Quarterly magazine of Mazovia Regional Planning Office
The scientific journal “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” is a quarterly. The subsequent volumes are published annually in March, June, September and December; additionally, the English volume “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” Special Edition is issued once a year.
The idea of the Publisher is to make the journal widely available. The paper edition (ISSN of the paper edition: 1689-4774), which is the primary version of the periodical, is wholly distributed free of charge to the state academic institutions, to the research institutes, as well as to the majority of Mazovian libraries. All articles in the electronic edition (ISSN of the online editions: 2543-4373) are published in the so-called open access enabling unrestricted use of their content by scientists, members of the self-government, entrepreneurs and all interested parties, which favours further scientific advancement, as well as the implementation of the existing solutions on the local level.
The journal is characterised by a multidisciplinary approach to the choice of the subject matter of the articles, which have a common denominator, i.e. the regional policy, ensuing from the nature of the Publisher and his/her specialisation. Among the texts published, articles on the mission of science in a broad sense predominate, above all with a focus on regional studies, in particular in terms of self-government actions for the development of local communities.
The texts in the journal are divided into three categories, i.e. I. Analyses and Studies, II. Self-government and III. Miscellaneous.I. Analyses and Studies contains scientific articles, studies such as case studies, research papers, literature reviews, presentations and analyses of novel solutions (conceptual papers) and information on the state of the art of scientific research on public and regional policy (general review).II. Self-government contains scientific papers on local self-government units, analyses, studies and expertise prepared by the self-government units or cooperating experts.III. Miscellaneous contains book reviews, biographical notes of men of merit for Mazovia and for the state, as well as information on matters of importance from the point of view of regional policy.
Articles are published primarily in Polish with abstracts in Polish and English. The most interesting articles of the year are translated and issued in the English volume of the “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” Special Edition and additionally presented during the “European Week of Regions and Cities” event, taking place in October in Brussels.
Subject matter of the journal
The two-part title of the journal may suggest that the subject matter is limited to Mazovia; however, the published content is not limited to Mazovian Voivodeship-related matters. As the subtitle of the journal, Regional Studies, suggests, the periodical covers a wide range of comparative studies and analyses, including both Mazovia and the remaining regions of Poland, Europe, as well as other regions of the Earth. The Editorial Office pays attention not only to the theoretical and academic-scientific aspects of the presented materials but also to their applicability.
The subject area of the articles published is quite diverse, although regional policy dominates. The Editorial Office accepts materials pertaining to spatial management, regional planning, urban planning and architecture, urban policy, transport network and infrastructure, environmental protection and landscape architecture, protection of monuments and national heritage, sustainable development, territorial integrity and development of rural areas, use of European funds, experience and problems of self-government operating at local and regional level. Demographic change and the ageing of the population, poverty and social exclusion, unemployment and health service top the issues up.
In 2012, the “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” was included in Part B of the List of Scientific Journals held by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education on the basis of the Oridinance of the Minister of Science and Higher Education on the Criteria and Procedures for Awarding Scientific Categories to Scientific Institutions of 13th July 2012.
The journal was ranked as follows in each of the following years:
2011 – 2 points;2012 – 2 points;2013 – 3 points;2014 – 3 points;since 2015 – 6 points.
Since 2023, the journal has been on the list of Scientific Journals and Reviewed Materials from International Conferences, maintained pursuant to Article 267 (3) of the Law on Higher Education and Science of 20th July 2018, with the rank of 20 points.
The “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” is also ranked in the IC Journals Master List ranking, an international indexation database of scientific journals, held by Index Copernicus Sp. z o.o.
In each of the following years, the journal was ranked as follows:
2012 – 3.5 points;2013 – 3.34 points;2014 – 5.04 points (change in the calculation of scores: ICV 2014: 45.81);2015 – ICV: 55.37 points;2016 – ICV: 59.35 points;2017 – ICV: 66.54 points;2018 – ICV: 68.59 points;2020 – ICV: 76.27 points;2021 – ICV: 82.36 points;2022 – ICV: 77.06 points;2023 – ICV: 76.31 points.
