Publication ethics

This publication ethics statement refers to guidelines and recommendations on Code of Conduct by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Author responsibilities

• Author(s) only present the results of original research, submissions should contain concise original data which provide a solid basis for reaching conclusions. Author(s) should not submit work previously published or slightly adapted.
• Any form of data manipulating is considered unethical and constitutes a reason for not accepting the manuscript for publication.
• Author(s) using data or conclusions from other sources are obliged to provide a clear citation of these in accordance with the citation standard required by the journal.
• Author(s) can publish a paper in one periodical only. Concurrent publication of the same paper is considered unethical.
• Author(s) are responsible for observing ethical principles in research work and publishing their results, in particular for adhering to research citation ethics.
• Papers are signed solely by persons credited with their authorship. These are people who have significantly contributed to the conception, design, execution or interpretation of the presented study or article. All contributors to the study or article should be indicated as co-authors.
• The article may also include names of other people actively collaborating in the research (who are not co-authors of the article), typically in the Acknowledgements section, or as contributors with a specific indication of their contribution to the published study or article.
• Author(s) hold the copyright on the text.
• Author(s) are obliged to report and declare in their article all sources of financial support or other important conflicts of interest.
• Author(s) are obliged to respect the recommended text formatting guidelines (including abstract, keywords and affiliation) as well as the recommended citation standards. If the text does not meet these requirements, they are obliged to correct the text on request of the editors.
• Author(s) of manuscripts cannot communicate with the editors anonymously. Together with the manuscript, they also provide their full address and e-mail address.
• Author(s) are obliged to provide recommended amendments to the text based on comments by reviewers.
• In case of controversies or disputes, author(s) may contact the editorial board of the journal with specific suggestions or decide to withdraw the text from publication.
• If the author(s) discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they are obliged to inform the editor of the journal immediately and co-operate on retracting or amending the article (errata).

Reviewer responsibilities

• Reviewers express their opinion on the quality of a submitted article (see the electronic form for reviewing journal articles) and on the content of the article being in line with the current state of knowledge. They do so in the form of a structured assessment writing. Reviewers are obliged to assess the submitted texts objectively and must not misuse the information contained in the reviewed article for personal or other purposes; they are obliged to address all shortcomings of the assessed article in their review report.
• Any reviewer who feels unqualified to assess a paper should notify the editor immediately and decline to do the review.
• Reviewers should refuse to return a review in case there could be an underlying conflict of interest to the review procedure. A conflict of interest may arise if the reviewer may derive any kind of professional or personal benefit from providing the assessment, or if there is a substantial difference in opinions on the subject matter of the paper. Similarly, a conflict of interest may arise if there has been recent co-operation on a particular research project between the author and the reviewer over the period of the last five years, or if there is a close professional or personal relationship between the two of them (either one applied in case of disclosure on the editor’s side despite both parties having kept their anonymity). Reviewers should consider such possible cases of conflict of interest and notify the editors.
• Reviews of articles are completed using a standardized form. The form is used to evaluate the reviewed article in terms of its content, structure and formal requirements. The assessment procedure also includes reviewers’ advice as to whether they recommend / do not recommend the article for publication.
• When preparing their review, reviewers avoid subjective opinions and personal preferences; the review must be objective.
• Reviewers must not use any information from the assessed manuscript for personal purposes. Reviewers respect confidentiality of the review procedure – they do not provide third parties with preliminary versions of the text neither before its publication nor following it.
• Reviewers ensure that the deadlines set by the editors are respected.
• In their independent expert reviews, reviewers will either recommend or not recommend the text for publication, or they may recommend publication on condition of minor or fundamental corrections, or they may suggest a complete revision of the paper. If complete revision is requested, a new review procedure will be initiated. In case of two contradictory reviews, the text will be reviewed by a third reviewer.
• Reviewers are entitled to request a revised article for review. A decision concerning the appointment of a reviewer for repeated assessment of a revised article will be made by the editorial board.

