To ensure the high quality and research integrity of our publications, "Prawne Problemy Górnictwa i Ochrony Środowiska” ["Legal Issues in Mining and Environmental Protection"] implemented the standards of ethical behavior promulgated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. All parties involved in the publication process: Author, journal editor, reviewer, publisher are obliged to follow COPE standards in publication ethics.

COPE

All manuscripts submitted to a peer-reviewed publication are expected to conform to COPE's standards of ethical behavior.

 The editors of PPGIOS adapt the following principles of academic and publishing ethics:

Academic impartiality and integrity

PPGIOS shall publish only articles observing the rules of scientific integrity and honesty. Any attempt of fabrication, falsification, and manipulation of information will be faced with adequate steps in accordance with the procedure set out in the COPE diagrams. This includes adequate and exhaustive citation and reference with respect of the copyrights of their owners.

The editors reserve the right to inquire about the research methods and data obtaining, to which the author should provide adequate and exhaustive information. Should any mistakes in this regard be found in already accepted paper, or in the data the paper is based on, the author would be obliged to retraction or corrections of the relevant mistakes. In the case of already published work, the authors will have the opportunity to publish a correction in the next volume of PPGIOS.

Non-discrimination policy

All materials submitted to PPGIOS are evaluated solely of the basis on their academic excellence, precision and clarity of argumentation, its originality, and value to the discipline. The author’s nationality or ethnicity, their political views, gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation are not taken into account. Whether the author suspects violation of this rule by the reviewer or any member of the editorial team, they should inform the Editor-in-Chief.

Confidentiality

The editors of PPIOS and the University of Silesia Press protect data, documents, and information obtained at every stage of the publishing process, including submissions, author’s data, reviews, and correspondence between editors and authors. Reviewers and authors are also required to maintain confidentiality in this regard.

The editors shall disclose to the public information necessary for the proper publication of the papers, as well as their indexing by scientific internet search engines to increases the recognizability and citation of papers published in the Journal.

The originality of papers

PPGIOS accepts only original, previously unpublished research papers, translations, and reviews. By submitting to the journal, the authors and translators declare their authorship of their work and their absence from consideration by other journal. In exceptional cases already published work might be considered with the consent of the copyright owner.

Anti-plagiarism policy

Any use of works by other authors, whether borrowings, quotations, or cross-references, should be adequately and comprehensively marked. For detailed editorial requirements see Submissions. Failure in observing these regulations will be recognized as an infringement of the copyright owners, and the editors will take adequate steps in accordance with the procedure set out in the COPE diagrams. Any such cases identified by the editors will be brought to light, including notification of the relevant authorities (authors' employing institutions, academic associations, associations of scientific editors, etc.), as well as law enforcement agencies.

 Conflicts of interest

The Editors and Editorial Board of PPGIOS are devoted to maintaining the highest standards of academic impartiality, reliability, and honesty. With respect to them, authors are obliged to reveal the sources of funding of the research that resulted in the submitted paper. Authors should also inform the editors on any other circumstances influencing their impartiality or independence in research methods, data obtaining, interpretation of results or on their view expressed in the work submitted to PPGIOS.

Unpublished, original research material submitted to the journal will never be used by the editor or any other person who had access to it before publication for their own research purposes without the explicit written permission of the author.

Anti-duplication policy

Any duplications of previous works by the author submitting, that is, containing substantial repetition of argumentation, theses, text, and results, shall be recognized as violations of academic honesty. Should the editors suspect such a breach of academic standards, they will take steps in accordance with the instructions set out in the COPE diagrams. Identified cases of duplication will be disclosed, including notifications of relevant bodies.