The “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” is indexed in the following databases:
Bazhum – Humanities Journal Database;CEJSH – The Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities;Crossref;ERIH PLUS – European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences;Index Copernicus International World of Journals;PBN – Polish Scientific Bibliography;DOI number search engine (DOI number of the periodical: 10.21858/msr).
Ethics principles applicable to the publication process of the scientific periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies”
Ethics principles applicable to the publication process of the scientific periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” have regard to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), in particular stipulated in the following documents: Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Ethical Guidelines for Reviewers.The Publisher, Members of the Editorial Office, Authors, Reviewers and any other parties taking part in the publication process agree to follow ethics principles at every stage thereof.Every article delivered to the Editorial Office is checked with respect to its compliance with ethics principles.The texts are preliminary checked by the plagiat.pl service with regard to their authenticity and originality. If the plagiarism is detected, the Editorial Office will notice of this fact both the Author’s supervisors and the creator of the original work.The acceptance of articles for publication takes into account the scientific merit of the work, its reliability, clarity and consistency with the subject matter of the periodical.The article undergoes a process of peer review by a Reviewer proficient in the art and selected by the Editorial Office. When selecting a Reviewer, the Editorial Office makes every effort to avoid conflict of interest and to ensure impartiality and objectivity in the review process.The Editorial Office stipulates the right to withdraw the article at any stage of a publication process, as well as after its publication in the event when:there is evidence attesting to the lack of credibility of the research results and/or fabrication of data, as well as in the event of unintentional errors (e.g. computable errors or methodological errors);the research results have already been published elsewhere;the work bears the stamp of plagiarism or violates the principles of publishing ethics. Withdrawn texts will not be removed from the published version of the journal, but the fact of withdrawal will be explicitly indicated.The Publisher and the Editor undertake to respond to grievances, complaints and requests. Complaints and requests pertaining to the published articles, as well as Authors’ complaints about rejecting articles by the Editor, should be addressed to the Editor in chief (paperlessly to this e-mail: redakcja@mbpr.pl). All complaints about the operation of the Editor should be addressed to the Publisher (to this address: Mazowieckie Biuro Planowania Regionalnego w Warszawie, ul. Nowy Zjazd 1, 00-301 Warszawa or to this e-mail: biuro@mbpr.pl). Complaints on the operation of the Publisher should be addressed to the Office of the Marshal of the Mazovian Voivodeship in Warsaw (to this address: Urząd Marszałkowski Województwa Mazowieckiego w Warszawie, ul. Jagiellońska 26, 03-719 Warszawa or paperlessly to this e-mail: urzad_marszalkowski@mazovia.pl).
Principles applicable to the Members of the Editorial Office
The Editorial Office permanently supervises the adherence to the ethics principles effective throughout the publication process of the journal and counteracts practices not consistent with the accepted standards.Members of the Editorial Office undertake to constantly improve their knowledge and awareness of publishing ethics, as well as to cooperate with the Authors and Reviewers in this field.The Editorial Office monitors and counteracts situations where a conflict of interest arises. Conflict of interest is deemed to be relationships arising from competitiveness, collaboration or other relationships of a personal, financial or professional nature, i.e. among others:between Members of the Editorial Office and Authors or institutions associated with the articles submitted;between Reviewers and Authors;which may affect the research results or their interpretation in work.Articles submitted to the Editorial Office are evaluated only in terms of their content. The Editorial Office opposes any form of discrimination.The Editorial Office ensures equity and impartiality of the peer review process.The Editorial Office does not disclose any information on the articles delivered to unauthorised parties. The parties authorised to access to this information are Author, appointed Reviewers, Members of the Editorial Office, Editors and Publisher.Unpublished articles are in no way used neither by Members of the Editorial Board nor by any other party participating in the publication process without explicit consent of the Authors.In the event of a suspected or proven violation of the principles of scientific ethics, the Editorial Office undertakes appropriate measures in order to clarify the situation and, if necessary, to amend or withdraw the article.The Editorial Office ensures that, if necessary, relevant amendments, rectification, explanations or apologies are published.
