Code of Ethics

Code of Ethics of the journal Studia Aloisiana

 

A scientific reviewed journal Studia Aloisiana obliges to observe the following Code of Ethics in accordance with standards of quality of scientific periodical press. The Code of Ethics* (hereinafter referred to as CE) of the journal is a standard ethical code of scientific periodical press and its aim is to improve and protect quality standards of the scientific journal.

Any action performed in contradiction with CE is unacceptable and will result in legal consequences for all parties concerned. Studia Aloisiana will not tolerate plagiarism in any possible form or any other unethical action that might harm the interests of the journal.

Authors who submit their materials for publishing in all categories (study, essay, report, review etc.) guarantee that the content of their manuscripts is original. By agreeing to cooperate with the journal, they declare that the submitted material has not been published in any language and is not being reviewed by any other national or foreign periodical journals. The following duties of editors and other members of editorial office and publishing department, reviewers and authors are obligatory for themselves and for the journal Studia Aloisiana as a whole.

 

Duties of editorial office and editors

 

-          Editorial office of the journal retains the right to decide about publishing of submitted articles, which must be respected by all contributors. Editorial office headed by chief editor is obliged to respect the rules set by editorial board of the journal, as well as general rules regarding publishing of scientific texts including impermissibility of plagiarism and unacceptability of any violation of the copyright law.

 

-          Editorial office of the journal is obliged to guarantee objective, just and timely process of the review of all texts. Scientific articles must be reviewed at least by two independent reviewers. In case the reviews differ significantly, editor is obliged to find another reviewer.

 

-          The duty of editor is to choose competent reviewers who are experts in the given area and who respect the rules of reviewing defined by editorial board and CE. Editor is responsible for the objective process of reviewing by selected reviewers and prevents a potential conflict of interests, problem of prejudice etc. Editor must not interfere with free creative scientific work of both authors and reviewers. Editor must not require any additional references to articles that are not related to the submitted text or ask for any additional quotations that he, other members of editorial office or publisher might be interested in. Editor must not influence the reviewers.

 

-          Editorial office evaluates received manuscripts only on the basis of their content, regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnicity, citizenship or political preferences of contributors.

 

-          Editorial office is responsible for the transparency of editorial principles and for providing of complete information to all potential contributors. Editor, editorial office and publisher are responsible for a transparent mechanism of handling of possible appeals against editorial decisions.

 

-          Editor is obliged to maintain anonymity of authors and to protect confidentiality of all the materials delivered to the journal. Editor is obliged to keep the communication with reviewers in discretion unless agreed otherwise by individual authors and reviewers. Under exceptional circumstances (in order to disclose plagiarism) and upon the agreement with publisher, editor can share limited amount of information with editors of other journals in case it is necessary for investigation of any suspicions regarding the research.

 

-          Considering the process of anonymous reviewing, editor is responsible for preservation of anonymity of both reviewers and authors of the reviewed texts.

 

-          Editor guarantees that no received materials that remain unpublished, will be used in further research without an explicit consent of their authors. Such an unpublished material must not be used in other scientific works that might provide advantage to any member of editorial office.

 

-          All the potential editorial conflicts of interests must be announced to publisher of the journal in a written form, in sufficient advance before the appointment of editor, and must be updated subsequently in case such conflicts should arise. Publisher reserves the right to publish the reason of suspension or appointment of editors.

 

-          Editor is obliged to cooperate with publisher of the journal and to bear the responsibility for integrity of published texts by examining and considering of every report or suspicion of improper action regarding the texts (research, publication, reviewer and publishing house). In practice, responsibility mentioned above requires the control of originality of manuscript and its parameters, considering of any complaints regarding published manuscript, taking of appropriate measures in case ethical and legal framework is violated etc. Editor has a competence to require relevant correction or to reject publishing of such a text.

 

Duties of reviewers

 

-          The role of reviewers of the journal Studia Aloisiana is to support the improvement of proficiency of the reviewed periodical paper and to contribute to ethically advanced academic environment. Reviewers participate in the process of editorial work and support editorial decisions leading to better quality of standards of professional scientific work.

