About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Sign Systems Studies is is an international journal of semiotics and sign processes in culture and living nature. It publishes original scientific papers, review articles and book reviews on semiotics of culture and nature.

Since 2009, each volume includes four issues. The official languages are English and Russian, Estonian for abstracts.

Sign Systems Studies is indexed in Web of Science Core Collection (Clarivate Analytics), in Scopus and other relevant databases.

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts will be reviewed. The journal uses double blind review process.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. All papers are published under CC BY-NC-ND licence.

Authors retain copyright without restrictions.

This journal does not have article processing or submission charges.

Authors may deposit a copy of their paper in an institutional or other repository of their choice  (either submitted version, accepted version (Author Accepted Manuscript), or published version (Version of Record)), without embargo.

 

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

 

Duties of Editors

  1. Publication Decisions: The editor is responsible for deciding on accepting, rejecting or requesting modifications to the manuscript. In some instances, the editors may require multiple rounds of reviews and modifications. The editors communicate review result in a timely fashion.  The editor reserves the right to edit, clarify or shorten the manuscript as deemed necessary.
  2. Fair Review: The editor must ensure that each manuscript submitted to SSS is reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to the author’s race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship or political philosophy. The decisions will be based on the paper’s importance, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal’s scope.
  3. Confidentiality: The editor and editorial staff must ensure that information regarding the manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential.
  4. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: The editor and members of the editorial board of this journal shall not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research without the author’s explicit written consent. Editors should also notify the Editor-in-Chief in case of a conflict of interest.

Duties of Authors

  1. Publication guidelines: Authors must follow the submission guidelines of the journal.
  2. Originality, Plagiarism and Acknowledgement: Authors must ensure that the work they are submitting as theirs is entirely original. Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere. Authors will appropriately cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Authors sign a declaration stating that the manuscript and the illustrations within are original, or that all the necessary steps to avoid breach of copyright have been taken.
  3. Multiple Submissions: Authors must certify that the manuscript is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere. Submitting the same paper to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behaviour.
  4. Authorship of the Paper: All authors mentioned in the paper must have significantly contributed to the research. The author submitting the manuscript to the journal ensures that all contributing co-authors and no uninvolved person(s) are included in the author list.
  5. Conflict of Interest: Authors must notify the editors of any conflicts of interest that may be construed to influence the manuscript.
  6. Fundamental Errors: Authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes at any point in time if the author(s) discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in submitted manuscript.

Duties of Reviewers

SSS follows the standards of peer review as set out in the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers.

  1. Confidentiality: Reviewers must keep all manuscripts received confidential.
  2. Acknowledgement of Sources: Reviewers must ensure that authors have cited all relevant published work referred to in the paper in the endnotes and bibliography. Reviewers will bring to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript and any other published paper they are aware of.
  3. Standards of Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.
  4. Supporting Argument: Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
  5. Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships, or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the paper(s).
  6. Promptness: In the event that a reviewer feels it is not possible  to complete review of the manuscript within the stipulated time they should notify the editor in a timely manner and withdraw from the review process.

Reviewers are expected to provide an unbiased, constructive critique of the manuscript. Reviews should be objective and constructive, ensuring feedback is clear and helpful to authors. In particular, statements and comments that do not contribute to outlining strengths and weaknesses of the paper under review, or to improve its content, are to be avoided, especially if directed to the author.

Should the Editor determine that a review has violated the aforementioned ethical guidelines, the following measures may be implemented following a consultation with the Editor-in-Chief, and in accordance with the COPE Guidelines for Editing peer reviews:
- the reviewer may be requested to retract or modify sections of the review;
- the review may be forwarded to the author accompanied by a statement delineating the sections that are considered to be in contravention of the guidelines;
- in the event of a minor infraction, the review may undergo editorial changes without the need for the reviewer to be informed.

 

Conflicts of Interest

SSS adheres to the COPE Guideline for Handling Conflicts of Interest.

All interested parties should immediately disclose potential conflicts of interest, including but not limited to: close professional or personal relationships, competing interests, and in-kind support, such as administrative assistance or literature searching support.

In the case a previously undisclosed conflict of interest emerges or is suspected, the editors will conduct a thorough investigation. In the case the conflict of interest is confirmed, the editors can decide to publish a notice documenting it or to proceed with a retraction (see below).

If a member of the editorial team is involved in the conflict of interest, an external advisor may be consulted to ensure the fairness of the investigation.

 

Resolution of Complaints

The editors will conduct a proper and fair investigation whenever an ethical complaint (concerning a submitted or published manuscript) is reported. This may include contacting the author(s) of the manuscript and their institution, and giving due process to the complaint. Every reported action of unethical publishing behaviour shall be investigated even if it is discovered years after publication.

In case the complaint involves a member of the Editorial team, an external advisor may be consulted to ensure the fairness of the investigation.

If the complaint has merits, proper action shall be taken (publication correction, retraction, etc.)

If errors are found after publication, the publication of corrections or a retraction will be performed.

 

Corrections and Retractions

SSS will take all necessary steps to maintain the accuracy and quality of the papers published. Should an author discern a significant error or inaccuracy in their article, they are responsible for notifying the Journal and should work together with the journal to correct the paper. If the journal learns that a published article contains a potential error, the author will be asked to assist in verification by the Journal of the correctness of the original paper or correct the error. SSS also publishes reply articles in cases where a paper warrants further discussion.

In cases of serious error or scientific misconduct, it might be necessary to ask the authors to retract their paper or to impose a retraction on them. SSS adopts the practices and procedures concerning the procedures for corrections and retractions from the COPE Retraction guidelines. Retraction is to be taken into consideration if there is clear evidence of major errors or falsification that compromise the reliability of the research findings. Publications should be considered for retraction if plagiarised or if the findings have been published elsewhere without proper attribution, permission, or justification, or in case of undisclosed conflicts of interest concerning the authors, the editors and/or the reviewers. If a publication includes material or data used without proper authorisation or infringes on copyright, it might require retraction due to legal issues.

In case of retraction, a notice will be published linking to the retracted article, stating who is retracting and the reasons for retraction.

 

AI Policy Statement

SSS follows the COPE guidelines regarding AI authorship. In particular, as per the guidelines, authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.

In particular, authors must state in the “Acknowledgements” section which parts of the manuscript were produced using AI tools. Any use that goes beyond simple linguistic correction must be accounted for.

SSS requires its reviewers not to upload manuscripts to generative AI tools and, in general, not to use AI tools to produce the review.

 

 

Journal History

The journal Sign Systems Studies was established in 1964 by Juri Lotman (initially as Труды по знаковым системам - Σημειωτικη), and is thus the oldest international semiotic periodical. Originally (until 1992) a Russian-language series, it is now published in English, and has become a central institution in the semiotics of culture. Starting from 1998, Sign Systems Studies is published as an international peer-reviewed journal on the semiotics of culture and nature.