Publication Ethics
RULES APPLICABLE TO AUTHORS
Principle of scientific integrity
The author is obliged to conduct and present scientific research in a reliable way and to interpret it objectively. The text should disclose sources of data and information that will allow the research to be replicated.
Principle of originality
The text should represent the intellectual property of the author. Plagiarism, autoplagiarism, falsification and making up data and research methods are inadmissible. If the author has made use of other works, these should be properly referenced in order to remove any doubts concerning the authorship of the work or any part thereof. Information obtained privately (e.g. in a conversation, correspondence, discussion) may not be used without the written consent of its author.
Principle of data availability
The editorial board does not collect research data and the presentation of the research data management plan does not constitute a requirement that must be met in order for a paper to be published. However, in certain circumstances authors may be asked to provide research data, also after the publication of their paper.
Principle of preventing conflicts of interest
Conflicts of interest are relationships that entail professional subordination and economic dependence as well as social relations, which can affect impartial assessment of the merits of the text. The editors require the author to make a statement on the lack of conflict of interest and provide information that will help to prevent such conflict.
Principles of authorship
The authorship of a work should be limited to persons who have made a significant contribution to the text. In order to prevent cases of academic dishonesty, such as "ghost-writing” and "guest authorship”, all persons who have made a contribution to the publication should be mentioned as co-authors. All authors must approve the final version of the work and agree to its publication. In their written statement, the authors indicate their contribution to the creation of the work submitted. All persons who have taken part in certain important aspects of creating the work (e.g. language verification) should be identified. If there are others who participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be mentioned, for example, in the “Acknowledgements”. The authors assume collective responsibility for their work. The authors should also provide the editorial board with information on the sources of financing of the publication, contribution of academic research institutions, associations and other entities (“financial disclosure”).
Principle of source reliability
The publications that influenced the author’s work should be properly quoted. Information obtained privately may not be used without the written consent of the author.
Ethical supervision
If the scope of the published consent covers research on humans and/or animals, the author should provide the consent of the Ethics Committee or another appropriate authorisation for such research.
Principles concerning errors in published works
If the author notices significant errors in their publication, they should immediately notify the Editor-in-Chief. An erratum, annex or correction should be published in cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief and the Publisher, or the publication should be withdrawn.
Principle of avoiding multiple, redundant or concurrent publications
Results of research may not be published in more than one journal. Submitting a paper for publication is understood as a declaration that the text has never been previously published anywhere, including in electronic form, and that it has not been submitted for publication in other journals nor is a part of a non-serial publication, such as a monograph.
PRINCIPLES CONCERNING MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Responsibility
The editorial board decides which papers will be published, takes care to ensure the quality of published material and, if necessary, is ready to publish a revision, erratum or correction if need be. The editorial board accepts responsibility for all the content featured in the journal.
Principle of fair play
The papers are assessed on the basis of their merits and importance for the journal, regardless of the affiliation of the author of the work, their nationality, ethnicity, political views, gender, race or religious denomination.
Principle of confidentiality
The editorial board of the journal is under the obligation to keep confidential any information related to the editorial process.
Complaints and appeals
A complaint against the Journal and/or the Editorial Board should be in writing or, if it concerns the journal or the conduct of the editorial board members – to the Editor-in-Chief; if it concerns the conduct of the Editor-in-Chief, the complaint should be addressed to the Publisher and sent in cc to the Editor-in-Chief. The Publisher is under the supervision of the Vice-Rector for Science of University of Silesia in Katowice. The subject of the complaint may be, for example, the infringement of the interests of the complaining party, negligence, protracted response or lack of response in the matter on the part of the editorial board. The complaining party should receive written information on the resolution of the matter submitted within 30 days of the complaint.
Verification of materials already published and prevention of conflicts of interest
The editorial board may withdraw a paper from publication or make a decision to correct materials that have already been published. Unpublished materials may not be used in the publishing process without the written consent of the author.