Editor responsibilities

• The editor sees to ensure that submissions should correspond with the scope of the journal and takes decisions on their acceptance for publication accordingly. He/She ensures that the content of the submissions is in line with the specialist scientific scope of the journal. Original review articles and articles presenting original research are accepted for the review procedure.
• The editor evaluates the submitted paper without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or philosophy of the author. He/She maintains an objective and equal approach towards all submitted texts and takes effort to avoid a conflict of interests.
• To ensure quality of the texts, all submissions are first reviewed by the editor and then continue to be reviewed by two independent reviewers in a double-blind peer-review procedure. If the submitted text does not meet the required formal criteria, it may be returned to the author prior to being forwarded to the reviewers with a request for arranging amendments in line with the author guidelines.
• The editor selects two reviewers for each article received and submitted for review; in case of a submission in the English language they will be reviewers from two different countries. The editor may consult the editorial board in case of a problem with finding a suitable reviewer.
• The editor communicates with reviewers, informs them, provides guidelines on their responsibilities, and ensures that the guidelines are regularly updated.
• The editor will notify the author(s) of the results of the review procedure within shortest possible time and advise them of any necessary corrections or proposals for a fundamental revision in line with the recommendations made by the reviewers.
• Prior to actual publishing of the article, the editor asks the principal author (the first author) for consent with publishing the final version of the article (imprimatur).
• The editor does not address reviewers who produce poor quality or unobjective reviews.
• The editor respects freedom of expression.
• The editor only gives information on the submitted manuscript to the author(s), reviewers, and members of the editorial board.
• The editor must not in any circumstances make use of any unpublished material for the purposes of his/her own research.
• Possible objections of authors against the peer reviews are treated in co-operation with the editorial circle and the editorial board.
• The editor seeks and addresses new potential reviewers in accordance with the scope of the journal and the content of the submitted texts. Persons of various affiliations who are not members of the editorial board are selected as reviewers. There must be no professional, institutional, or personal links between the reviewers and the author(s).
• The editor is always ready to publish any eventual amendments, explanations, or apologies when necessary.
• The editorial board and the editor assess the appropriateness of the terms of publication for particular texts and have the right to finally decide whether they are accepted for publication or rejected.
• The editor ensures confidential treatment of the articles content prior to their publication.

Responsibilities of the editorial board

• Based on reviewers’ recommendation, the board makes a decision on publication of the article. In case only minor corrections are proposed, the text is returned to the author(s) for amendment. Only the final version of the article is published.
• The editorial board is obliged to take all measures to ensure the quality of the journal. Together with the editor the board proposes, approves or rejects individual steps in the conceptual and formal development of the journal.
• The editorial board approves of the reviewers proposed by the editor or makes their own proposals for reviewers.
• Members of the editorial board make sure that the above presented rules of editorial work are observed.
• The editorial board is entitled to provide comments on the review procedure throughout its entire course.
• The editorial board promptly responds to any complaints or objections and is obliged to keep records of these in a manner that makes the records accessible for future reference.
• The editorial board ensures that the content and formal aspects of the submitted texts as well as freedom of expression are respected.
• The editorial board is a professional body independent from the publisher.

Responsibilities of the publisher – Faculty of Public Policies in Opava, Silesian University in Opava

• Editorial autonomy
  The publisher co-operates with editors to ensure that the roles of the publisher and the editors are clearly defined and to ensure autonomy of editorial decisions without interference of governing and advertising bodies, or various commercial partners.
• Intellectual property and copyright
  We protect the intellectual property and copyright of the journal, its brands, authors and publication partners by presenting and preserving the final published version of each article. The journal guarantees the integrity and transparency of individual published articles with respect to: conflicts of interest, publication and research funding, publication and research ethics, cases of publication and research misconduct, confidentiality, authorship, corrections, clarification and downloading, and timely publication of content.
• Scientific misconduct
  In the event of any alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, the publisher, in close co-operation with the editors, shall take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. These include prompt publication of a correction statement or, in the most severe cases, retraction of the effected article. Both the editorial board and editors of the journal proceed in accordance with current legal provisions in respect of libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.