Guidelines for Authors

           

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The Bulletin of "Carol I" National Defence University welcomes all authors interested in publishing in a

free open-access journal which aims to disseminate scientific results in the security & defence field.

Supported citation style is The Chicago Manual of Style, the Author-Date system.

To successfully publish your manuscript, it must meet the following requirements: 

THE MAIN SELECTION CRITERIA 

  • All papers must fall within the scope of the journal - security and defence studies (e.g., trends and perspectives in the field of security and defence, geopolitics and geostrategy, international relations, peace and war challenges, conflict management, military strategy, new technologies in the military, military history, military leadership etc.) Manuscripts dealing with security and defence–related topics will be considered for publication only if they demonstrate a substantive contribution to the journal’s areas of interest and explicitly justify their relevance to its aims.
  • Scientific nature of the paper - clear methodological approach, while maintaining a neutral and objective style. Provide thorough argumentation for statements and specify all resources used.
  • Significance - novelty and importance of results;
  • Compliance with the editorial norms adopted by the journal.

ARTICLE SIZE AND EDITING RULES 

 The size of the article may vary between 6 and 12 pages (25,000 - 50,000 words), including footnotes, bibliography and figures;

Page settings: 2 cm margins, A 4 format;

The article will be written in Times New Roman font, body size 12, 1 line spacing, with diacritics (if the case);

ARTICLE STRUCTURE 

  • Title (centered, capitalized, bold, font 24);
  • A brief presentation of the author, including the following elements (as appropriate): military rank, academic / research degree, scientific title, first name, last name, position held at the main institutional affiliation, in the case of doctoral students - research and university - city, country of residence and e-mail;
  • A relevant abstract (150-250 words, italics);
  • 6-8 keywords (italics);
  • Introduction (not numbered);
  • Two to four sections that may include a literature review, methods, results, discussions etc;
  • Conclusions (not numbered);
  • Funding statement;
  • Conflict of interest disclosure;
  • Data availability statement;
  • Declaration on AI use (if applicable);

  • Decision Appeals - authors may appeal a manuscript decision by emailing both the Associate Editor who handled the manuscript and the Editors of the journal. The email message must clearly state the case for why the decision should be changed. Appeals will only be considered if the authors a) identify factual errors made by the reviewers or Editor that had a major impact on the decision, or b) can provide a substantiated claim of unfair treatment and/or bias in the review process. Appeals for any other reason will be denied without further consideration. Appeals that meet the identified criteria will be discussed among the Associate Editor, the Editors, and one other member of the editorial team. The three editors will review the appeal and vote to uphold or reverse the original decision. Final decisions will be based on majority vote (i.e., decisions need not be unanimous). Authors should expect to receive a decision on their appeal within one week of submission.

  • Correction - corrections in the journal are published as a separate notice (corrigendum or erratum) linked to the original article, and are used for errors that impact the interpretation of the work but do not invalidate its scholarly integrity. Minor errors may be corrected with a footnote in the article, while retractions are issued for more serious issues like data fabrication or plagiarism.

        The correction process:

  1. Detection: Anyone (authors, readers, or organizations) can identify an error in a published article and report it to the journal.
  2. Evaluation: The journal editor will investigate the claim, often collaborating with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).        

       3. If the error is significant, a correction notice will be published and linked to the original article. The notice                will  clearly state the original error and the correction.

       4. Article update: The journal may, at its discretion, update the original article online and include a correction              footnote referencing the notice. The original version of the article will remain accessible. 

           What cannot be corrected

           Changes to authorship: Adding, deleting, or reordering authors after publication is not considered a valid               correction. The only exception is for a simple typing error in the name.

           Changes that affect the scientific validity: Changes that alter the article's conclusions will likely result in a               retraction, not a correction

  • Retraction- A retraction process starts when someone identifies a serious issue:

    Peer readers or other researchers

    Editors or reviewers

    Whistleblowers

    Authors themselves (self-reported errors)

    Concerns may involve data errors, misconduct, plagiarism, image manipulation, or ethical violations.

    Retraction Process: Preliminary assessment (Editorial Team does an initial check to determine Whether the concern is credible, whether it requires a formal investigation, whether immediate action (e.g., expression of concern) is needed). If the issue appears substantial, the next step begins.  Formal Investigation: contacts all authors for explanations, requests raw data, ethics approvals, protocols, and correspondence, consults independent experts when needed, Coordinates with the authors’ institutions, especially in cases of misconduct. Decision for retraction: Editorial Team decides whether the problem invalidates the findings-retraction, requires major correction ( erratum), needs clarification ( expression of concern). 

  • Optionally, if it is considered useful for argumentation, tables/graphs/images can be included in the article. In order to ensure readability, they will be sent to the editorial office also separately, together with the article, in .jpeg / .png / .tiff format. If tables are used, above each of them will be written “Table no. X: title ”, and in case of using images. maps etc., below them, will be written Figure No. X: title ”. In both cases, the source (if applicable) is given below.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

         All cited bibliographic sources are indicated in the language in which they were consulted, with transliteration in Latin characters, where applicable (e.g. in the case of the use of Cyrillic, Arabic characters, etc.).

