Acta Scientiarum Polonorum. Oeconomia accepts and applies the rules of publication ethics according to the Best Practice Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

These principles apply to all participants in the publishing process: Authors, Editors, Reviewers, and the Advisory Board at every stage of publication of texts in the journal. All articles submitted for publication in the journal Acta Scientiarum Polonorum. Oeconomia are evaluated for compliance with the principles of publication ethics, reliability, transparency, scientific value, and usefulness.

 

I. DUTIES OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Publication decision
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for making publication decisions, guided by the principles of scientific integrity, the substantive quality of the manuscript, and its significance for the development of research in the field of economic sciences, with particular emphasis on rural development.

Monitoring ethical standards
The Editorial Board regularly monitors compliance with publication ethics in relation to scientific articles and takes measures to prevent practices that violate established standards.

Compliance with legal and professional standards
All persons involved in conducting research and producing publications are required to comply with legal and professional ethics standards imposed by professional organizations and research funding entities.

Impartiality and non-discrimination
Submitted articles are evaluated on the basis of their intrinsic qualities. Issues such as gender, origin, age, religion, affiliation, academic rank and position, or political beliefs of the author(s) do not influence the assessment of articles in any way.

Confidentiality
The Editorial Board maintains confidentiality regarding the content of submitted manuscripts and does not disclose them to third parties, except reviewers or other persons involved in the publishing process.

Fair play principle
Articles submitted for publication are evaluated by the Editorial Board primarily in terms of their content, form, and technical aspects. Editorial decisions are based solely on scientific criteria, and factors such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, age, marital or parental status, disability, or political views of the authors do not influence the evaluation of submitted works.

Preventing conflicts of interest
Unpublished articles may not be used by members of the Editorial Team or other persons involved in the publishing process without the express written consent of the authors. When selecting a Reviewer, the Editorial Team takes into account the need to avoid conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest may arise in situations that could undermine the Reviewer's impartiality or influence their assessment of the work, such as professional, financial, or legal ties, personal opinions, scientific rivalry, or family ties.

Complaints, grievances, appeals
All complaints, grievances, and appeals are recorded and archived by the journal's Editorial Team. The complaint should describe the case in detail and indicate which content or actions it concerns. The Editorial office is obliged to maintain the confidentiality of the complainant's data, unless they decide to reveal their identity. Access to this information is restricted to the person submitting the complaint, authorized editors, and the publisher. The Editorial Team responds to complaints in writing within 30 days of receipt, presenting an assessment of the case and a description of the actions taken or planned in its course.

Principle of scientific integrity
Members of the Editorial Team are required to take all measures to ensure the scientific integrity of published works. To this end, they may make appropriate corrections, and in the event of suspected dishonest practices (e.g., plagiarism, falsification of research results) or other ethical violations, they have the right to decide to withdraw the article from publication.

Any manifestations of scientific misconduct, in particular: ghostwriting; guest authorship; plagiarism; fabrication or falsification of data; manipulation of data; incorrect and negligent conduct of research, and violations of scientific ethics are unacceptable and must be immediately investigated and reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Team.

Procedure in Case of Suspected Misconduct
The Editorial Board of the journal records and archives all cases of suspected misconduct. If such cases are detected, the editorial board encourages the reporting of the matter, preferably with a detailed description and indication of the content concerned. After receiving the report, the Editorial Board contacts the Author for clarification and then analyzes the evidence provided regarding violations of scientific integrity. On this basis, the Editorial Board decides to withdraw the article, introduce a correction or amendment, and, if necessary, inform the relevant institutions.

Ghostwriting and guest authorship
Ghostwriting occurs when someone makes a significant contribution to a publication but is not disclosed as one of the authors or is not mentioned in the acknowledgments of the publication. Guest authorship (honorary authorship), on the other hand, is a situation where someone who has made a minimal contribution to the creation of a publication, or has not participated in its creation at all, is nevertheless identified as the author or co-author of the publication.

In order to maintain scientific integrity, the Editorial Board selects submitted articles, taking into account the prevention of ghostwriting and guest authorship practices. Such cases are considered a violation of scientific integrity and, if detected, the Editorial Board takes action to disclose them, including notifying the relevant institutions.

