The ethical rules in Publications of the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences (Publs.Inst.Geoph.PAS) are based on the Best Practice Guidelines formulated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE; https://publicationethics.org ). All parties involved in the act of publishing (the editor(s), the authors, the reviewers and the publisher) are obliged to observe the Best Practice Standards, the main points of which are enumerated in this section.
Publs.Inst.Geoph.PAS is an open access publication. It means the free immediate access to, and unrestricted reuse of, original works of all types by any user. All content is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) and authors retain copyright.
Obligations of the Editors
Fair play and editorial independence
The final decision about publication is made by the Editor-in-Chief. He is supported in his work by Associate Editors assigned to specific branches of geophysics in which they are experts, and peer-reviewers. Of great help is also an international group of Advisory Editorial Board members, who provide regular guidance, recommendations and promotion of our publications.
Confidentiality
Editors and editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Editors and Editorial Board Members will not use unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent. Privileged information or ideas obtained by editors as a result of handling the manuscript will be kept confidential and not used for their personal advantage. Editors will resign from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships/connections with any of the authors or institutions connected to the papers.
Publication decisions
The Editors ensure that all submitted manuscripts being considered for publication are subject to peer-reviews. The Editor-in-Chief, following recommendations of Associate Editors representing the field of science appropriate to the manuscript topic, is responsible for deciding which manuscript will be published, based on the validation of the work in question, its importance to researchers and readers, and such legal requirements as are currently in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
Involvement and cooperation in malpractice investigations
The Editors will take responsive measures when ethical concerns are raised with regard to a submitted manuscript or published paper. Every reported act of unethical publishing behaviour will be looked into, even if it is discovered years after publication. The Publs.Inst.Geoph.PAS’ editors follow the COPE Flowcharts when dealing with cases of suspected misconduct. If, on investigation, the ethical concern is well-founded, a correction, retraction, expression of concern or other note as may be relevant, will be published.
Obligations of Reviewers
Contribution to editorial decisions
Peer-reviewers assist editors in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communications with authors, may assist authors in improving their manuscripts. Peer-review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication and lies at the heart of scientific endeavour.
Acceptance of the task of being a referee
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in the manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible is asked to notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process as soon as possible.
Confidentiality
Any manuscript received for review must be treated as a confidential document. It must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
Standards of objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively and observations formulated clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them for improving the manuscript.
Acknowledgement of sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement or argument that has been reported in previous publications should be accompanied by the relevant citation.
Possible conflicts of interest
Any invited referee who has conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the manuscript and the work described therein should immediately notify the Editors to declare their conflicts of interest and decline the invitation to review, so that alternative reviewers can be found.
Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the authors. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for the reviewer’s personal advantage. This applies also to invited reviewers who decline the review invitation.
For review procedure – see the tab “For Reviewers”.
Obligations of Authors
Reporting standards
Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and the results, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work. The manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references. Review articles should be accurate, objective and comprehensive, while editorial “opinion” or perspective pieces should be clearly identified as such. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
Originality and plagiarism
Authors should ensure that they have written and submit only entirely original works, and if they have used the work of others, this has been cited appropriately. Plagiarism takes many forms, from “passing off” another’s paper as the author’s own, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another’s paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
To prevent the plagiarism we are member of CrossCheck by iThenticate, a plagiarism screening service that verifies the originality of content submitted before publication. The iThenticate software checks submissions against millions of published research papers, documents on the web, and other relevant sources.
Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication
In general, manuscripts describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one primary publication. Submitting the already published manuscript again constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. In exceptional cases, some publications can be issued in two or more language versions (translated), provided there are acceptable reasons for doing so and the authors and editors support it.
Authorship of the manuscript
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the concept, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. Persons who made some contributions to the work reported in the manuscript but do not meet the criteria for authorship, should be acknowledged in the “Acknowledgements” section. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
Acknowledgement of financial support
All sources of financial support for the work should be disclosed (including the grant number or other reference number if any).
Acknowledgement of sources
Authors should ensure that they have properly acknowledged the work of others. Information obtained privately (from conversation, correspondence or discussion with third parties) must not be used or reported without explicit permission from the source.
Peer-review
Author(s) are obliged to participate in the peer-review process and cooperate fully by responding promptly to editors’ requests for raw data, clarifications, and proof of ethics approval, and copyright permissions. If a revision is needed, the author(s) should respond to the reviewers’ comments systematically, point by point, and in a timely manner, revising and re-submitting their manuscript by the deadline given.
Fundamental errors in published works
When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, it is their obligation to promptly notify the Editors or Publisher and cooperate with them to either correct the paper in the form of an erratum or to retract the paper. If the Editors or Publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy, then it is the authors’ obligation to promptly correct or retract the paper or provide evidence to the journal editors of the correctness of the paper.
For details how to prepare the manuscript – see the tab “For Authors”.
Obligations of the Publisher
Handling of unethical publishing behavior
In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification or, in the most severe case, the retraction of the affected work. The publisher, together with the editors, shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, and under no circumstances encourage such misconduct or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.
Access to journal content
The publisher is committed to the permanent availability and preservation of scholarly research and ensures accessibility by partnering with organizations and maintaining our own digital archive.