Ethical guidelines for editors and the publisher

The role of the Publisher is to ensure the scholarly independence of the Editorial Team, the Reviewers and the Authors. It is also ultimately responsible for the maintenance of good editorial practices and publishing ethics by the journal.

The Editor-in-chief is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal are to be published. Before making his/her final decision, the Editor-in-chief consults the opinion of at least two independent external Reviewers. The Editor may also consult his/her decision with the members of the Advisory Board and Editorial Team. In making his/her decision, the Editor-in-chief does not take into account the ethnic origin, gender, religious beliefs or political views of the Author.

It is the Editor-in-chief’s duty to ensure that all research articles submitted to the journal are reviewed by at least two external Reviewers in the process of double-blind peer review. The Editor-in-chief makes sure that the review process, the revision process, and the publication process are timely. The Editor-in-chief ensures that there is no conflict of interests between the Reviewers and the Authors.

Members of the Editorial Team assist the Editor-in-chief in the process of making final decisions concerning the publication of articles submitted to the journal, as well as in the process of preparing articles for publication (revision, communication with Reviewers and with Authors).

The Publisher will consider any reported publication misconduct, even if detected long after the date of publication. If ethical misconduct is proven, the publisher will publish a correction or a comment or will withdraw the manuscript from publication or take any other appropriate action. If the Editorial Team decides to withdraw the manuscript, the material cannot be used in any way without written permission from the Author. Information regarding manuscripts submitted for publication can be disclosed exclusively to the Authors, Reviewers, Publisher or selected members of the Editorial Team.

With regard to all its publications, the Publisher safeguards the observance of publishing standards and rules of publication ethics (the Code of Ethics and Conduct ) and prevents any practices contrary to the accepted norms.