Policies and Principles of Committee on Publication Ethics

Acta Innovations and its editorial board fully adhere and comply to the policies and principles of COPE – Committee on Publication Ethics.

Publication ethics and publication malpractice statement for authors

Data access and retention - data sharing and reproducibility

Data sharing is essential for translation of research into knowledge, products and processes. Making data available has become increasingly common for researchers. Hence, to promote fairness and transparency, authors may be asked to provide the data either for editorial review, or to provide public access to such data. In well justified cases, authors may opt out and can retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and plagiarism

Plagiarism is essentially a form of academic dishonesty or cheating. Therefore, the authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. If the authors have used external source, all of them must be adequately and accurately acknowledged. Plagiarism can take a number of forms, including copying, paraphrasing, summarizing, cobbling, collusion. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Reporting standards

An essential principle of publication is that others should be able to replicate. A condition for this is that authors are required to make materials, data, procedures and associated protocols available to readers. Any deviations from this rule constitutes unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication

All the manuscripts should be submitted exclusively to the Acta Innovations. Submission to more than one journal is unethical and is unacceptable publishing behavior. Detection of such misconduct will result in immediate rejection of the submitted work.

Acknowledgement of sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. If the author has referred to other works, whether quoting them directly or using their facts and figures, it is mandatory to acknowledge or credit those sources. Otherwise, the authors will be accused of plagiarism. Any information obtained privately (e.g., conversation, correspondence, or discussion) must not be used or reported without written permission from the source. Confidential information must not be used without the explicit written permission of the owner of this information.

Authorship

Authorship provides credit for an individual’s contributions to a study and carries accountability. Although there are no universally accepted standards for assigning authorship, responsibility for decisions lies with those who carried out the work reported in the publication. The authorship criteria should be agreed by all investigators at an early stage of the research. Normally, an author is an individual judged to have made a substantial intellectual or practical contribution to a publication and who agrees to be accountable for that contribution. Anyone listed as an author on a paper should approve the final version of the paper and accept responsibility for ensuring that he or she is familiar with its contents and can identify his or her contribution to it. Any minor contributions should be properly acknowledged.

Hazards and human or animal subjects

Any unusual hazards inherent in the use of chemicals, procedures or equipment must clearly identify in the manuscript. In the case of work involving animals or human subjects, the authors should ensure compliance with relevant policies including the collection of all required authorizations. The primary concern is minimizing or alleviating the animal's pain and utilizing appropriate alternatives to animal testing when possible. Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects including the data protection rights.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

A conflict can occur when the author personal interests, personal relationships or duties to others compete with the author obligations to impartiality. The conflict of interest can be financial or non-financial or both and is when it influences the results or interpretation of them. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Peer review

Authors are the key element of the peer review process. To facilitate this process, the authors should cooperate fully by responding promptly to editors’ requests. Whenever requested, authors should respond to the reviewers’ comments in timely manner, revising and re-submitting their manuscript to the journal according to the requests of the editor.

Fundamental errors in published works

It is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper in case of discovered significant error or inaccuracy. If the editors or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy, then it is the authors’ obligation to promptly correct or retract the paper or provide evidence to the journal editors of the correctness of the paper.

Publication ethics and publication malpractice statement for editors

Publication decisions

The editor is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board who may confer and refer to reviewer recommendations in making this decision, constrained by legal requirements related to libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Peer review process

All of a journal’s content should be subjected to peer-review. Articles submitted for possible publication are subjected to a single-blind, peer review process. Articles are first reviewed by the editor and if needed the member of the editorial board might be requested to provide his/her opinion. The editor sole responsibility is to reject any manuscript according to the ethics rules for the editor. Next, articles that are found suitable for review are then sent to three experts in the field of the paper. Referees are asked to classify the paper as publishable without any modifications, publishable after some minor corrections, publishable only after major corrections or not publishable. In addition, referees’ evaluations have to include an explicit recommendation of what to do with the manuscript. Referees’ comments are then seen by the author.

