Ethical principles

Our ethical principles follow the guidelines of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (currently the Ministry of Education and Science) and The Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

The authors’ obligations

The authors should present their research results in a reliable, credible, honest and transparent manner. The journal only publishes original scientific articles that have not yet been published or submitted for publication in other journals, monographs or edited work. Submitting the same text for publication in multiple venues is unethical and is not permitted. This restriction also applies to articles originally published in other languages.

The accepted articles may not be republished in other journals without prior written consent from the Editor-in-Chief and / or the Publisher.

The key criterion for evaluation of the submitted article is the objectivity of the analysis and a clear and verifiable presentation of the research problem and the method of its analysis. False claims, falsification of research results and data manipulation are considered unethical and are not accepted.

Whenever an article relates to or makes use of statements, research results or data developed by other authors, a reference to the original source of the statement, research result or data must be clearly provided. The authors should prepare the text on the basis of the literature relevant to the presentation of the research problem. Information obtained in conversations or correspondence with third parties may be included in the text only with the written consent of such persons.

If the author is not familiar with the work cited, it is unethical to copy references to that work from other publications.

The author may not publish and make in any other form available any individual identification data collected during the research without the written consent obtained from the person concerned or their legal representative.

The journal has implemented a strict anti-ghostwriting and guest publishing policy. Guest publishing and ghostwriting are considered unethical and are not accepted. The authorship is limited to the persons who have had a significant impact on developing the concept, assumptions, research methods and the implementation of the research idea of the article. If an article has been written by several authors, each of them is required to submit a declaration of their contribution to the text and must give separate consent to submit the article for publication in the journal. The authors are required to disclose the names of all persons who contributed to the creation of an article.

The authors are required to disclose all sources of research funding and other support received for the preparation of the publication.

If an article contains contributions from other authors who participated in the preparation of an article, including its financing, the submitting author is responsible for the copyright requirements.

All detected cases of scientific misconduct will be disclosed and made known to the appropriate entities (including the institutions employing the authors and scientific societies).

Responsibilities of the Editors and Scientific Board

The editors of the journal, in cooperation with the members of the Scientific Board, decide on the publication of the submitted text, guided by its compliance with the journal’s profile, the scientific quality of the submitted work, the original nature of the performed research and analysis. The author’s citizenship, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religious and political convictions have no influence on the evaluation of the text.

All information about the Author held by the Editorial Board is confidential.

Information about the submitted work may be disclosed by the editor-in-chief, editors, members of the Scientific Board only to the author/authors of the text, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial consultants (e.g. translators) and the publisher.

The persons mentioned above who have received information about the submitted work cannot use the results, data, statements, opinions, analyses etc. contained in the article before its publication.

The Members of the Editorial and Scientific Boards are obliged to comply with the current legal regulations concerning copyright, personal data protection, defamation and plagiarism. It is the responsibility of the editors to strive to eliminate cases of plagiarism as well as any guest authorship and ghostwriting practices.

In case the editors receive a complaint about ethic violations in an article published in the journal, the author(s) of the submission are informed in writing about the allegations and are requested to respond to them. If the editors do not receive a response or the response is not sufficient, they will notify the institutions the authors are affiliated with.

The Reviewers’ obligations

Each scientific article submitted for publication is reviewed by two independent external reviewers. The double-blind procedure adopted by the journal guarantees that the author and the reviewers do not know each other’s identities.

The reviewers indicated by the journal’s editors are required to inform the editorial office if they are not able to submit their reviews for any reason. In such a case, the editor-in-chief, in consultation with the members of the Editorial Team, appoints another reviewer within 14 days.

The text submitted for reviewing is treated as confidential. The reviewer may not disclose and / or discuss the text with persons other than the journal editors. The results of research, data, opinions, statements contained in the text submitted for publication may not be used by the reviewers in their own research until the article is published.

The primary duty of the reviewer is to provide an objective evaluation of the text. Criticism made for personal reasons is inappropriate. Any comments, assessments and suggestions should be clearly indicated and supported by arguments.

The following criteria are taken into account in the review process: the scientific nature of the submission; the research originality; the method of achieving the scientific goals and a clear presentation of the research problem; appropriate use of the literature; appropriate justification of the statements and conclusions, and compliance with the thematic profile of the journal.

The reviewer informs the editors of suspected ghostwriting, guest authorship and / or plagiarism or self-plagiarism by the author of a submission, indicating the fragment / fragments of the text that raises ethical doubts.

The rules of the reviewing procedure adopted by the journal are posted on the website in the “Reviewing procedure” tab.

Procedures in the event of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, guest authorship or ghostwriting suspicion

Plagiarism in all its forms is an unethical practice and is not accepted.

If plagiarism is suspected, the Editorial Board verifies the text with the reviewers and the author who has submitted the text.

If an illegal use of the text, statements, research results, data is confirmed, the author of the submitted article is informed in writing about the rejection of the text.

If the suspicion of plagiarism is found to be justified, the institution the author is affiliated with becomes notified.

In case self-plagiarism is detected, the editors, authorized by the editor-in-chief and with the consent of the Scientific Board inform the author the article rejection due to the lack of an original contribution of the analysis.

Guest authorship and ghostwriting are considered unethical and are not accepted. If guest authorship or ghostwriting is confirmed, the author of the submission is informed about the article rejection due to the existing legal requirements. The institution the author is affiliated with is notified about the case.