Corrections, clarifications, and errata
The Editorial Board publishes corrections, clarifications, additions, or apologies as necessary. These are made available on the journal's website or in its published version.
In accordance with the principles of publication ethics and the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), if the text does not qualify for withdrawal or minor corrections, the Editorial Board may publish an erratum, supplement, or correction.
In the case of significant changes affecting the reception of the content or the determination of authorship, the supplement should be preceded by a correction from the Editorial Board, indicating the scope and reason for the changes.

Principle of openness and permanent access
The Editorial Board provides free, Open Access to all Journal content for Users.

Use of materials
Rejected articles may not be used by the editors without the author’s written consent.

 

II. DUTIES OF REVIEWERS

Double-blind review
The journal applies the double-blind peer review principle, under which authors and reviewers remain anonymous to each other.

Procedure Of Paper Reviewing here

Confidentiality policy
All reviewed works are confidential, which means that disclosure to third parties is not permitted (except to authorized persons).
Principle of maintaining standards of objectivity
Reviews should be based on objective criteria. Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate. All comments and observations made by reviewers should be properly justified.

Principle of scientific integrity
Reviewers are required to make every effort to comply with the standards and ethical principles related to the publication of scientific texts and to counteract practices that are inconsistent with these standards. In the case of suspected dishonest practices, such as plagiarism or falsification of research results, reviewers may make appropriate corrections or decide not to accept the text for publication

Principle of reliability of sources
Reviewers, if they deem it necessary, should indicate relevant works not cited by the author. In addition, they should report any significant similarities to other works to the Editorial Board.

Fair play
Issues such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, origin, citizenship, age, marital or parental status, disability, and political beliefs of the Authors cannot influence the outcome of the review in any way. Texts submitted for publication are evaluated primarily in terms of their content, form, and technical aspects.

Principle of preventing conflicts of interest among Reviewers
Reviewers may not use reviewed works for their personal benefit or needs. In addition, they should not review texts that may lead to a conflict of interest with the Author(s).
A conflict of interest for a reviewer may arise in situations where there are circumstances that may undermine their impartiality or influence their actions during the review process. These may include professional, financial, legal, or personal connections, scientific rivalry, or even family relationships.

Principle of timeliness
Reviewers should submit their reviews within the agreed deadline. If, for any reason, they are unable to meet the deadline or undertake the review, they should immediately inform the Editorial Team. 
In cases not covered by these Ethics of Publication Guidelines, the Editorial Board follows the recommendations set out in the COPE Retraction Guidelines and COPE Flowcharts. Reviewers should inform the editors if they feel unqualified in the subject area or unable to complete the review on time.

 

III. DUTIES OF AUTHORS

Rules regarding authorship
Authors may be individuals or groups who have made a real and significant contribution to the work, including design, execution, and interpretation of results. All those who contributed to the final form of the article should be included as co-authors. The submitting author is responsible for obtaining the consent of all authors for the final version of the work.
Persons whose contributions were minor (e.g., general mentoring, research coordination, data collection) may be listed in the Acknowledgments.
The order of authors must be determined and accepted by all authors of the text. After publication of the text, changes to author information may be made in accordance with the procedures indicated by COPE.

Prior to publication, the author(s) submit(s) a Licence Agreement to the Editorial Office, confirming that the criteria for authorship specified in this Publication Ethics have been met.
The Author undertakes to make editorial corrections, respond to reviews, and participate in discussions or debates at the request of the Editorial Board. The author also has the right to submit corrections to the text and expect them to be taken into account by the Editorial Board.

Only humans can be authors of scientific texts. AI tools cannot be considered authors or co-authors.

Fair play principle
Texts submitted for publication are evaluated by the Editorial Board primarily in terms of their content, form, and technical aspects. The Editorial Board's decisions must be based on scientific values, and factors such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, age, marital or parental status, disability, or political beliefs of the authors must not influence the evaluation of articles. If an Author suspects that the principle of fair play has not been observed, they may lodge a complaint or grievance with the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.