Any deviation from the described process should be clearly justified.

The guidance to either authors or reviewers on everything that is expected of them is available on the Acta Innovations webpage is a subject to the regular update.

Fair play

Editorial decisions are not affected by the origins of the manuscript, including the nationality, ethnicity, political beliefs, race, or religion of the authors.

Confidentiality

The editor board and editorial staff under any circumstances do not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Any unpublished materials including a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research. Privileged information or ideas must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage as they may constitute the conflict of interest. Any conflict of interest of any member of editorial board should result from exclusion of the staff from the peer reviewer process. Any relevant competing interests disclosed after the publication requires corrections or retraction of the published work.

Involvement and cooperation in investigationsAn editor should take responsive measures to all allegations or suspicions of research or publication misconduct raised by readers, reviewers, or other editors. Such measures will generally include a wide range of potential activities including contacting the author of the manuscript or paper and giving due consideration of the respective complaint or claims made, communications to the relevant institutions, research and funding bodies, and if the complaint is upheld, the publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern. Every reported act of unethical publishing behavior must be looked into, regardless time of discovery after publication.

Publication ethics and publication malpractice statement for reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions

Work of reviewers is a base of high scientific quality of Acta Innovations. Reviewers assists editors in making editorial decisions and assist authors in improving their manuscripts. To comply with the Acta Innovations ethical policies the contribution to the editorial decision is done on the confidentially principles and non-disclosure the reviewer identity.

Promptness

Any invited reviewers are requested to provide its prompt reply regarding the possibility to review the submitted manuscript. The reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.

Confidentiality

Any journal’s content received should be considered and treated as confidential documents and shall not be shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by the Editor-in-Chief.

Standards of objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the authors is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views and observations clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them for improving the manuscript.

Acknowledgement of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors especially when the manuscript contains any statement, observation, derivation or argument that has been reported in previous publications. Any substantial similarity or overlapping between the manuscript and any other public documents discovered by the reviewer should also bring to the attention of the editors.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Any potential conflicts of interest of the reviewer should be bring to the attention of the editors. This should result in decline the invitation to review so that alternative reviewers can be contacted. Furthermore, any unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research. Similarly, privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for the reviewer’s personal advantage. This applies also to all invited reviewers including those who decline the review invitation.

Policy on ethical oversight

When the Journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as falsification of data, plagiarism, improprieties of authorship, misappropriation of the ideas of others, violation of generally accepted research practices, material failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements affection research, inappropriate behavior in relation to misconduct, the resolving process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The Editorial Board will discuss the suspected cases and reach a decision. We will not hesitate to publish errata, corrigenda, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.

Policy on intellectual property

Acta Innovations is an open access journal (CC BY) which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Options for post-publication discussions and corrections

Every article published by Acta Innovations journal constitutes the final, definitive, and citable version in the scholarly record (see NISO, 2008), including:

• the paper, revised and accepted following peer review, in its final form, including the abstract, text, references, bibliography, and all accompanying tables, illustrations, data; and

• any supplemental material.

Acta Innovation's policy is not to amend or alter this published record.

However, we publish corrections to the articles as errata or corrigenda, if there is a serious error, for example with regard to scientific accuracy, or if the Authors' reputation or that of the journal would be affected. We do not publish corrections that would not affect the article in a material way, nor significantly impair the reader's understanding of the article.

If you have identified an error in an article published by Acta Innovations, please review the guidance below. If, after reading the guidance, you believe a correction is necessary in the article, please contact the editor.

If the Journal’s editors agree a correction is warranted, and the article has been published online, we will publish a correction notice which will be linked to the original article online.

