Code of ethics guidelines accepted by the editors of Roczniki Biblioteczne [Library Annals] are based on the COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Guidelines for the editor and the publisher

Monitoring ethical standards

• The editors of Roczniki Biblioteczne abide by current laws concerning copyright, protection of personal data, libel and plagiarism.
• They oppose academic misconduct and dishonesty, especially:
  • plagiarism and self-plagiarism;
  • multiple publication and unjustified citations;
  • ghostwriting (when the text is not officially credited to its author), guest-publishing (when the text is credited to a person who has not, or only marginally, contributed to it);
  • data forgery.
• From 2023 all submissions to Roczniki Biblioteczne are screened for plagiarism using the iThenticate plagiarism detection software.

Fair play

• Only the content, originality and compatibility of the contribution with the character of the periodical are evaluated. The citizenship, ethnicity, race, gender and religious or political beliefs of contributors are not considered.
• The submissions made by the members of the journal’s editorial team are peer reviewed according to the rules set for the journal (see Peer Review Process).

Confidentiality

• All information concerning the author as well as the actions undertaken by the editors is confidential. The editors can reveal the information concerning the submitted paper only to its author/s, reviewers and publisher of the volume in which the work is to appear. Nobody in possession of these data (research results, opinions, analyses etc.) can use them before the work is published.
• The reviews of the paper are revealed only to its author/s and the publisher of the volume.

Academic integrity

• The editors of Roczniki Biblioteczne ensure that the academic integrity of publications is maintained. Only original works, prepared according to the rules of good academic conduct, with clear references to research literature and well-documented citations, are accepted for publication.
• In the case of a suspected violation of ethical rules, the editors ask the author/s of the paper submitted for publication in Roczniki Biblioteczne to respond to the objections. If the author/s give no answer or their answer is not satisfactory, the work is rejected.
• If academic misconduct occurs, especially when ethical rules are broken, the editors of Roczniki Biblioteczne inform the relevant parties about it, including the institution/s to which the author is affiliated or with which they collaborate.
• The editors are also willing to publish a rectification, explanation and excuse if needed.

Access to the content of the journal

• The editors provide free and permanent unrestricted online access to the works published in the journal at https://wuwr.pl/rbibl.

Guidelines for authors

 Academic integrity

• By submitting a paper for publication in Roczniki Biblioteczne the author/s affirm that:
  • it has been written in accordance with the principles of academic integrity;
  • the author/s hold the copyright and property right to this paper;
  • the submitted text is free of legal complications;
  • the submission, or any of its parts, has not been previously published, nor is it under consideration for publication elsewhere.
• The act of submission is the author’s declaration of consent to the publication, without payment, of their text in Roczniki Biblioteczne and its distribution that is unlimited in time or territory, including the distribution of paid and free copies of the journal on the market as well as on the Internet.
• Submissions accepted for publications must not be published elsewhere without the written consent of the editor-in-chief and/or the publisher.
• The main criterion for the evaluation of the submitted paper and its acceptance for publication is the clear and verifiable presentation of the research problem. Untrue statements, data forgery or manipulation are unethical and are not acceptable.

Acknowledgments of sources

• The paper should be based on adequate source literature, relevant to the discussion of the research problem. All the results and data collected by other authors and referred to in the submitted text must be acknowledged. It is unethical to copy references to the works, with which the authors themselves are unfamiliar, from other academic publications.

Originality and prevention of authors’ conflicts of interests

• Roczniki Biblioteczne publishes only original articles, which – as a whole or in parts – have not been published or submitted for publication in another journal or considered for publication in another form. Submitting the same text for publication in more than one place is unethical and is not accepted.

Data retention

• Authors may be asked to provide their raw data, they should be prepared to provide access to these data and retain them after their paper has been published.