Principle of scientific integrity
Authors submitting texts for publication are required to provide a reliable description of their research work and an objective interpretation of the results. The works should contain sufficient information to identify the sources of data and repeat the research. It is unacceptable to present and interpret data and research results in a manner inconsistent with ethical principles, which may result in the withdrawal of the text.
Any manifestations of scientific misconduct, in particular: ghostwriting; guest authorship; plagiarism; fabrication or falsification of data; manipulation of data; incorrect and unethical conduct of research, and violation of scientific ethics are unacceptable and must be immediately investigated and reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and the Advisory Board. The Editorial Office of the journal is required to record and archive such cases.
Manuscripts that do not meet the standards of scientific integrity will not be accepted for publication. If scientific misconduct is detected after publication, the Editorial Team will contact the Author, gather evidence, and decide whether to retract, correct, or notify the relevant Institutions. The Author has the right to appeal the Editorial Team's decision.

Principle of source reliability
Authors of submitted works are required to always indicate publications and other sources that they have used in creating their article.

Principle of originality of work
Authors may only submit their own original texts for publication. These texts may not be simultaneously submitted to other journals or be part of already published publications. Authors who use the research, data, or words of others should use appropriate citation marks. Plagiarism or fabrication of data is unacceptable.

Principle of preventing conflicts of interest of Authors
Unpublished articles may not be used by members of the Editorial Team or any other persons involved in publishing procedures without the written consent of the Authors.
When submitting their manuscripts, authors are required to disclose information about the sources of funding for the publication and support provided for the research by institutions, organizations, or other persons and entities (financial disclosure).
The Editorial Board may ask authors to submit an anonymized version of their manuscript in order to maintain confidentiality during the review process.

Data sharing policy
Authors should be prepared to share raw research data upon request by the Editorial Board. Attaching data to articles is not mandatory; data may be archived in open repositories and properly cited, e.g., with a DOI.

Rules concerning errors in published works
If the Author discovers significant errors or inaccuracies in their text, they are obliged to immediately notify the Editorial Board of the journal in order to withdraw the text, prepare an errata, or correct the errors.
By submitting an article for publication, the author declares that they will comply with the Editorial Board's request to provide explanations regarding any complaints, grievances, or allegations of scientific dishonesty concerning the published text.

Text corrections and additions
During the editorial process, prior to publication, the author, editors, and reviewers may jointly correct the text through discussion. By submitting a text for publication, the author agrees to actively participate in discussions with the journal's editorial staff.
The editorial board reserves the right to make corrections to the text after its publication without informing the authors, but this applies only to minor changes. Minor changes include, for example, formatting and spelling corrections. These are not significant corrections that affect the reception or scope of the presented content.
Significant changes, such as withdrawing an article due to an error, adding or removing an author, or correcting data affecting the interpretation of research results after publication, may be implemented in accordance with the procedures indicated by COPE.

Withdrawal of text by the Author
The Author has the right to withdraw the submitted text in the event of gross negligence on the part of the Editorial Office. In the event of significant delays, the Editorial Office shall inform the Authors of the reasons and the expected time of processing the article. Complaints and requests for withdrawal should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief.
Ethical oversight compliance rules
If the text concerns research on humans, animals, embryos, dual-use products, or sensitive data, the Author must provide the Editorial Office with a statement of compliance with applicable regulations and procedures.

Respect for intellectual property rights
The Author declares that the article is original and does not infringe on the rights or personal interests of third parties. The Author must also obtain consent for the publication of images, statements, or works of persons used in the text.

ORCID number
We recommend providing an ORCID identifier to ensure clear researcher identification.

Charges 
The journal charges an Article Processing Charge (APC), the amount of which is specified in the Charges tab.

AI policy

The journal has a policy on the use of artificial intelligence and requires authors to submit a statement regarding the use of AI in the preparation of their article.

Author Statement on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
(downloadable version)

 

Prevention of Scientific Misconduct

All submitted manuscripts are checked for plagiarism using the Similarity Check (Crossref) system.
The Editorial Board takes actions to prevent unethical practices such as plagiarism, self-plagiarism, multiple publication, ghostwriting, and guest authorship.

In the event of serious errors being detected, the Editorial Board may:

• publish a correction,
• retract the article,
• notify the relevant institutions about the breach of ethical principles.

Readers may report any concerns or suspicions of ethical misconduct to the Editorial Office each case is examined individually.

Contact the Editorial Office of the Journal

Any concerns regarding scientific integrity should be addressed to: acta_oeconomia@sggw.edu.pl