1. Focus and Scope

The Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC) is intended for publishing and presenting scientific research, primarily in the field of social sciences and humanities, as well as multidisciplinary research, related to armed conflicts and committed crimes against humanity and international law, crimes of genocide, Holocaust and war crimes, committed both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the region and beyond. In addition, the journal is intended for publishing research related to post-conflict studies, transitional justice, memorialization, etc.

 

In the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina (of an international and internal character) – by aggression against a sovereign and internationally recognized state, numerous crimes against humanity and international law, of various forms and scope, were committed against the entire population in the entire territory. War crimes were committed both against the part of the population directly engaged in armed actions (prisoners of war, wounded, medics...), and against that part of the population recognized by international humanitarian law as civilians and civilian population, which represents the categories to which international law provides, or should provide, full protection. Suffering in all armed actions refers to individuals, groups and communities in the most diverse forms of direct and indirect manifestation. Manifestations are different, ranging from light and severe physical injuries, mental disorders, to murders, which is inevitably followed by destruction and destruction of material goods, cultural monuments, religious buildings, spiritual creations, etc. Qualitative and quantitative forms and methods of suffering, and their consequences, are the subject of study of diverse and varied sciences and scientific disciplines, especially social sciences and humanities. During and after the aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the time of the committed and proven by verdicts genocide against Bosniaks, numerous (more or less synthesized) researches were published, mostly in the languages spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Without delving deeper into the methodological-methodical and scientific-theoretical problems of the realization of scientific research that have yielded the results published so far, one can see a significant deficiency in the realization or in the attempt to realize empirical or theoretical research, the results of which have been published in world languages. From this arises the need to establish a scientific journal which, with published results of scientific research, will overcome the boundaries of territory and/or language, and enable the wider and narrower (expert) public to access the results of research, as well as sources of knowledge (as well as relevant bibliography) for the realization of new research, as well as acquiring scientific knowledge, and sociological and historical facts. This would enable the expansion of the fund of scientific-theoretical knowledge about a particular problem and/or subject of research for researchers from the sphere of various scientific disciplines, who deal with: mass and individual murders, mass graves, concentration camps and other places of detention, mass or individual rapes in armed conflicts, and other forms of suffering of the civilian population, as well as the suffering of civilian objects protected by international humanitarian law, but also the consequences of genocide and crimes against humanity and international law, and the case law of international and national courts. Certainly, a significant segment of modern research is the processes of memorialization, as well as the determination and the development of methods with the aim of building a culture of memory - what and how we remember, how much and how we learn from that process, how much we define boundaries or break down barriers through the processes of memorialization, and the like. The journal is designed to present scientific-theoretical postulates and methodological approach to research of victims of genocide and other forms of crimes against humanity and international law, as well as to review the results of research of victims in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond, analytical reviews of certain research results, and critical reviews of published research results, attitudes and opinions on certain knowledge about victims of genocide, but also perpetrators of crimes, noting and determining provisions and characteristics, quantifying, dimensioning, distribution, duration, frequency, intensity and other research that is directly related to armed conflict, i.e. aggression and genocide, but also determining the methodology of memorialization - about nurturing the culture of memory and educating new generations about events, dates and personalities. It is necessary to encourage the academic public, of narrow and wider interest, to scientific research of this extremely subtle and complex issue, from different points of view, and with different motives and interests expressed in the process of research and elaboration of the obtained results. Research has its scientific and social significance, scientific and social goals, scientific and social justification. Investigating the total number of victims of serious violations of international humanitarian law and their status in Bosnia and Herzegovina is complex, because the answers to these questions simultaneously provide arguments for theses about the character of the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of the 20^th century and knowledge about conquest and genocidal intentions of the aggressors and their followers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Scientific researches present various knowledge, related to spatial and temporal determinations of the research, from which the goals of the research are derived - scientific and social, they derive and express hypotheses and indicators of objects, hypotheses and variables. The retrospective provides scientific answers, but also raises many questions. The paradigm of genocide is the Holocaust. Good knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust induces understanding of other genocides, mass crimes and human rights violations, because the learning about mass crimes began just after the Second World War, i.e., after the Holocaust. Based on research on the Holocaust, the entire area of international regulation has developed, as well as established studies on genocide. The destiny of us, the contemporaries of the genocide, is to contribute to the development of models that indicate the recognition of warning signs and predetermined factors of recognizing the preparation and execution of genocide. This develops opportunities for the management of policies, strategies and plans whose goal is to  act in opposition to preparations for the commission of mass crimes. By analysing and comparing the genocides and crimes against humanity, common patterns and procedures in the development of genocidal situations can be identified, the processes of preparation and execution of genocide can be understood, warning signs can be identified, and stages of genocide can be identified, which should result in certain contribution to the prevention of future genocides by recognizing potential dangers that signal the development of other genocides and crimes against humanity, which, unfortunately, are taking place on the world scene today. Reaching certain insights and offering answers – sometimes even just asking questions – can strengthen awareness of roles and responsibilities in the global community. Knowledge about committed genocides can provide certain guidelines in matters of dealing with the past in post-genocide societies, how communities react to genocide, how survivors try to live with their personal experience, how much the truth and acceptance of facts by the perpetrators, as well as social communities, facilitate their survival and coping with the past, i.e. to what extent the denial of committing genocide and mass crimes creates prerequisites for its/their repetition. The necessary prerequisite for understanding genocidal processes is the elaboration and understanding of the historical context in which they try to find their sources, causes and goals, but at the same time try to determine the sociological and political aspects that caused these processes. The crimes committed in the Second World War brought international criminal law to crossroads, which further led to the establishment of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals where crimes committed by the Nazis, their allies and collaborators were prosecuted. The crimes were classified as crimes against humanity and were the first to be prosecuted by an international criminal court. In this case, the International Court of Justice prosecuted for the first time crimes of international dimensions, committed as part of state policy, and in these processes it was shown that every individual, regardless of rank, institutional or political position, can be held responsible for crimes in accordance with international law and that it can be sanctioned at the international level. In this process, the Nuremberg Tribunal brought to justice Germany’s main war criminals, including leading state officials and Nazi party leaders, who were prosecuted for: conspiracy to wage war, crimes against peace (invasion of countries that did not pose a threat), war crimes (brutality against civilians in occupied states and against prisoners of war) and crimes against humanity (especially the crime of the Holocaust). From this process followed the need to establish international criminal law and legal definition of a separate crime of genocide, which caused the adoption of the UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide. The experience of mass atrocities resulted in the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (1993) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (1994) established by the United Nations Security Council.^[1] The creation of these courts, and subsequently other legal bodies for Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Lebanon, is a reflection of the growing determination in the international community that such crimes will no longer be tolerated. Due to the limited scope of action of these ad hoc bodies and the need to establish a court with jurisdiction to prosecute crimes against international law, regardless of where they were committed, it led to the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) established in 1998.^[2] International courts and tribunals are important in combating impunity and in preventing current and future violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. They play an important role in creating a sense of justice for the victims of affected communities. The establishment of these courts, and the activities carried out in this regard, resulted in significant results, but also opened up many sources of knowledge available for scientific and professional analysis.

