1. the Publisher and the bodies of the Scientific Journal,

2. the authors of the Scientific Journal, hereinafter referred to as ‘Authors’, and to co-authors in the case of texts with multiple authors,

3. the reviewers of the Scientific Journal, hereinafter referred to as ‘Reviewers’.

The Rules for publication ethics are based on the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Code of Ethics for Research Workers drafted by the Science Ethics Committee and adopted by the General Assembly of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Polska Akademia Nauk – PAN).

1. The decision to publish a particular text shall be made taking account of the programme goals and objectives of the Scientific Journal as well as the topic of the text and its usefulness for science and practice, its originality, and the research methods applied, the sources selected and the clarity of the message.

2. The Publisher and the bodies of the Scientific Journal shall ensure top quality of the content of the scientific journal and the achievement of the programme goals and objectives. They shall operate with due regard to the freedom of scientific research, ensuring honesty and independence from any external influence on the content being published. They shall use all available measures to prevent plagiarism and publication of inaccurate information.

3. The decision to publish a text shall be based on the reviews and the opinion of a theme editor and the Editorial Committee.

4. The requirements for Authors and the rules for reviewing articles shall be transparent and publicly available.

5. The Publisher shall offer an opportunity for discussion about the article after its publication, in particular in the form of discussion papers, reviews and/or letters to the editor. 

6. In the case of publication of results of research related to personal qualities, the Editorial Committee and the Reviewers shall assess the ethical aspect of conducting such research. 

7. Prior to publication, the Publisher shall not disclose any information about a text submitted for publication to any person other that the Author(s), the Reviewers or any other person whose participation in the publishing process is indispensable.

8. No personal data of Authors shall be disclosed to Reviewers and no personal data of Reviewers shall be disclosed to Authors. 

9. The role of Reviewer shall not be assigned to any person who reports directly to the Author of the text or has any other relationship which might give rise to a conflict of interest, if any such relationship is known to the Publisher. A Reviewer shall not be affiliated with the same institution as the Author of the scientific text.

10. If an Author, Reviewer or any other person associated with the publishing process is found to have infringed or improperly applied the ethical rules or good practices, the Publisher shall adopt appropriate corrective, disciplinary or legal measures. 

11. The texts submitted by Authors shall be published on the basis of agreements for the transfer of author’s economic rights or other civil-law contracts.

12. Prior to publication, no information obtained in the publication assessment process or rejected articles or parts thereof may be used in own research by persons associated with the Publisher or being members of the bodies of the Scientific Journal, without the express consent of the Author given in writing. 

13. The Publisher shall ensure confidentiality and security of personal data being processed, in accordance with provisions of law and the terms and conditions specified in the information clause submitted to data subjects.

1. An Author shall submit for publication an original text which is completely free from plagiarism and auto-plagiarism (defined as a plagiarism of the Author’s previous work in whole or in part). The similarity index for the whole text shall not be higher than 5% for texts in Polish and 10% for texts in English. Texts which exceed those limits or otherwise raise doubt as to their originality shall be subject to additional verification.

2. An Author shall ensure that the text being submitted does not involve:

1) ghostwriting – which occurs when someone who made an essential contribution to the creation of the publication does not disclose their participation as one of the Authors or their role is not mentioned in any other manner

2) guest authorship – which occurs when a person made a negligible contribution or no contribution at all but they are still mentioned as an Author

3. An Author shall ensure that the copyright to the deliverable transferred to the Publisher will not be limited by any third party right, and the use and management of the deliverable by the Publisher will not infringe any personality rights or third party rights. If any other scientific paper or source material have been used in a deliverable, an appropriate reference shall be made to such paper or material or they shall be properly cited. An Author who submits a text with multiple authors (a joint publication) shall ensure that all the Co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the article and agreed to its publication. Failure to comply with these recommendations shall be treated as scientific misconduct and infringement of ethical rules. 

4. For joint publications, Authors shall specify authorship contributions for each part of the text or declare that they are Co-authors in equal parts.

5. Texts submitted for publication which contain research results shall meet the standards of honesty and scientific rigour, and research shall be conducted in accordance with provisions of law and principles of scientific ethics, in an honest and reliable manner, in particular without falsifying or fabricating results. 

6. Authors shall present mostly the results of own research.

7. Authors shall seek to provide a clear, comprehensible and unambiguous description of the methods applied, so that their results can be verified by others. 

8. An Author, and for joint publications – each of the Authors according to their contribution to the text, shall be held liable for infringements of provisions of law, ethical standards and standards of scientific rigour. 

9. An Author shall inform the Publisher about any circumstances which may affect research results or their interpretation. In particular, an Author shall provide information about their relations with persons or institutions the text submitted for publication is related to, and indicate the sources of funding for research if the research was financed from external sources. 

10. If an Author finds any material error or inaccuracy in a text published, they shall notify the Editor-in-Chief or directly the Publisher and cooperate with them to publish a correction or to communicate the error otherwise. 

1. The comments and opinions made in a review shall be substantive and properly justified, and they shall not refer to the Author. A Reviewer shall, as far as possible, indicate how the Author can improve the text in a given aspect. A Reviewer shall also indicate the level of materiality of their comments or reservations. A Reviewer shall indicate the publications to which the Author did not make a reference and which are necessary to maintain the scientific rigour of the text being reviewed. 

2. A Reviewer shall notify the Editor-in-Chief or directly the Publisher of any circumstances which may be grounds for rejecting the article. A Reviewer shall report any significant similarity, partial concurrence of the text with any other publication or work known to the Reviewer, or any suspicion of plagiarism or any other form of scientific misconduct. 

3. A Reviewer who cannot review a given text for any reason, in particular where they have concluded that they do not have appropriate scientific competence, or where they know that the review cannot be prepared within the suggested or agreed deadline, shall communicate that fact immediately.

4. Reviews shall be unbiased. When assessing a text, a Reviewer shall apply integrity, impartiality, reliability and meticulousness. A Reviewer shall express their opinions clearly, supporting them with appropriate arguments. It is the Reviewer’s duty to refrain from reviewing a text in the case of a conflict of interest. 

5. A Reviewer is subject to the obligation of confidentiality in relation to the text being reviewed. A Reviewer shall not show the text being reviewed to, or discuss it with, third parties.

6. Prior to the publication of the text being reviewed, a Reviewer shall not use the content of the text for any own purpose or benefit. 

7. The names of Reviewers of each text shall not be disclosed to Authors. A list of Reviewers cooperating with the Scientific Journal may be published, without indicating any specific publication which was reviewed by particular Reviewers.