CODE OF ETHICS

This CODE OF ETHICS describes the ethical standards which must be followed by everyone involved in the publication, published by “St. Cyril and St. Methodius” University of Veliko Tarnovo. They correspond to the established international standards of publication ethics and contribute to producing academic work of the highest quality. The Editorial Board 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:

Duties and responsibilities of the publisher (St. Cyril and St. Methodius University Press)

The publisher is responsible for the prepress processing of each issue of the journal, as well as for the final editing and proofreading of the manuscripts. It gives the authors the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the texts that have been prepared for publication and makes the necessary corrections.

The journal is published both in print form and electronically. A paper copy is given to each author, as well as to each member of the international editorial board.

The publisher assists the compilers of each issue by providing adequate answers to questions which have arisen in the work process. It also helps the editorial board in their work on projects aimed at the development of the journal. The publisher also participates in the process of indexing the journal in the International Databases.

Duties and responsibilities of the editors

The editors decide which manuscripts to publish based on their academic value (originality, clarity and relevance) with no consideration of gender, race, ethnic origin, political or religious philosophy, and social or institutional affiliation of the author(s). All decisions pertaining to the editing and publishing of the manuscripts are made by the journal’s team. No other party is allowed to influence these decisions.

The editors guarantee that all submitted manuscripts go through a double-blind peer-review process involving two reviewers who are experts in the relevant field. If necessary, the manuscript is given to a third reviewer who assumes the role of an arbiter. During this process, the anonymity of all parties is guaranteed. The decision whether to publish a manuscript is based on its qualities which are determined by the reviewers. Another factor which is taken into account is the relevance of the manuscript to the academic profile of the journal as well as to the topic of the specific issue. The editorial board informs the author of its decision. Prior to the double-blind peer review, all submitted manuscripts are subjected to a plagiarism check with PlagScan. The plagiarism check is performed in accordance with the rules adopted by the University of Veliko Tarnovo.

The editorial board cannot reveal any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone except to those who directly participate in the evaluation and publication process.

The editorial board cannot use any unpublished part of a manuscript, or give it to a third party, without the written consent of the authors. The information received as a result of handling the manuscript is considered confidential and will not be used to anyone’s personal benefit.

The editors will react to any misdemeanor and, if necessary, will take respective measures – correction, rejection, expression of concern or any other pertinent action.

Regarding all issues that have not been discussed here the editorial board will follow the recommendations published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Duties and responsibilities of authors

Authors must provide a detailed description of their work as well as an objective estimation of its significance. The article must contain a sufficient number of details and references so as to allow other scholars to verify and confirm the presented facts and sources. Falsified or deliberately inaccurate assertions are considered unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Authors may be requested to provide the editors with the raw data related to the article. They must be prepared to grant other scholars and researchers access to these data after the publication of the article, under the strict observance of copyright laws and property rights related to the raw data.

Authors are obligated to participate in the double-blind peer-review process and answer any queries from the editorial board in time. These queries may be related to the raw data, ambiguities in the text or copyright issues. Authors must take into account all comments and recommendations, make the necessary corrections and resubmit the manuscript.

Authors must guarantee that their work is original. Authors are expected to cite other people’s work and ideas explicitly. Manuscripts must be free of plagiarism. Plagiarism in all its forms (appropriation of someone else’s work, paraphrasing substantial parts of someone else’s work without crediting the author, appropriation of someone else’s research results etc.) constitutes unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

Authors must ensure that the manuscript has been submitted only to this edition and is not under consideration, or accepted for publication, or in press, or published elsewhere. This would constitute unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

Authors must reveal their funding sources as well as all existing or potential conflicts of interest, such as using someone else’s work, consultations, honorariums paid, expert evaluations etc. Potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed as early as possible.

If an Author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her work, it is the Author’s obligation to notify the Editors promptly and cooperate with them to correct or retract the article.