Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Declaration on the moral and ethical principles of publishing

The Strategic Issues of Northern Hungary ECONOMY-REGION-SOCIETY (Észak-magyarországi Stratégiai Füzetek) journal (ISSN 1786-1594) applies the collegial revision (double-blind review) process, therefore each party contributing to the publishing (author, journal editor, lecturer and publisher) should accept the standards relevant for the expected moral behaviour. The present moral statement is based on the Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors applicable by journal editors of the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics, http://publicationethics.org/about).

Decisions on publishing

The editor of the journal decides which articles received to be published will actually be published in the journal. The editor can be guided by the guidelines set by the editorial board of the journal and may be limited by the current legislation on libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may ask help from other editors or lecturers to make his own decision. The editor of the journal is allowed to run a program for filtering out plagiarism.

Equal opportunities

The editor always evaluates the intellectual content of manuscripts regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality or political views of the authors.

Confidentiality

The editor and the editorial staff do not provide any information regarding the manuscript submitted for publication. Exceptions to this rule are the correspondent author, lecturers, potential lecturers, and other editorial consultants and the publisher.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

The editor is not allowed to use the unpublished material of the submitted manuscript for his own research without the author's prior written consent.

Open access

Copyright and licencing

The criteria for reviewing are:

• Compliance of the manuscript with the formal, referencing and length requirements set out in the author's guidelines.
• Timeliness, relevance, uniqueness and relevance to the concept of the journal.
• Consistent use of a scientifically and technically accurate conceptual apparatus in accordance with the conventions of the discipline.
• Literary and theoretical soundness of the thesis, comparison of the cited publications with the author's own results.
• Professional treatment of the topic, selection of appropriate methodology. Critical reflection and contextualisation. Appropriateness of the research question, data collection and processing.
• Structure of the thesis, proportionality of the presentation of the topics, logic of the division of the main and sub-chapters, structure of the thesis, clarity, titles.
• Conclusions, own opinion, fulfilment of the objectives set out in the title and the introduction, conclusions drawn correctly on the basis of the scientific results of the article.
• Correctness of language, style, clarity and smoothness of drafting, clarity of figures and tables.

Editor is responsible for:

• prevent and, if problems, irregularities or ethical violations arise in connection with the research and the publication of the results, deal with them,
• treat all incoming manuscripts objectively, regardless of the authors' gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality or political views,
• review and store author's declarations sent by authors,
• handle authors' complaints within reasonable limits.

Reviewer is responsible for:

• check compliance with the scientific ethics rules relating to research and publication of research results report any irregularities,
• contribute to responsible editorial decision-making and to the improvement of the professionalism,
• maintain the confidentiality of the manuscript,
• in the event of suspected plagiarism, report it to the responsible editor,
• report any conflict of interest or inability to proofread the manuscript to the responsible editor in a timely manner.

Author is responsible for:

• confirm, in an author's declaration, the originality of the submitted manuscript, the completeness and veracity of its references, and the fact that the article has not been previously published in any other journal or on any other platform,
• do not submit papers already accepted and published in our journal to another journal,
• provide access to all research data, tables and sources associated with the submitted manuscript,
• respect in your submitted manuscript any gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality or political views,
• if you discover a material error in the publication of your manuscript, immediately notify the editor in charge or the editorial office, or, if the article has already been published, cooperate with the editorial office in correcting it.
• Originality and Plagiarism: the authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
• Multiple Publication: Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Publisher is responsible for:

• the Strategic Issues of Northern Hungary (Észak-magyarországi Stratégiai Füzetek) ensures that good practices are maintained and ethical standards are adhered to.

Procedures for dealing with unethical behaviour:

• Inappropriate and unethical behaviour affecting the journal can be reported by anyone at any time to the editor in charge or the editorial office.
• Anyone who reports misconduct or unethical behaviour must provide sufficient information and evidence to the responsible editor/editorial board.
• The responsible editor/editorial office will take all reports seriously and deal with them until a successful decision or conclusion is reached on the matter.
• The Publisher, the Editor-in-charge, the reviewers will take the necessary measures to prevent the publication of any publication that is found to be in breach of ethical rules on unethical conduct, research or publication of research results.

Privacy statement:

• The editorial staff of the Strategic Issues of Northern Hungary (Észak-magyarországi Stratégiai Füzetek) journal treats all information related to the submission of manuscripts and proofreading as confidential. Unpublished manuscripts will not be used for private research without the authors' permission.
• The editorial staff shall not use personal data of authors and/or reviewers for personal purposes.
• The Editorial Office will not share the personal contact details (telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, postal addresses) of authors and reviewers with third parties.
• The Editorial Office reserves the right to delete any unnecessary personal data.

OBLIGATIONS OF THE REVIEWERS

Contribution to editorial decisions

The lecturer helps the editor in decision-making if it is required, supports the author in raising the scientific level of the article during the process of collegial revision (double-blind review).

Efficiency

In case the selected lecturer feels that he is not professional enough to evaluate the research presented in the manuscript or knows that he is not able to prepare his statement effectively and in time, he is obliged to notify the editor and waive his participation in the proofreading process.

Confidentiality

All manuscripts received for evaluation should be considered as confidential document. These can only be released or discussed with others based on the prior consent of the editor.

Objectivity

The evaluation shall be carried out objectively. The criticism of the author is not appropriate. The lecturers shall make their views straightforward and arguing.

Reference to sources

The lecturers should acknowledge the relevant published works not cited by the authors. Any statement that contains an observation, thought or argument from a work earlier published has to be accompanied by the appropriate reference. Furthermore, the lecturer should draw the editor's attention to any substantive similarity or overlapping between the manuscript examined and other material previously published and known by him.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

The privileged information or ideas obtained during the evaluation should be handled confidentially and cannot be used for personal promotion. Copy editors may not evaluate the manuscript if they are in conflict with the authors, firms, or institutions associated with the study due to competitive, collaborative or other relationship.

OBLIGATIONS OF THE AUTHORS

Guidelines for disclosure

Authors presenting the original researches should make accurate reports of the work performed. The draw of interpretations and conclusions can only be based on facts or on the basis of objective and logical proof. The background data of the study should be presented accurately. The study should provide sufficient detail and reference to allow others to repeat the described processes. False or deliberately inaccurate statements are considered unethical and unacceptable behaviour.

Originality and plagiarism

Authors should guarantee that the study is their own, original intellectual work and if they used others’ works and/ or expressions, those are cited appropriately and professionally referred to them.

Multiple, redundant or simultaneous publishing

It is not a good practice to include the manuscript of the same research in various independent publications or journals. Submission of the same manuscript to multiple journals is deemed unethical behaviour and unacceptable.

Reference to sources

The cited works must be properly referred to in all cases. Authors should refer to all publications that have influenced their work.

The position of study authorship

Any person who has contributed substantially to the concept, design, implementation or interpretation of the presented study should be included as an author. Those should be indicated as co-authors who have contributed significantly to the study. However, those should be mentioned as contributors who have been involved in certain important stages of the research project. Furthermore, the correspondent author should warrant that all major co-authors are mentioned in the study and he has not nominated persons as co-authors who are not entitled for it and all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the study and agreed to publish it.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

Each author is obliged to disclose those financial or other material conflicts of interest in his manuscript which may influence its results or interpretation. All funding sources of the project should be made public.

Basic errors in the published works

If the author discovers significant errors or inaccuracies in his work already published, he should immediately notify the editor or the publisher of the journal and cooperate with the editor to revoke or correct the study.