Author Guidelines

1 – Publication Goals

Mare Nostrum publishes articles and reviews directed to the study of the various aspects of antiquity (economic, social, political, and cultural) that operated mainly in the space known today as the Mediterranean, but also in the universe of ancient non-Mediterranean societies that directly or indirectly related with it.

The journal have publishes semiannually, accepting original and unpublished works (individually or collectively) from Master students to doctors (except in exceptional cases). Reviews should be about recent works published no more than five years ago. Submitted texts must not be submitted to other publications.

It is recommended that at the time of submission the author or any co-authors have not published any article in the journal in the last two issues.

2 – Workflow

Submitted articles that do not meet the minimum requirements  (see items 1 - Scope of Publications and 3 - Formatting) will not be accepted for the evaluation process. This process evaluates the presence of redundancies and plagiarism (see below item 6 - Redundancy or duplication of publication), and only after this stage the articles are sent to the next one, the evaluation by members of their scientific committee and ad hoc consultants, in a double-blind evaluation system (no authorship identification; instructions for article submission for double-blind evaluation are in the system). The text is evaluated by two expert advisors on the subject of the submission. If the assessments are disparate, a third assessor will be called upon to give their opinion. Submission may be accepted, accepted with suggestions of modifications, accepted with mandatory modifications or declined. The evaluation process takes 4-12 weeks, and the result is communicated by email to the authors, who will be notified of the acceptance or rejection of the text, or will be asked to make modifications. The revised text must be delivered within 4 weeks by the author, who must submit it through the journal system and in the submission process that has already started - that is, not initiating a new evaluation process. Changes made by the author are subject to further consideration by the Editorial Board. In case of approval, the text is sent to the next step, the editing, when it goes through spelling and grammar revision and its formatting, a process that always occurs in contact with the authors if any questions arise. After review, the articles are sent to the editing stage and then to the layout. After such processes the text will be ready to be published in the edition indicated by the editorial board.

2.1 – On the Evaluation

The reviewers evaluate the articles received according to a form, in which the reviewer is urged to present his justifications in case of negative answers to the questions posed. The form includes the following questions:

1 - Is the article written clearly and in accordance with the formal rule of the Portuguese language or the language of choice?

2 - Are the references and citations (direct and indirect) uniform and respect the guidelines of the authors?

3 - Does the article present original contributions to the area of ​​study in which it belongs?

4 - Is the bibliography used and discussed in the article updated? Are there any other recent works that deserve to be consulted?

5 - Are the arguments stated in the contribution coherent and clear? Was there any part of the text whose connection with reasoning was unclear?

3 – Formatting

3.1 – Submission Data

Data regarding authorship (name, surname, email, institution / affiliation, country, biography summary, contributors and funding agencies) and text (title and subtitle, abstract, keywords, abstract, key words, agency References) must be included in the system in the “Submission Data” section. It is important to highlight that title, abstract and keywords must be inserted in the submission language and in English both in the system and in the manuscript. The absence of the mentioned data may make it impossible to issue the submission DOI.

3.2 – Heading

1 - Title of the paper (70 characters with space) in bold, Times New Roman font, size 12.

2 - Name of the author, in Times New Roman font, size 12. In footnote, placed after the author's name: institutional affiliation (in full, without abbreviation) with the respective city and country.

3 - Summary (700 characters with space) and keywords (three to five), in Times New Roman font, size 12, with lowercase initials and separated by semicolons.

4 - Abstract in English (700 characters with space) and keywords (from three to five), in Times New Roman font, size 12, with lowercase initials and separated by semicolons. For articles written originally in English, the second abstract may be written in the following languages: Portuguese, Spanish, French or Italian.

3.3 – File Formatting

The texts should be submitted as follows:
1 - Submissions must be made exclusively in .doc format (Microsoft Word).
2 - The text should be run in Times New Roman font size 12, 1.5 line spacing and no extra spacing between paragraphs. Pages should be in A4 size with margins at 3 cm at the top and bottom edges and 2 cm at the side edges.
3 - Words in a foreign language to the language of the article, except Portuguese, should be in italics.
4 - Quotations in modern language should be translated into the language of the article, without having to reproduce the original. If necessary, the original text should be reproduced in a footnote, placed after the passage quoted in the body of the article. All direct quotations in ancient languages ​​should be reproduced in footnotes as described above.
5 - Articles must contain 40.000 to 60.000 characters, reviews from 10.000 to 20.000 characters (total with spaces, including bibliographic references, footnotes and legends of figures, tables and graphs).
6 - The title and the abstract, both in English or in another language (if the article is already in English), must appear at the end of the article, after the bibliographic references.