Analyses, comparisons and results of theoretical and empirical research should provide answers to numerous questions, such as: determine the roots, causes and goals of the crimes committed with the aim of preventing their recurrence, determine the status and position of victims, as well as their family members in various sociological segments (legislative regulations, cultural, historical and sociological position), how to re-socialize the victims? restitution of victims and their families? how to organize functional action in post-conflict societies: education, economy, business, culture…? Education: how do we learn and what do we teach new generations: STRATEGY – process integration? Memorialization – in what ways do we remember? Building a culture of memory? Improving the judiciary and positive legal regulations? preventing the denial of genocide and other crimes? social and political status of convicted criminals after serving their sentences?

We will try to present the answers to all the questions posed, and many others, through the journal we are founding called the Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC).

The journal is established as bilingual: Bosnian & English.

Reviewed papers are categorized as: original scientific paper; review scientific paper; previous announcement; expert paper.

According to the Frascatti classification, papers published in the journal can be classified into the following areas:

Social sciences: law, security and defence sciences, political sciences, sociology, psychology, pedagogy, educational sciences, demography, social activities, economics, information and communication sciences, interdisciplinary social sciences;

Humanistic sciences: history, philosophy, theology, philology, art history, archaeology, ethnology and anthropology, interdisciplinary humanistic sciences;

Art: theatre art (performing and media arts), film art (film, electronic and media art of moving images), music art, fine arts, applied art, dance and art of movement, design, literature, interdisciplinary art;

Scientific interdisciplinary fields: cognitive sciences (natural, technical, biomedical and health sciences, social sciences and humanities), geography (physical geography, social geography, regional geography, applied geography), integrative bioethics (natural, technical, biomedical and health sciences, biotechnical, social sciences, humanities), educational sciences (psychology of education, sociology of education, political sciences of education, economics of education, anthropology of education, pedagogical disciplines), gender studies, biotechnology in biomedicine (field of nature, biomedicine and health, biotechnology area), project management;