Discussion and corrections
The editorial board uses the Open Journal System, which allows to follow a comprehensive, electronically-based editorial process, within which the editor, reviewer and the author of the text may carry out a discussion and make corrections at each stage of the publication process.
Decisions concerning the publication
The decision to publish or not to publish the text is made by the editorial team. The decision of the editorial team is determined, first of all, by the academic merits of the text and its compliance with the thematical scope of the journal.
Principle of scientific integrity
Members of the editorial board are obliged to take care to ensure scientific integrity of the published works. If dishonest practices are suspected, the editors are obliged to withdraw the text from publication and to take steps to explain and remedy the situation. The detected cases of transgression of ethics (plagiarism, falsification of research results, manipulation of research results, inventing research results, etc.) should be reported in writing to the journal’s Editor-in-Chief. The report may be submitted by a member of the editorial board, reviewer, reader of the journal or any other person who holds suspicions as to the integrity of the text. The editorial board acts in compliance with the principles formulated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) https://publicationethics.org. In the event that transgression of ethical principles concerns a text that has already been published, the editors will remove the paper from the website, providing information on the reasons for withdrawal and, in the case of a text published in print, the editors will publish an appropriate statement in the next edition of the journal. The editorial board will notify of the matter the author, the institution he/she is affiliated with, reviewers, the aggrieved persons and also, if necessary, other ethical oversight bodies. If ethical transgressions in the text are minor, it will be possible to republish the corrected text. If there is a conflict of interest within the editorial board, the report should be submitted to the Publisher.
RULES APPLICABLE TO REVIEWERS
Cooperation with the editorial team
Reviewers participate in the editorial process at the review stage and have an influence on the decisions made by editors with regard to the publication of the text. They also may, in consultation with the authors, decide of the final shape of the paper.
Principle of timely performance
Reviewers are required to meet a set review deadline. The reviewer should immediately inform the editorial board of the reasons for delays or of withdrawal from reviewing the text.
Principle of confidentiality
Only authorised persons, i.e. the editors, authors and reviewers have access to the reviewed works.
Principle of objectivity
The review should concern only substantive and formal aspects of the text. Any remarks concerning the authors are inadmissible.
Principle of source reliability
The reviewer should disclose all cases that indicate the similarity of the reviewed work to other works and indicate which works have not been referenced by the author.
Principle of preventing conflicts of interest
Reviewers may not use the reviewed texts for their own needs and benefits. If there is a conflict of interest between reviewer(s) and author(s) of the text, such reviewers should be excluded from the review procedure.
RULES APPLICABLE TO THE PUBLISHER
The University of Silesia in Katowice, as the Owner and Publisher of academic journals of the University, to ensure the highest quality of its publications and to prevent unfair publication practices (plagiarism, autoplagiarism, ghost-writing, guest authorship or courtesy authorship) applies the principles of publication ethics which are in compliance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The University of Silesia provides its journals with support in this regard, in the form of:
1) a system that checks the similarity of texts Plagiat.pl (https://plagiat.pl): provides the option to view the content of papers, makes it possible to detect a potential plagiarism before embarking on the review process and solve the problematic issues; Final Similarity Reports provide certainty that the published papers are original. The content of journals is indexed within the CrossRef - Similarity Check initiative, the purpose of which is to prevent academic and professional plagiarism;
2) Open Journal Systems (OJS) – a platform for managing the publishing process and for publishing journals online. OJS provides mechanisms that make it possible to: hold a discussion between the author and the editor and between the editor and reviewers; revise, correct or withdraw papers after their publication;
3) in the event that unfair research practices are detected, the Publisher encourages the editorial boards to use the solution map, available in the form of COPE flowcharts (https://publicationethics.org/resources/translated-resources/polish-all-flowcharts).
Moreover, the Publisher also provides expert legal assessment of the situation and advice on unfair publishing practices.
