Code of Conduct

Given CELJ’s mission and values that support professionalism, inclusion, and collaboration in scholarly journal publishing, CELJ is committed to providing an inclusive and harassment-free environment for everyone. As a community, we rely on the integrity and the good judgment of our members in supporting these values and commitments. For this reason, CELJ members should not

• Exploit or discriminate against others on grounds such as race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, religious or spiritual affiliation, or other group identity, including academic rank or status.

• Sexually, physically, or verbally harass anyone they come into professional contact with including staff members, colleagues, vendors, authors, or students.

• Use language that is prejudicial or gratuitously derogatory.

• Make capricious or arbitrary decisions affecting publication status, academic freedom, working conditions, or professional status of anyone they work with.

• Misuse confidential information.

• Practice deceit or fraud on the academic community or the public, including plagiarizing the work of others.

This Code of Conduct applies to all forms of participation in the CELJ community, including, but not limited to:

• Messages sent via CELJ communication channels, both internal (e.g., Listservs) and external (e.g., social media);

• Participation in CELJ governance or working groups;

• Participation in in-person and virtual events convened by CELJ (e.g., MLA sessions, Chats with an Editor, and all-member meetings).

Reporting Violations

In interactions with CELJ, if you need to report a violation of our Code of Conduct, please contact a member of the CELJ Board. They will determine the appropriate course of action, which may involve mediation. Sanctions may include termination of CELJ membership.

If someone is found in violation of the Code of Conduct of one of CELJ’s affiliate organizations, then sanctions issued by another organization may extend to CELJ membership as well. We will respect the judgment of our member associations regarding their Codes of Conduct.

Acknowledgements

The CELJ Code of Conduct is a compilation of codes stemming from the Modern Language Association, the Library Publishing Coalition, and C4DISC. We thank those organizations for providing sharable versions of their codes for our mutual benefit and growth.

Resources

CELJ has adopted the following documents and statements creating by groups/organizations in scholarly publishing: 

• The Anti-racist scholarly reviewing practices: A heuristic for editors, reviewers, and authors, which provides strategies for creating anti-racist peer review criteria and workflows at your journal.

• The C4DISC’s Joint Statement of Principles, which provides definitions of typical anit-racist terms used in academia and scholarly publishing. In addition, C4DISC offers a series of toolkits for scholarly publishers/editors to use when rethinking their publications through anti-racist lens, including toolkits for Allies, Organizations, and BIPOC scholars. 

This document was updated and approved by the Board of Directors in September 2022.