I. Authors

• The Author is obliged to conduct and reliably present scientific research and to interpret it objectively.
• The text should disclose sources of data and information that will allow the research to be replicated.
• The text should represent the intellectual property of the Author. Plagiarism, autoplagiarism are inadmissible.
• In order to prevent cases of academic dishonesty, such as "ghost-writing" (not indicating the name of a significant contributor either as an author/co-author or mentioning their name in the acknowledgements included in the manuscript) and "guest authorship" and "gift-authorship" (in which the authorship of the person indicated as one of the authors is negligible or did not take place at all), all persons who have contributed 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.
• The publications that influenced the Author's work should be appropriately quoted.
• 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.
• All authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes in case of detection.
• Results of research may not be published in more than one journal.
• Conflicts of interest are relationships that entail professional subordination and economic dependence and social relations, which can affect the 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.
• Authors shall provide a full and honest list of references, crediting all other researchers and other authors whose work has made the submission possible.
• Plagiarism constitutes a serious breach of publication ethics and academic integrity. Any suspected cases will be handled in accordance with COPE guidelines and applicable legal regulations.

• Submissions from the authors affiliated with the University of Silesia in Katowice or directly connected with Prawne Problemy Górnictwa i Ochrony Środowiska are accepted, but they cannot exceed 50 per cent of papers published in each volume. In each cases, they will be subject to two double-blind reviews by reviewers not affiliated with the University of Silesia.

II. Editorial Board

• The editorial board decides which papers will be published, takes care to ensure the quality of published material. The editorial board accepts responsibility for all the content featured in the journal.
• The editorial board of the journal is under the obligation to keep confidential any information related to the editorial process. Until the moment of the admission of the article for publication, the Editor and any editorial staff shall not disclose any information about the submitted manuscript to any third party other than:

- corresponding Author

- peer referees

- members of the editorial team

- the publisher

- copyeditors, proofreaders, typesetters involved in the production of the journal as appropriate.

• Editors are always ready to publish corrections, clarifications, withdrawals, and apologies as needed
• The Editor shall not consider the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy as pertinent to selecting the text for publication.
• The sole criteria for the selection of the text shall include:

    - the submission's relevance to the field of study and the scope of the journal

    - the submission's originality

    - the quality of the submission's language

    - the clarity of the argument

    - observance of all legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Members of the editorial board are obliged to take care to ensure the 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 the transgression of ethics (plagiarism, etc.) should be reported in writing to the journal's Editor-in-Chief (e-mail: grzegorz.dobrowolski@us.edu.pl). The report may be submitted by any 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 ethical misconduct is identified in a published article, the Journal shall proceed in accordance with its Corrections and Retractions Policy. As a general rule, retracted articles remain accessible on the Journal’s website, together with a clear notice explaining their status and the reasons for retraction, in accordance with COPE guidelines.

III. Reviewers

• Reviewers participate in the editorial process at the review stage and influence the decisions made by editors with regard to the publication of the text.
• Reviewers are required to meet a set review deadline. The peer referee shall promptly deliver his or her review or notify the Editor about any circumstances that prevent him or her from the timely delivery of the review.
• Only authorized persons, i.e., the editors, authors and reviewers, have access to the reviewed works.
• The review should concern only substantive and formal aspects of the text. The peer referee shall be impartial in their evaluation of the submission. The peer referee shall express his or her views clearly and unambiguously. The reviewer should never argue ad-hominem. The reviewer should never make use of the review to enhance his or her academic status or professional position. The Reviewer will treat all received. Reviewers must not use information contained in unpublished manuscripts for their own research, teaching, or professional purposes without the prior written consent of the authors.
• The peer referee shall decline the reference upon the discovery of any conflict of interest and shall inform the Editor about such instances. 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.

• Reviewers shall inform the Editorial Board of any cases of conflict of interest that they identify. Especially, they should report any cases of personal or professional relationship with the author of the work under review, which include (but is not limited to) relations of blood, marriage, cohabitation, affinity and professional subordination, or close professional relationship over last two years. They will also report any interest in publication or nonpublication of the manuscript for personal reasons.

• The referee is obliged to identify insufficient identification of sources or potential plagiarism, of which cases the referee shall notify the Editor.

IV. COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS

A complaint against the Journal and/or the Editorial Board and/or Reviewers should be in writing,

- if it concerns the editorial board members or reviewers – to the Editor-in-Chief (e-mail: grzegorz.dobrowolski@us.edu.pl);

- if it concerns the conduct of the Editor-in-Chief, the complaint should be addressed to the Publisher (info@us.edu.pl) and sent in cc to the Editor-in-Chief.

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.