Effective: 6 July 2019

On_Culture: The Open Journal for the Study of Culture recognizes its obligation to correct errors in work that it has published and to consider readers’ criticisms of that work. [1] In line with the professional standards in publishing by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (http://publicationethics.org/), such responsibility falls into two categories: Corrections and Editorial Responses.

Corrections: This category includes all post-publication changes to a contribution. Errors and amendments/changes of this type will be corrected online as soon as possible and be included both in the online version and the repository PDF version of the contribution. [2] The corrected contribution will include a header box stating the date of correction, a link to an Editorial Notice of Corrections to make the process transparent, and a link to the original version of the contribution, which will be watermarked as an outdated version. Corrections will fall into two categories:

• Erratum or Publisher Correction of a significant error made by the journal that affects the scholarly record, the scientific integrity of the contribution, or the reputation of the authors or the journal. 

• Corrigendum or Author Correction of a significant error made by the author that affects the scholarly record, the scientific integrity of the contribution, or the reputation of the authors or the journal.

Editorial Responses: Responses of this type will be peer reviewed and, where possible, either sent to the referees who reviewed the original submission (for double-blind peer-reviewed _Articles), or at least two anonymous and senior external reviewers (for non-reviewed _Essays or _Perspectives). To the extent possible, all parties will remain anonymous. Responses are subject to oversight by the editors of the journal and will be published after full consultation with all interested parties. This may include Research Ethics Committees both of Justus Liebig University Giessen and/or the author’s home or funding institution. Editorial Responses will fall into the following categories:

• Editorial Expression of Concern notifies of an addition of information to a contribution, for example in response to a reader’s request for clarification or correction of a significant omission. Such addenda are published when the editors decide they are crucial to the reader’s understanding of a significant part of the published contribution. Should the allegations not hold after a thorough examination, the Expression of Concern will be removed again.

• Retraction notifies the readership of unsound results or misconduct, following an investigation of the issue by the editor and publisher. The original contribution will remain available but will be marked as retracted through a published note from the editor and a watermark in both the online and the repository version.

• Contribution Removal: In rare instances, On_Culture may be obliged to remove a contribution as a consequence of legal action. Such removal will be marked on the issue table of contents and a notice indicating removal will replace the contribution contents.

Please find our code of conduct here, to which all authors subscribe to upon submission of a proposal or contribution.

The Editorial Team is authorized to make any other appropriate decision not listed above, if necessary. Here we will seek guidance either by the COPE guidelines or the Ombudspersons of either Justus Liebig University Giessen or other involved parties.

Complaints Policy: 

Any complaints shall be directed to the Editorial Team at: content@on-culture.org. We will review the case, might ask for substantiating material, and then provide all involved parties with our decision. Appeals to these decisions may be directed to either the Ombudsperson for research integrity of the involved parties’ institutions, or towards the Ombudsperson of Justus Liebig University Giessen, our home institution.