Publication Ethics

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES APPLICABLE TO THE JOURNAL

Authorship policy

– An author may submit only original texts for publication. The research and/or information of other researchers used in the publication should be marked to indicate that it is a citation.

– All articles sent to Acta Albaruthenica are checked through the iThenticate anti-plagiarism system. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or falsification of data are unacceptable.

– Authors submitting multi-authored texts for publication are obliged to disclose the contribution of individual authors to its creation (including the authors’ affiliations and information on who is the author of the concepts, assumptions, methods, protocol, etc. applied in the creation of the text).

– Hostwriting and guest authorship are considered scientific misconduct and any detected cases will be uncovered, including the notification of relevant entities, such as institutions employing the author, scientific societies, associations of scientific editors, etc.

– Buying or selling the authorship of scientific works, regardless of whether they have been accepted for publication, is unacceptable.

The procedure in case of suspicion of plagiarism, autoplagiarism, data falsification, hostwriting and guest authorship is as follows:

http://www.ebib.pl/pliki/25/full_set_of_polish_flowcharts.pdf

Principle of equal treatment

Race, gender (including pregnancy and gender identity), sexual orientation, religion, origin, citizenship, age, marital or parental status, disability, and political beliefs of the authors do not affect the assessment of the texts in any way. Texts are evaluated only in terms of their content.

Principle of compliance with legal and ethical requirements in relation to authors participating in research

Authors participating in research must comply with applicable legal regulations and ethical principles

Prevention of conflicts of interest

– Unpublished texts, confidential information and ideas must be kept secret and may not be used by the editorial staff of the journal or any other person participating in the publishing process without the written consent of the authors.

– Authors, reviewers, and editors are obliged to disclose conflicts of interest.

Standards for Authors

Scientific reliability: Article authors are obliged to present an account of the research performed and an objective discussion of its results. Articles should contain sufficient information in order to identify the sources used, as well as to permit others to replicate the research. Presenting and interpreting data and research results that is not compliant with the ethical publication standards is unacceptable and may result in article removal.
Originality of the paper:Authors may submit only their own, original works. The research and/or data of other scholars used in the work should be appropriately and clearly cited or quoted. Plagiarism or data fabrication is unacceptable.
Data access:Authors may be asked to provide the research data which is not cited in the text. They are obliged to provide access to such data, also after publication.
Avoiding authors’ competing interests: Authors should not publish texts presenting the same research in more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscripts to more than one journal constitutes unethical behaviour.
Source reliability:Authors are obliged to cite in an attached reference list all publications which have been used when preparing the article.
Errors in the paper:Should (an) author(s) discover any significant errors or inaccuracies in their paper, they are obliged to notify the Editorial Board immediately in order to withdraw the paper or correct the errors.

Roles and responsibilities of the Authors:
The Journal follows the CSE guidelines that define the Authors’ roles The Author-Editor relation is founded on confidentiality.

− The Corresponding Author is responsible for managing all queries and communication between the Journal and the Authors, including making corrections, providing feedback, and providing necessary permissions.
− Authors provide a statement confirming the originality of the submitted study.
− They disclose the originality of the content, their actual contribution to the study, conflict of interest, and funding.
− They follow the Journal’s or the Publisher’s guidelines concerning the reuse of any copyrighted material and provides the material’s proper attribution. This includes the Author’s own work as well.
− They should be aware of any data sharing responsibilities required by the funding agencies (please see the Journal’s policy on data sharing).
− In the case of research involving humans, confidential materials and any other information protected by legal regulations, Authors must provide appropriate consents and permissions.

The Journal follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines and defines the Author as a person who has made a significant intellectual contribution to the study, drafted or reviewed it critically for important intellectual content, given the final approval of the article to be published and is accountable for all aspect of the work related to the accuracy and integrity of any part of the work. One has to meet all the four criteria to be defined as an Author.

The Corresponding Author confirms that all the individuals listed as Authors have contributed significantly to the research presented in the submitted article. The Corresponding Author also confirms that all individuals listed as Authors have contributed to the entire manuscript.