3.4 – Figures, Graphs, and Tables

1 - Should be in the body of the text, with explanatory captions and fonts placed immediately below the figure / graphic / table, numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals.
2 - It is the responsibility of the author to obtain permission to reproduce the images, graphics and tables.

3.5 – Footnotes

1 - Should contain only comments and explanatory notes, discussions and debates that will not be detailed in the text. Bibliographic citations in the author-date-page system should appear in the body of the text, unless referring to non-detailed discussions.
2 - May also contain originals of direct quotations in foreign languages. Must contain originals of direct quotations in ancient languages.
3 - Must be typed on the same page in Times New Roman font and size 10, in single space between lines (1.0), but with extra space (6 pt) between different notes.

3.6 – Quotations and References

Mare Nostrum journal uses the American Psychological Association (APA) citation system. Details about this system can be found at https://apastyle.apa.org/.
Quotations from ancient works should be made as follows. The first reference should have the full name of the author and work written in full. The following citations should be abbreviated according to the abbreviations used by the Oxford Classical Dictionary (see list of most cited authors at http: // iam. Classics.unc.edu/main/help/A.html). Well known reference works, the usual abbreviations should be used, e.g. FGrH = Fragmente der grieschischen Historiker; SVF = Stoichorum Veterum Fragmenta; LIMC = Lexicon Iconographiae Mithologiae Classicae.

3.7 – Spelling of Words in Other Languages

1 - Except for long quotations, foreign words should be italicized. For languages ​​that do not use the Latin alphabet, the author may choose to transliterate the term by keeping it italicized. If the author chooses to use the original alphabet, it must come in Unicode. If necessary, the author can send to the journal by the system the installation file of the source used.
2 - The special case of ancient Greek transliterations must respect the rules of Prado, 2006.

4 – Ethics

Mare Nostrum journal follows the code of ethics established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices).

5 – Originality

Theoretical, methodological and analytical propositions and treatments considered unprecedented in the literature review of a given area of ​​knowledge are considered original and, therefore, have an innovative character. For a text to be unpublished, it must not have been previously published. This includes print and digital formats, with or without registration. In the case of papers in event annals and also materials already available in institutional repositories (dissertations and theses), the authors are encouraged to review their productions taking into consideration the discussions with peers before submitting to the journal.

6 – Redundancy or Duplication of Publication

All articles go through the redundancy detection process by both anti-plagiarism and human action programs. The results are reported to the editors, who then investigate and gather documentary evidence. The extent and nature of redundancy is observed.
If the overlap is not significant, the reviewers will be informed of the review decision and procedures. In cases of minor overlap - with some elements of redundancy or legitimate overlap (eg exposing methods, updating analysis already done, or discussion focused on different audiences) - the author will be contacted and informed about the journal's position. It will be explained that that secondary work must either reference the original or have the overlapping material removed. This procedure is accompanied by review and editorial decision.
For extensive overlaps or very similar results, evidencing that the author tried to hide the redundancy, not citing the previous work, there will be written contact with the submitter presenting documentation that evidences duplication or redundancy and his signed statement that the work submitted has not been published anywhere else.
If the author's answer is satisfactory - for example, legitimate republication - he will be informed about the journal's position and expected future behavior. When the response is unsatisfactory or there is an admission of guilt, the author will be informed of the rejection of his submission and the editors will consider reporting this to the senior agents and / or research officers. The reviewer will also be advised of the action taken.

7 – Plagiarism

Suspected cases of plagiarism should be reported to editors. The notification is confirmed and the gathering of documentary evidence begins from the assessment of the degree of copying.

In cases of minor copy - short sentences, for example, and no wrong attribution of data - editors will contact the submitter, explaining the position of the journal and the need for correction of the work. Those reporting suspected plagiarism will be informed of the journal's actions.

When dealing with clear plagiarism - using large portions of text and / or data, as if they were their own authorship - written contact will be made with the submitter, sending them a copy of the declaration of authorship and originality made by he along with the found evidence of plagiarism. The author should contact the publishers, providing explanations.

If the response to the editors is satisfactory, the author will be instructed on the journal's position and desired future behavior. However, if unsatisfactory, the removal of the submitted or already published work will be considered, and the occurrence will be informed to the editorials involved, also to the superior agents and / or responsible for the research, as well as to the victim and the readers.

In cases where the author does not provide a response to the editors, an attempt will be made to contact the co-authors and / or the author's institution, requesting that the problem be reported to their superiors or research officers. If there are no replies, the contact will be redone within 3-6 months. After that, contact with other authorities will be considered.