“Silesian Studies” publication ethics

The policy

“Silesian Studies” are the venue for the publication of original studies, materials and contributions to research. It is forbidden to publish the results of the same research in more than one journal.

The entire contents of the journal are subject to the reviewing procedure / all research articles published in the journal “Silesian Studies” undergo the reviewing procedure.

The reception of articles for all the parts of the journal by the Editorial Office of “Silesian Studies” is an ongoing process.

Prior to the publishing, the Editorial Office does not provide any information concerning a given article to persons other than its autor, reviewers or advisors.

By submitting an article its author gives consent to share their work and the information included therein for the purposes within the scope of “Silesian Studies.”

The decisions of the Editorial Office concerning the acceptance or rejection of a given article for publication are based solely on the criteria of the relevance, originality and clarity of the article and its coherence with the journal remit and mission.

Studies disputing articles published earlier in “Silesian Studies” shall be given the highest priority in the editorial, reviewing and publishing process.

Studies in which assumptions have been falsified or which have led to negative conclusions shall not be rejected for that reason.

All articles shall be reviewed prior to their publication, considering any converging or conflicting interests.

All articles submitted to the Editorial Office are treated confidentially.

If major flaws are detected in an article already published, the Editorial Office shall make every effort to rectify them clearly and immediately.

The ethics

The Editorial Office of “Silesian Studies” adheres to the Code of Conduct set out by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The creation and observance of the ethical rules of publishing are based on the COPE guidelines. The key rules of ethical conduct for the Editorial Office and authors have been indicated below. In cases not described below, the Editorial Office relies on the rules elaborated by the COPE and available on the website https://publicationethics.org/.

The Editorial Office shall take prudent measures to identify and prevent publication of any articles affected with misconduct of their authors. Particular attention shall be paid to the elimination of ghost authorship, guest authorship, text recycling, redundant publication of the same research results, plagiarism, manipulation of quotations, data falsification or fabrication, etc.

In “Silesian Studies”, no form of plagiarism or similar abuse is acceptable. Should any suspicion or claim arise in this respect, the Editorial Office shall take measures in order to investigate and clarify the situation.

Conflicting or contrary interests

Any allegations concerning misconduct shall be examined by the Editorial Office carefully and in the appropriate measure.

If any allegations concerning prohibited practices arise, the Editorial Office shall suspend the publication of the article until the problem is clarified, and consequently – depending on the current situation – reject, administer corrections or give consent to the publication. The Editorial Office shall keep all authors informed with respect to any allegations concerning their conduct that may arise.

The publisher and the editors of the journal declare their disposition to publish any necessary rectifications, withdrawals, clarifications and apologies.

The Editorial Office makes it clear that any manifestations of scholarly unreliability shall be reported and documented. If an author’s misconduct is detected, the sanctions are as follows:

• A letter to the author explaining the discrepancy between the rules adhered to by the Editorial Office and the author’s conduct.
• An admonitory letter to the author with respect to his or her conduct in future.
• An official letter to relevant institutions, foundations or scientific societies informing about the detected case of inappropriate practices.
• A note published on the journal website and in the journal itself concerning a case of redundant publication or plagiarism.
• A published note presenting the details of misconduct.
• Refusal to accept works by a given author, unit or institution responsible for misconduct within a particular period.

If an instance of plagiarism is detected after the article has been published, the text shall be removed from the digital version of the journal. Formal withdrawal of the article from the academic literature follows. Moreover, there shall be a notification to home institutions, reviewers, affected parties, other publishers, editorial offices and the indexing institutions.

The rules concerning authorship and co-authorship: All the authors of an article are revealed and enumerated therein as such. The precise contribution of each author in creating the article is stated in the Author declaration.

The intellectual property: Authors transfer their copyright to the publishing institution (i.e. the Silesian Institute). The intellectual property rights are transferred for use in all the known fields of exploitation. The publishing institution is obliged on its part to respect the moral rights for the text and provide information concerning the authorship of every article, review or report at each instance of use in “Silesian Studies.”

The contents included in the guidelines “Authors – rights, obligations and suggested provisions” are an integral part of the publishing policy and ethics of “Silesian Studies” for authors.

The contents included in the guidelines “For reviewers” are an integral part of the publishing policy and ethics of “Silesian Studies” for reviewers.

The articles to be published:

• “Silesian Studies” publish original studies, materials and contributions to research. It is forbidden to publish the results of the same research in more than one journal.
• The Editorial Office accepts articles that comply with the authors’ obligations.
• The decision whether a given article should be published is within the competence of the Editor-in-Chief, who may consult the Editorial Office and/or the Editorial Board, and should be based on the analysis of remarks and the conclusions in the reviews (including the author’s response – if provided – and the final version of the article proofread by the author), the verification of the right selection of the reviewers, the adequacy of their evaluations and the author’s response to them, as well as the overall scholarly quality of the article.

Publication plan

The journal “Silesian Studies” is a semi-annual. According to its publication plan, one volume should be published until the mid-year, and another one – until the end of the year. Calls for papers are issued at least half a year prior to the publication of the corresponding volume.

Claims and complaints

Claims and complaints should be sent to the e-mail address of the Chief-in-Office and/or the Secretary of the Editorial Office (b.kuswik@instytutslaski.pl and/or r.wieczorek@instytutslaski.pl). Claims and complaints pertaining to:

• the activities of the Editorial Office – shall be considered by the Editorial Board and the Editorial Office;
• the articles published or editorial standards – shall be considered by the Editorial Office of “Silesian Studies” and brought to the attention of the authors concerned.

The applicant shall be informed about the receipt and the method of resolution of their claim or complaint by the same means of communication by which it has been lodged.

Sources of financing

The main source of financing of “Silesian Studies” are the statutory funds of the Silesian Institute, a culture institution registered at the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage under the No. 114/2019. Additional sources are the income from the sale of printed copies of “Silesian Studies” and the access to the digital version of the journal and its articles, including the income from non-exclusive licences.

Advertising

The journal “Silesian Studies” does not feature advertisements. Only information concerning the sources of financing of the journal are published, in order to maintain transparency of the Editorial Office activity. The publisher of “Silesian Studies” accepts exclusively such forms of financial support that do not affect in any manner the policy or the rules of ethical conduct adopted by the Editorial Office.