Prevention of ghostwriting and guest-publishing

•  If the article has more than one author, the authors must provide the editors with information on their contributions to this article (providing their full names and affiliations and specifying the authorship of ideas, assumptions and methodology employed to prepare the paper for publication). The author submitting the work is responsible for the provision of the information required and if the paper has been submitted by its co-authors together, the first listed author holds this responsibility. The author should also provide the information as to whether and from where their publication has been financed, including the number of the grant and the name of the institution providing it, as well as the information on the contribution of academic-research institutions (indicating clear affiliation).
• Any manifestations of academic dishonesty, especially in the breaking or disregarding of the academic rules of ethics, will be revealed. The editors of Roczniki Biblioteczne inform the relevant instances, including the institution/s to which the author is affiliated or with which they collaborate.

 Guidelines for reviewers

• Reviewers of papers submitted for publication in Roczniki Biblioteczne must:
  • provide reliable, objective, unbiased and properly justified evaluation of these papers within the time indicated;
  • protect confidentiality with respect to the process of evaluation, papers reviewed and their opinion of them;
  • inform the editors about any conflict of interests or their suspicion of ghostwriting, guest authorship, plagiarism or self-plagiarism, including the indication of the dubious fragments in the submitted text.

Decisions concerning the acceptance of the paper for publication

• Every article submitted for publication is subject to double blind peer review, i.e. assessed by two independent reviewers who are not affiliated to the same institution as any of the authors of the submission.
• The two reviewers will not know the identity of the author and vice versa (double blind review process).
• Written peer reviews help the editors decide whether the reviewed paper should be accepted for publication; they also help the author improve the quality of the submitted text.

Maintaining standards of objectivity

• The evaluation concerns the significance and formulation of the research topic, employed methodology, relevance of the used sources, clarity of the argument, quality of the language (the reviewer is asked to fill in an appropriate form and justify their opinion).
• The evaluation should be reliable, objective, impartial and properly justified; it should concern only the reviewed work, not its author.
• Each review should contain a clear statement as to whether the paper should be accepted for publication, accepted for publication after the necessary corrections suggested by the reviewers have been introduced by the author or not accepted.
• If two reviewers are of different opinions, the super-reviewer, who is not affiliated to the University of Wrocław or the institution to which the author is affiliated, is consulted.
• A reviewer is not informed about the opinions of other reviewers.

Acknowledgments of sources

• The reviewer should inform the editors about their suspicion of the author’s use of their own previous works or works by other authors without referencing them. The dubious fragment/s of the text should be clearly indicated.

Confidentiality

• The reviewer should maintain confidentiality with respect to the process of evaluation of the paper, its content and their opinion about it.
• The research results contained in the submitted paper must not be used by the reviewer in their own research before the work has been published.

Prevention of reviewers’ conflict of interests

• The reviewer should not evaluate papers when there are conflicts of interests between them and the author/s or the institution/s that have contributed to the submission. Any conflict of interests should be revealed to the editors.

Punctuality

• Reviewers must provide the editors with their reviews within the indicated time. If the time limit cannot be observed, the reviewer must immediately inform the editors. 

PROCEDURES IN THE CASE OF SUSPICION OF PLAGIARISM, SELF-PLAGIARISM, GUEST AUTHORSHIP AND GUESTWRITING

• In cases of suspicion of plagiarism, the editors of Roczniki Biblioteczne adopt screening procedures (including using the iThenticate plagiarism detector), which involve both the author and reviewers. If the unauthorised use of someone’s text or research results is confirmed, the editors will inform the author that their submitted paper has been rejected. If the commitment of plagiarism is confirmed, the editors will inform the institution to which the author is affiliated about it.
• In the case of confirmed self-plagiarism, the editors write to the author/s to inform them that their submitted paper has been rejected.
• In the case of guest authorship and ghostwriting the editors write to the author/s to inform them that their submitted paper has been rejected because of legal complications. They also inform the institution/s to which the author/s are affiliated or with which they collaborate.

 

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