 

2. Peer review

The received papers in the editorial board of the journal, which in the opinion of the editor meet the basic conditions in terms of content and form, and whose text is prepared in accordance with the Instructions to Authors, are subject to anonymous review by two external reviewers. The selection of reviewers is at the discretion of the editor. The goal of the review is to help the editor decide whether the paper should be accepted or rejected and to improve the quality of the manuscript through the process of communication with the authors. The editor sends the paper to the selected reviewers without the name and affiliation of the author and other data with which the identity of the author could be revealed. Along with the text of the paper, the reviewers are also provided with a review form adopted by the editorial board of the journal. The form consists of a series of questions to which the reviewer should answer and point out certain elements that affect the acceptance or refusal to publish the paper. Based on the form, the reviewer gives an opinion on whether the paper should be published without amendments, should be published with amendments or should not be published. Also, the reviewer gives a proposal for categorization of the paper (Original scientific paper, review scientific paper, previous announcement; expert paper). In a special part of the form, the reviewers have space to express specific remarks, proposals and suggestions, which the editor can forward to the authors without being signed. The identity of the author remains unknown to the reviewers and the identity of the reviewers remains unknown to the authors, before, during and after the review process. Reviewers must have relevant knowledge in the field of the manuscript.

Reviewers shall respond to a report submitted through the review form, which contains the following recommendations: it may be published without corrections; it may be published after the proposed corrections have been made; it may not be published. After all reviewers submit their opinion in writing, the editor, after consulting with the members of the editorial board, makes a recommendation on the form: publish without any changes; publish after corrections have been made; not for publication. Throughout the process, reviewers act independently of each other. The identity of the other reviewers is not known to the reviewers. If the decisions of the reviewers are not the same (accept/reject), the editor may seek an opinion of other reviewers or may make a decision without additional reviews. During the review process, the editor may require the author to provide additional information (including primary data), if necessary to make a judgment on the scientific contribution of the manuscript. The editor and reviewers must keep such information confidential and must not use it for personal gain. Paper reviewers do not receive fees. The reviewers are obliged to provide the editor with an assessment of the scientific value of the manuscript in a professional, objective, well-argued, precise, impartial manner and as soon as possible. Reviewers evaluate papers in relation to the compatibility of the paper’s topic with the journal’s profile, the relevance of the research area and applied methods, the originality and scientific relevance of the data presented in the manuscript, the style of scientific presentation and the text’s scientific apparatus. A reviewer who has well-founded suspicions or knowledge about a violation of ethical standards by the author is obliged to inform the editor about it. The reviewer should recognize important published papers that the authors did not quote, as well as relevant archival and other original material that the authors did not use. He/she should also warn the editor about important similarities and correspondences between the manuscript under consideration and any other published work or manuscript that is in the process of review in another journal, if he/she has personal knowledge about it. If the reviewer has knowledge that the same manuscript is considered in several journals at the same time, the reviewer is obliged to inform the editor. A reviewer who considers himself incompetent for the topic or area in which the manuscript deals with is obliged to inform the editor about it. The review must be objective. Personal criticism is unacceptable. Reviewers must express their views clearly and in a reasoned manner. Manuscripts sent to the reviewer are considered as confidential documents. Reviewers may not use unpublished material from submitted manuscripts for their own research without the  written permission of the author, and information and ideas presented in submitted manuscripts must be kept confidential and must not be used for personal gain.

If the recommendation of the editor and the editorial board is to publish the paper without any corrections, the paper is accepted for publication. If the editor and the editorial board recommend that the paper be considered after the necessary corrections have been made, the paper is returned to the author with suggestions for changes and corrections. The editor and the editorial board review the corrected paper and, if any changes have been made, approve the paper for publication. In certain cases, at the editor's discretion, the corrected paper is sent back to the reviewers for approval, and if the reviewers agree with the amendments, the paper is approved for publication. In case of a negative answer, the paper shall be rejected. If one reviewer recommends publishing the paper with or without changes, and the other recommends that the paper is not prepared for publication, a third reviewer is hired. In the case that the reviewers express different opinions, the final decision on the categorization of the work is made by the editor, in consultation with the editorial board. If the editor-in-chief and/or both reviewers recommend that the paper not be published, the paper shall be rejected. An editor cannot be selected to review papers, which provides a quality, fair and impartial review process for each paper, because it is necessary that at least two reviewers “blindly” review and positively evaluate the paper, together with a positive evaluation of the editor, in order for the paper to be published in the journal.

