Publishing ethics

Ethics principles applicable to the publication process of the scientific periodical “MAZOVIA Regional Studies”

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Every article delivered to the Editorial Office is checked with respect to its compliance with ethics principles.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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     Withdrawn texts will not be removed from the published version of the journal, but the fact of withdrawal will be explicitly indicated.
8. 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

1. The Editorial Office permanently supervises the adherence to the ethics principles effective throughout the publication process of the journal and counteracts practices not in line with the accepted standards.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Articles submitted to the Editorial Office are evaluated only in terms of their content. The Editorial Office opposes any form of discrimination.
5. The Editorial Office ensures equity and impartiality of the peer review process.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. The Editorial Office ensures that, if necessary, relevant amendments, rectification, explanations or apologies are published.

Principles applicable to Authors

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. By submitting an article, the Author declares that it has neither been published nor is being evaluated for publication in another journal.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. The Author is obliged to name all people, companies, state institutions, etc. who have contributed to the creation of the work.
7. The Author should indicate the sources of funding in the publication.
8. 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.
9. 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

1. 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.
2. The Reviewer should not commence the review of articles where there is, or potentially could be, a conflict of interest.
3. Material forwarded for peer review is confidential. The Reviewer undertakes not to disclose any information about the reviewed article to unauthorised people.
4. The Reviewer cannot use the content of the unpublished article in any way.
5. 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.
6. 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.