination of accepted research while preserving the journal’s regular annual publication schedule.

  1. Authors’ Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for the originality, accuracy, integrity and scholarly quality of their manuscripts.

Originality and publication ethics

Manuscripts must be original, must not have been formally published previously and must not be under consideration by another journal.

Authors must accurately cite all ideas, quotations, data, images and other material obtained from third-party sources. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, manipulation of evidence, ghost authorship and undisclosed redundant publication are prohibited.

Confirmed misconduct may result in rejection, withdrawal of acceptance, correction or retraction, depending on when it is identified and its seriousness.

Authorship and contributorship

Authorship is limited to individuals who have made a substantial scholarly contribution to the conception, research, methodology, analysis, interpretation or writing of the manuscript.

Every author and co-author must:

  • approve the submitted and final versions;
  • accept responsibility for their scholarly contribution;
  • agree upon the authorship order;
  • provide accurate names, affiliations, countries and institutional email addresses;
  • disclose their individual contribution when requested.

Honorary, guest, gift and ghost authorship are prohibited.

The corresponding author must ensure that the authorship information is complete and approved by all authors. Any addition, removal or reordering of authors after submission requires a written justification, the agreement of all authors and the approval of the editorial team.

Author identification

Before final acceptance, every author and co-author must provide complete and working links to their ORCID iD, Web of Science Researcher Profile, Google Scholar profile, ResearchGate profile and SSRN author page. Authors who have previously published content indexed in Scopus must also provide their Scopus Author ID and a working link to their Scopus profile.

Names and institutional affiliations must be accurate and presented consistently across the manuscript and the authors’ scholarly profiles. English-language profile information is required, to support reliable metadata and international discoverability.

Conflicts of interest and funding

Authors must disclose all financial, institutional, professional or personal interests that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, the research and its interpretation.

In research concerning political parties, governments, public institutions, advocacy organisations or contested public policies, authors must also disclose any directly relevant political or organisational affiliation.

All financial and institutional support must be identified. Where no conflict of interest or external funding exists, authors must provide an explicit statement confirming this.

Accuracy, sources and research data

Authors must ensure that factual claims, quotations, archival evidence, legal provisions, statistical information and research findings are accurate and supported by relevant and verifiable sources.

Data and evidence must not be fabricated, falsified, selectively manipulated or presented misleadingly. Where applicable, authors must provide a data-availability statement. Restrictions arising from confidentiality, data-protection rules, archival regulations or ethical requirements must be explained.

Ethical approval

Research involving human participants, interviews, surveys, personal data or sensitive information must comply with applicable legal and ethical requirements.

Where ethical approval is required, authors must identify the approving institution and provide the relevant approval or reference number. Informed consent, privacy, confidentiality and personal-data protection must be respected.

Use of artificial intelligence

Artificial-intelligence systems and language models cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.

Authors must disclose any substantive use of generative artificial intelligence in researching, analysing, writing or revising a manuscript. The declaration must identify the tool and explain how it was used.

Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, citations, evidence and integrity of the submitted manuscript.

Copyright permissions

Authors must obtain permission to reproduce copyrighted images, tables, figures, extensive quotations or other third-party material whenever permission is legally required. The source and copyright status of reproduced or adapted material must be identified.

Revisions and correction of errors

When revisions are required, authors must submit:

  • a revised manuscript;
  • a point-by-point response addressing every reviewer comment;
  • a reasoned academic justification for any recommendation that has not been followed.

Acceptance becomes final only after the editorial team has verified that the required revisions have been completed satisfactorily.

Authors who discover a significant error or omission during evaluation or after publication must notify the editorial team promptly and cooperate in issuing a correction, retraction or other appropriate editorial notice.

  1. Editors’ Responsibilities

Editorial independence and decisions

The Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor are responsible for the integrity of the editorial process and retain final responsibility for publication decisions.

Decisions are based on the manuscript’s relevance to the journal’s European Studies scope, originality, scholarly contribution, methodological quality, evidence, sources and compliance with publication-ethics requirements.

Editorial decisions are independent of the publisher, associated institutions and any commercial, political, institutional or personal interests. Reviewers provide recommendations; the final decision belongs to the authorised editor.

Fair academic evaluation

Manuscripts are evaluated without discrimination based on nationality, institutional affiliation, academic seniority, gender, religion, ethnic origin, political orientation or personal beliefs.