In case that the paper does not fall into any of the areas that are in the focus of the journal, the editors inform the author about this.

The editorial board is obliged to provide quality control of the review. In case the authors have serious and well-founded objections to the review, the editorial board will check whether the review is objective and meets academic standards. If there is doubt about the objectivity or quality of the review, the editor will seek the opinion of other reviewers.

3. Publication Frequency

The Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC) is published bilingually, twice a year.

The number of volumes that are published annually is determined during the assignment of ISSN and CIP cataloguing, with an indication of the month of publication, and is indicated in each volume in the imprint and on the cover of the journal.

4. Open Access Policy

The Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC) offers immediate open access to content based on the principle that research is freely available to the public and, therefore, increases quality, communication and cooperation, as well as supports the global exchange of knowledge.

Open access is an important way to make research results available to anyone interested in access and review, and to serve authors and the wider community to publish high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific content.

5. Archiving

The archiving of the Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC) is done ambiguously:

• Collected and published papers, both approved by reviewers for publication and those that have not received positive reviews, are archived in a special archive of the publisher. Each archived volume/issue of the journal contains all papers accompanied by reviews and an editorial form. A published copy of the journal number accompanies each volume.
• The Scientific Archives has adapted open access publishing practices to make peer-reviewed scientific research and literature freely and permanently available online. All volumes/numbers are published on the domain http:// mcsarajevo.ba/ in continuity of issuance.

The Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC) allows authors to deposit the version of the manuscript published in the journal in PDF format in an institutional repository and/or non-commercial databases, or to publish it on personal websites (including social media profiles networks for scientists, such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, etc.) and/or on the website of the institution where they are employed, in accordance with the provisions of the Creative Commons – Attribution – NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), after publication in the journal, stating the basic bibliographic information about the article published in the journal (author/s, title of the paper, title of the journal, year, number, pagination), as well as the URL address of the journal number in which the article was published.

 

6. Plagiarism policy/Plagiarism policy

Plagiarizing, or taking on other people’s ideas, words or other forms of creative expression and presenting them as their own, represents a gross violation of scientific and publishing ethics. Plagiarism may also include copyright infringement, which is punishable by law.

Plagiarism includes the following:

• literally or almost literally downloading or deliberately paraphrasing (in order to conceal plagiarism) parts of the texts of other authors without clearly indicating the source or marking the copied fragments (for example, using quotation marks);
• copying images or tables from other people’s works without properly citing the source and/or without the permission of the author or copyright holder

Manuscripts with clear indications of plagiarism will be automatically rejected.

 

7. Journal Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC) is a peer-reviewed journal aimed at ensuring the highest standards of publication ethics. All parties involved in the publishing process (editors, authors, reviewers and publishers) must adopt standards of ethical behaviour. We outline the following principles of publication ethics and statements on abuse in work, based on the Code of Conduct and Guidelines for Best Practice for Editors of the Journal of the Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE (available at http://publicationethics.org/).

Responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief and Executive editor

The editors of the Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC) in consultation with the editorial board make the final decision on which papers will be published. The Editor-in-Chief and executive editor reserve the discretion to evaluate and not publish the received manuscripts, if they determine that they do not meet the prescribed content and formal criteria. Manuscript evaluation is carried out solely based on their academic and intellectual characteristics, regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic origin, religious belief, citizenship, political orientation or social class of the author of the manuscript. When making these decisions, editors are guided by the journal’s policy and legal regulations regarding defamation, hate speech and genocide denial, and copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editorial board is obliged to point out any perceived violation of the set ethical standards. The editor-in-chief and executive editor provide guidance to guest editors, authors and reviewers on everything that is expected of them, provide guidance to new members of the editorial board, and monitor the review process. The editors ensure fair and unbiased double- blind review of manuscripts and ensure that all information relating to them is confidential, including the protection of the identity of authors and reviewers. The editors ensure that appropriate reviewers are selected, and that a database of reviewers is maintained and updated regularly. In addition, editors are responsible for taking certain measures in case of submission of ethical complaints regarding submitted or published manuscripts, in cases of suspicion of misconduct, as well as in cases of publication of corrections, clarifications, withdrawals and apologies when circumstances dictate this need. The editorial board is obliged to inform the author(s) of the (non)acceptance of the publication of the proposed text as soon as possible from the date of receipt of the manuscript. In addition, members of the editorial board are obliged to report any possible conflicts of interest in individual cases in order to be excluded from the decision-making process on the proposed manuscript. The editor-in-chief and executive editor and the editorial staff are obliged to judge the manuscript based on its content, without racial, sexual/gender, religious, ethnic, political or any other type of prejudice. Editors and members of the editorial board are obliged to take all reasonable measures to keep the identity of the reviewers unknown to the authors, as well as to keep the identity of the authors unknown to the reviewers throughout the process until the completion of the review process.

