Code of Ethics of the Journal Ostium
Ostium – Online Journal for Humanities is an Open-Access journal published by the civic association Ostium. Our aim is to publish high-quality scholarly papers and for this reason all the submitted papers are reviewed by two anonymous reviewers. We aim to publish papers that are characterized by terminological clarity, methodological exactness and consistent argumentation. We do not exclude popularizing style of writing, but it should not be used at the expense of exactness.
The ethics of publishing and editorial activities of the journal Ostium as well as the rejection of publishing malpractice are based on the rules of the Committee on Publication Ethics / COPE, mainly on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
Editors, authors and reviewers commit themselves to adhering to the Code of Ethics of the Journal Ostium.
Duties of Editors and Editorial Board Members
Editors are responsible for the sustainment of qualitative standard of contributions as well as for the content of further information published in the journal. They communicate with authors, reviewers, and readers in a responsible way.
After receiving a contribution they coordinate the anonymous review process involving two reviewers, to whom they send the journal’s review form which outlines the scholarly standards pertaining to contributions. They communicate the results of the review process to the authors. The review process usually takes 3 months since the submission of the contribution.
In case a contribution receives opposing evaluations, it is sent to a third reviewer and/or the Advisory Board discusses it and votes on its acceptance or rejection.
Information about new issues of the journal is communicated to the readers via public networks. Ostium is an Open Access journal accessible to all readers and with the possibility of access to published issues in its archive. The readers are also informed about the databases, in which the journal is indexed.
Editors inform the authors about changes in the indexing of the journal.
The Advisory Board operates according to the statutes of the journal Ostium. Editors continuously strive to improve the quality of the journal, expand the number of reviewers, and promote the journal and its reputation. The publisher is responsible for the publication of the journal and his duties as well as relations to the journal are specified in the statutes of the civic association Ostium.
Duties of Authors And Duties in Relation to Authors
The author is informed about the acceptance of his contribution into the review process and about its result. The editors reserve the right to publish an accepted contribution in accordance with their own editorial and time plan.
The anonymity of both the author and the reviewers is ensured in the review process.
The homepage of the journal includes an overview of the journal’s scholarly orientation as well as instructions for the authors concerning the manner and format of publication.
The author commits himself that his text has been submitted exclusively for a review process in the journal Ostium and is not simultaneously reviewed for another publication.
The author must inform the journal about the fact that his article has been published elsewhere or in a similar form. Republication of a contribution is possible only in justified cases and after the approval by the Advisory Board.
The author submits to the editors a contribution that is original, fulfils high scholarly standards, references all the sources on which it is based, and renounces forms of unethical publishing, which are specified in the Malpractice Statement.
In case the article is written by several authors, their co-authorship is acknowledged and the author communicating with the editors is obliged to inform all the authors about submitting the text for a review process.
The author submits his text without personal data and includes in a separate file the following information: name, e-mail address, academic titles, institutional affiliation and institutional address.
In case of publishing translations, photographs, reproductions, tables and other parts of text, which are subject to copyright, the author is obliged to attach information about the permission to publish such material in his contribution.
The author is responsible for publishing the information about grant, financial or other support, on the basis of which the text was produced.
In case the author finds out that some data in his article are incorrect, he immediately informs the editors – be it during the review process or after the contribution has been published.
The authors sign a License Agreement with the journal Ostium.
Duties of Reviewers
When reviewing contributions the reviewers use the form provided by the editors. They also provide the editors with further information concerning the scholarly quality and originality of the text or ethical issues of publishing (according to Malpractice Statement).
The reviewers are guided by the principles of obejctivity, impartiality, and professionalism, and they formulate their suggestions clearly and unambiguously.
They inform the editors if they find out that they find themselves in a conflict of interests.
If they are unable to elaborate an evaluation due to lack of time or other reasons they inform the editors about this as soon as possible.
The reviewers commit themselves to repect the principle of anonymity also after a contribution has been published. The reviewed manuscript and its content is not freely at their disposal, they are not allowed to make it public or show to anyone else.
Malpractice Statement
The editors are obliged to monitor and strictly reject non-ethical publishing, such as:
- Discrimination on the basis of opinions or origin, violation of plurality of opinions
- Violation of ethical rules, integrity of research and intellectual honesty
- Conflict of interests
- Plagiarism, source withholding, manipulation of information, use of fake news
- Re-publishing of contribution, copyright infringement
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In case an error is detected the editors publish its correction.
In case of a polemic the author of the criticized text will be given an opportunity to react.
In the case of authors‘ complaints about review, in controversial cases and other ethical issues, the next procedure is decided on the basis of a discussion, that proceeds from the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics / COPE and the subsequent voting in the Editorial Board.