Publication ethics and malpractice statement - XLinguae

Publication ethics and malpractice statement

Ethics and Responsibility

The Editorial Board of the XLinguae journal is committed to upholding the integrity of the work we publish. The value of academic publishing relies on everyone involved behaving ethically. The following points are intended to give an overview. We encourage our authors and editors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) website. The Editorial board of the journal believes strongly in maintaining an accurate academic record and follows the Committee on Publication Ethics Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. If a journal ceases publication and Xlinguae removes the journal's website, all articles available online will be triggered for Open Access archive for permanent preservation. If you are unsure of a journal-related ethical issue, you might well find the answer in COPE's wealth of materials, but if you have any questions or concerns, please also feel free to contact the editor of the journal, email us: xlinguae@xlinguae.eu

The journal content is indexed in CrossCheck, the CrossRef initiative to prevent scholarly and professional plagiarism.

 

The scientific impact of the papers SJR (by Scimago) in XLinguae journal is assured by the established connections with the well-known indexing database ELSEVIER Products – SCOPUS (since 2011) and Scimago.

 

Journal is committed to:

• promoting the work of talented researchers from all over the world in the fields of linguistics, applied linguistics, philology and philosophy
• promoting the research and novelty studies in English, Slovak, French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian
• maintaining the editorial independence of editors and reviewers
• running the journal ethically and transparently
• maintaining an accurate and transparent academic record, including publishing corrections and retractions when necessary.

 

Guidelines for authors

The publisher encourages all prospective authors, talented researchers, experienced colleagues, but also young doctorands to contact the corresponding issue editor during the Call for papers period.

Only original research papers can be submitted to the XLinguae journal. According to the Slovak law statute Act n. 265/2022, the editor decides about copyright and does not offer any remuneration. It is a condition of publication that authors assign copyright or license the publication rights in their articles, including abstracts, to the SVO, s.r.o. This enables us to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article and, of course, the XLinguae journal to the widest possible readership in paper and electronic formats as appropriate. The articles that were not called for will not be sent back to the authors and will not be published.

Authors send the final, revised version of the research article electronically, by mail, to one of the corresponding editors' mails without paying the publication fee. In case the paper is accepted, authors are obliged to pay a publication fee. All original articles are subjected to a double-blind peer-review process.

Authors should ensure that:

• their work is original and written by them
• their work has not been previously published and has been submitted only to the XLinguae journal 
• whether the material is taken from other sources (including their own published work), the source is clearly cited, and where appropriate permission is obtained
• their work does not infringe on any rights of others, including privacy rights and intellectual property rights
• their data are true and not manipulated
• their data are their own or that they have permission to use data reproduced in their paper
• any real or apparent conflicting or competing interest is clearly stated on submission of their paper (this would include funding assistance)
• they adhere to all research ethics guidelines of their discipline
• they contact the editor to identify and correct any material errors upon discovery, whether prior or subsequent to the publication of their work
• authorship of the paper is accurately represented, including ensuring that all individuals credited as authors participated in the actual authorship of the work and that all who participated are credited and have given consent for the article.

Above all, authors should be transparent. For example, if an author is not sure whether the paper is original (for instance, whether it might constitute a duplicate publication), they should inform the journal's editor. If the editor decides it is appropriate to publish, the paper itself should state clearly any potential overlap.

 

Authorship should be limited to those who have contributed significantly to the conception of a research study or interpretation of the reported study. All those, who have made significant contributions, should be listed as co-authors (maximum 5 authors). They should be mentioned as those who participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project so that they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author ensures by submitting the final version of the study that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the paper and that all co-authors approve the final version of the paper and agree to its submission.

 

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or another substantive conflict of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

 

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

 

The authors ensure by submitting the final version of the study that they have written an original contribution. The works of other scholars have to be appropriately quoted. Authors should not publish manuscripts describing the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are unethical behavior and unacceptable. 

 

In case the authors involve human subjects in research, they should be aware and follow the related guidelines (see the basic rules below).

 

Copyright Notice

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. All authors agree to publish their email addresses, affiliations and short biographical statements with their articles during the submission process.

 

Privacy Statement

The names, personal information, statements, affiliations and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be available for any other purpose or to any other party.

 

Ethical oversight and human subjects' protection

The journal takes the issue of human-subjects protection seriously and imposes the following guidelines related to ethical oversight and informed consent rules:

No researcher may involve a human being as a subject in research covered by regulations unless the researcher has obtained the legally effective informed consent of the subject or the subject's legally authorized representative. A researcher should seek such consent only under circumstances that provide the prospective subject or the representative sufficient opportunity to consider whether or not to participate and minimize the possibility of coercion or undue influence. The information given to the subject or the representative shall be in language understandable to the subject or the representative. No informed consent, whether oral or written, may include any exculpatory language through which the subject or the representative is made to waive or appear to waive any of the subject's rights or releases or appears to release the investigator, the sponsor, the institution, or its agents from liability for negligence.

 

In seeking informed consent, the following information will be provided to each subject:

(1) A statement that the study involves research, an explanation of the purposes of the research and the expected duration of the subject's participation, a description of the procedures to be followed, and identification of any experimental procedures.

(2) A description of any reasonably foreseeable risks or discomforts to the subject.

(3) A description of any benefits to the subject or others that may reasonably be expected from the research.

(4) A disclosure of appropriate alternative procedures or courses of treatment, if any, might be advantageous to the subject.

(5) A statement describing the extent, if any, to which confidentiality of records identifying the subject will be maintained.

 

For more, see https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/regulations/45-cfr-46/index.html

 

 

Reviewers

Double-blind peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through editorial communication with experts from the scientific board or external experts from scientific institutions and may also assist the author in improving the paper.

 

After the Call for papers deadline, the editor responsible for drafting the journal issue will invite two reviewers (experts in the research area) to review the submitted study/ studies. After making anonymous assessments, the editor sends information on the acceptance or non-acceptance of the study to the author (the one who sent the study). The author defends the comments and sends back a revised study in the timeframe determined by the editor. The editor and the editor-in-chief complete the essentials and create the issue.

Manuscripts received for review are treated as confidential documents and are reviewed by anonymous editorial staff. They will not be shown or discussed with others except with the editor-in-chief's authorization. Reviews should be conducted objectively: editor referees express their views clearly with supporting arguments, noting the marks in the evaluation sheet. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be confidential and not used for personal advantage. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge. 

 

Reviewers:

• maintain the confidential review process
• refrain from contacting the authors directly without the permission of the journal
• immediately alert the editor of any real or potential competing interest that could affect their reviewing point of view and decline to review where appropriate
• conduct themselves fairly and impartially
• check the plagiarism malpractice with the appropriate tools such as, for example, grammarly.com or ithenticate.com.

·         send to the authors the evaluation and/or the proofreading sheets or corrected articles. If they are on a sufficient level, minor grammatical or orthographic changes are usually done at the end of the reviewing process by reviewers or editors.

 

The reviewers' identities remain anonymous to the authors. The review process may take several weeks. The corresponding editor in the name of the anonymous reviewers or anonymous reviewers will contact you via editors' addresses. 

 

We are aware, of course, that academicians will come from a particular institution of thought and/or may have some ties to a particular interest. All our reviewers strive to act fairly. If in doubt about whether a conflict exists, a reviewer should be transparent and seek the views of the journal editor.

 

If any selected editor referee feels unqualified to review the research and the manuscript article should notify the editor-in-chief and excuse himself from the review process.

 

Publisher and Editorial Board

The editorial board is free from commercial and business interests which may compromise intellectual and ethical standards, and the publisher is strictly independent and devoted solely to the promotion of science.

The editorial board strives to maintain the integrity of the academic record by publishing the XLinguae regularly without delays. 

The publisher is always willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions when needed. 

The publisher is responsible for ensuring that no cases of plagiarism or fraud appear in published works.

Editors:

• enforce policies as needed in a fair and consistent manner

·         maintain and promote consistent ethical policies for the XLinguae journal

• ensure the confidential review process
• propose personal integrity and respect standards and conditions in their work as editors of the journal, recognize where they could potentially have a competing interest
• work with authors, reviewers, and editors to ensure they are sufficiently advised regarding their journals' ethics and publishing policies and that ethical matters are fair, unbiased, and timely.

 

Editors or reviewers who abuse their function in the journal in order to get published without a review process and/ or to get published several times or who do things that are considered malpractice will be excluded from the editorial board.

 

The editor-in-chief cannot abuse his function either. She may submit an article to the review process once per 4 years under the same conditions as other authors. 

 

We do not reply to insultations or hating posts on our journal which are not justified. Our journal is a high-quality linguistic journal with a high reputation. On the contrary, we will be glad to remake or renew or improve if it goes on a justified criticism. In that case, email us.

 

A sum up of general ethical guidelines for authors and the editorial board

• We publish scientific articles or novelty studies on the scope and designated scientific fields
• We promote transparency and respect for the academic record
• We promote fairness and equality and oppose discrimination
• We respect the confidentiality of others
• We are transparent about competing interests
• We employ people with disabilities.

 

Additional Resources

1. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) -- http://publicationethics.org/    
2. British Educational Research Association (BERA) -- https://www.bera.ac.uk/researchers-resources/resources-for-researchers
3. Council of Science Editors (CSE) -- https://www.councilscienceeditors.org

 

XLinguae is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.