PUBLISHING ETHICS
PUBLISHING ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT
The academic journal Polish Libraries yearly strives to maintain the highest standards of publication ethics and to support ethical research practices according to the guidelines of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). It follows the guidelines outlined in the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers - opens in a new window, COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors - opens in a new window, and COPE Best Practice Guidelines - opens in a new window. Our reviewers are required to work according to the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers - opens in a new window.
These standards aim at avoiding academic dishonesty, misconduct, unreliability, and unconscientiousness and at guaranteeing the protection of the authors and their rights by duly acknowledging their contributorship.
AUTHORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES
Authors are supposed to submit original studies they created personally and in their entirety (prevention of full or partial plagiarism), and that are not redundant, that is, have not been submitted to any other publisher (prevention of autoplagiarism).
Contributors will also avoid ghost authorship (using an unnamed author to prepare an article for publication, such as a junior researcher, paid ghostwriter or external academic affiliate), as well as guest or gift authorship (naming as authors people that made little or no contribution to the article, such as senior researchers, affiliated researchers, or colleagues).
Individuals submitting their texts for publication should clearly and accurately name the authors of its entirety or specific parts, and determine the extent and character of their contribution (conception work, methodology, structural ideas, data research, improvements during the preparation of the text, translation, editing etc.).
Authors should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or fraudulent data manipulation. They need to use valid and up-to-date references, and describe their methods accurately so as to make their findings comprehensible to and confirmable by other researchers.
Authors are supposed to avoid formulating any statements that might harm the reputation of an individual, group, or organization, unless they can be proven to be factual and they release is unequivocally pertinent to the subject of the text. The publisher ensures that the articles in the Polish Libraries are free of any content that might be considered hateful or defamatory.
If wishing to use illustrations in their article, authors are supposed to inform the editorial board of the Polish Libraries about the source of the materials and about their copyright status. The final decision whether or not to publish such materials lies within the publisher’s competence.
EDITORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES
To prevent plagiarism and autoplagiarism, the publisher uses all available methods, including antiplagiarism software (Antyplagiat). If the first assessment of the submitted article raises any doubts as to the authorship or originality of the text, authors are asked for explanation. Should the (auto)plagiarism suspicions or other unethical irregularities be confirmed, the article is immediately rejected.
After the submission of a manuscript, its preliminary assessment, verification as to the authorship and conformity with the profile of the Polish Libraries and, the editorial board will subject it to external double-blind peer reviews by at least two separate experts not employed by the publisher. A detailed description of the reviewing process can be found here.
The final decision concerning the publication of the submitted manuscript will be taken by the publisher based on the aforementioned assessment, external reviews and current financial and technological capabilities of the publishing house.
REVIEWERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES
The responsibilities of the reviewers and the entire reviewing process are described in the REVIEWING PROCESS section.
PUBLISHER’S RESPONSIBILITIES
The publisher ensures professional text editing of the articles approved for publication, including proofreading by a native speaker of English. Authors will receive corrections and suggestions with no unjustified delay depending on the availability of reviewers and editors and will be able to authorize them before the publication.
The editors and the publisher of the Polish Libraries guarantee that no unpublished information contained in a submitted manuscript will be used for their own personal advantage or disclosed to a third party that is not directly and overtly involved in the publication process without the authors’ explicit consent.
PERSONAL DATA AND PRIVACY
Personal data and privacy of the authors, reviewers and other co-workers of the publisher are protected under the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (2016/679).