Code of Publishing Ethics

Realising the necessity to set out the standards of the expected ethical conduct of all parties involved in the publishing process, the journal "Gdańsk Legal Studies" follows the guidelines of publishing ethics which are in line with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org), aimed at preventing fraudulent publishing practices.

All parties to the publishing process, as well as collaborators of "Gdańsk Legal Studies", are obliged to observe the following provisions of the Code of Publishing Ethics, which are aimed at preserving fairness and reliability in the publishing process.

CODE OF PUBLISHING ETHICS
OF "GDAŃSK LEGAL STUDIES" 

CHAPTER I
ADDRESSEES OF THE CODE OF PUBLISHING ETHICS

This Code is addressed to all individuals involved in the process of publication of scientific texts in the journal "Gdańsk Legal Studies", i.e.

  1. Authors– natural persons who create scientific texts submitted for publication in "Gdańsk Legal Studies";
  2. Editorial Team– a collective body of the journal which is composed of natural persons who run the journal and are responsible for making and implementing the editorial plan, and approving the scientific texts submitted for publication in "Gdańsk Legal Studies";
  3. Scientific Committee – a collective body of the journal which is composed of representatives of the international scientific community. The main purpose of the Scientific Committee is to foster the adequate substantive level of the content published in "Gdańsk Legal Studies" and adhere to the mission and thematic scope of the journal;
  4. Reviewers– representatives of law studies who specialise in a specific field of research and who are tasked with verifying, in formal and professional terms, a scientific text submitted for publication in "Gdańsk Legal Studies" and with expressing their opinion whether to reject or accept the text, including indicating the need to modify it if necessary;
  5. Editor-in-Chief– a member of the Editorial Team who represents the journal and manages the work of other members of the Editorial Team;
  6. Scientific Editor – a person who exercises scientific supervision over a specific theme issue of "Gdańsk Legal Studies" and ensures – in collaboration and consultation with the Editorial Team – the cohesion, timeliness and appropriate substantive level of the content scheduled for publication in that specific issue of "Gdańsk Legal Studies";
  7. Publisher – an entity responsible for technical preparation of individual issues of "Gdańsk Legal Studies", i.e. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego [Gdańsk University Press].

CHAPTER II
RULES OF PUBLISHING ETHICS – AUTHORS

  1. An Author means a person who has a significant contribution in the preparation or conduct of scientific research and the interpretation of the findings which are the subject of a scientific text submitted for publication in "Gdańsk Legal Studies".
  2. For collective works, the Author submitting a scientific text to "Gdańsk Legal Studies" shall specify co-authorship of its respective fragments. Each significant contributor should be named as a co-author the text and the submitting Author should ensure that:
  • all the co-authors are named in the scientific text;
  • each co-author has read and accepted the final version of the scientific text;
  • all the co-authors agree about publishing the scientific text in "Gdańsk Legal Studies".
  1. In particular, an Author is obliged to:
  • provide information about any conflicts of interests which may be relevant at any stage of the publishing process or may affect the content or reception of his or her text submitted for publication in the journal,
  • disclose the sources of financing of his or her scientific research being the subject of a scientific text submitted to the journal,
  • closely collaborate with all parties involved in the publishing process,
  • meet the deadlines established for the publishing process by persons responsible for its course,
  • promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief of the journal about any inaccuracies identified in his or her scientific text,
  • comply with the editorial requirements of "Gdańsk Legal Studies" published on the journal's website.
  1. An Author should send – together with his or her scientific text – a scan of the declaration available on the website of "Gdańsk Legal Studies", in which he or she shall:
  • acknowledge the authorship or co-authorship of the scientific text submitted,
  • give an assurance that the scientific text is original and has not been published before,
  • acknowledge that the information and scientific aids used in the scientific text have been obtained ethically, and that the literature sources which he or she used in the preparation of the scientific text are referenced therein,
  • acknowledge that he or she has read the provisions of this Code and undertake to observe them.
  1. An Author is obliged to provide the Editorial Team with an original text which does not breach any third party rights. In particular, no part of a text submitted to the journal for publication may be an instance of plagiarism or self-plagiarism.
  2. An Author is obliged to provide the Editorial Team with a text that has not been published before. The Editorial Team shall deem that a text has been published before if at least one of the following circumstances applies:
  • the text submitted has already been published as a whole elsewhere,
  • the text submitted uses extensive fragments of any papers by the Author which have already been published.

The aforementioned criteria shall regard papers published in any language, whether in print or electronically. Translated versions that have not been published in that language shall be deemed as originals.

  1. An Author is obliged to specify any and all sources used in the scientific text submitted, including any and all citations taken from his or her previously published papers. If an Author quotes words of other authors literally, he or she must put them in inverted commas.
  2. The transfer of economic copyright to a scientific text takes place on the basis of an agreement, under the conditions specified therein. The agreement is available on the website of "Gdansk Legal Studies" in the tab: "Important documents".
  3. Copyrights to scientific texts are transferred and belong to the University of Gdańsk.
  4. An Author shall warrant that the transferred copyrights to his or her text submitted are, as of the date of its acceptance by the Editorial Team for publication, are not limited by any third party rights and that the use and disposal of the text by the University of Gdańsk will not breach any third party rights.