Principles applicable to Authors
The Author of the article is obliged to provide a reliable description of the research work carried out and an objective interpretation of the results. The work should contain sufficient detailed information to allow other researchers to use it, including precise identification of data sources.The Author may only submit his/her own original text for publication. Research and excerpts from the work of other researchers used in the publication should be clearly marked in the text and listed in the bibliography.By submitting an article, the Author declares that it has neither been published nor is being evaluated for publication in another journal.Authorship of the text should be limited to people having significant influence on its creation. At the same time, people who have made a significant contribution to the text should be listed as Authors.It is the responsibility of the Author submitting a text for publication to ensure that the list of Authors includes all the Co-Authors and does not include anyone who did not make a significant contribution to creation of the text. If the phenomenon of ghostwriting or guest authorship/honorary authorship is detected, the Editorial Office will request an explanation from the Author and will notify the Author’s supervisors.The Author is obliged to name all people, companies, state institutions, etc. who have contributed to the creation of the work.The Author should indicate the sources of funding in the publication.All Authors of work should disclose any conflict of interest of a financial or other material nature that may affect the research results or their interpretation.In the event that the Author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her work, he/she is obliged to notify the Editorial Office and to cooperate in the publication of an erratum or withdrawal of the article.
Principles applicable to Reviewers
The Reviewer undertakes to deliver the peer review on time. If for any reason he/she is unable to meet the agreed deadline, he/she should inform the Editorial Office of this fact.The Reviewer should not commence the review of articles where there is, or potentially could be, a conflict of interest.Material forwarded for peer review is confidential. The Reviewer undertakes not to disclose any information about the reviewed article to unauthorised parties.The Reviewer cannot use the content of the unpublished article in any way.The review refers only to the scientific value of the text and is of objective and impartial nature. Any personal criticism of the Author is unacceptable.The Reviewer should bring to the attention of the Editor any worrying signals indicating possible similarity between the work in question and other texts on the same subject, or possible violations of the principles of publishing ethics.
The Publisher of the periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” is the Mazovian Office of Regional Planning in Warsaw which is the organisational unit of the Mazovian Voivodeship self-government.
The Mazovian Office of Regional Planning specialises in regional policy and spatial development. It carries out, among others, work related to drafting of the Spatial Development Plan for the Mazovian Voivodeship and the Development Strategy for the Mazovian Voivodeship, as well as studies, analyses and reports on regional development and spatial planning. It is the Publisher of a number of books and monographs on subject matter consistent with its operation profile, as well as of the publishing series “MAZOVIA Analyses and Studies”.
For more information on the work of the Mazovian Office of Regional Planning in Warsaw, please visit the website of the Mazovian Office of Regional Planning in Warsaw.
The Publisher is a member of the international association of publishers Crossref – Publishers International Linking Association Inc. (PILA) and has an individual DOI (digital object identifier) number. The DOI number of the Mazovian Office of Regional Planning in Warsaw is 10.21858. Each text published in the “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” gets a digital object identifier, which does not depend on the physical location of the document, but it is thereto assigned for good so that it guarantees permanent access. All articles of the periodical begin with the following sequence 10.21858.
The current operation of the Mazovian Office of Regional Planning, including the operation of the Editorial Office and publication of the journal “MAZOVIA Regional Studies”, is financed from the budget of the Mazovian Voivodeship. The Mazovian Office of Regional Planning does not charge Authors for editing, proofreading, reviewing and any other actions leading to publication of the article.
Access to the journal “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” is also free of charge. The whole printing of the journal is distributed free of charge to key research centres in the country, i.e. state academic institutions and research institutes, as well as some of the libraries located in the Mazovian Voivodeship. The electronic edition of the journal is shared in the so-called open access, which means that all articles are available on the website in digital form, under royalty-free licence with provisions identical to the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence pattern (also known as CC BY-SA). Articles published on the journal website may be used free of charge, but derivate works may be distributed only under a licence identical to that under which the original article had been disclosed. Articles are available for electronic download under the Online editions tab.
Information on copyright is available under the Copyright tab.
