Ethical standards and procedures

The publisher of the Polish Journal of Political Science is committed to upholding standards of ethical conduct at all stages of the publication process.

The Polish Journal of Political Science operates under Polish and international copyright law. It is published in open access, which means that its content is freely available to all users without the need to seek special permission from the authors or the publisher (Creative Commons – CC BY-SA 4.0 License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

If the Editors are made aware of an allegation of misconduct related to the published material, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines will be followed. Editors encourage Authors, Reviewers and Readers to contact the Editorial Office via email, or post in the case of any suspicion of misconduct, such as (but not limited to): plagiarism, data falsification, figures/tables/citation manipulation or reuse without proper consent, unethical AI usage, authorship, and contribution problems. Allegations brought to the Editors’ or Publisher’s attention (pre- and post- publication) will result in specific to-case measures that will be implemented according to the COPE guidelines. Editors together with the Publisher will undertake an investigation in order to verify the allegations. The outcomes of the procedure will be communicated to the sender, to the subject of the allegations and to appropriate institutions. In the case of false allegations, the outcome will also be communicated to all parties involved, including the institution and managers of the whistle-blower.

The Journal follows the COPE Code of Conduct in defining roles and duties, as well as Recommendations for Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications specified by the Council of Science Editors (CSE).

The Journal follows the CSE guidelines that define the Authors’ roles. The Author-Editor relation is founded on confidentiality.

Duties and responsibilities of Authors

1. The text should be the intellectual property of the Author. Authors should ensure that they have written a completely original paper and, if they have used the work of others, that it has been properly cited.
2. Authors are required to prepare and submit the article according to the requirements specified by the Journal Editor. In addition, authors should provide a fair description of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Data from the research conducted should be accurately presented in the article.
3. Excerpts from other people’s work should be properly footnoted. Authors should cite publications that influenced the content of the submitted article.
4. Authors are required to participate in the review process.
5. Authors are obliged to inform the Publisher whether their work has been funded by institutions, companies or other entities and to specify the exact sources of funding.
6. Authors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest, including financial, personal, institutional relationships.
7. By making a statement, the Author may withdraw the article at any time before it is accepted for publication.
8. Authors should not publish texts on the same research in more than one journal. Simultaneous submission of the same text to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
9. Authorship should be limited to those individuals who made a significant contribution to the development, design or execution of the submitted text. All individuals who have made a significant contribution should be listed as co-authors. All authors of the text must consent to publication.
10. The Corresponding Author is responsible for managing all queries and communication between the Journal and the Authors, including making corrections, providing feedback, and providing necessary permissions.
11. If the scope of the published content relates to human and/or animal research, the authors should provide ethics committee approval or other appropriate authorisation for such research.
12. It is not acceptable to submit texts written by so-called artificial intelligence.
13. When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s responsibility to notify the editor or publisher of the journal immediately and to work with the editor to retract or correct the article.

Duties and responsibilities of Reviewers

1. The Journal follows the CSE guidelines concerning the Reviewers’ roles and responsibilities.
2. The review is intended to assist the Editor in making editorial decisions and may also assist the Author in improving the article.
3. Reviewers are required to assess the papers submitted to them fairly, objectively and to the best of their knowledge.
4. All papers received for review should be treated as confidential documents.
5. All assessments and findings in the review process should be objective. The Reviewer should make an objective and reasoned assessment of the texts submitted for publication. Personal criticism of the Author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views in an understandable way and provide justification for them.
6. The review process is subject to strict conditions of confidentiality.
7. Reviewers should not undertake the review of papers for which there is a conflict of interest arising from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or affiliations with any authors, companies or institutions associated with the publication.
8. Reviewers disclose any conflicts of interest, ethical concerns, bias, plagiarism or other detected misconduct.
9. Reviewers indicate ways to improve the manuscript.
10. Reviewers make sure that the presented research can be validated by the methods and analyses described in the manuscript. They make sure that the cited works are relevant and up to date.