Critical or controversial conclusions concerning the European Union, NATO, governments, political organisations or public policies do not constitute grounds for rejection when they are supported by verifiable evidence and presented according to recognised academic standards.

Propaganda, discriminatory content, manipulated evidence and undocumented ideological assertions may be rejected because they fail to meet the journal’s academic and ethical standards.

Peer-review management

The Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor conducts the initial editorial screening. Manuscripts passing this stage are evaluated by at least two independent external reviewers with relevant academic expertise.

Editors must select reviewers impartially and avoid reviewers whose institutional, professional, financial or personal relationships could compromise the independence of the evaluation.

Editors must not require unnecessary citations or request citations intended primarily to increase the citation indicators of the journal, its editors or particular authors.

Confidentiality and conflicts of interest

Editors must protect the confidentiality of manuscripts, peer-review reports, reviewers’ identities, authors’ personal information and editorial correspondence. Unpublished material must not be disclosed or used for personal or professional advantage.

An editor who has a conflict of interest must withdraw from handling the manuscript. Responsibility must be transferred to another qualified editor who has no conflict of interest.

Manuscripts submitted by editors

Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or members of the Editorial or Scientific Board are subject to the same initial screening and double-blind external peer review as all other submissions.

An editor who is an author or co-author must take no part in selecting reviewers, evaluating the manuscript or making the publication decision. The manuscript must be handled independently by another qualified editor. Editorial or board membership does not confer preferential publication rights.

Research integrity

Editors must investigate credible concerns involving plagiarism, redundant publication, fabricated or falsified evidence, inappropriate authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest or other misconduct.

The individuals concerned must be informed and given an opportunity to respond. Where justified by the evidence, the journal will publish a correction, retraction or expression of concern.

Special Issues and thematic volumes

Special Issues, thematic volumes and conference-related volumes are subject to the journal’s standard editorial screening, double-blind peer review and publication-ethics requirements.

Any guest editor must be publicly identified. The Editor-in-Chief and permanent editorial leadership retain final responsibility for all publication decisions.

  1. Reviewers’ Responsibilities

L’Europe Unie / United Europe applies double-blind external peer review. Every research manuscript that passes initial editorial screening is evaluated by at least two independent external academic reviewers selected according to their expertise and the subject of the manuscript.

Independence and confidentiality

Reviewers must accept an invitation only when they possess the required expertise and can complete the review within the agreed period.

Before accepting, reviewers must disclose any financial, institutional, professional or personal conflict of interest. They must decline the review when their independence could reasonably be questioned.

Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of the manuscript, peer-review report and editorial correspondence. They must not contact the authors directly, disclose or use unpublished material, or delegate the review without prior editorial approval.

Confidential manuscripts and review reports must not be uploaded to publicly accessible generative artificial-intelligence systems, or other external services that do not guarantee confidentiality and data protection.

Academic evaluation

Reviewers must evaluate the manuscript exclusively according to its:

  • relevance to the journal’s European Studies scope;
  • originality and contribution to knowledge;
  • research question and theoretical framework;
  • methodological quality;
  • use of relevant and verifiable evidence and sources;
  • engagement with current international scholarship;
  • clarity of argument, findings and conclusions;
  • compliance with research-integrity and publication-ethics requirements.

Review reports must be clear, evidence-based and constructive. Personal criticism and ideological bias are not permitted.

References and citation integrity

Reviewers may recommend additional references when they are directly relevant and necessary to address a significant omission or position the manuscript accurately within existing scholarship.

Relevant articles published in L’Europe Unie / United Europe may be recommended according to the same academic criteria as publications from any other journal. References must be assessed without discrimination based on journal, publisher, author or institutional affiliation.

Reviewers must not request irrelevant citations or citations intended primarily to increase the citation indicators of the reviewer, the journal or particular authors.

Research integrity

Reviewers must report confidentially to the Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor any reasonable suspicion of plagiarism, redundant publication, fabricated or falsified evidence, inappropriate authorship or other misconduct. Reviewers must not investigate allegations independently or communicate them directly to the authors.

Recommendation and deadline

Reviewers must provide a reasoned recommendation:

  • acceptance subject to minor revisions;
  • acceptance subject to major revisions;
  • rejection.

