The editors of the ‘Quarterly Journal of the History of Science and Technology’ endeavour to observe the following ethical standards at every stage of the editing process in order to ensure the reliability of the articles published in the Journal.

 

Objectives and definitions

Application of the following rules aims to avoid misconduct regarding the publication of articles and the conflict of interest between the editors, the authors, and the reviewers.

 

Misconduct regarding the publication of the articles includes especially:

  • plagiarism (presenting the entire work or a part of others’ work as one’s own, including citing or paraphrasing its text without adequate references),
  • self-plagiarism (presenting a text which has already been publishedor partially published, or which has been submitted to another journal as a new and unpublished text),
  • redundant publication (presenting the same data, information, and conclusions in two or more papers without cross-references),
  • fabricated data (presenting data and information which are not supported by sources or experiments),
  • ghost authorship (concealing the real author of the text or of a part of the text),
  • guest/honorary/gift authorship (listing as authors of the article persons who did not participate in preparing the article, especially the superiors of the real authors).

 

A conflict of interest is understood as:

  • holding a subordinate or a superior post,
  • other economic relations that may hinder impartial evaluation of the text,
  • direct scientific cooperation within two years prior to the review,
  • immediate personal relationship.

 

Policies of publication and copyright

Articles in the ‘Quarterly Journal of the History of Science and Technology’ are published free of charge.

 

Texts are published in a printed issue and (since 2018) electronically at the Journal’s website at the eJournals. Scientific Journals Online portal. Access to the on-line edition of the Journal is free of charge. The on-line edition of the Journal will remain available at the aforementioned website even if the Journal is no longer published.

 

Articles in the Journal are issued under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International). Read more: license summary, license text.

 

Procedures in the case of misconduct

In the case of alleged misconduct regarding the publication of the articles, the editors will aim to explain the case quickly and honestly in accordance with the rules and flowcharts codified by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Detailed description of the procedures and proper conduct are presented at Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) website.

 

In the case of disclosed misconduct in respect of a yet unpublished article, the editors will take one of the following actions:

  • the editors will call the author to make the necessary changes in the article, will suspend the reviewing procedure, and/or appoint additional referees (e.g. in the case of doubts with respect to the presented results or the list of authors),
  • the editors will reject the article and will inform the interested third parties, such as the employer of the author or the editors of other journals to which the same article was submitted, if necessary (e.g. in the case of disclosed plagiarism or redundant publication).

 

In the case of disclosed misconduct in respect of an already published article, the editors will take one of the following actions:

  • the editors will publish a correction in the next printed issue and at the Journal’s website (e.g. in the case of minor corrections or changes in the list of authors),
  • the editors will publish the letter to the editor in the next printed issue and at the Journal’s website (e.g. when there is a need to explain the changes in the list of authors),
  • the editors will publish an expression of concern in the next printed issue and at the Journal’s website (e.g. in the case of  serious doubts with respect to the data presented in the article, if the author does not provide satisfactory explanations),
  • the editors will retract the article, publishing adequate information in the next printed issue and at the Journal’s website (e.g. in the case of disclosed plagiarism or redundant publication).

 

Duties of the editors

The editors are obliged to:

  • decide upon the publication of submitted articles only with reference to their scientific merit and reviewers’ opinions, regardless of the author’s ethnic and social background, religious and philosophical beliefs, race, gender, sexual orientation, or institutional affiliation,
  • provide information at the Journal’s website about the guidelines for the authors and about the reviewing procedures,
  • inform the authors about the decisions upon publishing or rejecting the submitted texts, together with justification, conclusions of reviews, and suggestions of changes in the texts,
  • maintain the confidentiality of the authorship of submitted articles prior to their publication and the confidentiality of the conclusions of reviews,
  • not use the submitted texts for any other purpose than their publication,
  • publish corrections, rectifications, apologies, and other information related to already published articles, or to retract a published article whenever necessary,
  • abstain from editorial works on the text, if there is a conflict of interest with its author,
  • follow the personal data protection regulations during the publishing process.

 

Duties of the authors

By submitting the text to the Journal, the author ipso facto ensures that:

  • the research described in the article has been conducted in accordance with the principles of scholarly conduct and that the article is based on the real data,
  • the article is an original and unpublished work (except for translations) and has not been submitted to another journal,
  • the list of the authors is complete and all of the listed authors have contributed to writing the article,
  • the author has received the permission from the copyright owners to reproduce all the images used in the article,
  • the author is acquainted with the data protection clause, published at the Journal’s website, and agrees to its provisions.

 

The authors are obliged to:

  • cooperate with the editors during the reviewing and publishing process,
  • give reference in the text if the article is a reprint or a translation,
  • provide information about the received research funding,
  • notify the editors about any potential conflicts of interest during the publishing process,
  • provide the editors with the corrections to the article, or to retract the article whenever necessary.

 

Duties of the reviewers

The reviewers are obliged to:

  • assess the article honestly and impartially,
  • present the opinions and corrections which can improve the scientific merit of the article,
  • maintain the confidentiality of the reviewed article and to not use it for any other purpose than the reviewing process,
  • abstain from reviewing the article if its subject exceeds their expertise,
  • notify the editors about any potential misconduct in the reviewed article,
  • notify the editors about a potential conflict of interest,
  • follow the personal data protection regulation with respect to the reviewed article.