If you are interested in receiving a paper volume of the journal, please contact the Editorial Office.
Publisher’s contact data:
Mazowieckie Biuro Planowania Regionalnego w Warszawie
ul. Nowy Zjazd 1, 00-301 Warszawa
Phone number: +48 22 518 49 00 – Administration
Phone number: +48 22 518 49 34 – Editorial Office
The idea of issuing a Mazovian journal was born in 2005. During the 1st Mazovian Forum, which took place on 26th April 2005, the Marshal of the Mazovian Voivodeship, Adam Struzik, pointed out the need for cooperation between the Mazovian regional self-government and the scientific community. It was then that the idea of issuing a journal to disseminate the achievements of Mazovian scientists and to address issues related to Mazovia emerged. The idea was put into practice by Professor Zbigniew Strzelecki, Ph.D., the Office Director of the Mazovian Office of Spatial Planning and Regional Development in Warsaw, who later became the first Editor in chief of the journal. As early as October that year, the Voivodeship Government made a decision to establish a scientific periodical under the name of “Mazovian Studies”. Unfortunately, it was impossible to register the so-called journal, as it had already been issuing by a private university in Mazovia. The decision to change the name of the periodical to “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” was thus made. As a result, on 19th December 2005, the Regional Council of the Mazovian Voivodeship passed a Resolution on the Change of the Bylaw of the Mazovian Office of Spatial Planning and Regional Development in Warsaw, by virtue of which the Office became the Publisher of the journal, and the Office Director – Editor in chief. In 2006, by virtue of the Resolution of the Regional Council of the Mazovian Voivodeship, the name of the Office was changed into Mazovian Office of Regional Planning in Warsaw, a name which still remains in force today. On 9th October 2007, the “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” was entered in the Court Register of Journals and Periodicals held by the District Court for Warszawa-Praga in Warsaw, 3rd Civil Division, under No. Pr.1968.
The first volume of the journal “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” was printed at the end of 2008.
Although it had been initially planned that the “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” would be issued as a quarterly, for the first few years it was published in a biannual cycle, which resulted in the magazine having to be reregistered as early as 2008. The plans were eventually finalised in 2017 and, since then, four issues per year have been issuing regularly.
In 2012, due to a change of the registered office of the Publisher and Editorial Office, the journal underwent reregistration. The “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” was entered in the Court Register of Journals and Periodicals held by the District Court in Warsaw, 7th Civil Division, under No. Pr.18297.
In the same year, the journal was included in Part B of the list of scientific journals held on the basis of the Ordinance of the Minister of Science and Higher Education on the Criteria and Procedures for Awarding Scientific Categories to Scientific Units of 13th July 2012.
In 2015, the Mazovian Office of Regional Planning in Warsaw joined the Publishers International Linking Association Inc. (PILA) and received a DOI (digital object identifier) number. Since then, all published articles have been receiving a unique digital object identifier, which guarantees durability and provides a permanent link despite changes in metadata or in the location of files.
The “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” is also entered in the ISSN register held by the Department of Journals of the National Library of Poland, under No. ISSN 1689-4774. The online editions have ISSN 2543-4373.
Changes in the subject matter of the journal
The “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” was created to promote the effects of the work of Mazovian scientific centres, the achievements of researchers from the Mazovia region and the publications of research results pertaining to Mazovia development. Originally, the subject matter of the materials was approached freely, i.e. it was sufficient to link the authors or the issue, which they were discussing, to the Mazovian Voivodeship. Since 2014, due to the specific nature of the Publisher and his/her specialisation in spatial planning and regional development, the subject matter of the materials has been focused on public policy sciences, a discipline belonging to the field of social sciences, officially recognised in Poland since 1st October 2011. Over the years, however, it has been recognised that the narrowing of the subject matter and subject area hinders the journal development, given the diversity of topics related to regional policy.