 

Responsibilities of guest editors (in case of publishing of thematic issues)

• determining the subject matter and role of each article in a thematic issue;
• providing clear guidance to authors on the subject;
• ensuring, in cooperation with the Executive Editorial Board, that appropriate reviewers are selected for all articles;
• setting a timeframe for the submission of the draft paper, review, revision and submission of the final version of the paper to the editorial board/editorial office and ensuring that all deadlines are respected;
• writing an Introduction to the topic of the issue.

 

Responsibility of the author

• The authors of the original research report should give an accurate overview of the work done as well as an objective discussion of its significance. The basic information should be accurately presented in the manuscript. False or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable;
• Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously for more than one publication;
• Authors must ensure that they have written original work and that all the work or words by other authors, contributors or sources are appropriately labelled and referenced;
• Authors submitting their works for publication as original articles confirm that the text represents their contribution and that they are not copied or plagiarized in whole or in part from other works without clearly stating the source;
• Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable;
• Authorship should be limited to those who have made significant contributions to the concept, design, execution or interpretation of the published study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Others who have participated in certain essential aspects of a research project should be recognized or listed as collaborators. All relevant co-authors should be included in the list of authors of the manuscript, as there should be full consensus of all co-authors in approving the final version of the paper and submitting it for publication;
• Authors should disclose financial or other conflicts of interest that could affect the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support should be listed;
• When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his published work, it is the author’s obligation to immediately inform the editors of the journal and cooperate with them to withdraw or correct the manuscript.

 

 

Responsibility of reviewers

• The review helps editors and editors of the Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC) make editorial decisions;
• A review can help the author improve the manuscript;
• Any reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research published in the manuscript or knows that it will be impossible to revise it in a timely manner should immediately inform the editor so that alternative reviewers can be contacted;
• All manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents;
• Privileged information or ideas obtained by review must be confidential and must not be used for personal gain;
• Reviewers must report to the editor if they are aware of copyright infringement and plagiarism by the author;
• Reviews should be conducted objectively, and observations should be clearly formulated with supporting arguments, so that authors can use them to improve their work;
• Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on content regardless of the author's race, age, gender, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religious beliefs, citizenship, political orientation or social class;
• Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or links with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the work.

 

Responsibility of the publisher

As publisher of the Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC), Memorial Centre Sarajevo provides practical support to the executive editor and editorial board in order to:

• ensure the autonomy of editorial decisions;
• protect intellectual property and copyright;
• ensure that good practices are maintained to the above standards.

 

8. Conflict of Interests Policy

This policy provides a framework within which the editors, editorial staff and staff of the Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC), address issues of conflict of interest when they arise.

Authors

Authors must declare a conflict(s) of interest at the time of submission of the manuscript for possible publication in the Journal of Conflict, Genocide and Post-Conflict Studies (JCGC).

Reviewers

Reviewers should review the manuscript submitted for review to check for potential conflicts of interest that could interfere with the review process. Reviewers must present to the editors any conflict of interest that might affect their opinions on the manuscript and should recuse themselves from reviewing specific manuscripts if there is potential for bias. Reviewers may not use knowledge of the work they review before its publication to advance their interests. These responsibilities include academic honesty, impartial leadership and reporting on research, and the integrity of decisions or judgments.

 

Editors, associates of editors and staff of the journal

Editors and editorial staff who make final decisions on manuscripts should recuse themselves from editorial decisions if they have conflicts of interest or relationships that present potential conflicts with respect to the articles being considered. Other members of the editorial staff who participate in editorial decisions must provide editors with information about other conflicts that may affect editorial decisions and may recuse themselves from any decision in which there is a conflict of interest. Editors should publish regular statements on the detection of potential conflicts of interest in relation to the duties of the journal staff. Guest editors should follow the same procedures.

 

_{[1] The International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda have jurisdiction to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law, including crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. States have an obligation to cooperate with international courts in investigating and prosecuting persons accused of committing serious violations of international humanitarian law.} 

_{[2] The prosecution of the crime of aggression is assigned to the ICC, which is responsible for acting in cases where national procedures are ineffective.}