Contributors
Individuals who do not meet all the four criteria of authorship cannot be listed as Authors. A proper acknowledgement of their input should be provided in the manuscript. As per the ICMJE guidelines. Such individuals may be responsible for:
a) the acquisition of funding,
b) general supervision of a research group or general administrative support,
c) writing assistance,
d) technical editing,
e) language editing,
f) proofreading.

In the case of individuals who have contributed unequally to the work, the Editors recommend that detailed information on their contribution be provided.
The Journal strongly supports the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) when describing each Contributor’s specific role. More information on CRediT can be found at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/leap.1210

Changes to Authorship
If the Authors request that an Author be removed or added after the manuscript has been submitted or published, they provide an explanation of the requested change and a signed agreement from all the listed Authors, including the Author who is to be removed or added. Changes to Authorship are allowed only before the acceptance of the manuscript and only if approved by the Editor. The Editor may agree to introduce changes to the Authorship. This includes name changes, addition,
removal, or rearrangement of the Authors after the article has been accepted for publication. Such requests will result in a suspension of the manuscript until the issue is resolved. In the case of an already published material a corrigendum is released.

AI Authorship
Upon submission of an article, the Journal requires the Authors to disclose whether they have used artificial intelligence AI-assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators). The Authors who have used such technology specify, in the cover letter or within the submitted work, the details of such usage. The use of AI for writing assistance should be disclosed in the acknowledgment section. Authors are required to inform the editorial board about the name of the AI tool used and to explain the purpose and manner of its use during the preparation of the article. AI may be used for language editing and the technical preparation of the bibliography, but not for writing the text itself.

The Journal follows the definitions of inappropriate authorship as specified by the Council of Science Editors: https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/2-2-authorship-and-authorship-responsibilities.

Conflicts of interest / Competing interests
All Authors must disclose any conflict of interest defined as a financial or personal relation with other individuals or organizations, activities or positions that can bias the submitted article. Such conflict includes but is not limited to the matters of familial kinship, employment, consulting services, honoraria, and funding.
Conflict of interest also refers to any of the above-mentioned relations between Authors and the Journal’s Editors, Reviewers, Editorial Board, Editorial Office, as well as the Publisher. Authors are advised to disclose any potential conflict of interest before submitting the manuscript or during the editorial procedure. The Journal will also acknowledge the post-publication disclosure. Competing interest among the Journal staff, including Editors, Board, staff members and the Publisher, will be disclosed, if applicable, on the Journal’s website.

Data and reproducibility
Research data typically refers to digital, machine-readable files and can be defined as the results of experiments and observations that validate the research. The Journal encourages Authors to post their data in standard formats that can be accessed and re-used by others. The Journal follows the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets (FAIR) principles. It supports data integrity and encourages Authors to share the data associated with their research and any other information that supports it. The Journal also encourages Authors to share their data on social media, repositories, and personal and institutional websites.
The Journal supports the TRUST principles for digital repositories and encourages Authors to place the data in one of the repositories listed in OpenDOAR. Authors should also follow institutional and, if applicable, the funding body’s guidelines when choosing the platform to share their data. Authors are also encouraged to cite the data in their manuscript or indicate how to access the data by providing the DOI or access number. The Journal encourages Authors to share the VoR (Version of Record) and the AAM (Author Accepted Manuscript) together with the data associated with the research. The Journal encourages Authors to consult https://www.howcanishareit.com/ in order to determine how the published article can be shared.

Intellectual property
All Authors are required to accept the License Agreement terms and conditions. The Corresponding Author provides a signed agreement upon submission/after acceptance. By submitting the manuscript, the Corresponding Author, also on behalf of all the Authors, agrees that:
– the work is original,
– it has not previously been published and is not currently under consideration for publication
elsewhere,
– all copyrighted material (e. g. block quotation or extracts) is properly acknowledged and the Author has obtained permission to use it.