Currently, the periodical covers a wide range of comparative studies and analyses, including both Mazovia and the remaining regions of Poland, Europe, as well as other regions of the Earth, pursuant to the subtitle, i.e. REGIONAL STUDIES. The journal presents, among others, case studies aimed at identifying good practice, benchmarks in the field of regional policy and the research and development sphere, and it thus has not only scientific research values but also implementation values. Although the main title of the journal, i.e. MAZOVIA, may suggest otherwise, the content is not limited to issues concerning only the Mazovian Voivodeship.
The structure of the “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” is divided in three sections: I. Analyses and Studies, containing peer reviewed scientific articles; II. Self-government, containing articles associated with activities undertaken by self-governments; and III. Miscellaneous, containing short review materials.
The texts are published in Polish with abstracts in English; although occasionally in the first issues the titles were also in English. Since 2015, the most interesting articles of a given year have been translated and issued in an English volume and additionally presented during the “European Week of Regions and Cities” event, taking place yearly in October in Brussels. Originally, within the year, 3 Polish volumes and 1 English volume were published. Since 2021, besides 4 Polish volumes, the English volume “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” Special Edition has been issuing with numbering distinct from the Polish volume.
Editors in chief
The honourable function of the first Editor in chief of the periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” was performed by Professor Zbigniew Strzelecki, Ph.D., then Office Director of the Mazovian Office of Regional Planning in Warsaw and Head of the Department of Regional and Spatial Development at the Collegium of Socio-Economics of the Warsaw School of Economics in Warsaw. It was largely due to the Professor’s initiative and efforts that the journal was brought into existence.
In January 2016, the task of Editor in chief was entrusted to Adriana Barbara Cieślak, Ph.D., Eng. of Architecture, then Head of the planning team at the Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environmental Engineering of the Łódź University of Technology.
Continuously, since 2018, the Editor in chief of the periodical has been Professor Krzysztof Opolski, Ph.D., from the Academic Department of Management and Information Technology of the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of Warsaw. Professor Opolski specialises in management in the public sector, as well as in financial institutions and enterprises, banking and finance, competitiveness and marketing.
The scientific periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” has multidisciplinary nature; however, the profile consists of issues related to development design and regional order. The texts are published in the following sections: I. Analyses and Studies, containing scientific articles, II. Self-government, containing articles on the functioning of territorial self-government, and III. Miscellaneous, the review section. The subject matter of the journal is described in detail under Profile of the journal tab.
The Editorial Office does not accept for publication texts exceeding the subject matter of the journal, and standard relations from conferences, seminars and other events or popular and popular science articles.
The Editorial Office neither disburses royalties for texts published in the “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” nor does it charge any fees for edition, correction, peer review, or any other actions leading to the publication of an article.
Submitting an article to the Editorial Office is tantamount to the Author’s declaration that he/she owns copyright to the submitted materials, and their content does not violate the copyright of third parties. If the article contains works, e.g. pictures, illustrations, charts, maps, or other content that are copyrighted by third parties, the Author undertakes to provide the Editorial Office with the original of the copyright assignment document from a given party to him/her or their consent to publish such materials.
All articles for publication in sections I. Analyses and Studies and II. Self-government are peer reviewed by two experts proficient in the subject matter of the article. Authors and Reviewers do not know each other. Peer reviews thus obtained are the basis for qualifying the article for publication. The Editorial Office notices the Author about the results of the peer review process and the decision to publish the text, the need for correction suggested by the Reviewer or the rejection of the article. Introducing the corrections indicated by the Reviewer is a prerequisite condition for the article to be accepted for publication.
The Editorial Office of the journal asks you to familiarise yourself with the following document: Peer review process applicable to the publication process of the periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies”, published under the Peer review process tab.
The Editorial Office makes a decision to publish the text, which has not been peer reviewed, in the section III. – Miscellaneous.
Articles are accepted only in electronic format (15,000–50,000 characters including spaces). Each article should contain a summary of the main theses and information on the subject matter of the problem in question, as well as keywords. Abstracts in both Polish and English should be between 900–1,600 characters including spaces. Additionally, the translations of the title and keywords are also required. The Editorial Office does not return the materials submitted and stipulates right to edit and redact them. Authors have the right to authorise the edited or redacted works.
