As a publisher, WSB Merito University in Poznan must run its publishing activities according to national and international regulations and accepted publication standards, emphasising publication ethics. "Studia Periegetica" follows ethical standards developed and recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

In the case of detecting a violation of the ethical rules applicable in "Studia Periegetica", appropriate steps will be taken against the authors to clarify the existing abuses. If they are described, the review process will resume. Otherwise, the process will be suspended until all doubts are clarified. In the case of the editor-in-chief's unsatisfactory explanations submitted by the authors, the editor will inform the institutions employing the authors or other relevant authorities about the situation.

1. Allegations of misconduct – On principle, whether an article is accepted or rejected for publication is made exclusively and independently by the journal’s editor-in-chief. When selecting articles for publication, the editor-in-chief considers the journal’s policy and the article’s scientific merit, considering regulations concerning libel, copyright violations and plagiarism. On principle, published articles remain unchanged and are archived in WSB Merito University and the National Library in Warsaw, except in rare cases of published articles that have been withdrawn or removed, which is also indicated in the archives. 

2. Authorship and contributorship – "Studia Periegetica" has a clear policy to unambiguously identify authorship and contributorship of articles and a process for managing potential disputes. An article's authorship is attributed to persons who have contributed considerably to the study's idea, implementation and interpretation described in the article.

"Studia Periegetica" follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines, which state that to qualify for authorship of a manuscript, authors must meet all four criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Those who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgements.

Authors are required to complete the CRediT author statement. CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) includes 14 roles that can be used to represent the roles played by each author. Authors may have contributed in multiple roles.

Articles are licensed under an Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. If the author learns about cases of plagiarism or violations of his copyright, they are expected to inform the publisher about it immediately.

3. Complaints and appeals – WSB Merito University keeps a register of complaints and appeals against the journal, its staff, editorial board or publisher, concerning violations of publication ethics.

4. Duties of the Publisher - The publisher performs an essential function in the process of scientific communication. It is, above all, the investor and promotor of scientific and academic publishing, which is, intrinsically, a non-profit activity. It is also the publisher's responsibility to create conditions for applying best practices in its publications. WSB Merito University follows the regulations and principles of scientific editing recommended by the Higher Education and Scientific Research Act of 20 July 2018 [ustawa z dnia 20 lipca 2018 r. Prawo o szkolnictwie wyższym i nauce, Dz.U. poz. 1668]. These recommendations aim to guide editors-in-chief, reviewers and authors in the ethical performance of their professional duties.
The publisher is obliged to:
– Safeguard editorial independence;
– Keep and archive the scholarly record;
– Implement industry best practice;
– Provide editors and employees of "Studia Periegetica" with technical, procedural & legal support,
– Educate researchers on scientific editing and publishing ethics.

5. Duties of the editor-in-chief - The editor-in-chief of "Studia Periegetica" is appointed and dismissed by the Rector of WSB Merito University in Poznan after consulting the Publishing Committee.
The editor-in-chief is obliged to:
– Assume full responsibility for ensuring that articles meet the conditions for publication by conducting internal evaluation of submissions using anti-plagiarism tools;
– Safeguard impartial, timely and anonymous evaluation of submitted articles by at least two external and independent reviewers and recourse to experts' opinion in the case of disagreement. Only sufficiently qualified specialists holding at least a doctoral degree can be asked to conduct peer review;
– Collect, analyse and assess information about the existence or non-existence of conflicts of interest – all authors are obliged to submit conflict of interest declarations;
– Ensure fair treatment in evaluating manuscripts – each submission's scientific merit should be the primary criterion for selecting articles for publication. In the review process, the editor-in-chief shall use a standard electronic review form, which ensures anonymity and is the same for all authors. In cooperation with the publisher and the journal's editing board, the editor-in-chief shall establish a transparent mechanism for handling disputes and appeals against editorial decisions. The editor-in-chief shall remain impartial, regardless of the author's race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political views;
– Ensure that the journal is indexed in recognised bibliographic databases – the editor-in-chief shall make an effort to increase the national and international impact of the journal without any attempts to influence its rankings by, e.g. providing false information in journal assessment surveys or manipulating citations;
– Ensure confidentiality – the editor-in-chief shall protect the confidential nature of all materials submitted to the journal, especially the identity of reviewers and all communications with them. Privileged information obtained from submitted articles and during the review process cannot be used in the editor's research without the author's written consent. Nor can this information be used for the personal benefit of the editor or other persons associated with them;
– Obtain written declarations of potential conflicts of interest from those involved in peer review and keep a written record of potential conflicts of interest throughout the publication process. The editor-in-chief cannot be involved in making decisions concerning an article he or she has authored or co-authored or one written by a member of his/her family or his/her colleagues. In such case, the editor-in-chief has to submit a written declaration that he or she has not been involved in qualifying the article for publication;
– Supervise the published record – the editor-in-chief shall monitor and collect readers' opinions about the quality of the published content and its authors' publication ethics, reviewing and assessing cases of reported or suspected misconduct. The editor shall establish transparent procedures for handling claims of ethical misconduct and law violations. The guidelines are listed on the publisher's website.