CHAPTER III
RULES OF PUBLISHING ETHICS – EDITORIAL TEAM

  1. The Editorial Team should:
  • ensure that the publishing process, including the review and editorial processes, is fair and professional,
  • set out and publish the rules of reviewing scientific texts,
  • clarify and explain any and all doubts which may arise in the course of reviewing scientific texts,
  • guarantee a high professional level of scientific texts published in the journal.
  1. The Editorial Team decides whether a scientific text is included in the editorial plan taking into account the profile of the journal and planned theme range of individual issues as well as the originality of the text and its suitability for the potential readers of the journal (representatives of science and law practitioners).
  2. The Editorial Team uses all available tools and measures to prevent plagiarism, including self-plagiarism. To this end, every text submitted for publication in the journal is verified with the Similarity Checksoftware.

By plagiarism the Editorial Team understands unlawful attribution of the authorship of a work or any part thereof to oneself or deliberately misleading others as to the authorship of a given work or any part thereof.

By self-plagiarism the Editorial Team understands re-publication of one's own work (or any part thereof) without providing relevant information about it.

  1. The Editorial Team counteracts the practices of ghost writing and guest authorship.

By ghost writing the Editorial Team understands failure to acknowledge in a scientific text the authorship of persons who were involved in creating that scientific text.

By guest authorship the Editorial Team understands attribution of the authorship of a scientific text to a person who has not been involved in creating that text.

  1. In the event that the Editorial Team detects a breach of the ethical rules set forth in this Code, in particular the practices referred to in Paragraphs 3-4 above, it has the right to remove the scientific text concerned from the editorial plan and to ban the offender from publishing in “Gdańsk Legal Studies” for a specific period of time. Shall the Editorial Team detect a breach of the ethical rules set forth in this Code, in particular the practices referred to in Paragraphs 3-4 above, it shall have the right to remove the scientific text concerned from the editorial plan and to ban the offender from publishing in "Gdańsk Legal Studies" for a specific period of time.
  2. The Editorial Team publishes reviewed scientific texts which bring a significant contribution to legal studies internationally, and pursues a publishing policy which contributes to international dissemination of scientific papers.
  3. The Editorial Team represents that personal data of persons involved in the publishing process (authors, reviewers, editors) shall be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC, solely to the extent necessary for the publishing process and in connection with an Author's submission of a text for publication in the journal.
  4. The Editorial Team undertakes to respect moral copyrights of Authors, in particular to decide about how the authorship is marked and how the Authors' good name and reputation are cared for.

CHAPTER IV
RULES OF PUBLISHING ETHICS – REVIEWERS

  1. A review of a scientific text shall be made in writing and involve a Reviewer completing the review form available on the website of "Gdańsk Legal Studies". A review shall contain a conclusion whether to accept or reject the scientific text concerned.
  2. Reviewers are obliged to assess only the merits of a scientific text, exercising the highest degree of diligence and formulating their observations in a clear and precise manner.
  3. When reviewing a scientific text, a Reviewer must remain objective.
  4. Reviewers must not:
  • unlawfully use any information or research findings which they learned when reviewing a scientific text,
  • disclose a scientific text or consult its content with third parties without consent of the Editorial Team.
  1. Reviewers shall notify the Editor-in-Chief about:
  • any circumstance which prevents them from reviewing a given scientific text, including any conflicts of interests,
  • any circumstance which gives sufficient grounds to reject a scientific text.

CHAPTER V
RULES OF PUBLISHING ETHICS – ALL PARTICIPANTS OF THE PUBLISHING PROCESS

  1. All persons involved in the publishing process are obliged to keep confidential any and all information obtained when performing their duties relating to the activity of "Gdańsk Legal Studies", including in particular:
  • to keep confidential the subject of the scientific texts and research findings presented therein – until their publication in the journal,
  • to ensure confidentiality in the review process based on the double-blind review model, i.e. refrain from revealing the identity of the Reviewers to the Authors whose works are being reviewed and vice versa – the identity of the Authors to the Reviewers who are reviewing the works,
  • to refrain from using unpublished research findings of an Author for their own needs and benefits.
  1. Any conflicts of interest arising between persons involved in the publishing process should be reported to the Editorial Team promptly by e-mail at:gsp@prawo.ug.edu.pl

By a conflict of interests the Editorial Team understands a situation where any interests or relations (official, financial or other) may influence a substantive review of an article or a decision whether to publish it.

  1. All persons involved in the publishing process are obliged to perform their duties with the observance of the rules of fairness, reliability and just conduct, without discriminating or giving preferential treatment to anyone.

CHAPTER VI
FINAL PROVISIONS

Any objections and complaints regarding the activity of "Gdańsk Legal Studies", in particular regarding the rules of publishing ethics applied, can be lodged by e-mail at: gsp@prawo.ug.edu.pl.