RULES OF PUBLISHING ETHICS

In order to maintain the high quality of published articles and scientific reliability, the Editorial Team of the Legal Journal observe and enforce honouring ethical rules by both authors and reviewers.

The rules of publication ethics applied by the Editorial Team of the Legal Journal are based on the recommendations developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) regarding the best practices for journal editors, and Elsevier guidelines on pulbication ethics. In case of violation of these rules, the international COPE standards available at https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/suspected-ethical-problem-submitted-manuscript will be in use.

 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND EDITORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

§1  Responsibility

1. The Editor-in-Chief and topical editors make a preliminary assessment of the text sent to the Editorial Team and decide whether it should be published. When making publishing decisions, an editor may also consult reviewers.

2. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for all content published in the Journal.

3. The Editor-in-Chief may follow the editorial policy of the Legal Journal and comply with the legal requirements applicable in cases of defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism.

4. The Editor-in-Chief is obliged to maintain the integrity of scientific research, as well as to prevent commercial needs from being prioritized over intellectual and ethical standards, and, if necessary, to be open to publishing corrections, clarifications, information on the article retraction, or an apology.
5. The Editorial Team have the right to obtain information about the sources of financing the publication, contribution of academic and research institutions, associations and other entities.
6. The Editorial Team will warn against the manifestations of scientific misconduct, such as ghost or guest authorship.
7. The Editorial Team will document all manifestations of scientific misconduct, especially violations and infractions of the principles of ethics in science. Any detected cases of scientific misconduct will be disclosed, including the notification of relevant entities, along with institutions employing authors, academic societies, associations of academic editors, and others alike. Obvious plagiarism will be reported as a crime.

 §2 Honesty

1. The Editor-in-Chief and topical editors should evaluate the text on the basis of its substantive value, without ideological prejudices and personal preferences, as well as regardless of the author’s gender, race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political views.
2. The Editor-in-Chief is obliged to ensure the fair and timely conduct of the review process.

§3 Confidentiality

An editor is obliged not to disclose information about the reviewed text to anyone except the author and reviewers. Only in justified cases may they disclose them to members of the Editorial Team.

§4 Disclosure and conflicts of interest

1. When considering a retraction, announcement of potentially unreliable publication, or introduction of corrections to articles published in the Legal Journal, the Editor-in-Chief is obliged to follow the COPE guidelines on the retraction of articles.
2. The Editor-in-Chief should strive to ensure a fair and correct review process. In the event of circumstances indicating a conflict of interest with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the manuscripts, the editors of the Legal Journal should withdraw from the evaluation of the submitted texts. In particular, they should ask the co-editor or other member of the Editorial Team for their review and consideration.
3. In the case of co-authorship, editors should require all co-authors to disclose conflicting interests, and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after the publication. Other appropriate action should be taken as necessary, such as publication of information on retraction, or information on possible inaccuracy of the text.

REVIEWER'S RESPONSIBILITIES

§1 Objectivity and reliability

Reviewers should evaluate manuscripts impartially, objectively, fairly and professionally.

§2 Confidentiality

During the reviewing process, reviewers are obliged to confidentiality in their opinions on reviewed texts, and making no use of the knowledge gained on this occasion before the manuscript’s publication.

§3 Honesty

The content contained in the unpublished text sent to the Editorial Team may not be used in the Editor-in-Chief's, or topical editors’ own research, except when the written consent of the author is provided. Confidential information or ideas obtained through the review process are treated as classified and may not be used for personal gain.

§4 Timeliness

The reviewer who decides that due to insufficient competence or other time-limiting obligations it is not possible to complete a review in a timely manner should immediately notify the Editor-in-Chief so that other reviewers can be contacted.

§5 Conflict of interest

The reviewer should not undertake a review of a manuscript with which there is a conflict of interest resulting from competition, collaboration, or other relationships or affiliations with any of the authors, companies, or institutions related to the submitted text.

OBOWIĄZKI AUTORA/AUTHOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES

§1 Oryginalność nadesłanego tekstu/ Originality of the submitted text

1. For publication in the Legal Journal, the author submits only the original text that has not been published anywhere before, and is not currently the subject of any other publishing proceedings.
2. The author is obliged to include footnotes to the works of other authors if they quote them verbatim or paraphrase their thought. If the author uses other people’s works (namely graphics, or tables), and their use requires the consent of these people, they are obliged to obtain the necessary permission before submitting the text for publication. In case of plagiarism, the submitted text will be rejected.

§2 Współautorstwo tekstu/ Text co-authorship

1. In the case of co-authorship of the text, each of its authors should precisely specify the contribution they made to the publication. Among others, this requirement includes: information on affiliation, authorship of concepts, assumptions, or methods, etc. This obligation rests primarily with the author submitting the material for publication.
2. Co-authors are collectively responsible for the submitted text.

§3 Jawność i konflikt interesów/ Disclosure and conflict of interest

1. It is the responsibility of each author to disclose any conflicts of interest that may affect the research results or their interpretation in the work in the submitted text.
2. All sources of the project funding should be disclosed.

§4 Significant errors of published texts

If the author discovers fundamental error, or inaccuracy in their work published, it is their responsibility to immediately notify the Editor-in-Chief, or the publisher of the Journal in order to withdraw the text or publish an appropriate erratum.

* GHOSTWRITING FIREWALL

1. Co-authors of the publication are asked to fully disclose the contribution of individual persons to the creation of the publication (including information about their affiliation, and authorship of the concept, assumptions, or methods, etc.). This obligation rests primarily with the author submitting the material for publication.
2. The Editorial Team will seek information about the sources of financing the publication, the contribution of academic and research institutions, associations, and other entities.

3. The Editorial Team will warn against any signs of scientific misconduct, for instance ghost authorship (making one’s contribution without revealing one’s authorship/co-authorship, and in the case of acknowledgments, without specifying the contribution of the recipient of the acknowledgments) and guest authorship (indicating an author/co-author of the publication of a person whose actual contribution is negligible or non-existent).

   4.The Editorial Team will document all manifestations of scientific misconduct, especially violations and infractions of the principles of ethics in science. Any detected cases of scientific misconduct will be disclosed, including the notification of relevant entities (institutions employing authors, academic societies, associations of scientific editors, and others alike).