Ethical principles

Ethics Policy

The publication ethics policy applicable to the journal is consistent with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors¹ , and Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing².

These standards apply to all participants in the publishing process: Authors, Editors (including the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Secretary), Reviewers, members of the Scientific Council/Scientific Committee, and the Publisher at every stage of work on a text.

Definitions

• ethical violations / scientific misconduct: any actions that are inconsistent with scientific integrity, in particular plagiarism, self-plagiarism (without information about the earlier publication), data fabrication, manipulation of the peer-review procedure, concealment of a conflict of interest, improper authorship (ghostwriting, guest authorship, gift authorship), copyright infringement, and unethical citation manipulation;

• conflict of interest: a situation in which personal, professional, financial, institutional, or competitive relationships may influence (or create a reasonable impression of influencing) the impartiality of decisions made in the publishing process;

• double-blind peer review: an assessment model in which the Author and the Reviewer do not know each other's identity;

• ghostwriting: a situation in which a person has made a significant contribution to a publication, but their contribution has not been disclosed by naming them as a co-author or acknowledging their role;

• guest / gift authorship: a situation in which a person's contribution to the creation of a text is negligible or nonexistent, yet that person is listed as an Author or Co-author.

Responsibilities of the Editorial Team

The Editorial Team is responsible for ensuring that the editorial and peer-review processes are efficient, reliable, and impartial.

The Editorial Board makes the final decisions on whether to accept or reject an article. The decisive criteria are the scholarly nature of the work, the originality of its approach to the problem, its research significance, its consistency with the journal's scope, the Reviewers' recommendations, and compliance with ethical standards.

The Editorial Team selects Reviewers on the basis of their expertise and scholarly achievements, ensuring that the principle of no conflict of interest is observed.

The Editorial Team guarantees the confidentiality of the peer-review process. Until publication, information about submitted works and Authors' personal data are protected and made available only to authorised persons (Authors, Reviewers, members of the Scientific Council, the Publisher, and technical/language editors).

The Editorial Team is obliged to keep the Author informed of the results of each stage of the text assessment process.

The Editorial Team responds to all reports and suspicions of ethical violations and keeps full documentation of investigations.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for the originality, reliability, and accuracy of the research results presented, as well as for the correctness of the scholarly apparatus.

Authors are required to describe the research procedures used precisely so that other researchers can verify them.

Authors are required to cite reliably the works of other researchers that contributed to the submitted publication. It is unacceptable to distort other authors' statements.

Authors are required to disclose the sources of funding for the publication (financial disclosure), institutional support, and any potential conflicts of interest.

Authors guarantee that authorship is correctly attributed and that the actual contribution of each person is accurately stated (ghostwriting and guest/gift authorship are strictly prohibited).

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are responsible for providing a reliable, objective, and timely substantive assessment of the texts entrusted to them.

Reviewers are required to maintain full confidentiality regarding the materials they review.

Reviewers may not use the content of an unpublished article for their own scholarly or personal purposes without the Author's explicit written consent.

A Reviewer is obliged to disclose any existing or potential conflict of interest immediately and withdraw from the assessment process.

Conflict of Interest

All participants in the publishing process (Authors, Reviewers, Editors) are required to disclose circumstances that may lead to a conflict of interest. Before beginning the assessment of a text, Reviewers sign a declaration confirming that they have no conflict of interest with the Authors.

Copyright, Licences and Depositing Text Versions

The moral and economic copyright in published articles remains with the Authors.

Authors sign an agreement with the University of Rzeszów Scientific Publishing House to publish the work, granting a licence to use the text under the terms of the Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 PL Deed).

The Publisher has the right to use the work and its excerpts for informational, promotional, and marketing purposes.

Confidentiality and Personal Data Protection (GDPR)

The personal data of Authors, Reviewers, and third parties are processed only to the extent necessary for the proper conduct of the publishing process and the handling of disputes, in accordance with the applicable personal data protection regulations (GDPR) and the internal policies of the University of Rzeszów.

Advertising Policy

The journal does not publish advertising materials.