Ethics
Ethics
Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
The Institute of Contemporary History Press (ICH Press) operates within the Institute of Contemporary History, which is a public research institute in the Republic of Slovenia. The press is edited by an editorial board, consisting of four members, appointed by the Scientific Council of the Institute of Contemporary History. The latter also appoints the editor-in-chief.
The purpose of the monographs, is to inform the scientific community and general public of the newest research in the field of Slovenian and foreign historiography, focusing on the history of the Central and South-Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th century (political, cultural, economic and social history). Expenses involved in the publishing of the monographs are in principle covered by the publisher (preferably with the financial support of the Slovenian Research Agency or partners).
The editorial board pays special attention to the precision, originality and scientific irreproachability of all articles, adheres to the highest ethical standards, and aspires to scientific excellence. The ethical principles of the ICH Press follow the guidelines recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and adhere to the Slovenian and European research and copyright legislation, regulations of the Slovenian Research Agency, Statute of the Institute of Contemporary History, and the Rules of Publishing at the Institute of Contemporary History. Any breaches of the ethical standards not covered by these rules shall be considered in accordance with the newest standards and recommendations of the COPE (http://publicationethics.org/files/).
All monographs shall be subject to double-blind peer review and equipped with complete scientific apparatuses. The monograph must consist of an introduction, core, conclusion, and summary which must be in English and Slovenian language. Footnotes should be used for references to sources and literature. In the Sources and References list, all of the sources and literature referred to in the footnotes should be listed in the alphabetical order. In cases where conflicts of interests and/or demands of the fund providers might arise, the authors must indicate the fund providers. Detailed instructions and guidelines with regard to the publication of monographs are available at https://omp.inz.si/zalozba.
The basic principles and expectations of the publisher with regard to the duties of the editorship, authors and reviewers are stated below.
Authors’ responsibilities
The authors should familiarise themselves with the ethical principles, published by the editorship at https://omp.inz.si/zalozba. These principles should be followed and observed.
The monographs, published by the ICH Press, must be carried out responsibly and in accordance with the ethical principles in science.
The authors shall assume all of the responsibility for the contents of the submitted and published monographs.
The authors are responsible for the correct indication of co-authors or references to persons who have contributed in any way to the final contents of the monograph. People who have not participated in the research or the writing of the monograph or have not made a significant contribution to the work shall not be indicated.
The authors must indicate who funded the research/monograph.
The authors shall present their findings clearly, directly, and without misappropriating or adjusting the information.
The descriptions of research approaches and methods must be clear and should allow for the further evaluation of the existing findings as well as include a description of the state of the research.
The authors shall guarantee that the research results and findings of other authors are indicated suitably and properly. It is unethical and unacceptable to present the results and findings of other authors as results of one’s own research. Verbatim citations must always be marked with quotation marks and quoted properly.
Authors shall not include any references to publications they have not actually read.
Authors are obliged to follow the copyright principles of the current legislation, and therefore they are responsible for the copyrights of all the annexes (including any graphic materials etc.), which are a part of the monograph.
The editorial board shall reject any manipulations of graphic materials and erroneous references to sources.
At the request of the editors the authors are obliged to submit all of the documentation demonstrating the course of the research and ethical proceedings.
During the creation of their monograph and during the submission and publication procedure the authors must observe all of the guidelines, published by the editorship at http://omp.inz.si.
During the submission and publication procedure the authors shall cooperate with the editor/members of the editorial board when such cooperation is specified or when they are requested to do so.
The authors shall ensure corrections in the time frame set out by the editor. They have to pay attention to the notes, list of references, captions and titles of annexes, as well as to the contents, technical presentation, quality of annexes, calculations, and everything else.
The authors shall inform the editorial board about the mistakes in the accepted or published manuscripts and agree to the publication of corrections.
Before the publication, the authors shall guarantee and ensure that the publications are original unpublished scientific contributions.
If the findings, stated in the monograph prepared for the publication, have already been published or are subject to any publication procedures, the authors are obliged to inform the editorial board of this fact.
Translations and adaptations of existing findings, texts and sources must be clearly marked and should include suitable references to the original texts.
Authors of monographs must respond to any requests of the editorship, in case the editorship decides that a response is needed.
Authors should also be aware that openly accessible scientific information benefits the general public, researchers and the economy, and that therefore all available scientific information on the basis of which their monographs have been written should be made accessible online.
Reviewers’ responsibilities
All monographs are subject to double-blind reviews. This ensures not only the anonymity of the authors and reviewers, but also the quality and authenticity of the publications. Reviewers are appointed from among the experts in the field that the submitted work focuses on.
The editor-in-chief shall be the first to review the submitted manuscript. Should the contribution be suitable in terms of its content, originality, methodology and scientific article typology, the editor shall appoint two reviewers.