6. Duties of reviewers - A properly conducted peer review is commonly considered to be an essential element of appropriate scientific communication. Reviews can only be performed by competent researchers with substantial, documented expertise in a given field (at least a doctoral degree).

A reviewer is obliged to:

– Participate in the timely evaluation of submitted articles (external evaluation) – a formal review enables the editor-in-chief to make an appropriate qualification decision and helps the author to correct the article. A reviewer should not undertake the task of reviewing an article if he or she is not able to conduct it in a reliable and timely manner. A sample review form is available on the publisher's website;

– Respect the principle of confidentiality – articles submitted for review shall be treated as confidential, and its contents shall not be shared with anyone except the editor-in-chief, editorial members and Advisory Board members. The reviewer cannot use unpublished information without the author's written consent. Neither the reviewer nor any third parties associated with him or her can use information obtained through peer review in their research without the author's written consent. Privileged information cannot be used for the benefit of the reviewer or any person associated with him or her;

– Be particularly alert to ethical issues – a reviewer should pay attention to any potential ethical problems in the reviewed article and should inform the editor-in-chief and the Rector of WSB Merito University if any such problems have been detected (plagiarism, auto plagiarism, lack of citations, incorrect citations, etc.);

– Remain impartial and not be involved in a conflict of interest – reviews should be prepared objectively, avoiding personal bias and personal criticism of the author. Any critical remarks should be explicit and polite and should be supported with arguments. Only the article's contents are subject to review, and not what is not included in it. Every review should end with a statement specifying whether the article qualifies for publication or if it should be rejected. In each case, the reviewer should notify the editor-in-chief about potential conflicts of interest.

7. Duties of authors - Authors are obliged to:
– Respect the publication standards – the author of an original article should accurately describe the conducted research work (research material and method) and an objective discussion of its significance. The article should list references containing all the necessary information, enabling others to replicate the work. It is inadmissible and unethical to include false or inaccurate information;
– Retain underlying research data for a period specified in the publishing agreement and make them accessible to the publisher, editor-in-chief or a reviewer upon request,
– Submit an original manuscript (previously unpublished), acknowledge bibliographical sources and provide accurate references by appropriately citing publications (in compliance with editorial requirements for authors). It is illegal and highly unethical to commit any form of plagiarism (including auto plagiarism of one's work; versions of an article translated into other languages are not regarded as auto plagiarism, but authors should indicate that the translated version is a translation of their original work);
– Ensure that figures included in the article are original and of sufficient quality and are appropriately acknowledged by providing accurate references;
– Indicate the use of non-orthodox methods or hazardous substances that may pose a threat to humans or animals and provide legally required documentation;
– Respect the confidentiality of publication details designated by the publisher as confidential;
– Provide an unambiguous and fact-based indication of his or her contribution to the reported study (authorship, co-authorship, contributorship), which is reflected in the publishing agreement and the published article;
– Submit a conflict of interest declaration (sources of financial support for the study and/or the preparation of the article, assistance in data collection and interpretation during the writing process);
– Inform the publisher about any significant errors in the published article and cooperate in the efforts to remove them.

8. Conflicts of interest / mutual interest – WSB Merito University defines the concept of a conflict of interest in the following way: a conflict of interest occurs when one party of the editorial process (author, reviewer or editor) has personal and/or financial connections or other reasons (e.g. prejudices) that could inappropriately affect its work in the editorial process (the submission of a manuscript, reviewing, editorial decisions, communications with authors, reviewers and editors). WSB  Merito University shall establish a procedure for handling cases of a conflict of interest or mutual interests involving authors, reviewers, editors, journals and publishers – both before and after the publication of an article. All participants in the editorial process must reveal all connections that could constitute a conflict of interest.