More information for Authors is available in the document Information for the Authors submitting articles to MAZOVIA Regional Studies.
The material should be delivered to the Editorial Office via e-mail to this address: artykuly@mazowszestudiaregionalne.pl or via the Submit article form.
The Editorial Office asks you to familiarise yourself with the ethics principles applicable to the publication process of the scientific periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies”, available under the Publishing ethics tab.
The Editorial Office of the periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” strictly observes the Act on Copyright and Related Rights of 4th February 1994 (Journal of Laws 2022 item 2509). Each article submitted to the Editorial Office is checked by the anti-plagiarism service plagiat.pl.
Submitting an article to the Editorial Office is tantamount to the Author’s declaration that he/she owns copyright to the submitted materials, and that their content does not violate the copyright of third parties. If the article uses works, e.g. photos, illustrations, charts, maps or other content, that are copyrighted by third parties, the Author undertakes to provide the Editorial Office with the original of the copyright assignment document from a given party to him/her or their consent to publish such materials.
Texts in the journal “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” are published under the so-called royalty-free licence with provisions identical to the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence pattern (also referred to as CC BY-SA), or in any other language version of this licence or any later version of this licence published by the Creative Commons organisation. Pursuant to the terms of the licence, all articles published on the journal website may be used free of charge (copied, amended, distributed and presented), but derivative works may be distributed only under an identical licence.
The article review process applicable to the publication process of the periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies”
The review process assists the Editorial Office of the periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies” in making editorial decisions, including the acceptance of a text for publication or its disqualification.Each article submitted to the Editorial Office of the periodical undergoes a peer review process. The bibliography and abstract are an integral part of the article and are submitted for peer review.Before being sent to the Reviewer, the article is pre-verified by the plagiat.pl system for authenticity and originality. If plagiarism is detected, the Editorial Office notifies both the Author’s supervisors and the author of the original work. In such a situation, the text is not peer reviewed.Each article is reviewed by two independent Reviewers.The Editorial Office selects a Reviewer with appropriate expertise and experience, consistent with the subject matter of the article, in such a way as to exclude conflict of interest.The Author and the Reviewer do not know each other’s identity (double blind peer review).A reviewer may refuse to provide an opinion, if the reviewer considers that the subject matter and subject area of the text are not within the Reviewer’s competence and research interests, does not have sufficient time to evaluate the text within the timeframe proposed by the Editorial Office, or identifies a reasonable suspicion of a conflict of interest, arising from competitiveness, collaboration or other relationships of a personal, financial or professional nature with the Author of the text or institutions associated with its creation. In such a case, the Editorial Office decides to select another expert for peer review.The Author and the Reviewer do not contact each other. All correspondence between the Author and the Reviewer, if necessary, is carried out through the Editorial Office.The reviewer undertakes not to disclose any information about the reviewed article to unauthorised parties.The Reviewer cannot use the content of the unpublished article in any way.The review refers only to the scientific value of the text and is objective and impartial in nature. The Editorial Office does not allow any personal criticism of the Author in the review.The Reviewer should draw the Editorial Office’s attention to any worrying signals indicating possible similarity of the analysed work to other texts on the same subject or violation of ethics principles.A standardised review sheet is used to review the text, which concludes with a proposal to publish or reject the text. The article is evaluated against the following evaluation criteria:cognitive value (originality of approach, whether and to what extent the work represents a new approach to the problem);evaluation of the layout of the work (structure, division of content, order of chapters);substantive evaluation of the work (aim, research questions/hypothesis, methods);evaluation of the formal side of the work (correctness of language, control of writing technique, tables, charts);literature (selection and use).The Reviewer may recommend:to publish the text without any changes;to publish the text after minor corrections;to introduce significant changes and re-review;to reject the article.In the event of a conditional review, the Editorial Office may admit the article for publication, if the Author introduces the corrections proposed by the Reviewer to the text.If significant changes need to be introduced to the article, the Author makes the modifications and the text is submitted for re-review pursuant to the rules described above.The final decision on the publication of the text is made by the Editorial Office of the periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies”.