           The article will include quotations in text and bibliography (in alphabetical order), according to The Chicago Manual of Style, of which we have exemplified several categories of works.

         The page range for the entire article must be included in the Bibliography section. In the text, mention the pages you quoted from. Include a URL or database name in the Bibliography section for articles viewed online. Most articles in the journal display a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) code. A DOI code forms a permanent URL starting with https://doi.org/

BOOKS

  • One author

Reference list entries:

Hutter, Michael. 2011. "Infinite Surprises: Value in the Creative Industries." In The Worth of Goods: Valuation and Pricing in the Economy, edited by Jens Beckert and Patrick Aspers. New York: Oxford University Press.

In-text citation:

 (Hutter 2011, 201-202)

  • Two or three authors

Reference list entry:

Grazer, Brian, and Charles Fishman. 2015. A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. New York: Simon & Schuster.

In-text citation:

 (Grazer and Fishman 2015, 79)

  • Chapter or other part of an edited book

In the reference list, include the page range for the chapter or part. In the text, cite specific pages.

Reference list entry

Thoreau, Henry David. 2016. “Walking.” In The Making of the American Essay, edited by John D’Agata, 167–95. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press.

In-text citation:

(Thoreau 2016, 177–78)

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Reference list entries:

Keng, Shao-Hsun, Chun-Hung Lin, and Peter F. Orazem. 2017. “Expanding College Access in Taiwan, 1978–2014: Effects on Graduate Quality and Income Inequality.” Journal of Human Capital 11 (no. 1): 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1086/690235.

In-text citation:

(Keng, Lin, and Orazem 2017, 9–10)

Bay, Rachael A., Noah Rose, Rowan Barrett, Louis Bernatchez, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Jesse R. Lasky, Rachel B. Brem, Stephen R. Palumbi, and Peter Ralph. 2017. “Predicting Responses to Contemporary Environmental Change Using Evolutionary Response Architectures.” American Naturalist 189, no. 5 (May): 463–73. https://doi.org/10.1086/691233.

In-text citation:

(Bay et al. 2017, 465)

  • Reference list entries with same author(s), same year.

Fogel, Robert William. 2004a. The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World. New York: Cambridge University Press.

--. 2004b. "Technophysio Evolution and the Measurement of Economic Growth." Journal of Evolutionary Economics 14, no. 2 (June): 217-21. https://doi .org/10.1007/s00191-004-0188-x.

In-text citation:

(Fogel 2004a), respectively (Fogel 2004b)

NEWS or MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Manjoo, Farhad. 2017. “Snap Makes a Bet on the Cultural Supremacy of the Camera.” New York Times, March 8, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/technology/snap-makes-a-bet-on-the-cultural-supremacy-of-the-camera.html.

In-text citation:

(Manjoo 2017)

Mead, Rebecca. 2017. “The Prophet of Dystopia.” New Yorker, April 17, 2017.

In-text citation:

(Mead 2017, 43)

For more examples, please see The Chicago Manual of Style.  

SCIENTIFIC EVALUATION

Articles undergo evaluation through a double-blind peer review process, conducted by academics and researchers specialized in the relevant field. This process ensures impartiality by concealing the identities of the authors from the reviewers, and vice versa.

The evaluation report's conclusions are announced to the authors, forming the basis for either accepting or rejecting the articles.

Following the evaluation, there are four possible outcomes:

a) Acceptance;

b) Resubmission  with minor revisions;

c) Resubmission  with major revisions;

d) Rejection of the article.

We would like to inform the authors that, before the review process begins, articles undergo an anti-plagiarism analysis (www.sistemantiplagiat.ro). 

SUBMISSIONS

Bulletin of” Carol I" National Defence University is a quarterly journal.

The deadline for submitting articles is as follows:

February 15 for the first quarter (No. 2);

May 15 for the second quarter (No. 3);

August 15 for the third quarter (No. 4);

November 15 for the fourth quarter (No.1).      

NOTA BENE 

The editors retain the authority to make revisions to the text or request alterations from the authors.

Quotations from official documents such as laws, treaties, and the like, as well as statements made in English by renowned specialists, must be cited directly in their original format.

The quotation marks are marked as follows: in Romanian „…”, and in English: “…”.

The materials will not include classified information. Military and civilian personnel employed by the Ministry of National Defence must submit materials intended for publication with approval from the security structure of their respective unit.

The responsibility for the content of the article rests entirely with the authors.

The articles published are subject to copyright law. All rights are reserved to „Carol I” National Defence University, regardless of whether all or part of the material is considered, in particular the rights to translation, reprint, reuse of illustrations, quotations, dissemination through the media, reproduction on microfilm or any other way and storage in databases. Any reproduction is permitted, without charge, if the source is specified.

Failure to follow these instructions will result in the rejection of the paper. Submitting the paper to the editor implicitly constitutes the author's consent to the above.

For further details about the publication, you can contact the editorial office at the e-mail address: buletinul@unap.ro