9. Data and reproducibility – "Studia Periegetica" shall publish articles containing sources of data, according to editorial requirements for authors.

10. Ethical oversight – "Studia Periegetica" shall require appropriate consents, permissions and releases, including cases when reported research involves the use of human or animal subjects and compliance with applicable regulations concerning the handling of confidential information.

11. Intellectual property – One of the core principles of the publishing policy is that only new, previously unpublished articles are accepted for consideration. Each author must declare that their article is entirely original, and if it contains fragments of someone else's work, they should be appropriately acknowledged in bibliographical references, with quotes inserted between quotation marks and providing the source. Authors should not publish articles describing the same research problem in multiple journals. The following are not considered prepublications: a diploma thesis, a master's thesis, a doctoral dissertation, a habilitation dissertation, an abstract or an electronic preprint.

12. Journal management – WSB Merito University has been operating as a publishing house since 1994. It has its own publishing infrastructure and experienced editorial and publishing staff. Its operation is based on a transparent business model, which enables efficient running of an editorially independent journal and the publication of scientific books.

13. Peer review process – "Studia Periegetica" has adopted the model of double-blind review. The peer review process is transparently described here.

14. Post-publication discussion and corrections – “Studia Periegetica” accepts letters from readers and is committed to correcting any factual errors. After detecting an error in a published article, the author must immediately notify the journal’s editor-in-chief or publisher and cooperate to remove the error.

15. Anti-plagiarism procedure - All articles submitted to "Studia Periegetica" go through an anti-plagiarism procedure. For this purpose, "Studia Periegetica" has joined CrossCheck and CrossRef. Thanks to this, we use iThenticate software in the anti-plagiarism procedure.

ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT BY "STUDIA PERIEGETICA"

"Studia Periegetica" is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in academic publishing. Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to adhere to the following ethical principles:

1. Authorship and Originality. Authors must ensure their submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere. Any borrowed content, ideas, or data should be cited appropriately, and permission must be obtained to reproduce copyrighted material. Authors should list all individuals who have contributed substantially to the research and manuscript. They must also ensure that all listed authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript and have agreed to its submission for publication.
2. Plagiarism and Data Falsification. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited, including the unattributed use of others' work or ideas. Authors should accurately represent their research findings and not manipulate data or results to fit a particular narrative.
3. Conflicts of Interest. Authors must disclose any financial, personal, or professional conflicts of interest that could influence their research or interpretation. Editors and reviewers are also expected to declare any conflicts of interest.
4. Peer Review. "Studia Periegetica" employs a rigorous peer-review process to ensure the quality and integrity of its published articles. Reviewers are asked to provide unbiased, constructive, and timely feedback. Editors make final decisions based on the reviewers' recommendations and the manuscript's academic merit.
5. Transparency and Corrections. Authors should promptly inform the journal if they discover any significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work. Corrections or retractions may be issued as necessary to maintain the integrity of the scientific record.
6. Human and Animal Research. Authors conducting research involving humans or animals must adhere to relevant ethical guidelines and obtain necessary approvals, including informed consent and ethical review board approval.
7. Copyright and Licensing. Authors retain the copyright of their work published in "Studia Periegetica" and grant the journal a license to publish it. Readers are allowed to use the published work for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution.
8. Editorial Responsibilities. Editors ensure that all published content meets the journal's ethical guidelines. They must handle all submissions impartially, avoiding discrimination or bias.
9. Reporting Misconduct. Any concerns or suspicions of ethical misconduct should be reported to the journal's editorial team for investigation. Appropriate actions will be taken to address any confirmed instances of misconduct.
10. Malpractice. Authors who engage in malpractice, including plagiarism, data fabrication, or other unethical behaviour, may face retraction of their work and be barred from future submissions to "Studia Periegetica".

"Studia Periegetica" is dedicated to fostering ethical research and publication practices. We rely on the collaboration and commitment of our authors, reviewers, and editors to maintain the highest standards of integrity and quality in scientific publishing.

September, 1^st, 2023

Marek Nowacki, editor-in-chief of "Studia Periegetica"