Responsibilities of Authors
Reporting standards: authors report only their own original, reliable research. The manuscript should be based on reliable, verifiable data and indicate its sources. The review forms should be precise, objective and exhaustive, and author's opinions should be clearly identified. False or intentionally inaccurate statements are considered inadmissible and unethical.
Access to and storage of data: authors may be asked to provide raw data from the study together with the text, so that editors (with possible expert support) can assess its reliability. Authors may be asked to make this data public if necessary (if this does not violate the law, copyright or confidentiality rules). The authors should ensure that such data are available to other professionals for at least 10 years after the publication of the text.
Plagiarism: authors should make sure that they provide the editorial office only with completely original works, and if they have referred to the work of other researchers, that this has been appropriately marked. Those publications that influenced the general nature of the research presented in the text should also be quoted. Plagiarism takes various forms, from presenting another work as one's own, through copying or paraphrasing large parts of other texts without attributing authorship of thought, to the appropriation of unpublished research results. Plagiarism in any form is unethical and unacceptable, as is autoplagiarism, i.e. unnecessary duplication of a publication or its parts. For the sake of transparency in the application of procedures, the journal's team is assisted by COPE diagrams: https://publicationethics.org/resources/translated-resources.
Publication strategies: authors may not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published in another journal. It is also unacceptable and unethical to submit a text to more than one journal simultaneously. In exceptional cases, with the permission of the editorial office (or at the request of the editorial office, if reprinting is justified by the substantive concept of the issue) it is possible to publish previously presented texts. The reference text must then be clearly marked.
Copyright policy: as authors of a manuscript, persons who fulfil a number of criteria, regardless of their place in academic structures should be listed (e.g. whether they are students or assistants). 1) They have made a significant contribution to the conception of the text, the design and execution of the studies, the collection, analysis and interpretation of data. 2) They have developed the text or critically reviewed it for important intellectual content; 3) They have seen and approved the final version of the article and agreed to submit it for publication. Persons who have contributed to the creation of the text (technical assistance, editorial assistance, other types of support), but who do not meet the criteria for authorship, cannot be named as authors. However, their contribution to the text should be indicated in the text section entitled Acknowledgements (when they agree in writing). The editors will actively counteract against the phenomenon of ghostwriting and guest authorship.
Conflicts of interest: authors should disclose, at the earliest possible stage in their cooperation with the journal, any potential conflicts of interest which may affect the results of the reviews. These include, but are not limited to: financial interests (fees, scholarships, funds, stocks or other equity interests), cooperative and competitive interests (hiring speakers, membership of an organisation, employment, paid consultations and expertise, personal or professional relations), interests connected with the subject matter of the text. All sources of financial support (including the grant number or other reference number, if any) shall be disclosed.
Confirmation of sources: the authors should make sure that they accurately quote the sources and indicate when they refer to the authors whose works influenced the nature of the submitted manuscript. Information obtained privately (during a conversation, correspondence or discussion with third parties) may not be used without the express written consent of the source. The authors should also not use information obtained in the course of providing confidential services (e.g. evaluation of funding applications), unless they have the express written consent of the authors.
Human research: if the text is based on human research, the authors should ensure that all research procedures comply with relevant legislation and institutional guidelines. The manuscript should include a statement to that effect. The authors should attach to the manuscript a statement that they have obtained informed consent for the research. The privacy and confidentiality rights of research participants must always be respected.
Review process: authors are required to participate in the review process and to fully cooperate with reviewers and editors by responding promptly to requests for raw data, clarifications on research ethics and copyright. The authors should respond to the reviewers' comments reliably and rapidly, making the necessary corrections point by point and returning the text within the deadline set by the editors.
Errors in published works: if authors discover errors or inaccuracies in published texts, it is their duty to immediately notify the editors of the journal or the publisher. The text should then be corrected or withdrawn. If editors or publishers find out from other sources that the published text contains errors or inaccuracies, they will provide this information to the authors. If they are unable to provide evidence of the correctness of their argument, they must immediately correct these errors or withdraw their work. Guidance on withdrawing or correcting articles can be found at:
https://www.elsevier.com/about/company-information/policies/article-withdrawal.