Reviews should normally be completed within 3–4 weeks. Reviewers who cannot meet the agreed deadline must inform the editorial team promptly.

Reviewers provide independent recommendations. The Editor-in-Chief or authorised Managing Editor retains final responsibility for the publication decision.

  1. Publisher’s Responsibilities

Publisher identity

L’Europe Unie / United Europe is principally published by:

Association JISR (“Le Pont”) — Jeunesse Intégration Solidarité Républicaines (France)
Maison des Droits de l’Homme
89 chaussée de l’Hôtel de Ville
59650 Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France

  • Répertoire National des Associations: W595003926
  • ISNI: 0000 0005 3020 7149
  • Ringgold ID: 849289

Association JISR holds principal responsibility for the journal’s publishing activities, institutional continuity and bibliographic identity.

L’Europe Unie / United Europe is a French international peer-reviewed academic journal founded in Paris in 2007. Its serial identifiers are:

  • Print ISSN: 2780-8173
  • Online ISSN: 2743-4052
  • ISSN-L: 2743-4052
  • Historical print ISSN: 0248-2851
  • EAN: 99782749700519

Further information concerning the publisher is available at:

https://leuropeunie.com/association-jisr/

Governance and editorial independence

The publisher respects the editorial independence of the journal. Decisions concerning peer review, revision, acceptance or rejection are made by the Editor-in-Chief and authorised editorial leadership according to the journal’s academic standards and declared editorial procedures.

The publisher and institutional partners do not interfere with reviewer recommendations or individual editorial decisions.

International cooperation

The journal maintains its French publishing identity while benefiting from international academic and publishing cooperation.

Napoca Star Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, provides publishing, production and printing services for designated volumes.

  • ISNI: 0000 0005 3026 8179
  • Ringgold ID: 850284

The Institute of Research in European Studies, Târgu Mureș, Romania, supports academic coordination, European Studies research and international scholarly cooperation.

  • ISNI: 0000 0005 3028 6502
  • Ringgold ID: 850678

These partnerships do not alter the status of Association JISR as the principal publisher or the journal’s French bibliographic identity.

Prodifmultimedia, Paris, is acknowledged as historical publisher and has no current editorial or publishing responsibility.

Publishing standards

The publisher supports:

  • the regular publication of the journal;
  • accurate and consistent journal and article metadata;
  • correct use of the journal title, ISSNs, DOIs and institutional identifiers;
  • immediate Diamond Open Access without publication fees for authors;
  • application of the journal’s declared Creative Commons licence;
  • accessibility and preservation of published content;
  • publication of corrections, retractions or other editorial notices when required.

The publisher protects editorial independence, confidentiality and the integrity of the scholarly record. It does not permit misleading publishing information, citation manipulation, undisclosed author fees or unauthorised alteration of published content.

  1. Handling of Ethical Misconduct

L’Europe Unie / United Europe applies a zero-tolerance policy towards confirmed breaches of research and publication ethics, including:

  • plagiarism and substantial undisclosed text recycling;
  • fabrication, falsification or manipulation of data or evidence;
  • redundant or simultaneous publication;
  • authorship or contributorship misconduct;
  • undisclosed conflicts of interest;
  • manipulation of peer review or citations;
  • unauthorised use of confidential material;
  • other serious breaches of research or publication integrity.

Ethical concerns may be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor and must be supported by relevant information. Each allegation will be examined fairly and confidentially. The person concerned will be informed and given an opportunity to respond. Editors with a conflict of interest will not participate in the examination or decision.

Depending on the evidence, seriousness and stage of publication, the journal may:

  • dismiss an unsupported allegation;
  • request clarification or correction;
  • reject the manuscript or withdraw its acceptance;
  • publish a correction or expression of concern;
  • retract a published article;
  • notify the relevant institution or funding body when serious misconduct has been substantiated.

All decisions will be documented and based on the available evidence. Editorial action will be proportionate to the seriousness of the confirmed breach.

Corrections, expressions of concern and retractions will be clearly identified, linked to the original article and accompanied by an explanation. The original bibliographic record will be preserved.

  1. International Standards and Good Practices

L’Europe Unie / United Europe applies internationally recognised standards of publication ethics, research integrity, editorial transparency and responsible research assessment.

The journal follows:

These principles are applied through independent double-blind peer review, editorial screening, disclosure and management of conflicts of interest, similarity checking, responsible authorship, citation integrity, confidentiality and transparent procedures for corrections, expressions of concern and retractions.

