ETHICS

The editors of Śląskie Studia Polonistyczne use the procedures developed by The Committee On Publication Ethics.

Publication Ethics 
Śląskie Studia Polonistyczne follows the ethical principles and best practices stipulated in The Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, published by The Committee on Publication Ethics in 2011 (download a PDF). 
 
The board of editors uses a procedure that prevents guest authorship and ghostwriting (i.e., the phenomena of fake authorship and articles being written by third parties), as well as plagiarism. In the event of the detection either of these, or of the falsification of data or simultaneous publication, the editors of Śląskie Studia Polonistyczne 1. Demands explanation from authors, and 2. Takes steps following COPE guidelines. In order to prevent ghostwriting (where a  person who has significantly contributed to the composition of a text has not been named as its author) and guest authorship, all authors are required to declare that the text submitted for review is an original product of their own research. In the case of multi-author publications, authors are asked to name all of the persons (especially authorial contributors) and institutions (so-called “financial disclosure”) involved, and to state the percentage of their contributions in the production of the text. We allow for a republication of an already-published text on the condition that the previous publication was in a different language and that the author fully and unequivocally reveals the original source in an author’s statement. An author’s statement must contain detailed information about combined publications – including those in other languages – and about similar publications in the article’s first language of publication. 

The Responsibility of Editors 
Editors select articles for reviewing from among the submissions. The evaluation of an article must not be influenced by the author’s race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or politics. In the event of a conflict of interest, the person who becomes aware of it is required to inform all the other persons involved in the reviewing and publication process. Editors are obliged to protect confidentiality throughout the reviewing process. The editorial board has the right to withdraw an article if the research involved has failed to meet the requirements of accountability and trustworthiness and if the text contains indications of (auto)plagiarism or has already been published elsewhere.
 
Ethical Guidelines for Authors
Authors submit to Śląskie Studia Polonistyczne their original articles based on the research they have conducted. The submissions must name all of the authors and they should contain information about the persons and institutions that have participated in the production of the article. Articles need to meet the criteria of faithful quoting and referencing, and cannot have been submitted to other journals. Submissions undergo the reviewing process, and the authors are required to fill out an author’s statement (available on The University of Silesia Press website) where he or she responds to the review or reviews, as well as the reviewer’s suggestions for corrections, including whether or not the author has accepted them. Authors are required to follow the ethical, editorial, and bibliographical guidelines upheld by the journal. Publishing an article in Śląskie Studia Polonistyczne allows the author to retain copyright. Authors are obliged to inform the editorial board about all instances of conflicts of interest, especially in cases involving financial interests, and about all types of essential circumstances which may have had influence on their research results. In the stages of editorial work following the review, authors submit a statement concerning the originality of their work (available on The University of Silesia Press website). If editors have grounds to believe that plagiarism or ghost authorship has been committed, they must initiate counter-plagiarism procedures, which involve collecting evidence and then requiring the author to respond to the allegation. 
The editorial board of Śląskie Studia Polonistyczne uses procedures developed by The Committee on Publication Ethics, available in Polish.

Ethical Guidelines for Reviewers  
All articles (with the exception of literary pieces and interviews in the “Presentations” section) undergo the reviewing process. When assessing an article, the reviewer is expected to remain unbiased and is obliged to inform the editors about any conflict of interest if he or she becomes aware of one. The reviewer is required to submit the review by a mutually set deadline and notify the editors in the event of a delay. Should the reviewer have suspicions that an author has committed plagiarism, he or she must immediately notify the editors.