The editorship shall ensure two reviews for every manuscript fulfilling the conditions. The reviewers must inform the editors of any potential conflicts of interests, which could affect their ability to provide unbiased reviews.
The reviewers shall evaluate the manuscripts in terms of
- their originality,
- importance for scientific development,
- scientific and methodological suitability (including the consideration of previous relevant research in the field under consideration), and
- suitable presentation of arguments.
The Open Monograph Press tools shall be used for the reviews. The reviewers shall fill out the review form, indicating their decision on the final evaluation of the manuscript, their findings, as well as potential notes for the authors and/or editor-in-chief.
Four decisions are possible:
- the manuscript is accepted for publication without any corrections;
- the manuscript requires minor corrections;
- the manuscript requires major corrections; in accordance with the judgement of the editor-in-chief, the same reviewers shall re-check the corrected manuscript;
- the manuscript is rejected.
In case of a negative review the monograph cannot be published by the ICH Press.
Editors' responsibilities
The editors shall respect the freedom of expression.
The editors shall consider the interests of the readers as well as the authors.
The editors shall only accept manuscripts which unquestionably comply with the required standards.
The editors maintain the right to reject or accept the manuscripts. The editorship should not have a conflict of interests regarding the acceptance or rejection of the manuscripts.
The editors are obliged to constantly improve the quality of the monographs.
The editors shall ensure the total anonymity of the reviewers and the review process.
The editors shall guarantee the integrity of academic work. The editors shall consider exclusively the scientific/expert standards regarding the publication. Business issues shall not influence the editors' decisions about the publication. The monographs should be in line with the internationally-recognised ethical guidelines.
Responsibilities of the publisher and editorial board
The editorial board shall oversee the ethical standards. The editorial board shall periodically review and supplement the ethical standards as deemed necessary.
The editorial board shall respect the freedom of expression and ensure the integrity of academic work.
The editor-in-chief shall report to the editorial board about any suspected breaches of the ethical standards.
The editor-in-chief shall ensure that the published monographs are in line with the internationally applicable ethical standards. The editor-in-chief should be mindful of the fact that the completion of the review process does not, in itself, ensure the integrity of ethical standards.
The editor shall have the obligation to act upon any suspected breach of ethical standards. Breaches could apply to the already published monographs as well as to those which have not yet been published. The editor shall have the ethical obligation to conduct an investigation and not simply reject the monograph.
Should it be established that incorrect or misleading statements or data have been published, this situation should be rectified immediately. Any rectifications should be clearly visible.
The Institute of Contemporary History (INZ) as the publisher of the monograph shall not be permitted to exert any kind of pressure over the members of the editorship and the reviewers, employed by the Institute, to breach the applicable ethical principles. The editorial board is obliged to examine such cases and report them to the supervisory bodies and fund providers of the INZ.
The editorship shall guarantee that the authors of the reviewed monographs have the option to respond.
The editorship shall decide on the inclusion of the contributions in the SICRIS/COBISS typology.
The authors, reviewers and editors shall have the obligation to report possible conflicts of interest:
- regarding the connections with persons or organisations and/or
- regarding the connections with fund providers,
which could influence them in such way as to contravene the existing ethical standards.
Consideration of unethical conduct
Unethical conduct or abuse may be brought to the attention of the editor-in-chief by anyone. Such reports may refer to the breaches of the principles, described above, or any generally applicable ethical principles. Complainants may be anonymous. The complainants shall have the obligation to submit documentation and evidence to support the claim of unethical conduct in the clearest possible manner. The editor-in-chief and the editorial board must guarantee equal and due consideration to any received report until the conclusion of the investigation.
The investigation shall be initiated by the editor-in-chief, who may consult the members of the editorial board. The investigation shall be conducted in such way that the names of the investigated persons are not revealed in public.
The editor shall first inform the accused person of the accusations. If the editor is not satisfied with the provided response, he shall contact the employer or the fund provider of the accused person.
The editor-in-chief may consider less serious breaches himself, but he is obliged to communicate them to the editorial board. Serious breaches shall be considered by the editorial board and the editor-in-chief.
Should serious breaches, resulting in the withdrawal of an entire monograph, prove to be substantiated, they have to be brought to the attention of the employer and the fund providers of the person who has committed the breach.
Investigation results (in ascending order according to the seriousness of the breach; they may be enforced individually or in conjunction):
- notice informing the person in breach of the misunderstanding or misuse of the applicable standards;
- notice informing the person in breach about the breach, and warning about future conduct;
- publication of a detailed description of the breach;
- formal letter to the employer and the fund providers of the person in breach;
- withdrawal of the monograph from publication, together with a notification of the employer and fund providers of the person in breach, index providers, and monograph readers;
- breach notification of the organisations and agencies dealing with breaches of the generally applicable ethical standards.