Duties and responsibilities of Editors

1. The Journal Editor should ensure that appropriate measures are taken to ensure the quality of published articles.
2. The Editors are accountable for all the content published in the Journal.
3. The decision to publish or not to publish a text is taken by the editorial team. The decision of the Editorial Board is determined primarily by the scientific value of the text and its compatibility with the theme of the journal.
4. The Editors act in a balanced, objective and fair manner in the performance of their duties, without discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, ethnic or geographical origin of the authors.
5. The Editorial Board undertakes to respect the personal rights of Authors and to mark authorship correctly and legibly.
6. The Editor-in-chief and other members of the Editorial Board must not disclose any information about the submitted paper to anyone other than the author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other advisors to the editorial board and the publisher, as appropriate.
7. The Editors are obliged to respond to any breaches of publication ethics.
8. The Editors follow COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/editorial-board-participation-cope-guideline.pdf) when appointing new editorial team members.
9. Members of the Editorial Board are obliged to ensure the scientific integrity of the published work. In the case of suspected fraudulent practices, the Editors are obliged to withdraw the text from publication and to take explanatory and corrective steps. Detection of ethical malpractice (plagiarism, falsification of research results, manipulation of research results, method, fabrication of research results, etc.) should be reported in writing to the editor-in-chief of the journal (e-mail: j.w.szczepanski@uw.edu.pl). The report can be made by a member of the editorial board, a reviewer, a reader of the journal or any other person who has suspicions about the integrity of the text.

Authorship and contributionship

The Journal follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines and defines the Author as a person who has made a significant intellectual contribution to the study, drafted or reviewed it critically for important intellectual content, given the final approval of the article to be published and is accountable for all aspect of the work related to the accuracy and integrity of any part of the work. One has to meet all the four criteria to be defined as an Author. The Corresponding Author confirms that all the individuals listed as Authors have contributed significantly to the research presented in the submitted article. The Corresponding Author also confirms that all individuals listed as Authors have contributed to the entire manuscript.

Individuals who do not meet all the four criteria of authorship cannot be listed as Authors. A proper acknowledgement of their input should be provided in the manuscript.
As per the ICMJE guidelines. Such individuals may be responsible for: a) the acquisition of funding, b) general supervision of a research group or general administrative support, c) writing assistance, d) technical editing, e) language editing, f) proofreading. In the case of individuals who have contributed unequally to the work, the Editors recommend that detailed information on their contribution be provided. The Journal strongly supports the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) when describing each Contributor’s specific role. More information on CRediT can be found at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/leap.1210.

If the Authors request that an Author be removed or added after the manuscript has been submitted or published, they provide an explanation of the requested change and a signed agreement from all the listed Authors, including the Author who is to be removed or added. Changes to Authorship are allowed only before the acceptance of the manuscript and only if approved by the Editor. The Editor may agree to introduce changes to the Authorship. This includes name changes, addition, removal, or rearrangement of the Authors after the article has been accepted for publication. Such requests will result in a suspension of the manuscript until the issue is resolved. In the case of an already published material a corrigendum is released.

Upon submission of an article, the Journal requires the Authors to disclose whether they have used artificial intelligence AI-assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators). The Authors who have used such technology specify, in the cover letter or within the submitted work, the details of such usage. The use of AI for writing assistance should be disclosed in the acknowledgment section.

There are three types of authorship that are considered unacceptable: a) Ghost authors who contribute substantially but are not acknowledged. b) Guest authors who make no discernible contributions. c) Gift authors whose contribution is based solely on a tenuous affiliation with a study. The Journal follows the definitions of inappropriate authorship as specified by the Council of Science Editors: https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/2-2-authorship-and-authorship-responsibilities.

Authors, Editors, Publishers, and Readers adhere to the publishing ethics described herein on the Journal page. The Journal encourages reports on any unethical practices such as, but not limited to, fabrication of data/research/figures/tables, plagiarism, authorship falsification, duplicate publication, peer review manipulation, concealment of conflict of interest, paper mill publication, and others. Upon submission, the Corresponding Author has to receive the approval form from all the Authors. The forms must be available upon request to the Journal’s Editors and include all the necessary consents to the use of third-party materials. The consent has to be obtained also for any research on human beings, managing confidential data, and ethical nosiness/marketing practices. If any concerns arise, Editors will follow the COPE guidelines.

