Publication ethics

The review proceedings for assessing the manuscripts comprises: 

  1. the assessment of professional appropriateness by one member of the International Editorial Board, and 
  2. bilaterally anonymous peer-review process.

The text is assessed exclusively on the basis of its intellectual value, irrespective of the author‘s race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political views. The editors of the journal make every effort to maintain the review proceedings’ impartiality so that the identity of the reviewers and other participants in the proceedings is not disclosed. Any author whose work is proven to contain plagiarism or forged data shall lose the opportunity to publish in the Journal.

The following principles and procedures are based on COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, and Guide for New Researchers. Issue editors, reviewers, and authors are expected to peruse the aforementioned documents prior to their work thoroughly.

Editorial Board and Editors

The Editorial Board of the journal decides which articles to accept and publish. Editors support the journal’s philosophy and strategy and are entitled – after consultation with members of the editorial board and reviewers – to reject articles that contain plagiarized, libelous, or defamatory material, or which are in breach of copyright laws. Editors evaluate manuscripts without any personal bias towards or against authors or institutions. Editors may not cite from an author’s manuscript without written consent; editors may not use material from unpublished manuscripts for purposes of their own work or the work of other authors. Editors may not circulate copies of a manuscript, either in printed or electronic form, except for editorial purposes. Editors must refuse to edit a manuscript if, in their opinion, doing so would result in a conflict of interest.

The peer review process is not paid. If a particular part or section of the journal does not undergo a peer review process, this fact must be clearly stated. Editors should notify the ethical committee and relevant institutions of any breach of the ethical principles for publishing academic articles; every notification of unethical publication shall be investigated. Responsibility for the academic quality of the journal and compliance with the ethical principles of publication rests with the editorial board’s chair and/or the head editor and the editorial board. The position taken by the editorial board may differ from the positions taken by reviewers.

The Editorial Board will decide whether to publish or not to publish the article and then inform the authors. The decision of the editorial board is final.

Reviewers

As part of the peer review process, an article submitted for publication is evaluated by the author’s peers to improve the quality of the article. This process is a prerequisite for the journal to be successful and respected by the expert community. Reviewers assist editors in deciding whether to publish a manuscript, and they assist authors in improving the quality of their manuscripts. If a reviewer feels insufficiently qualified to evaluate the research presented in a manuscript or is unable to submit a review of the required quality due to lack of time, the reviewer shall notify the editors of this fact and withdraw from the peer review process.

Reviewers receiving anonymous manuscripts shall respect the confidentiality of these manuscripts with regard to the rights of the person submitting them (including the rights of the submitter under copyright law). Reviewers shall evaluate submitted manuscripts objectively and without any personal criticism of the author, expressing their position clearly and precisely and giving relevant arguments. Any claims, inferences, or arguments already published must be duly cited by the author. Reviewers should identify any failure by the author of the article to cite any work that has already been published, and they should notify the editor of this fact.

Reviewers may not cite from the manuscript without written permission, nor may they use material from unpublished manuscripts for purposes of their own work or the work of others, nor may they circulate copies of the manuscript (including electronic versions). If the reviewer wishes to consult another expert regarding the manuscript, the editors must be informed of it.

Authors

Authors must respect the requirement of originality; two identical or similar texts cannot be submitted for publication (whether in print or electronically) elsewhere in a different journal, and the same texts must not be published in two different journals or other outlets. Authors must express their expert knowledge with maximum precision while respecting intellectual property rights and legal provisions pertaining to copyright. Authors’ manuscripts must present relevant data, comprise objective discussion on the examined topic, and give necessary details and references. It is inadmissible to include any part whatsoever of any other text, or research results from another work, in a submitted manuscript without precisely citing the author and the original source. Using other texts or sources without acknowledging their authors is considered plagiarism.

Authors bear the responsibility for ensuring that their manuscripts do not contain information that is fabricated, false, or has already been published. The original data upon which an article is based should be available to the editors for review if necessary (even after publication). Authors can publish a particular manuscript only in one journal or other primary publication. Authors may not submit previously published manuscripts. In certain cases secondary publication of certain types of articles is acceptable (e.g. translations); however, this is only admissible with the consent of the author(s) and the editors. The secondary publication must be based on the same data and it must interpret the primary document (including original citations). Sources must be duly cited by authors, and information obtained from personal contact may not be used in a submitted text without the explicit written consent of its source. Authorship of a document is restricted solely to those persons who made a significant contribution to the published study; all co-authors who made a significant contribution must be listed as such.

If other persons contributed to e.g. a research project, the document shall acknowledge their contribution. All experimental studies must comply with the basic ethical recommendations of the 2002 Helsinki Declaration. All authors must acknowledge any sources of funding in connection with the submitted manuscript and must declare potential conflicts of interest. If authors discover significant errors in their studies once published, they shall inform the editors without delay and collaborate on any necessary amendments or the withdrawal of the article. If an editor, on the basis of external information, discovers that a published study contains significant errors, the author must amend or withdraw the text without delay, or alternatively, they must provide evidence of the accuracy of the original study to the editors.

Plagiarism, inaccurate, or false statements, and the submission of the same manuscript to more than one publication are considered unethical and unacceptable conduct.