PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT
The journal Strani jezici is committed to maintaining high standards of ethical conduct and expects all participants of the publication process – the publisher, editors, authors and reviewers – to comply with the ethical research practices. The ethical standards we adhere to are in agreement with the standards set up by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and issued in form of various guidelines. We follow the COPE’s and Elsevier’s guidelines for publishers, editors, reviewers and authors. The ethical principles below are concerned with ethical expectations on the part of participants in the publication process and with procedures for dealing with misconduct or unethical conduct.
ETHICAL EXPECTATIONS
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PUBLISHER
The publisher should ensure that the best practice is followed in its publications and that its editors work independently of any commercial or political influence.
The publisher should support editors, authors and reviewers in performing their responsibilities.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL TEAM
Publication Decisions
The Editor-in-Chief is solely and independently responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the Strani jezici journal shall be published. His/her decision to accept or reject a manuscript for publication is based on the relevance of its topic to the scope of the journal, its originality and importance as well as its clarity of expression and data presentation.
In making a publication decision, the Editor-in-Chief may confer with other editors and be guided by the reviewers’ opinion and the policies of the journal’s Editorial Board. The Editor-in-Chief’s decisions should respect such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.
Peer Review and Fair Play
The Editor-in-Chief must ensure that all published articles are double-blind peer reviewed, and that the review process is fair, unbiased and handled in a timely manner.
The Editor-in-Chief should ensure that the articles are evaluated for their intellectual content without regard to the author’s race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, citizenship, or political ideology.
The Editor-in-Chief should endeavour to ensure that reports of researches cite the relevant nationally and/or internationally accepted guidelines to safeguard participants in the research.
When authors or readers point out errors in the published article, a correction should be published as soon as possible. In cases when the error is such that it renders a substantial part of article invalid, the article should be retracted and an explanation given about the circumstances of its removal.
Disclosure and Confidentiality
The Editor-in-Chief and any members of the editorial team must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
The Editor-in-Chief must ensure that the information or ideas obtained through peer review will be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
Unpublished materials disclosed in the submitted manuscript must not be used by the Editor-in-Chief and any members of the editorial team in their own research without the express written consent of the author.
Conflicts of Interest
The Editor-in-Chief should not submit his/her manuscript to the journal.
In limited occasions, the Strani jezici journal may publish submissions from a member of the editorial team or a guest editor in a special issue/section he/she has edited. In such a case, the member of the editorial team or the guest editor is obliged to notify the Editor-in-Chief about his/her intent to submit a manuscript to the journal so that the Editor-in-Chief ensures that there is no conflict of interest in its management and evaluation. Such submissions should be handled by the Editor-In-Chief completely independently of the person concerned. The Editor-in-Chief should ensure that submissions of the member of the editorial team or guest editor receive objective and unbiased evaluation.
Submissions for thematic issues will be evaluated in the same way as other submissions, so that they are considered and accepted solely on their academic merit and without commercial influence.
Responding to Criticism and Concerns
In the event of complaints of an ethical or conflict nature, the Editor-in-Chief should follow the policies and procedures of the Strani jezici journal where appropriate and give authors an opportunity to respond to any complaints. All complaints should be investigated no matter when the original publication was approved. Documentation associated with any such complaints should be retained.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF REVIEWERS
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Reviewers assist the Editor-in-Chief and the members of the editorial team in making editorial decisions and help the author to improve the quality of the article.
Standards of Objectivity
Reviewers should conduct their reviews objectively. They should express their views clearly, with supporting arguments. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.
Any reviewer who feels unqualified to review an article or knows that a review will be impossible in a timely manner should contact the Editor-in-Chief and decline to participate in the review process.
Conflict of Interest
Reviewers should not accept to review articles in which they have conflicts of interest following from a financial, collaborative, or other connection with authors or institutions connected to the article.
Ethical Issues
Reviewers should be alert to potential ethical issues in the article (e.g. plagiarism and self-plagiarism, unethical research, lack of acknowledgement of the relevant work of others, inadequate citation etc.) and bring these to the attention of the Editor-in-Chief.
Reviewers should avoid giving an author suggestions to include citations to their (or their associates’) work unless this is for genuine scientific reasons.
Disclosure and Confidentiality
Reviewers must treat any submission received for review and any information supplied by the Editor-in-Chief or author as confidential. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except when authorized by the Editor-in-Chief. Unpublished submissions and the supporting materials must not be used in reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS
Responsible study reporting
Authors of articles should present an accurate account of the work that has been performed in accordance with academic, scientific and ethical standards.
Authors should give in their articles an honest, fully accurate and complete account of their study. The description of methodology and the presentation of findings should be clear and sufficiently detailed to permit other researchers to replicate the study. The discussion of findings and their significance should be sound and objective. New findings should be discussed in the context of previous research.
Fabrication, falsification, inappropriate data manipulation (e.g. omitting inconvenient, inconsistent or inexplicable results) as well as knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.
Research with Human Subjects
If the work involves the use of human subjects, appropriate approval and licensing should be obtained before the research begins. Authors should include a statement in their article that the research with human subjects was conducted in accordance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) have approved it. The privacy of human subjects should be respected throughout the research process and after it.
