CODE OF ETHICS

Editorial ethics of the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Guarantee of the published work’s originality

 

§ 1

The integrity of scientific papers is the fundamental element of their quality.

§ 2

The publishing house of the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences only publishes scientific publications which are original, have not been published or submitted for publication in another publishing houseand do not duplicatepreviously published works.

 

Authors’ Obligation

§ 3

Authors should present the results of their research in a reliable, credible, honest and unquestionable manner.

§ 4

  1. Submitting the same text for publication in several journals at one time is unethical and unacceptable.
  2. Self-plagiarism is also unacceptable.

§ 5

  1. Claims based on falsified test results or manipulated research data are considered unethical and are not accepted.
  2. Everypassage of the text where statements, research findings or data developed by other authors are cited must be accompanied by a footnote and/or be presented in the form of a quotation.
  3. Authors should edit their texts in accordance with the applicable Rules for preparing texts for publication, based on the latest literature in the field which is crucial for the presentation of the research problem.
  4. Information gathered from interviews or correspondence with third parties may only be quoted in the text after obtaining the express written consent of those people.


§ 6

  1. All cases of ‘guestauthorship’ and ‘ghostwriting’ are considered unethical and are not accepted.
  2. Authorship is limited to people who had a significant impact on establishing the conception, assumptions and research methods and on carrying out the research project. If the text has been prepared by several authors, each of them is required to submit a statement on their contribution to the text. Each of them must separately give their consent to submitting the article for publication.

 

Obligations of the Publisher

§ 7

In the case of monographs and collective works, the Scientific Council of the Publishing House of the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences — and in the case of journals published and co-published by ILS–PAS, editorial boards — decide whether to publish submitted texts based primarily on their academic quality and adherence to the journal’s subject area. The key criteria in the evaluation of submitted texts are the objectivity of the analyses and the unimpeachablepresentation of the research problem.

 

Publishing procedures

§ 8

Each scientific text submitted for publication is reviewed by two reviewers following the methodology of a double-blind review, guaranteeing that neither the author nor the reviewers know the identity of the other.

§ 9

  1. A text approved by two external reviewers is sent for publication.
  2. In the case of a conditional approval for publication (when the reviewers indicate the need to introduce changes and/or additions), the author is notified by email of the need to correct the content of the text.
  3. A negative evaluation of the text by both reviewers results in therejection of the text, which the author is informed of via email.


Reviewers’ Obligations

§ 10

  1. The Scientific Council of the ILS–PAS Publishing House — and in the case of the scientific journals published by the Institute, the editorial boards of these institutes — appoint reviewers responsible for evaluating the submitted text.
  2. Reviewers cooperating with the ILS–PAS Publishing House are obliged to inform the commissioning editors or secretaries of the journals’ editorial office in case they are unable to evaluate the text due to a lack of qualifications or a lack of time. In such a case, the Scientific Council of the Publishing House or the editorial boards of the journals shall immediately appoint another reviewer.

§ 11

  1. The reviewer’s primary responsibility is to evaluate the text objectively.
  2. No criticism based on a conflict of interest or involving matters unrelated to the content of the text is allowed.
  3. All comments, evaluations and suggestions should be clearly expressed and supported by arguments.

§ 12

  1. The following criteria shall be taken into account in the review process: the originality and scientific nature of the submitted text,adherence to the subject area of the publishing house/scientific journal, the method of achieving scientific goals and a clear presentation of the research problem, proper use of subject literature and asuitable substantiation of claims and conclusions.
  2. The detailed rules of the reviewing procedure adopted by the ILS–PAS Publishing House are made available to the authors upon their request, and the reviewing procedures used by the scientific journals published by the Institute of Legal Sciences are posted on the journal’s website.

§ 13

  1. A text submitted for review is treated as confidential material. The reviewer may not show and/or discuss the text with anyone other than members of the Scientific Council or the editorial boards of the journals.
  2. Findings, data, opinions and statements contained in texts submitted for publication cannot be used by the reviewer in his or her own research before the publication of the article.

 

Procedures in the case of unethical practices


§ 14

Plagiarism in all forms is an unethical practice and is unacceptable.

§ 15

The reviewer of monographs and collective works is obliged to notify the Scientific Council of the ILS–PAS Publishing House, and the reviewer of articles submitted to the journals published by the Institute, the Scientific Council of the Publishing House,must notify the editorial board of the journal through the journal’s secretary about any suspicion of plagiarism or self-plagiarism on the part of the individual submitting the text for publication, indicating the excerpt(s) of the text that raise(s) doubts.

§ 16

  1. In cases of suspected plagiarism, the Scientific Council of the Publishing House and the editorial boards of the journals published by ILS–PASshall apply an examination procedure including the reviewers and the person submitting the text.
  2. In cases of complaints regarding violations of the principles of the ethics of scientific publications, the author(s) of the text submitted for publication shall be informed in writing about the allegations and requested to respond to them. In the absence of a response, the institution with which the author is affiliated will be notified.
  3. In the event of a confirmed unlawful use of texts, statements, findingsor data, the author of the article submitted for publication and their affiliated institution shall be notified in writing that the text has been rejected.

§ 17

In cases of self-plagiarism, wherean author submitsan article for publication containing passages of his or her own previously published work, the Scientific Council of the Publishing House and editorial boards of the journalsshall inform the author in writing that the text has been rejected for publication due to its lack of originality.

 

Final Provisions

§ 18

All disputes which are not regulated by these Regulationsshall be settled by the Scientific Council of the Publishing House of the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.