About the Journal

 

Aims & scope

The World Health Organization has classified visual impairment as a “major disability” due to the dominant role vision plays in our society.

The Revue Interdisciplinaire sur le Handicap Visuel  - RIHV (ISSN 2813-804X) publishes manuscripts that broaden and enrich knowledge on visual impairment as well as promoting inclusive practices and accessibility in every aspect of life (cultural, social, educational, professional and health). RIHV publishes also manuscripts presenting the mutual benefits between research and practice, as well as participatory and transdisciplinary approaches in the field of visual impairment. Manuscripts can be on the following themes (non-exhaustive list): touch and the value of multisensory learning; social-emotional, cognitive and motor development in visual impairment; multisensory devices, inclusive education, participatory approaches, access to culture, healthcare, careers guidance, digital accessibility, new rehabilitation technologies and inclusive policies.

Through publishing articles, the journal attempts to create synergies and strong connections between research and the field, but also reports on practices, interventions and the lived experience of the people concerned. 

Types of articles published:

The journal accepts manuscripts continuously for its two sections:

1. Dossier : publishes empirical, theoretical articles, or literature reviews. These articles undergo a double blind review before publication. The limit is 50,000 characters including spaces (including also summaries, tables, figures and references). Annexes are not counted.

2. Open field: publishes policy reports, field notes and personal experiences. These can be

a) contributions on new techniques from visual impairment teachers, students and professionals, initiatives or methods to improve inclusion, facilitate learning or give access to content;

b) feedback from visually impaired adults or children themselves about new interventions, tools, multisensory devices, or accessibility needs and measures.

c) Translation of textes and biographical writings of personalities who have contributed to the field of visual impairment.

The limit for open field contributions is 30,000 characters including spaces (including also summaries, tables, figures and references). Annexes are not counted. Articles may be supplemented with a podcast interview on the journal's website.

Guidelines and frequency of publication

This journal, led by an editorial board and an international editing committee, is published at a rate of one issue per year. The articles are published gradually throughout the year. The main language of publication is French, but  articles in English are welcome.

The double blind peer-review process

The editorial board will take approximately 2 weeks to decide if a submitted manuscript should be sent for peer review. The manuscripts in the 'Dossier' section are submitted to a double-blind peer-review process. Contributions for Open field section are evaluated by the editorial board only.

The steps of the double-blind peer-review process (Dossier section only):

The manuscript is assessed by two external expert reviewers chosen by the editorial board. The articles are read anonymously.

The double-blind peer review applies the usual standards for scientific research (clarity in the introduction, theoretical motivations, appropriate bibliography, an appropriate and rigorous methodology, an appropriate discussion, clear results, etc.).

The peer review determines if the article is accepted (with major or minor revisions) or rejected. In all cases, the editorial board sends the expert assessments to the authors.

The assessments are accompanied by precise guidance/advice for improvement. If the article is accepted with revisions, the authors make the required changes and identify each one for the reviewers.

The authors will receive a pdf (final proof) of the article to review before publication. The authors will be notified of when their article will be published on the review’s website.

The entire process takes 4 to 6 months.

Open access declaration

RIHV is an open access journal, which means that the content is immediately available to the public at no cost.

Likewise, it is entirely free to submit and publish articles in RIHV; there is no charge for submitting or publishing (APC), nor for the assessment, review or reading of the articles.

All articles published in RIHV are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY). The content published in RIHV can be freely and gratuitously downloaded, saved, reproduced, and used for any purpose. However, the reproduction and reuse of content must without exception mention the author and the original source.

Authors own the copyright to their articles, ceding only first publication rights to the revue.

References and Persistent Identifiers 

The bibliographic references of articles published in RIHV are formatted according to the American Psychological Association (APA) style. Each reference must also include the DOI of the article. Thus, they comply with the principles of the Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC).

Each article published in the journal will be assigned a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number.

From a perspective of persistent identification, the journal uses ORCID identifiers and encourages authors to include their ORCID ID with their contributions systematically.

Code d'ethics, plagiarism et scientific misconduct

The RIHV editorial board is guided by The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.

The journal’s charter of ethics is founded on legal requirements regarding copyright, scientific misconduct and plagiarism.

The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity identifies the following practices as unacceptable:

  • Fabrication: making up data or results and recording them as if they were real.
  • Falsification: manipulating research materials, equipment, images or processes, or changing, omitting or suppressing data or results without justification.
  • Plagiarism: using other people’s work or ideas without giving proper credit to the original source.

The journal does not accept duplicate submissions; authors must refrain from submitting the same article in different reviews or online platforms.

Retraction:

Following the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the editors of RIHV reserve the right to correct or retract the publication of an article in the following cases:

  • They have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of major error (i.e., miscalculation or experimental error), or as a result of fabrication (i.e., of data) or falsification (i.e., image manipulation)
  • It constitutes plagiarism
  • The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources or disclosure to the editor, permission to republish, or justification (i.e., cases of redundant publication)
  • It contains material or data without authorisation for use
  • Copyright has been infringed or there is some other serious legal issue (i.e., libel, privacy)
  • It reports unethical research
  • It has been published solely on the basis of a compromised or manipulated peer review process
  • The author(s) failed to disclose a major competing interest (a.k.a. conflict of interest) that, in the view of the editor, would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers.

Archiving

This journal ensures the long-term preservation of its content through the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) service.

RIHV supports and encourages authors to archive their published articles in the open archive of their choice, whether it is the version submitted, accepted or published.

Publisher

RIHV is hosted by the University of Geneva Library on behalf of the Laboratoire du développement sensori-moteur, affectif et social  - Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences using a custom version of the OJS system of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP).