Journal Pedagogical Almanac
“ST. CYRIL AND ST. METHODIUS” UNIVERSITY OF VELIKO TARNOVO - UNIVERSITY PRESS
All Journals Pedagogical Almanac Code of Ethics

Code of Ethics

 

CODE OF ETHICS OF PEDAGOGICAL ALMANAC –

JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION

OF ST. CYRIL AND ST. METHODIUS UNIVERSITY OF VELIKO TАRNOVO

 

 

PUBLICATION ETHICS STATEMENTENT

 

The Editorial Board of Pedagogical Almanac accepts and adheres to the principles of publication ethics, adopted by the international academic community and stated in the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) – a nonprofit organization whose mission is to determine the best practices in academic publication ethics and aid the editors and publishers in their adoption.

 

Everyone involved in the publication of the journal is expected to fulfill their duties in accordance with the principles of professional ethics in the following categories:

 

ETHICAL RULES

 

1. General Provisions

The International Editorial Board of Pedagogical Almanac demands that its authors should publish scientific texts which are:

  • original papers, whether individual or in co-authorship, delineating the contributions and responsibilities of the team members;
  • developed without diverging from the fundamental values of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria and without explicitly stated biased political positions;
  • written with respect for the scientific achievements of the authors cited, by observing the highest standards of conducting discussions, using profound scientific arguments, without attacks or impolite tone to the researchers;
  • designed according to the standards, adopted by the Pedagogical Almanac journal, concerning citations and references (see Guidelines for Authors);
  • submitted for publication only in Pedagogical Almanac;
  • accompanied by a written declaration by the author/authors that the development meets the requirements of this Code of Ethics, and can be published in the paper and electronic issue of the journal. The Declaration can be downloaded here.

 

Pedagogical Almanac is a fully open access journal, which means that all articles are available on the internet to all users immediately upon publication. Non-commercial use and distribution in any medium are permitted, provided the author and the journal are properly credited. Benefits of open access for authors include:  

  • free access for all users worldwide;  
  • authors retain copyright to their work;  
  • increased visibility and readership;  
  • rapid publication;   
  • no spatial constraints.

 

2. Responsibilities and Rights of Editors

  • The editor-in-chief and the two managing editors approved by the Editorial Board shall be held liable for each issue of the journal.
  • In the capacity of compilers, the editorial team shall observe the following parameters:
    • no more than two thirds of the authors should be from St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo compared to authors from other scientific and educational institutions in Bulgaria and abroad;
    • a quantitative balance between the number of submissions in the sections differentiated by professional field, academic subject, or thematic area.
  • The editorial team shall check whether the abstract and the overall text meet the requirements set out in Section I § 1 General Provisions and in the Guidelines for Authors. Within a week, a member of the editorial team should either inform the author(s) that the abstract and text shall be admitted to the next stages of the procedure (see Guidelines for Authors), or provide well-founded motives for refusal.
  • The text admitted shall go through the University’s plagiarism detection software. It shall not be admitted to the next stages of the procedure if the matches exceed 10%, or if they are whole sentences/paragraphs/tables or non-cited scientific statements from works by the same author(s) or others.
  • Depending on the object and subject of each submission, the editorial team shall select two members of the Board of Independent Anonymous Reviewers to assess it, meeting the deadlines set out in the Procedure section (see Guidelines for Authors) and the anonymous peer review terms and conditions (see Peer Review Guidelines).
  • The editorial team shall only approve the publication of submissions that have received an unambiguously positive assessment by the two members of the Board of Independent Anonymous Reviewers involved in the assessment procedure.
  • The editor-in-chief shall be entitled to appoint an arbitrator to assess a submission rejected by the reviewers if the author has detailed its qualities in a written objection.​ 
  • The editorial team shall perform style editing and initial proofreading of the texts, informing the author(s) of their versions and corrections.
  • The editorial team shall initiate the procedure for accepting submissions for the upcoming issue of the journal in chronological order of receipt within all the deadlines set out, which start from the date of receiving the abstract, and with due regard to the first three items of this paragraph (Responsibilities and Rights of Editors).
  • The editorial team shall be entitled to redirect a submission to the next issue if the texts received earlier have already reached the current issue’s quota, as stipulated by item 2 of this paragraph (Responsibilities and Rights of Editors).
  • The International Editorial Board shall not provide information about unpublished works to third parties. 

 

3. Responsibilities and Rights of Reviewers

 

Reviewers shall be obliged:

  • to express their independent and objective opinion in favour of or against the publication of the development submitted within the deadline;
  • to assist in enhancing the quality of the development, making, if necessary, recommendations for content, structure and/or style editing;
  • to keep the confidentiality of each piece of information, related to the manuscript;
  • to inform in due course the editorial board about material already published or proposed for publication by another publisher, with content similar to the that proposed for reviewing in the Pedagogical Almanac journal.

 

Reviewers are entitled:

  • to be informed by the editor-in-chief about any possible conflict of interests (financial, institutional, between colleagues, or other kinds of dependence between an author and reviewer);
  • to withdraw from the process of reviewing a manuscript, if they decide that they cannot fulfil their duties, or if they think that their rights have been infringed.

 

4. Responsibilities and Rights of Authors

 

Authors shall be obliged:

  • to strictly comply with the terms set out in Section I § 1 General Principles of the current Ethical Rules, as well as with the formatting standards for submissions and the procedure for accepting them (see Guidelines for Authors);
  • to be responsible for the originality and scientific contributions of their publications;
  • to respect the responsibilities and rights of the editorial team (see Section I § 2);
  • to declare any potential conflict of interest that may be considered to have an adverse effect on the publication process;
  • When publishing submissions that involve interventional or empirical studies on human subjects, the author(s) must declare in writing that the subjects sampled (or their parents/guardians in the case of children or persons placed under guardianship) have given their informed consent before participating in the study, in compliance with the rules of the Declaration of Helsinki (1975), revised in 2013, with the Belmont Report on Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research (1979), and with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). If the publication presents a study involving vulnerable groups, the editorial team shall reserve the right to carry out an additional check. The declaration of compliance with ethical standards in empirical/interventional studies on human subjects can be downloaded here.

 

Authors are entitled:

  • to withdraw from publication a development within no more than one month after the date of its submission to the editorial board; 
  • to receive periodical information about the process of acceptance, editing and reviewing of the material proposed;
  • to express their opinion and propose changes (after getting acquainted with the respective work files submitted by the Editor-in-Chief) concerning:
    • the title of the heading in which their paper is placed;
    • the layout of their data in Bulgarian and English.

 

5. Responsibilities of the Publisher (St. Cyril and St. Methodius University Press)

The publisher:

  • performs a plagiarism check of all submitted manuscripts via PlagScan; this check is performed in accordance with the rules adopted by the University of Veliko Tarnovo.
  • carries out prepress of each issue, including final editing and proofreading of the materials proposed.
  • allows the authors to get acquainted with the material prepared for publication, and makes, if possible, changes related to its design requested by them.  
  • publishes an electronic, and a corresponding paper issue of the journal.
  • provides each of the authors, as well as the International Editorial Board with a paper issue of the journal to which they are entitled.
  • assists the authors of the issue by advising them about problems arising in the course of work.
  • assists the editorial board in designing projects for the development of the journal, as well as the process the issue indexation.

 

PROCEDURES IN THE EVENT OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR

 

1. Unethical Behaviour Identification

  • Unscrupulous and unethical behaviour can be identified and brought to the attention of the Editorial Board or the publisher by anyone at any time.
  • Anyone who has informed the Editorial Board or the publisher about this kind of behaviour should provide sufficient information and evidence to launch an inquiry.

 

2. Inquiry

  • The initial decision to examine and identify unethical behaviour should be made by the Editorial Board which can consult with or seek advice from the publisher if that is expedient.
  • Evidence should be collected, avoiding the circulation of accusations except those that should be known.
  • The Editorial Board, after consultations with those affected, or the competent bodies, decides on the degree of infringement.

 

3. Subsequent Actions by the Editorial Board (Based on the Ascending Gravity of the Infringement) 

  • Informing the author if the infringement cannot be overcome by the required adequate actions in the course of the process of work.
  • Official withdrawal of the publication from the journal, accompanied by information to the author, with a copy to the head of the department/faculty of the author or the financing institution.  
  • Publication of an editorial in a new issue, providing information about unscrupulousness if the transgression has been discovered after the publication of the material. 
  • Imposing an official ban on the author being published in the journal for a certain period of time.

 

COPYRIGHT

 

No-one else is permitted to use or reproduce someone else’s work in any way without the express permission of the creator or their representative. This applies to any reproduction of a work, whether found in print or online.

 

Assignation of Rights

The authors publishing in Pedagogical Almanac are concede copyright to the Publisher. The author is allowed to disseminate their work on other platforms, but are restricted from simultaneous publication with another publisher for a period of 1 year, especially if it is a new publication. The Pedagogical Almanac has got license type: CC BY-NC-ND /Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. The journal Pedagogical Almanac does not have any article processing or submission charges for authors.

The journal is an open access publication.

This Code of Ethics was adopted by the members of the International Editorial Board of the Pedagogical Almanac journal, and ratified at a meeting of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Education at St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo. It came into force on 7 September 2022.

 
  • © ST. CYRIL AND ST. METHODIUS UNIVERSITY OF VELIKO TARNOVO 2016 - 2024