Last Updated: 2026-06-05

Publishing Quality System for UKSW Journals

1. Introduction

The Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University Publishing House in Warsaw (UKSW Publishing House) operates a unified journal publishing quality system for scholarly journals published by the UKSW Publishing House.

The system covers ethical, organisational, and technical standards related to the editorial process, scholarly publishing, Open Access, the use of AI tools, digital accessibility, and the visibility of publications in national and international scholarly communication.

The purpose of the system is to ensure a high-quality publishing process, transparency of editorial procedures, and compliance of the UKSW Publishing House’s publishing activities with applicable legal regulations, international standards, and good academic practices.

The journal publishing quality system is common to all journals published by the UKSW Publishing House and forms part of the strategy for the development and internationalisation of UKSW’s scholarly activity.

2. Objectives of the Journal Publishing Quality System

1. ensuring the scholarly integrity of published materials;

2. ensuring transparency of editorial and peer review procedures;

3. preventing publication misconduct and ethical violations;

4. improving the quality and visibility of scholarly publications;

5. supporting the internationalisation of UKSW journals;

6. ensuring compliance of publishing activities with the requirements of indexing databases and research evaluation systems;

7. ensuring the digital accessibility of publications and journal websites;

8. supporting good practices related to the use of digital technologies and AI tools in scholarly communication.

3. Scope of Application

The journal publishing quality system applies to all scholarly journals published by the UKSW Publishing House.

The system does not apply to journals hosted on the UKSW journal platform and published by other publishers. Such entities maintain their own publishing, ethics, and accessibility policies and are independently responsible for their publishing process.

4. Organisation of the Editorial Process

Each journal published by the UKSW Publishing House has an Editor-in-Chief responsible for the journal’s editorial policy and supervision of the publishing process.

Journals publish on their websites basic information regarding:

1. the journal’s profile and thematic scope;

2. the composition of the editorial team and Scientific Committee;

3. peer review procedures;

4. applicable publishing policies;

5. information for authors.

Editorial decisions are made on the basis of scholarly merit, academic quality, and the submission’s compliance with the journal’s profile and applicable publishing policies.

5. Metadata and Publishing Standards

UKSW Publishing House undertakes activities aimed at ensuring the high quality of publication metadata, data interoperability, and compliance of publications with the requirements of contemporary scholarly communication and indexing databases.

UKSW Publishing House also undertakes activities aimed at ensuring the durability and long-term archiving of scholarly publications. The content of journals published by the UKSW Publishing House is archived, among other places, in the National Library of Poland and within the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) infrastructure in Canada.

Furthermore, authors may deposit submitted, accepted, and published versions of their articles in institutional repositories or other repositories chosen by the author, without embargo.

Detailed requirements concerning metadata, formal publication elements, and SEO and ASEO principles are specified in the relevant detailed policies applicable to journals published by the UKSW Publishing House.

6. Open Access and Copyright

Journals published by the UKSW Publishing House operate in accordance with the principles of Open Access to scholarly publications.

Detailed rules concerning Open Access, licences, and copyright are specified in the Open Access Policy applicable to journals published by the UKSW Publishing House.

7. Publishing Ethics

UKSW Publishing House applies a unified publishing ethics policy to all journals published by the UKSW Publishing House.

The policy is based on the standards of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and includes principles aimed at preventing publication misconduct, conflicts of interest, and other violations of publication ethics.

UKSW Publishing House opposes citation manipulation practices, including in particular coercive citation, artificially increasing self-citation rates, and other activities that may lead to unjustified influence on the bibliometric indicators of journals or authors.

8. Use of AI Tools

UKSW Publishing House applies a unified policy on the use of AI tools.

Detailed rules concerning the use of AI tools by authors, reviewers, and editors are specified in the Policy on the Use of AI Tools applicable to journals published by the UKSW Publishing House.

9. Digital Accessibility

UKSW Publishing House undertakes activities aimed at ensuring the digital accessibility of journal websites and published materials.

Detailed rules concerning digital accessibility are specified in the following documents:

1. Digital Accessibility Policy, which sets out the general principles, obligations, and good practices concerning digital accessibility for journals published by the UKSW Publishing House;

2. Accessibility Statement, which specifies the current compliance status, inaccessible content, contact details, and the procedure for requesting the provision of digital accessibility or an alternative means of access.

10. List of Detailed Policies

1. Publishing Ethics Policy;

2. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Academic Search Engine Optimisation (ASEO) Policy;

3. Policy on Mandatory Elements of a Scholarly Article;

4. Policy on the Use of AI Tools;

5. Open Access Policy;

6. Digital Accessibility Policy;

7. Accessibility Statement.

11. Updating the Publishing Quality System for UKSW Journals

UKSW Publishing House periodically reviews its publishing policies in order to ensure their compliance with:

1. applicable legal regulations;

2. academic standards;

3. requirements of indexing databases;

4. principles of publication ethics;

5. good international practices;

6. requirements concerning digital accessibility.

The journal publishing quality system may also be updated in the event of organisational or technological changes, or changes in the standards of scholarly communication.

The document is prepared in two language versions: Polish and English. The Polish-language version shall be considered the original and authoritative version. In the event of any discrepancies or doubts in interpretation, the Polish version shall prevail.