Ethical code

.

.

This statement is based on COPE’s (Committee on Publication Ethics- Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines). It is necessary for all parties involved – i.e. authors, editors, publishers, and reviewers – to be aware of and share the following ethical requirements.

.

.

Duties of the Editorial Board

.

Decisions about publication

The Directors and the Editorial Board are responsible for deciding whether or not to publish the proposed articles. The Editorial Team may refer to referees and to the journal’s Scientific Committee and must apply the current laws on libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

.

Fairness

The editors evaluate articles proposed for publication on the basis of their scientific content without discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political orientation of the authors. The decision of the Editorial Board to accept or to reject a manuscript must be based solely on the importance, originality and clarity of the text, as well as the validity of the study and its coherence with the fields interests of the journal. The peer review process must be impartial, unbiased and timely. The publisher may not interfere with the Editorial Board’s decisions regarding the selection of articles to be published. All steps in the review process must be carried out according to the process established by the journal’s editorial policy to ensure impartiality in the final decision and to guarantee that submitted materials remain confidential throughout the course of the evaluation. The Editorial Board must be ready to accept well-founded criticism about published works and be available to publish studies that discuss and, potentially, criticise previously published works. It is also part of their duty to publish corrections, clarifications and retractions where there is a need. Authors must always be given the opportunity to respond to criticism, and the journal has no preclusion against studies that propose negative results.

.

Confidentiality

The Directors and any member of the Editorial Board or Scientific Committee are forbidden to disclose any information about the texts submitted to journal to anyone other than the pertaining author, referee, prospective referee, editorial advisor, and the publisher.

.

Conflict of interest and usage of the information contained in the submitted texts

Unpublished materials and information contained in a text submitted to the journal should not be used in researches carried out by the Directors or the members of the Editorial staff without the express written consent of the author.

.

.

.

Duties of the referees

.

Contribution to editorial decision-making

The practice of peer review helps the Editorial Board to make accurate editorial decisions as well as to help the author improve his or her text.

.

Adherence to time-schedule

A referee who does not feel suitable for the proposed task or who knows that he or she cannot do the revision of the texts in the requested period is required to promptly inform the Editorial Board.

.

Confidentiality

Any text assigned for the revision should be considered confidential. Therefore, such texts should not be discussed with others without the explicit consent of the Editorial Staff.

.

Neutrality

The peer review process must be conducted in a neutral way. Any personal comment about the author is inappropriate. Referees are required to give adequate reasons for their judgments.

.

Indication of bibliographical references

Referees are requested to carefully indicate the bibliographic references of relevant publications that may have been ignored by the author. The referee must also point out to the Editorial Board any similarities or overlaps of the text with other already issued works.

.

Conflict of interest and usage of the information contained in the submitted texts

Confidential information or contents obtained during the peer review process must be considered confidential and may not be used for personal purposes. Referees are requested not to accept articles for which there is a conflict of interest due to previous collaborative or competitive relationships with the author and/or his/her home institution.

.

.

.

Duties of the authors

.

Access to and preservation of data

Authors of original research must specify the sources or data of the implemented study and make them available for a reasonable period after the publication, so that those interested in mentioning the work can access them. False or inaccurate claims constitute an ethically unacceptable behaviour.

.

Originality and plagiarism

Authors must guarantee the absolute originality of the submitted texts, and, if the case arises, they must duly specify or quote the works and/or words of other scholars they are referring to.

.

Multiple, repetitive and/or competing publications

The author should not publish articles illustrating the same research in more than one journal. Simultaneously submitting the same text to more than one journal constitutes an unethical and unacceptable behaviour.

.

Indication of sources

The author must always provide the correct indication of sources and contributions mentioned in the article.

.

Authorship of the work

The authorship of the work must be properly declared and all those who contributed to the creation, organization, implementation, and reworking of the research illustrated in article must be mentioned as co-authors. If other people significantly participated in some stage of the research, their contribution should be explicitly acknowledged. In the case of contributions written by several hands, the author submitting the text to the journal is required to specify that he or she has correctly stated the names of all other co-authors, that he or she has obtained their approval of the final version of the article and their consent to publication in the journal.

.

.

Conflict of interest and usage of the information contained in the submitted texts

All authors are requested to mention any financial conflict or any other kind of conflict of interest that could potentially influence the results or interpretation of their work. All sources of financial support for the project must be indicated.

.

Errors in published articles

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his or her published work, he or she is requested to promptly contact the Director of the journal or its Publishing House and cooperate with the Director to withdraw or to emendate the text.