Publication ethics

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Ethical behaviour

For all parties involved in the act of publishing – the authors, editors, peer reviewers and the publisher – it is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behaviour. We have compiled a detailed overview for you in our ethics guidelines.

Editor & reviewer responsibilities

Publication decisions

The editor or the editorial board of a journal or book series is responsible for deciding on the admission and publication of submitted contributions.

Their decision is based on the recommendation of the reviewers. Any selected reviewer who does not consider themself qualified to review the research reported in a manuscript, or knows that an immediate review will be impossible, should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.

The guidelines of the journal or book series serve as reference. The editor or the editorial board must comply with the legal provisions regarding defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism in their respective jurisdiction at the time of submission.

The editor agrees to provide timely reviews to the authors. The editor may also assist the author in improving the quality of the work through editorial communication with them.

Standards of objectivity and “fair play”

The editors and reviewers evaluate papers based on their content.

Reviews are to be conducted objectively and neutrally. Personal criticism of the contributor is inappropriate. The reviewers should formulate their assessments clearly and based on arguments.

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the author.

A reviewer should inform the editor or the editorial board if there is a considerable similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and another published work known to them.

Under all circumstances, the editor or the editorial board will ensure that manuscripts are reviewed on the grounds of their intellectual value, notwithstanding the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality, or political views of the author.

Confidentiality

Submitted manuscripts are to be treated as confidential documents.

The editor, reviewers and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Information or ideas to be obtained exclusively through peer review must be handled confidentially and must not be used for personal profit.

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Reviewers shall not evaluate manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest, be it a competitive, collaborative or any other type of relationship or connection with the contributor of the respective work and/or companies or institutions associated with it.

Author responsibilities

Synopsis

Authors are obliged to submit a meaningful and truthful synopsis of the work presented to the editorial board upon request. The synopsis must include a discussion of the current research situation as well as a statement of the methodology and the sources on which the work is based. In addition, the results achieved should be summarized in the synopsis.

Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality and plagiarism

The authors should ensure that submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere in any language. An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Copying from published or unpublished works without acknowledging the source is considered plagiarism and constitutes unethical and unacceptable behaviour.

Authorship of the paper

Authorship is limited to persons who have significantly contributed to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the submitted work. The corresponding author assures that all appropriate co-authors and no inaccurate co-authors have been credited in the work and that all co-authors are aware of the final version of the work, have approved it, and agree to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Any contributor is obliged to disclose in the manuscript any financial or any other substantial conflict of interest that could be perceived as affecting the results or their interpretation of the work.

Fundamental errors in published works

If an author identifies a significant error or fundamental mistake in their published work, they are obliged to inform the editor or publisher immediately.