Originality
Authors may submit articles that report on work that is original and has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere in the same or any other language.
If some previously published article is of a special importance to the Strani jezici journal readers, such article can be republished in the journal, if the Editor-in-Chief and his/her editorial team have agreed to it and the permission of the original publisher has been issued. The fact that the article has been republished will be made clear to readers.
In submitting the article for publication, the authors certify that they agree to the “Author’s Statement on the Copyright Regulations” noted in the Copyright and Related Rights Act (NN 167/03) and to any necessary originality checks that the article may have to undergo during the evaluation or the production process. Should any violations of research integrity and publication ethics only be discovered after publication, the Editor-in-Chief will take steps to retract any such published articles. Responsibility for cases of (self-)plagiarism lies ultimately with the authors, regardless of whether such cases were discovered during the review, or after publication.
Acknowledgment of Sources
Authors should follow relevant copyright laws and conventions. If they have used the work of others (text or ideas, data, tables or figures), it should be properly acknowledged. Words taken directly from publications by other authors should be quoted and properly cited.
Authors should obtain copyright permission, where necessary, to reproduce any content from other sources. Strani jezici journal does not bear any responsibility for verifying copyright permissions provided by the author. Any breach of copyright laws will result in rejection of the submitted material or its retraction after publication.
Data Access and Retention
Authors of articles may be asked to provide research data for editorial review and/or approve public access to such data, if practicable. They should be prepared to retain the research data for a reasonable period of time after the publication of their article.
Adherence to peer review
Authors should respond to reviewers’ and editors’ comments and suggestions in a professional and timely manner. If authors choose not to respond to their comments and suggestions after receiving the conditional acceptance or decide to withdraw their work from the review process, they should inform the Editor-in-Chief of their decision.
Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made substantial contributions should be listed as (co-)authors.
The corresponding author should ensure that all co-authors are listed in the paper appropriately, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the article and have agreed to its submission for publication. Authors take collective responsibility for their work.
Conflicts of Interest
Authors should disclose all sources of financial support for the research and be on alert of any potential and relevant financial and non-financial conflicts of interest that might be considered to exert influence on the results of the study and their interpretation.
Fundamental Errors in Published Works
If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is his/her obligation to promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief and cooperate with him/her to publish an erratum, addendum, corrigendum notice, or to retract the published article, where this is considered necessary.
PROCEDURES FOR DEALING WITH MISCONDUCT OR UNETHICAL CONDUCT
Misconduct and unethical conduct may be identified and brought to the attention of the Editor-in-Chief and publisher by the authors, reviewers, readers and other agents or bodies at any time.
Whoever informs the Editor-in-Chief and publisher of such conduct should provide sufficient information and evidence in order for an investigation to be initiated. All allegations should be taken seriously and treated in the same way, until a successful decision or conclusion is reached.
In dealing with misconduct or unethical conduct, the Strani jezici journal adopts and follows procedures developed for Committee on Publication Ethics by Liz Wager of Siedview (see Ethical oversight flowcharts – URL: https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts?f%5B0%5D=im_field_classifications%3A2773)
The outcomes of dealing with a misconduct or an unethical conduct may be as follows:
- Informing or educating the author or reviewer where there appears to be a misunderstanding or misapplication of acceptable standards.
- A more strongly worded letter to the author or reviewer covering the misconduct and as a warning to future behaviour.
- Publication of a formal notice detailing the misconduct.
- Publication of an editorial detailing the misconduct.
- A formal letter to the head of the author’s or reviewer’s department or funding agency.
- Formal retraction or withdrawal of a publication from the journal, in conjunction with informing the head of the author or reviewer’s department, Abstracting & Indexing services and the readership of the publication.
- Imposition of a formal embargo on contributions from an individual for a defined period.
- Reporting the case and outcome to a professional organisation or higher authority for further investigation and action.
The above outcomes may be applied separately or in conjunction.
References
COPE Ethical oversight flowcharts. Liz Wager on behalf of COPE Council. November 2015. https://publicationethics.org
COPE Council. Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers. September 2017. www.publicationsethics.org
COPE Council. Code of conduct and best practice guidelines for journal editors. March 2011. www.publicationethics.org
COPE Retraction guidelines. Elizabeth Wager, Virginia Barbour, Steven Yentis, Sabine Kleinert on behalf of COPE Council. September 2009. www.publicationethics.org
Elsevier Ethical Guidelines for Journal Publication, Version 2.0. May 2017. https://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics
Elsevier Publishing Ethics Resource Kit (PERK) for editors. 2018. https://www.elsevier.com/editors/perk
Wager, E. & Kleinert, S. (2011) Responsible research publication: international standards for authors. A position statement developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity, Singapore, July 22-24, 2010.Chapter 50. In: Mayer, T. & Steneck, N. (eds.) Promoting Research integrity in a Global Environment. Singapore: Imperial College Press/World Scientific Publishing, 309-316.
Wager, E. & Kleinert, S. (2011) Responsible research publication: international standards for editors. A position statement developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity, Singapore, July 22-24, 2010.Chapter 50. In: Mayer, T. & Steneck, N. (eds.) Promoting Research integrity in a Global Environment. Singapore: Imperial College Press/World Scientific Publishing, 317-328.