 

-          The approach of reviewers towards work for the journal requires the implementation of etiquette. Reviews of texts must be objective, which means that reviewers are obliged to focus on factual aspect of the reviewed work rather than on objections regarding the style of its author. Therefore, any rough critique and objections that are not based on arguments, are not acceptable. The aim of critical arguments is to support the improvement of quality of scientific results. For this reason, it is required to avoid personal invectives or any formal comments that might violate good manners and obstruct the constructive critique.

 

-          Any chosen reviewer who considers himself to be unqualified to examine the research contained in the submitted manuscript or is aware of his disability to review it within a required period of time, should inform editor about this situation and reject participation in the process of review.

 

-          Every manuscript accepted for the review must be regarded as confidential. Reviewers in charge must not communicate with author of text and share any information regarding the reviewed material with him or any other persons. Reviewer can communicate with author only on the basis of the consent of editor and after the review is completed.

 

-          Manuscripts in the process of review remain the intellectual property of their authors. Reviewers must not use any part of these texts in their own research without the explicit written consent of their author.

 

-          In case the reviewer finds any signs of violation of ethical standards and the Code of Ethics, he is obliged to notify the members of editorial office of Studia Aloisiana – chief editor or his deputy. This duty refers to evident cases of plagiarism as well as to any form of paraphrasing with an absence of relevant quotation.

 

-          In case the reviewer suggests that the manuscript should contain the quotation from his own research, such a recommendation must be supported by factual reasons, not by the intention to increase the number of quotations from the reviewer´s works or to promote his works (or the works of collaborators of the reviewer).

 

Duties of authors

 

-          Authors of manuscripts submit their texts after their appropriate formal editing. Editor (after consulting his decision with editorial office of Studia Aloisiana) retains the right to reject the material if it does not meet elementary formal requirements regarding established technical norms, instructions for authors and standards of scientific work in general. Any imprecise paraphrasing of used resources and purposely deceptive information is ethically unacceptable. Data with no factual character that do not contribute to professional discourse and do not bring anything new, are undesirable, too. The same formal and content rules are applied to all types of submitted manuscripts (essays, polemics, reviews, reports etc.)

 

-          In case authors refer to their own research, editor (after consulting his decision with editorial office of Studia Aloisiana) reserves the right to require detailed information about the research in question. Authors must disclose such a research to professional public, and it is necessary that they preserve the fundamental information regarding the research after publishing of their article for additional expert reviews.

 

-          Submitted manuscripts should contain original thoughts of authors. In case of the use of extraneous ideas, paraphrases and quotations, manuscript must contain standard references to related works. Considering the scientific orientation of Studia Aloisiana, unprofessional (essayistic) forms of paraphrasing, private information, references to quotations derived from quotations etc., are not suitable. If authors use specific methods of research (e.g. focus groups, oral history etc.), information obtained from private conversations, correspondence or discussions with third parties can be used only if previous explicit written consent of the source has been obtained.

 

-          Authors always submit their own and original text for the review. Plagiarism does not only relate to copying of the intellectual property of other persons but also to misleading form of quotations, paraphrases etc. Providing of author´s own but not original texts that do not differ from his other works in any significant way, is also considered as ethically unacceptable, as well as submitting of any text that is being reviewed or has been published by other journal. Plagiarism in all its forms represents the example of unethical behaviour and results in disqualification of author and his manuscript within the framework of the review procedure. Editorial office of Studia Aloisiana reserves the right to repudiate the cooperation with authors whose plagiarism in any form has been proved.

 

-          If author of manuscript wants to quote any part of the review of his text published by Studia Aloisiana, he must request the permission of its editorial office. Editorial office and reviewer have the right to reject the publication of the review or its part.

 

-          In case submitted manuscript is written by several authors, all of them are responsible for its correctness. Authors must only state the names of co-authors who have contributed to the text in a significant way. Individual author who submits his manuscript for the review bears the responsibility for its submission in a form approved by his co-authors. All co-authors of manuscript must agree with any additions, removals or rearrangements. In case such an approval is not granted, manuscript in question cannot be published.

 

-          If author or authors find any mistake or inaccuracy in their work that significantly influences the interpretation of submitted conclusions, they are obliged to announce this fact to editor and publisher and to cooperate with editor on its amendment.