Publishing ethics

The Academy of Zamość Press observes all the rules of publishing ethics that prevent dishonest publishing practices in compliance with the following guidelines:

1. Committee on Publication Ethics COPE: https://publicationethics.org.
2. Publishing Ethics Resource Kit (PERK – Elsevier): https://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics)
3. Code of Ethics for Research Workers, devised by the Science Ethics Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences: https://instytucja.pan.pl/index.php/kodeks-etyki-pracownika-naukowego?jjj=1664636042830

The rules applicable to the authors

1. Academic credibility      

The authors are obliged to fully and honestly present the outcome of their research and the sources, thus making them possible to be reconstructed by third parties. The authors are also required to interpret the outcome of their research in an objective way.

2. Originality

The authors are obliged to submit original works only (no plagiarism, autoplagiarism, or forgery of research methods or data are allowed). In the case of using other authors’ works, they are also required to document the sources by means of quotations or to obtain a written permission from the author or the authorised party to use the previously published materials.

3. Authorship

Authorship should be limited to persons who have made a substantial contribution to  specifying, planning, conducting and interpreting the research. In order to prevent ghostwriting and guest authorship, the persons who have contributed to the work should be listed as its co-authors. All the authors are obliged to approve the final version of their work and give their consent for its publication. The authors are also required to specify in written form the contribution of other persons to the work.

Ghostwriting – a person that has contributed to the work is not listed in the acknowledgments.

Guest authorship – a person’s contribution is small or nonexistent but they have been listed as the authors/co-authors.

4. The disclosure of data

The authors are obliged to provide raw data or to allow access to this data. The authors are also  required to retain this data for one year from the moment of publication.

5. Conflicts of interest

Conflicts of interest arise with reference to all professional, social or economic relations that affect the objective assessment of the text. The authors are obliged to provide a written statement of the absence of any conflicts of interest.

6. The reliability of the sources

The authors are obliged to reliably disclose the sources that have been used in their work and include them in the appended bibliography.

7. Errors in published works

The authors are obliged to immediately notify the editorial board of any errors that they have detected in their published works. After consultation with the editor-in-chief and the publisher, an addendum, correction, or errata will be published.

8. Redundant, multiplied, and parallel publications

The authors are obliged to submit works that have not been previously published (also in electronic form) in another journal or book. Likewise, it is unacceptable to submit an academic article that is a translation of a text already published or submitted to another publisher.

9. Financing

The authors are obliged to disclose all sources of financing in their work.

The rules applicable to the editorial board

1. Responsibility

The editorial board decides whether to accept articles for publication on the basis of their   compliance with the guidelines provided to the author, their academic merits, and the reviews they have received. The editors are responsible for the content published in the journal.

2. Impartiality

Articles are assessed on the basis of their originality, quality and value to the journal regardless of their authors’ nationality, background, gender, ethnic identity, religion or political views.

3. Confidentiality

The editors are obliged to ensure the confidentiality of the authors and reviewers. Unpublished articles or their fragments may not be used in the research conducted by the members of the editorial board or the reviewers without the written consent of the authors.

4. Prevention of conflicts of interest

The reviewers appointed by the editorial board do not have any direct reporting relationships or direct personal relationships with the authors of the texts.

5. The publishing process

At each stage of the publishing process, the editorial board maintains correspondence with the author, editor and reviewer, during which any of the above persons may submit corrections.

6. Academic credibility

The editorial board is committed to ensuring the credibility of the published works. Whenever  fraudulent practices are suspected, the board is obliged to withdraw the text from the publishing process and initiate an investigation and correction procedure. Any abuse (plagiarism, self-plagiarism, falsification of data, etc.) will be reported in writing to the editor-in-chief. Such a report may come from a reader, a member of the editorial board, a reviewer, or any other person who has doubts about the credibility of the text. If ethical principles have been violated in a text that has already been published, the editorial board is obliged to withdraw the publication from its website, include a statement justifying the withdrawal of the article (in the case of a printed journal, the statement will be included in its next issue), and inform the author, the institution to which the author is affiliated, and the reviewers, as well as any affected persons and, if necessary, other ethical supervisory bodies.

The rules applicable to the reviewers

1. Deadlines

The reviewers are obliged to submit their reviews on time. If there is a concern that the deadline will not be met, the reviewers are required to inform the editorial board immediately. The reviewers are also obliged to notify the board immediately if they have abandoned their commitment to produce a review.

2. Co-operation with the editorial board

The reviewers are obliged to co-operate with the editorial board/publisher and the authors in order to prepare the best versions of their texts.

3. Objectivity

The reviewers are obliged to produce objective reviews, maintaining ethical standards and  focusing only on formal and substantive issues. Any criticism of the author is inappropriate and thus prohibited.

4. Confidentiality

In accordance with the principle of confidentiality, the reviewers are obliged not to pass on or disclose any information concerning the reviewed texts to third parties. Access to the reviewed works is exclusively limited to the authors, the editorial board, and the reviewers. The board does not share the authors’ data with the reviewers.

5. Conflicts of interest

The reviewers should not have any relationships of direct professional subordination or direct personal relationships with the authors of the texts.   

6 . The verification of the originality of the texts

The reviewers are obliged to immediately report any violation of ethical standards by the authors, i.e. plagiarism or partial repetition of any other publications in the reviewed articles.