Table of Contents

The publication of an article in a peer reviewed journal is an essential model for Flora Mediterranea.

The publishing ethics and malpractice policies follow the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA), the NISO Recommended Practices for the Presentation and Identification of E-Journals (PIE-J), and, where relevant, the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals from ICMJE.

Open access
Open access is the free and unrestricted access to peer-reviewed scholarly content, predominantly journal articles.

Definition of Open Access
Publication from Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing: An Open Access Publication is one that meets the following two conditions:
-The author(s) and copyright holder(s) grant(s) to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship, as well as the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal use.
-A complete version of the work and all supplemental materials, including a copy of the permission as stated above, in a suitable standard electronic format is deposited immediately upon initial publication in at least one online repository that is supported by an academic institution, scholarly society, government agency, or other well-established organization that seeks to enable open access, unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term archiving (for the biomedical sciences, PubMed Central is such a repository).
Notes: Open access is a property of individual works, not necessarily journals or publishers.
Community standards, rather than copyright law, will continue to provide the mechanism for enforcement of proper attribution and responsible use of the published work, as they do now.

Policy on open access to Flora Mediterranea articles
The Foundation pro Herbario Mediterraneo supports free and open access to research, recognizing its substantial societal and economic value. The Foundation is committed to ensuring broad dissemination of research outcomes—not only within academia but also to businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, and the general public.

Peer Review Systems
Flora Mediterranea uses a single-blind peer review process, in which reviewers are aware of the authors' identities, but authors do not know the reviewers' names.  The Referees Committee and Independent experts evaluate submissions for quality, validity, and originality, ensuring rigorous and impartial assessment while maintaining transparency in the evaluation process.  
The Editorial Committee, and Referees Commitee are available here.

Publication decisions
The editor of the Journal is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published.
The editor’s decisions are guided by the journal’s editorial policies and subject to applicable legal obligations, including those pertaining to libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. When necessary, the editor may consult with the Editorial Committee  before reaching a final determination.

Fair play
Editors evaluate manuscripts solely on the basis of academic merit and intellectual content, without consideration of the authors' personal characteristics, including race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or political views.

Confidentiality
The editor and editorial staff must maintain strict confidentiality regarding submitted manuscripts. Information may only be shared with the corresponding author, designated reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisors, and the publisher as necessary for the publication process.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Editors are prohibited from using any unpublished materials from submitted manuscripts in their own research without obtaining explicit prior written authorization from the author(s).

Duties of reviewers
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review supports editorial decision-making while providing authors with constructive feedback to enhance their manuscript's quality.

Promptness
Any selected reviewers who believe they lack the expertise to evaluate a manuscript or cannot complete the assessment in a timely manner should promptly inform the editor and decline the review invitation.

Confidentiality
All submitted manuscripts are confidential materials. Reviewers may not share or discuss the content with anyone without explicit permission from the editor.

Standards of Objectivity
Peer reviews must be conducted with objectivity and professionalism. Reviewers should provide constructive, evidence-based critiques while avoiding personal remarks about authors. All assessments should clearly articulate their rationale with supporting arguments.

Originality
Peer reviewers are required to submit original, independent evaluations prepared solely through their own scholarly expertise. The use of artificial intelligence tools (including but not limited to large language models, text generators, or automated analysis systems) to compose, substantially influence, or complete review reports is strictly prohibited.

Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers are expected to identify pertinent published works that the authors may have overlooked, providing complete citations for any claims that findings or arguments have been previously reported. They should exercise discretion and avoid suggesting their own publications unless they are directly pertinent to the manuscript. Additionally, reviewers must promptly notify the editor if they recognize substantial similarity between the submitted manuscript and any other published work within their knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Reviewers must maintain strict confidentiality of all privileged information and ideas encountered during peer review and may not exploit such knowledge for personal gain. Additionally, reviewers are ethically obligated to recuse themselves from evaluating any manuscript for which they have conflicts of interest—including competitive, collaborative, or institutional relationships with authors or their affiliated organizations—that could compromise impartial judgment.

Duties of authors
Reporting standards
Authors reporting original research must present their work honestly and objectively, accurately representing both their findings and underlying data. The manuscript should provide sufficient methodological detail and references to allow others to verify and replicate the study. Knowingly presenting false or misleading information constitutes unethical research practices and is unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention
Authors are invited to provide raw data for editorial review and should make this data publicly accessible when feasible, in accordance with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases. Regardless of public availability, authors are required to retain research data for a reasonable period following publication.

Originality and Plagiarism
Authors must submit original work that represents their own scholarly contribution. Any use of others' work, words, or AI-generated content must be properly attributed through appropriate citation or quotation. Failure to acknowledge such sources constitutes academic misconduct.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication
Authors must avoid publishing manuscripts that present substantially similar research in multiple journals. This includes both duplicate submission (submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously) and salami publication (splitting a single study into multiple papers to artificially increase publication count). Such practices constitute unethical publishing behavior and are unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper
Authorship must be strictly limited to those who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the study's conception, design, implementation, or interpretation. All qualifying contributors must be included as co-authors, while individuals who participated in specific aspects of the research without meeting full authorship criteria should be properly acknowledged. The corresponding author bears primary responsibility for ensuring: the accurate inclusion of all appropriate co-authors and exclusion of unqualified individuals; that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript; and that all co-authors have consented to submission. Documentation of authorship agreements should be maintained.

Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects
If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works
Authors who identify significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work must immediately notify the journal editor and collaborate to issue a correction or retraction as appropriate. This ethical obligation ensures the integrity of the scholarly record.