Complaints and appeals

Apart from misconduct allegations, Editors encourage Authors, Reviewers, Readers, and other individuals to contact the Editors, Editorial Board Members, or the Editorial Office in the case of complaints against the Journal, its staff, the Editorial Board, Publisher, or Reviewers. Individuals wishing to rise a concern or make a complaint may send an email to j.w.szczepanski@uw.edu.pl or b.bado@uw.edu.pl. The appropriate party will investigate whether correct procedures have been followed. The complainant will be notified about the outcome in writing. Complaints may concern editorial decisions, published articles, the review procedure, delays, unethical behaviour, and any other activity that is seen by the complainant as important. If the complainant wishes to pursue the complaint further, they may contact COPE directly. The procedure is available at: https://publicationethics.org/facilitation-and-integrity-subcommittee.

Rules on plagiarism

Plagiarism is the use of words, tables, graphics or ideas of others and presenting them as one’s own. Such action is a form of fraud.

Only original work can be submitted. All quotations need to be appropriately indicated and referenced. Any unacknowledged copying of large chunks of text, misattributing the original authorship (including ideas, arguments, results) will be treated as plagiarism. According to the Office of Research Integrity such practices include, but are not limited to theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and a substantial unattributed textual copying of another’s work: https://ori.hhs.gov/ori-policy-plagiarism. When paraphrasing or summarising publications by others, Authors have to proceed with due care. Text recycling is not allowed and will be treated as self-plagiarism (as per COPE guidelines: “sections of the same text appearing in more than one of an author’s own publications”).

Duplicate/redundant publication occurs “when an author intentionally or unintentionally republishes his or her own work without informing the editor of the previous publication (…) and refers to publication of an article’s content, which has substantial overlaps with one΄s paper already published in print or electronically.” without proper references. (F. A. Habibzadeh and M. Winker, “Duplicate Publication and Plagiarism: Causes and Cures.” Notfall Rettungsmed 12, (2009), 415–418. DOI: 10.1007/s10049-009-1229-7).

The Journal is part of the Similarity Check service (https://www.crossref.org/services/similarity-check/) and uses an anti-plagiarism tool (iThenticate) to verify the originality of the submitted manuscripts. In the event of a plagiarism detection, the Editors will immediately reject the manuscript and they may, depending on the case, take further steps according to the COPE guidelines. Already published articles will be retracted or marked as plagiarised.

Prepublication

Any fragment of work which has been already copyrighted to a third party, published, posted or reposited in the form that has been submitted to the Journal will be considered as pre-publication and consequently will not be published. The Journal can publish a manuscript that has been uploaded on a preprint server or has a DOI only if a significant amount of new data or original material is added. Preprint is not considered as prior publication only if the work fulfils the following definition: “a complete scientific manuscript (often one also being submitted to a peer-reviewed journal) that is uploaded by the authors to a public server without formal review” (Jeremy M. Berg et al., ”Preprints for the Life Sciences.” Science 352 (2016), 899-901. DOI:10.1126/science.aaf9133). The Journal allows to republish a conference paper only if a full disclosure and citation is provided.

Post-publication

The Journal supports post-publication debates regarding the published articles. Readers can submit their concerns, opinions, criticism, or letters of support. The Journal has the right to peer review the criticism, the response to criticism and to publish the discussion. The discussions can also be held on third party moderated platforms, such as PubPeer. As the Journal follows the COPE guidelines, the Editors require that criticism should: – be reasonable, – not contain libellous or defamatory content, – have evidence or data that support the claims.

Readers can express their concern regarding the published material. The concerns should be sent via email at b.bado@uw.edu.pl. Depending on the nature of the concern and the outcomes of an investigation, the Journal may publish: – an addendum (significant information disclosed after the publication that enhances the readers’ understanding of the article), – Editor’s note (to inform that an investigation has been started), – editorial expression of concern (to alert the readers about serious concerns), – correction, – retraction, – corrigendum. In the above instances, the Journal follows the COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/resources/forum-discussions/expressions-of-concern).

