The Editorial Board of the “Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne / Academic Journal of Sociology” (UCS) implements high publication standards for academic texts in the journal. For that reason, the following procedures have been adopted, which also serve as reference criteria, for example, for the ERIH PLUS index.

1. The review process adopted by the journal is transparent and publicly available at the website => reviewing process. Each academic paper submitted to the Editorial Office is subjected to an independent and blind review (so-called double-blind review, in which both authors and reviewers are not aware of each other’s identity). In addition, the UCS Editorial Board makes every effort to ensure that authors and reviewers come from various institutions and academic centers.

2. UCS defining features are reliability and transparency of information related to the editorial, review, and publishing procedures. Therefore, the journal’s website includes information on the composition of the Editorial Board, the Scientific Board, and the Reviewer Team, including their affiliation with academic or expert institutions.

3. "Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne / Academic Journal of Sociology" has permanently assigned ISSN codes: 2544-3062 for the traditional (paper) editions and e-ISSN: 2299-2367 for the electronic editions. Both codes have been assigned in accordance with a process coordinated by the National Library of Poland.

4. Each article published in UCS written originally in a language other than English has an abstract and keywords in English. This provision does not apply to the articles published entirely in English and to the texts other than academic articles, such as reviews, reports, or research communications.

5. Each author publishing in the "Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne / Academic Journal of Sociology” reveals their academic affiliation or the affiliation with independent research institutes. We also require the ORCID number. Every journal volume also includes author’s notes, which may be used to voluntarily disclose author contact details.

6. Authors associated with the academic community of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw do not constitute the majority of authors of texts published in UCS.

The Editorial Board of the "Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne / Academic Journal of Sociology" complies with and implements recommendations of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education regarding protection against undisclosed authorship or co-authorship (“ghostwriting”) and falsely credited authorship or co-authorship (“guest authorship”, “honorary authorship”). Accordingly, publication authors are required to reveal each individual person’s contribution to the creation of the publication. Detected cases of ghostwriting, guest authorship, and honorary authorship will be treated as scientific misconduct and reported accordingly to the relevant institutions.

Key ethical practices of the "Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne / Academic Journal of Sociology" Editorial Board aligned with the Committee on Publication Ethics / PERC guidelines.

1. Infringement of publication rules

Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne / Academic Journal of Sociology has a clearly described procedure for dealing with allegations of publication rules infringement. The procedure shall be applied regardless of the way in which such allegations reach the publisher. Whether they were raised before publication or after a text was published in print or online, the journal treats such allegations seriously.

2. Authorship and contribution to the article’s content

UCS follows an appropriate policy regarding the transparency and provision of precise information on the identity of the persons contributing to an article and the scope of their contributions. There are rules for managing potential disputes.

3. Complaints and appeals

UCS has a clearly described complaints procedure – please contact the journal’s Editorial Board or the publisher in this regard.

4. Conflict of interest / Competing interests

There is a clear definition of conflict of interest and procedures applied in the case of a conflict of interests between authors, reviewers, journal editors, and publishers. Those are used regardless of the conflict’s timing, whether it was identified before or after publication.

5. Data and reproducibility

UCS sets rules on data availability and encourages application of reporting guidelines in line with standard practices in its discipline.

6. Ethical supervision

Ethical supervision applies to, among others, rules on obtaining publication approval, texts on at-risk populations, research involving animals, research involving people, handling of confidential data, and business / marketing practices.

7. Intellectual property

All intellectual property rules, including copyright and publishing rights, are clearly described. Moreover, all publication-related costs are transparent for authors and readers. The concepts of plagiarisms or thematically overlapping publications are specified.

8. Journal management

The relevant aspects include accurate description and effective management of the used infrastructure – the business model, publication rules, used procedures, as well as the software used for effective operation of an (independent) editorial journal. Attention is paid to the efficient management and training of editorial and publishing teams.

9. Review process (peer review)

Review processes are transparently described and reliably conducted. UCS provides for training of editors and reviewers. An appropriate model of the review process and procedures for managing conflicts of interests, disputes, and appeals, which may emerge during article review, have been adopted.

10. Post-publication discussions and corrections

UCS enables post-publication discussions. Those can take place on its website, in the form of letters to the editor, or on externally moderated websites such as PubPeer. There are post-publication mechanisms for correcting, revising, or withdrawing articles.