Each manuscript is assessed on its own scholarly merit, originality, methodological rigour, quality of evidence and contribution to knowledge. Journal-level metrics are not used as substitutes for evaluating individual articles or authors.

The implementation of these academic and publishing practices is supported by the journal’s inclusion in recognised selective services, including ERIH PLUS, DOAJ, EBSCO Political Science Complete, ProQuest, HeinOnline, CEEOL and SSOAR-GESIS.

The journal’s bibliographic identity, accessibility and international traceability are further documented through Ulrichsweb, WorldCat, ISSN Portal, ROAD, Bibliothèque nationale de France, SUDOC, Mirabel, ZDB, EZB, DataCite, Zenodo and OpenAIRE.

Complete and regularly updated information concerning indexing, abstracting, bibliographic registration, persistent identifiers and digital archiving is available at:

https://leuropeunie.com/indexing-and-archiving/

9. Editorial Procedures and Peer-Review

Every research manuscript submitted to L’Europe Unie / United Europe follows the same editorial procedure.

1. Submission check

The editorial team verifies that the manuscript is complete, anonymised and compliant with the journal’s submission, formatting and ethical requirements.

2. Initial editorial screening

The Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor assesses the manuscript’s relevance to the journal’s scope, originality, scholarly contribution, methodological adequacy, quality of sources and clarity of argument.

All research manuscripts undergo similarity screening / anti-plagiarism. Manuscripts that do not meet the journal’s academic or ethical requirements may be rejected before external peer review. A decision taken at this stage is a desk rejection and does not constitute peer review.

3. Double-blind external peer review

Manuscripts that pass the initial screening are evaluated by at least two independent external academic reviewers selected according to their expertise in the subject.

The reviewers do not receive the authors’ names or affiliations, and the authors do not receive the reviewers’ identities.

Reviewers provide written reports assessing the manuscript’s originality, theoretical framework, methodology, evidence, engagement with relevant international scholarship, argument, findings and contribution to European Studies.

4. Revision

Where revisions are required, authors must submit:

  • a revised manuscript;
  • a point-by-point response addressing every reviewer comment;
  • a reasoned academic explanation for any recommendation not followed.

A manuscript requiring major revision may be returned to the original reviewers. An additional reviewer may be appointed when the reports differ substantially or further specialist expertise is required.

5. Final decision

The Editor-in-Chief or  Managing Editor makes the final decision after considering the reviewers’ reports, the revised manuscript and the authors’ response.

Editorial responsibility cannot be delegated to reviewers. Reviewer reports inform the decision, but the Editor-in-Chief and authorised editorial leadership retain final responsibility for the integrity and scholarly quality of published content.

Manuscripts submitted by members of the Editorial or Scientific Board follow the same double-blind external peer-review procedure and are handled by an editor who has no conflict of interest.

Peer review model L’Europe Unie

10. Editorial decision

The Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor makes the final editorial decision after considering the reviewers’ reports, the scholarly quality of the manuscript and its compliance with the journal’s editorial and ethical requirements.

The possible decisions are:

  • Accept subject to minor revisions — limited corrections are required.
  • Accept subject to major revisions — substantial revisions and a point-by-point response to the reviewers are required. The revised manuscript may undergo further external review.
  • Reject — the manuscript is not accepted and the editorial process is closed. A substantially rewritten manuscript may be submitted as a new submission.

No manuscript is accepted without revision. Acceptance becomes final only after the editorial team has verified that the required revisions and publication requirements have been completed satisfactorily.

The decision letter states the editorial outcome and its principal academic reasons. Reviewer reports are transmitted to the authors in anonymised form.

A reasoned appeal may be submitted within 30 days of a final rejection when it identifies a documented procedural irregularity or factual error. Disagreement with the academic judgement of the reviewers does not, by itself, constitute grounds for appeal. The appeal is considered by an editor who was not involved in the original decision. The outcome of the appeal is final.

11. Open Access Statement

Europe Unie / United Europe is a Diamond Open Access journal. All content is freely available without charge to the user or their institution. No Article Processing Charges (APC) are charged. The journal is compliant with the Open Science and Plan S principles.

Copyright

Authors retain copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions.

