Publishing Policy

LABedia: Encyclopedia of Late Antiquity in the Balkans is a new on-line encyclopedia that aims to promote academic studies related to the Balkan region in the field of Late Antiquity. The goal of the project is to bring together specialists from all over the world. Nevertheless priority is given to researchers from the Southeast Europe countries. Research articles that offer new and significant academic knowledge; have a compendiary character and are dedicated thematically to the Balkan region during the period of Late Antiquity would be treated with priority.  

The papers are arranged according to the following principles:

Core article – presents an original study or a study of compendiary character;

Supplementary article – article, which is a continuation of an already published one that presents new material or a new thesis supplementing or opposing the already published thesis;

Indexes – informative articles, allowing easier and more fruitful use of the encyclopedia; these articles do not present an academic thesis.

The main language of the encyclopedia is English although the articles of Bulgarian scholars will be published in Bulgarian, the articles of Greek scholars in Greek and the same applies to the scholars from Romania, Turkey, Serbia, Croatia and Albania. Publications are also allowed in other languages such as German, French, Italian, Spanish etc., but it is obligatory the translation in English and at least in one Balkan language.

The aim of the encyclopedia is to promote scholars from the Balkan region, make them more known internationally by providing a space for academic expression for researchers interested in the period of Late Antiquity. By publishing academic papers in several languages our goal is these papers to be used by the academia community—established scholars and young ones, post-doctoral students, PhD students, undergraduate students, scholars that work in museums, as well as teachers, state and municipal representatives that work in the field of cultural and historical heritage etc. 

Review Policy and Procedure

Every article proposed for publication goes through two levels of evaluation. One of the editors checks that the article meets the chronological and thematic scope of LABedia, as well as the publicly announced technical requirements. The editor fills out the Paper Acceptance Form. The possible results could be: rejection of the paper due to thematic or chronological inconsistency; its return for revision in case of non-compliance with the technical requirements or its submission for scientific review. Dual anonymous reviewing is performed by filling in the respective review form. Reviewers may give or may not permission for the publication of the proposed article. If the two reviews are conflicting then a third reviewer is appointed and his opinion is final. Reviewers must be established scholars in the respective academic field. Their nationality is irrelevant.

The leading criterion for the publication of a paper is its academic contribution and the enrichment of academic knowledge. During the evaluation of the paper the author’s personal and academic motivation for his choice of LABedia as place for publishing will not be taken into account.