If an Author notices a mistake after the article has already been published, they are requested to contact the Editorial Office at b.bado@uw.edu.pl. Depending on the nature of the error, the Editorial Office will investigate the case and decide whether an erratum or corrigendum needs to be published. Only for substantial errors the procedure of corrections will be taken. Reports on mistakes in punctuation, mistakes not influencing the meaning of the paper or not affecting the scientific integrity of the paper, will not be processed. Retraction The Journal follows the COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/node/19896) with regard to the retraction process. An article will be immediately retracted if: − It constitutes plagiarism, − The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources or disclosure to the Editor, permission to republish, or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication), − It contains material or data without authorisation for use, − Copyrights have been violated or there is some other serious legal issue (e.g., libel, privacy), − It contains unethical research, − It has been published solely on the basis of a compromised or manipulated peer review process, − The Author(s) failed to disclose a major competing interest that, in the view of the Editors, would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers. An appropriate retraction note will be published both as an individual statement, separate from the article’s contents, and within the article on the first page of the online version.

The Journal will not remove any published material unless it gravely violates the law. In such case, retraction is not sufficient, since the article may be subject to a court order or pose hazard to human beings. In such cases the body of the article will be removed and only the metadata (the names of the Authors) retained, followed by a statement that explains the removal due to legal reasons.

Decisions concerning publication

Decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of an article for publication are based solely on the merits of the article, in particular its originality in addressing the research problem and its relevance to the aims and focus of the journal. The Editors shall indicate which Editor is responsible for deciding whether to publish or reject an article.

Licence

Articles in the journal are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) that allows to share and adapt the contents of the published material with appropriate attribution to the authors. Sharing is defined as copying or redistributing the article or its parts through any medium and in any format for any purpose. Adapting is defined as remixing, transforming, and building upon the published material for any purpose.

Open access

The articles in this journal are published open access (OA). The Journal does not receive any revenues from publication of regular issues. The Journal is financed by the University of Warsaw. Any revenues from special issues, supplements or any other form of subsidies or sponsorships that occur on an irregular basis, do not influence the decisions of the Editors. There is no subscription fee. 

Fees, sources of funding

The Journal is published in an Open Access model. All published materials are freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication, without any charges (subscription, pay-per-view, etc.) or registration barriers. There is no fee for Authors to publish their manuscripts. The Journal does not charge an Article Processing Charge (APC), submission fees, the editing process fees or page charges. Readers are free to read and use the published materials as per the CC BY-SA 4.0 regulations. The journal does not publish advertisements. In-house advertising might appear in a form of banners on the Journal web site and within the Journal. Advertisements are not related in any way to the editorial decisions. All marketing activities are aligned with Polish law, which the magazine diligently adheres to.

Archiving

Texts are archived on the Polish Journal of Political science’s indexing platforms, on the journal’s website and on the journal publisher’s internal servers. In addition, in accordance with Polish legislation, the journal is obliged to deposit a copy of each published issue with the National Library of Poland. After publication, all material is immediately sent to the Library and subjected to archiving procedures.

Conflict of interest

All Authors must disclose any conflict of interest defined as a financial or personal relation with other individuals or organizations, activities or positions that can bias the submitted article. Such conflict includes but is not limited to the matters of familial kinship, employment, consulting services, honoraria, and funding. Conflict of interest also refers to any of the above-mentioned relations between Authors and the Journal’s Editors, Reviewers, Editorial Board, Editorial Office, as well as the Publisher. Authors are advised to disclose any potential conflict of interest before submitting the manuscript or during the editorial procedure. The Journal will also acknowledge the post-publication disclosure. Competing interest among the Journal staff, including Editors, Board, staff members and the Publisher, will be disclosed, if applicable, on the Journal’s website. Reviewers are advised to disclose any potential conflict of interest when they agree to review a manuscript or, if not yet known, after the publication. If a concern about a conflict of interest is made, the manuscript will be assigned to a different Editor or Reviewer. In the case of an acknowledged conflict of interest, the review procedures and the editorial decisions will be made independently of the disclosed information, based solely on the quality of the manuscript.

Research data

Privacy policy

Personal data and e-mail addresses entered into the system will only be used for the purposes of publishing the journal.