License: CC BY 4.0

All articles published in L’Europe Unie are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0):  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/  This is the most open licence. Under CC BY 4.0, users are free to:

Under CC BY 4.0, users are free to:

  1. Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
  2. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

  1. 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.
  2. No additional restrictions— You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Authors may deposit and disseminate the published Version of Record through institutional or disciplinary repositories, scholarly profiles, and personal websites, without embargo, provided that the original publication in L’Europe Unie / United Europe and its DOI are properly acknowledged.

The journal’s open-access and licensing information is available through the following authoritative records and policies:

Open Access License L’Europe Unie 

12. Archive policy

L’Europe Unie / United Europe is committed to the permanent preservation, accessibility and bibliographic traceability of its published scholarly content.

The journal maintains a complete open-access archive of its annual volumes from 2007 onwards: https://leuropeunie.com/archive/

Published articles and volumes are additionally deposited and disseminated through independent scholarly repositories and full-text academic platforms, including:

Zenodo deposits receive persistent DOI identification and structured bibliographic metadata through DataCite. These records provide stable identification, version control, citation traceability and continued access independently of the journal’s website.

The archived Version of Record is preserved unchanged. Any subsequent correction, retraction or expression of concern is published as a separate editorial notice and linked to the original article. The bibliographic record of the original publication is retained in order to preserve the integrity and transparency of the scholarly record.

Authors may deposit the published Version of Record in institutional or disciplinary repositories, scholarly profiles and personal websites without embargo, provided that the original publication in L’Europe Unie / United Europe and its DOI are properly acknowledged.

The editorial team periodically verifies the accessibility of archived content, DOI resolution and the accuracy of the associated bibliographic metadata. New articles and annual volumes are incorporated into the journal’s digital archive following publication.

13. Commitment to DORA and Responsible Research Assessment

Public statement adopted on 28 August 2026

L’Europe Unie / United Europe formally endorses the principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and integrates responsible research assessment into its editorial and peer-review practices.

The journal evaluates every manuscript and published research output on its intrinsic scholarly merit. Assessment is based on originality, methodological rigour, quality and relevance of sources, strength of the argument, reliability of the evidence, ethical compliance and contribution to knowledge in European Studies, International Relations, Contemporary History, Political Science and European Law.

Journal-level indicators, including the Journal Impact Factor, are not used as substitutes for assessing the quality of individual articles, authors or researchers. Editorial decisions are not based on the reputation, indexing status or citation metrics of the journals in which an author has previously published.

L’Europe Unie / United Europe implements responsible research assessment through:

  • initial editorial evaluation based on clearly stated academic and ethical criteria;
  • independent double-blind peer review by at least two external academic experts;
  • editorial decisions based on the content and scholarly contribution of each manuscript;
  • systematic similarity screening and verification of research integrity;
  • transparent authorship and contributorship requirements;
  • mandatory ORCID identification for authors;
  • disclosure of conflicts of interest and research funding;
  • data-availability statements and application of FAIR principles where relevant;
  • article-level DOI identification and complete bibliographic metadata;
  • immediate Diamond Open Access publication without author fees;
  • public policies on editorial decisions, corrections, retractions, complaints and appeals;
  • promotion of international, institutional, disciplinary and gender diversity in authorship, peer review and editorial governance.

The journal uses article-level citation information responsibly for bibliographic documentation and research visibility. Such indicators do not replace qualitative academic assessment and do not determine editorial acceptance.

Because L’Europe Unie / United Europe applies double-blind peer review, reviewers’ identities and confidential reports are not normally published. Reviewer comments are communicated to authors, who must provide a point-by-point response when revisions are required. The journal will continue to examine responsible methods of increasing peer-review transparency without compromising reviewer confidentiality and editorial integrity.

Implementation of DORA principles is overseen by the Editor-in-Chief and the permanent editorial leadership. The journal will periodically review this commitment and its editorial implementation.

Questions concerning this policy may be addressed to:

Prof. Dr. Habil. Simion COSTEA, Editor-in-Chief
editorialteam@leuropeunie.com

Prof. Dr. Habil. Mihaela Daciana NATEA, Managing Editor
leuropeunie2025@gmail.com

DORA Declaration:

https://sfdora.org/read/

DORA recommendations for journals and publishers:

https://sfdora.org/resource/how-journals-and-publishers-can-help-to-reform-research-assessment/