Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice
Statement
The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering
is peer-reviewed research journal published by Vilnius
Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) Press. The journal is
committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards. Our
ethic statements are based on COPE’s Code of Conduct and
Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. In order to
provide our readers with a research journal of high quality,
The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering
is guided by the following principles:
EDITORS
The editor is responsible for maintaining the integrity
of the academic record, for having processes in place to
assure the quality of the material they publish and for
precluding business needs from compromising intellectual and
ethical standards.
Editors’ decisions to accept or reject a paper for
publication should be based on the paper’s importance,
originality and clarity, and the study’s validity and its
relevance to the remit of the journal. Each manuscript
should be judged without regard to the race, gender,
religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship or political
philosophy of the authors.
Articles may be rejected without review if the Editor
considers the article obviously not suitable for
publication.
The editor must not use privileged information or ideas
obtained through peer review for personal gain or to
discredit others.
The editor ensures that appropriate reviewers are
selected for submissions (i.e. individuals who are able to
judge the work and are free from disqualifying competing
interests).
Using the double-blind peer review system neither
reviewers’ nor author’s identities are revealed to the other
party to ensure the quality of research published in the
journal. There are at least two or more reviewers for each
paper published in the journal.
The editor has systems in place to give authors the
opportunity to make original research articles freely
available.
The editor has systems to ensure that material submitted
to their journal remains confidential while under review.
REVIEWERS
The reviewers assist the editors in taking the decision
of publishing a submitted manuscript. By formulating
suggestions to the authors, the reviewers can contribute to
the improvement of submitted works.
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as
confidential documents. They must not be shown to or
discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal
criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should
express their views clearly with supporting arguments,
should not submit an inadequate or superficial review.
The reviewers should comment on the originality of
submissions and should be alert to redundant publication and
plagiarism.
The reviewers should declare any potential conflicts of
interest and excuse themselves from involvement with any
manuscript they feel they would not be able to review
objectively or fairly.
AUTHORS
The authors ensure that they have submitted original
works, i.e., material that has neither been published
elsewhere, nor is under review elsewhere, and if the authors
have used the work and/or words of others that this has been
appropriately cited or quoted.
The authors ensure that all individuals named as authors
have legitimate input into the work and manuscript and that
everyone who was involved with the work and preparation of
the manuscript is listed.
Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always
be given. Authors should cite publications that have been
influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to
permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly
inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are
unacceptable.
Authors should present their results clearly, honestly,
and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data
manipulation.
Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal
is considered as an unethical publishing behaviour and is
unacceptable.
All authors should disclose in their manuscript relevant
funding sources.
Authors are required to declare whether or not they have
financial professional, or personal interests from other
parties or other conflict of interest that might be
construed to influence the results or their interpretation
in the manuscript.
When an author founds error or inaccuracy in his/her own
published work, it is the author’s obligation to notify the
journal editor and cooperate with him to retract or correct
the paper. In cases of alleged or proven scientific
misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism the
publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will
take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and
to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt
publication of a correction statement or erratum or, in the
most severe cases, the retraction of the affected work.
|
