Rural Areas
and Development

RAD obliges the authors, reviewers and editors to follow ethical standards that lead to keeping high scientific level of the journal.

Publication ethics for authors

Authorship of the paper

All persons named as authors or co-authors should have made a significant contribution to the paper preparation, having a meaningful input in the elaboration of the paper at all the stages of the reported study.

Other persons who participated in certain tasks related to the preparation of the paper can be mentioned as collaborators in the acknowledgements section. An author submitting a paper should ensure that all the co-authors approve of the final version of the paper.

Ghost-writing and guest authorship are a manifestation of scientific misconduct, are unethical and illegal. Identified ghost-writing and guest authorship will be communicated by the editorial office parent institutions of the authors and alleged authors.

Research presentation standards

Authors should reliably describe the performed research study and objectively and accurately interpret results. Data should be presented in sufficient reference and detail to allow for replication of the research. Knowingly inaccurate or unreliable presentation and interpretation of data and research results constitute unethical and illegal conduct. The authors should be ready to provide research data for the needs of review for a year after the publication.

Paper originality

The authors ensure that their papers submitted for publication are their own original papers and have not been published before, both in whole or in vital parts as well as has not been submitted in any other research publication. The authors are obliged to properly acknowledge the works of others that were used in the paper preparation by citing relevant sources.

Plagiarism in all forms, including self-plagiarism, is considered unacceptable and unethical behaviour and when identified results in the paper’s rejection.

Conflicts of interest

In order to prevent any conflict of interests or competing interests, the authors are obliged to reveal in their paper all sources of project funding, contribution of any institutions, or other reasons for conflict of interest, which could have affected the interpretation or conclusions of the study.

Fundamental errors in published papers

The authors are obliged to immediately inform the editorial office, should they find in their already published papers fundamental errors affecting the interpretation and conclusions.

Publication ethics for reviewers

Contribution of reviewers to editorial decisions

The reviewers provide their reviews concerning the papers submitted to the journal. Their conclusive opinion can be: approval for publication, sending back for corrections or rejection of a paper. Opinions on the issue should be univocal.

Reviewer is obliged to analyse the scientific soundness of the research study and the quality of its presentation in the paper reviewed.

Expertise and promptness

Any reviewer feeling unqualified to review a paper on a specific topic as well as any reviewer unable to complete the review within a given time limit or should decline from reviewing the paper proposed for the review.

Confidentiality

Papers received from the editorial office should be treated as a confidential document. The papers should not be disclosed to any third parties or discussed with them – except for an authorised representative of the editorial team. The reviews are anonymous to authors and vice versa.

Preventing conflicts of interest

In the case of conflicts of interests reviewers have to immediately inform the editorial office about this fact. Moreover, papers received for review cannot be used by reviewers, in part or in whole, for personal gain, including own research.

Ethical issues

Reviewer is obliged to verify, up to his expertise, any plagiarism or similarity to any already published or considered for publishing research study.

Publication ethics for members of the editorial team

Criteria for publication of papers

It is the responsibility of the editor-in-chief to take a decision on the publication of a given paper in the journal. This decision is taken in consultation with the subject editor. The decisions of both editors are based on the two reviews of the paper, independent and anonymous for the author. When needed, the opinion of the journal’s Editorial Board is also taken into account. The ethical issues such as ghost-writing, plagiarism and any other breach of the ethics of scientific research is vital for the final decision.

Fair play

Papers sent to the editorial office are assessed based on content-related criteria and publication ethics. The assessment is not affected by any personal factors, including scientific seniority, sex, faith, race, origin, nationality or political beliefs of authors. Papers are sent for review in order of their submission.

Confidentiality

Members of the editorial team are not allowed to disclose any information on the papers submitted for publication to other people than – at respective stages of the publication procedure – authors, selected reviewers, authorised editors and representatives of the publisher.

Preventing conflicts of interest between editorial team members

Any potential conflict of interest on the side of the editor in relation to a given paper submitted for publication should be reported to the journal’s Editorial Board and the Board should appoint an editor with no conflict of interest for processing a given paper.

Unpublished papers cannot be used by members of the editorial team in part or in whole without written consent of their authors.