Examples of corrections we would make include:

• Spelling error or factual error in title

• Author name spelt incorrectly

• Affiliation, if this was incorrect at the time of submission

• Error in ORCiD

• Error in correspondence details

• Figure source, attribution, or permission information missing

• Missing text or typographical error, if the meaning is changed or an error introduced

• Error in data

• Amendment to tables, figures, and appendices, if the meaning is changed or an error introduced

• Poor figure quality

• Missing funding information

Examples of proposed changes we would decline include amendments to:

• Title, if an aesthetic change only

• Affiliation, if this has changed since submission

• ORCiD, if not supplied on submission

• Text or typography, if the meaning is unchanged or no error has been introduced

• Tables, figures, and appendices if the meaning is unchanged or no error has been introduced

• Acknowledgements

• Additional or updated references and citations

The different types of corrections we can make:

1. Errata

An erratum will be used if a significant error has been introduced by us during the production of the journal article, including errors of omission such as failure to make factual proof corrections requested by authors within the deadline provided by the journal and within journal policy. A 'significant error' is one that affects the scholarly record, the scientific integrity of the article, the reputation of the authors, or of the journal. All errata are linked to the published primary version of the article that they correct. 

2. Corrigenda 

A corrigendum is a notification of a significant error made by the authors of the article. All corrigenda are normally approved by the editors of the journal. All corrigenda are linked to the primary published version of the article that they correct. 

3. Addenda 

An addendum is a notification of an addition of information to an article, for example in response to a reader's request for clarification. Addenda do not contradict the original publication, but if the author inadvertently omitted significant information available at the time, this material can be published as an addendum. Addenda may be peer reviewed, according to journal policy, and are normally subject to oversight by the editors of the journal. All addenda are linked to the primary published version of the article to which they relate. 

4. Comments, responses, and rejoinders

In cases where a comment on a published primary version of the article is submitted to the journal editor, it will be subject to peer review, and shared with the authors of the published article, who are invited to submit a response. 

In turn, the response will be subject to peer review, and shared with the commentator, who is invited to submit a rejoinder. The rejoinder will be subject to peer review, and shared with the authors of the published primary version of the article. No further correspondence will be considered for publication. 

All comments, responses, and rejoinders are linked to the primary version of the article to which they relate. 

5. Expressions of concern 

Expressions of concern are used to alert readers to a potential issue within an article that could affect readers’ understanding of the methods, results, author articles, or ethical approval within the published article, but where a retraction is not immediately warranted. 

The rationale for an expression of concern will be given in the expression of concern notice. Acta Innovations reserves the right to issue a retraction if evidence of misconduct by an author is subsequently forthcoming, following an investigation of the issue in question. 

6. Retractions 

A retraction is a means to notify the community of unsound results or misconduct, following an investigation of the issue in question by Acta Innovations Editorial Board. Either can be held to compromise the validity and reliability of an article, and the latter can be held to damage the reputation of the journal. 

Retractions for unsound results are made when the conclusions of an article are seriously undermined as a result of miscalculation or error. 

Retractions for misconduct are made when there has been an infringement of publishing ethics or a breach of author warranties, which can include breaches of third party copyright. 

In cases of serious misconduct, Acta Innovations reserves the right to prohibit an author from making new submissions to any of our journals for up to five years. 

The rationale for a retraction will be given in a Statement of Retraction. All Statements of Retraction are linked to the primary version of the article which they retract; the primary version of the article will be digitally watermarked RETRACTED. 

7. Article removals 

On occasion Acta Innovations may be obliged to remove an article from its site as a consequence of a legal action. Removal will be indicated on the issue table of contents, by the insertion of “Article withdrawn’ to prefix the article title and in place of the removed content, by the posting of an Article Withdrawal notice. 

Corrections to articles are free to access 

Acta Innovations makes all corrections to journal articles completely free to access on its website in all cases, whether these are corrigenda, errata, or statements of retraction. 

Plan for electronic backup and preservation of access to the journal content

All articles are and will be accessible via Publisher's institutional Knowledge Base (in Polish: "Baza Wiedzy") in the event a journal is no longer published. Furthermore, the articles are stored locally in BazTech, an external database of Polish journals. In 2021 it is also planned to provide access to all articles via CLOCKSS or Portico as well.