Legal Issues

• COPE – Plagiarism policy
• COPE – Redundant publication policy

Contents

en

Copyright

1Authors of papers that have been accepted will be asked to grant the publisher—i.e. Ignatianum University Press—the royalty-free right to first publication, as well as a non-exclusive right to distribute and archive the paper in an electronic format, including through organizations specializing in the distribution and archiving of scholarly journals. 

2It should be understood that the fact of publication constitutes the sole form of remuneration to be received by authors. Authors will also receive three print copies of the issue containing the published paper and a PDF file of their paper, which may be re-distributed in private way, if deemed necessary by the author for the sake of the advancement of his/her career, and if the copyright retained by Ignatianum University Press is respected.

3Ignatianum University Press retains the copyright for the results of the work of its editorial team, including the graphical representation of the text published in the journal, as they are visible in the printed version and in the PDF files produced by publisher. The papers first published in Forum Philosophicum may be republished, if all of the following conditions are met:

1. Forum Philosophicum is mentioned by the author as the place of initial publication;

2. the paper is published in an altered or reedited version.

3. the graphical presentation produced by Forum Philosophicum, including typesetting or elements thereof, is not used.

4Examples of actions the authors are allowed by this policy:

• sending a copy of the author’s paper published in Forum Philosophicum to a specialist;

• e-mailing the PDF file of the author’s paper published in Forum Philosophicum to a person who is a present or potential reviewer of the author’s academic achievements;

• re-publishing a re-edited version of the author’s paper in a book while mentioning Forum Philosophicum as the place of initial publication.

5Examples of actions not allowed by this policy:

• Posting the PDF file of the author’s article at her/his website;

• Posting the PDF file of an article published in Forum Philosophicum to an open-access academic database;

• re-publishing a re-edited version of the author’s paper in a book without mentioning Forum Philosophicum as the place of initial publication;

• reproducing photomechanically the author’s paper in a book even if Forum Philosophicum is mentioned as the place of initial publication.

Financing

6All authors whose research is supported by special sources of financing, such as grants, research programs, etc., are asked to prepare an information note mentioning the support they have received.

7Forum Philosophicum does not charge Author with any expenses for the publication.

Originality

8Forum Philosophicum will only accept manuscripts of papers not previously published in, or submitted to and currently under review by, another journal or collection.

9The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education requires the editors of all Polish journals which they evaluate to remind authors of certain basic rules of scientific honesty —even though we strongly believe that the authors submitting papers to Forum have no intention whatsoever of breaking those rules, and in spite of the fact that the rules pertaining to joint authorship are rarely applicable to papers submitted to a philosophical journal. Thus, we remind authors that it is not acceptable to submit papers that reflect anything other than original research or reflections conducted by the author himself/herself. Concealing the true authorship of a part of a paper, even if the paper is in itself an original contribution, also constitutes a breach of such rules. Since all papers are reviewed by specialists, those seeking to make a submission should work on the assumption that all instances of such plagiarizing or ghost-writing will be detected. For jointly authored papers, a clear indication must be given in the paper itself of the manner and extent of each and every author’s contribution. Papers with so-called “guest authors,” whose contribution to the thesis of the paper is actually minimal, cannot be accepted. All cases of academic dishonesty, if detected, will be reported to the organizations with which the authors are affiliated.

Ethical issues: plagiarism and redundant publication

10By plagiarism we understand a situation when author presents the work of others (data, words or theories) as if they were his/her own and without proper acknowledgment. Plagiarism constitutes unethical scholarly behavior and is never acceptable. Therefore, a proper acknowledgment of the work of others used in a research project must always be given. See the COPE’s policies on plagiarism (suspected both in submitted and published work) which are implemented in our journal attached at the top of the page.

11By redundant publication we understand a published work (or substantial sections from a published work) is/are published more than once (in the same or another language) without adequate acknowledgment of the source/cross-referencing/justification,
or
the same (or substantially overlapping) data is presented in more than one publication without adequate cross-referencing/justification, particularly when this is done in such a way that reviewers/readers are unlikely to realise that most or all the findings have been published before. See the COPE’s policies on redundant publication (suspected both in submitted and published work) which are implemented in our journal attached at the top of the page.

12Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the concept, design, execution, or interpretation of the research study. All those who have made significant contributions should be offered the opportunity to be listed as authors. Other individuals who have contributed to the study should be acknowledged, but not identified as authors. All authors should provide upon submission of the article their affiliation(s) to institutions at the time the research that is reported was conducted and/or written up.

13All collaborators share some degree of responsibility for any paper they co-author. Every co-author should have the opportunity to review the manuscript before it is submitted for publication. Any individual unwilling or unable to accept appropriate responsibility for a paper should not be a co-author.

14It is unethical for an author to publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal of primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently is unethical and unacceptable.

15When an error is discovered in a published work, it is the obligation of all authors to promptly notify the publisher and discuss appropriate action (such as a retraction or erratum).

Conflict of interest

16Our journal follows COPE guidelines and core practices to safeguard the ethical standards in publishing and to act appropriately whenever their breach is suspected. We emphasize that It is every author’s, contributor’s, reviewer’s, and editor’s responsibility to identify, prevent and deal with any signs of publication misconduct. 

17All parties involved in the process of publication, such as authors, co-authors, reviewers, and editors are held to disclose interests that might prevent or be perceived as preventing their contribution, either in presenting the work, or in assessing it, from being objective and impartial. Competing interests as well any associations which may be considered by others as a competing interest, either financial or non-financial in nature, should be disclosed immediately to allow appropriate publication decisions to be taken and in the case when the submission is accepted, to offer readers the opportunity to form their own judgments regarding a potential bias.

18Editors are forbidden to act as reviewers to the submitted papers. Editors are allowed to submit their own research to the journal, but it enforces to take extra precautions not to exploit editor’s position or to create an impression of impropriety. Our journal has a procedure for handling submissions from editors or members of the editorial board that ensures that the peer review is handled independently of the author/editor. In such cases the submission, is handled directly by the editor-in-chief (or the appointed person), who conducts the peer-review process out of the journal managament system by sending documents with reviewer forms directly to the reviewers. Once the review is made, the reviews are being send to the author/editor and to the editor-in-chief. In this way the editor, who submitted the paper cannot know who reviews (or have reviewed in the past) his or her article.

19Regarding peer-reviewers and their identity, and the conflict of interests between reviewers, editors, and authors, the journal follows COPE guideline. Authors are obliged to disclose the potential ocnflict of interests when submitting the paper.

Copyright