These Ethical Guidelines concern the scientific papers to be submitted for participation in the Conference and subsequently published in the Conference Journal, as well as the participants in the publication process such as editors, authors and peer reviewers. The Ethical Guidelines are based on the internationally recognized requirements and standards of good publication practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE):http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines
OBLIGATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITORS
Decision for publishing
The Editors Board of the Conference decides which papers correspond to its profile and requirements and may be eligible for participation and publication. In this process, the editors have the obligation to consult the peer reviewers.
Equal access to publishing
An editor must evaluate the manuscripts on the basis of their scientific value, regardless of the race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and political affiliation of the authors.
Confidentiality The members of the Editors Board may reveal information related with a material submitted for publication only to the corresponding author, peer reviewers, other potential reviewers and, if necessary, the publisher.
Disclosure of information and conflict of interest
Unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript cannot be used by the editor in his/her own scientific research, except with the express written consent of the author.
Breaches to ethics and appeals
The Editors Board shall take immediate measures in any instance of lodged complaints for breach of obligations and inobservance of the ethical code of conduct by any author, reviewer or editor. Such measures include contact with the affected parties and institutions for verification of the ethical breaches and proposing solutions for elimination thereof. As a last resort, the manuscript may be withdrawn or, if already published, the established breaches to ethics may be publicly announced.
The authors have the right to request reassessment of the review, but only if they can provide sufficiently convincing proofs of irregularities and violations made by the reviewer. In such cases, a new expert review may be assigned, which shall be considered final.
OBLIGATIONS OF THE PEER REVIEWERS
Facilitating the editor’s decision
The review process of scientific papers is intended to facilitate the editor’s decision for publishing, and help authors improve the quality of their manuscripts.
Responsible attitude
The peer reviewer must not accept for reviewing a proposed manuscript when he/she doesn’t feel competent enough on the subject or would not be able to provide the review within the specified deadline.
Confidentiality The peer reviewer must treat each received manuscript as a confidential document. He/she is not entitled to show or discuss it with anyone, with the exception of the editor. The peer reviewer shall not be allowed to use unpublished information and ideas from the manuscript submitted for reviewing for his/her own purposes, without the author’s consent.
Objectivity
The peer reviewer must evaluate the material objectively, not allowing personal prejudices and relations with the author of the reviewed work to affect his/her judgment. The reviewer must express his/her opinion clearly, competently and using adequate argumentation.
Accuracy of citation
The peer reviewer must pay strict attention to the accuracy of citation and use of data and sources. He/she must notify the editor in case of incorrect citation or noticeable similarity of any part of the paper to an already published material.
Announcement of possible conflict of interest
Peer reviewers must not accept manuscripts, which show conflict of interest resulting from professional, personal, financial and other existing ties with the author or with organizations linked with the respective manuscript.
OBLIGATIONS OF THE AUTHORS
Requirements on data presentation
The authors of original scientific works are obliged to present accurately and truthfully the used scientific methods, the performed activities and the obtained results, and to base their conclusions on objective data, correct calculations and scientific arguments. Data falsification and fabrication is absolutely unacceptable.
Access to and storage of original data
The authors must provide the primary original data if requested by the reviewer, as well as give access thereto in compliance with the requirements on information and databases established by ALPSP (Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers). The authors must be ready to provide the primary data, if requested, even after the publication’s release.
Originality and plagiarism
Authors must guarantee the originality of the manuscripts they submit. If authors use results or texts from other publications of their own or by other authors, these must be accurately and correctly cited. Plagiarism in any form is inadmissible.
Multiple and simultaneous publication
The submission of an already published material by the authors is considered unethical and inadmissible. The simultaneous submission for publication of one and the same manuscript to multiple publishers contradicts the ethical standards.
Copyright
The recognition of authorship is only limited to the persons having fundamental contribution to the paper’s writing. All persons with significant input into the work can be pointed out as co-authors. Co-authors must have accepted the final version of the article and agreed with its submission for publication.
Acknowledgments Acknowledging the role of persons, who are not directly involved in the writing process, but have contributed to the work intellectually or through technical, organizational, material or financial assistance, is admissible and in conformity with the ethical standards in publishing.
Announcement of possible conflict of interest
All authors must announce conflicts of interest, which may affect the objectivity of the final results of the research or their interpretation. All used sources of funding must be specified.
Publishing errors
If authors ascertain substantial errors or inaccuracies in a published paper, they must notify the editor or publisher in due time so that corrections are made or the paper withdrawn.