Ethical Code of the journal Právněhistorické studie

Právněhistorické studie journal (hereinafter referred to as the „PHS“) is a peer-reviewed journal. PHS publishes scientific articles whose high quality is assured by an anonymous peer-review process. The editors ensure that the review process and the assessment of manuscripts is thorough, objective and fair.

This Ethical Code sets the principles of ethical conduct for all participants in the review and assessment of manuscripts. Authors, editors, and reviewers are required to follow the rules outlined in this Ethical Code.

If the code of ethics is breached, even an article that has already been published may be withdrawn. The reason for retraction of an article is clear evidence  serious errors, falsification of data, or forgery that compromise the reliability of the research results. For more information on this issue, see the Code of Conduct for Publication Ethics (COPE).

Authors

Each manuscript submitted for peer review by PHS has to be an original paper. The manuscript must not have been previously published or accepted for publication in another journal or publishing house. Exceptions to the “originality” rule apply to the following works:

1) conference papers published on the relevant conference website;

2) papers published in part as part of a master’s thesis, rigorous thesis, dissertation, or habilitation, which must be notified to the editors in advance by the author. The author may not send a manuscript to PHS for review that is under review by another journal or send a manuscript to another journal that is currently under review by PHS.

The manuscript must not contain plagiarism, falsification, fabrication, or serious misrepresentations. Authors are required to refer to the works of other authors when quoting them verbatim or paraphrasing their ideas. In case of plagiarism or self-plagiarism (duplicate publication of one’s own works), the manuscript will be rejected. Self-plagiarism is in principle not allowed. If the manuscript draws on another author’s work that has already been published, is in press or is being considered for publication, the author must refer to that work.

The author shall ensure that his/her manuscript does not infringe copyright. If the manuscript is written in co-authorship, all authors shall be stated and all of them must agree with the publication of the manuscript. Only a person who has made a substantial creative contribution to the text may be listed as a co-author. The corresponding author (the person submitting the manuscript) is responsible for ensuring that the list of co-authors is complete and accurate (with no ghost or honorary authorship) and that all co-authors have given their consent to the final text and its publication. If the author uses other works whose use requires the permission of the author, he/she will ensure that the necessary permissions are obtained before submitting the manuscript to the editorial board.

Authors commit themselves to follow professional standards and methods of scientific work while preparing the manuscript.

Authors submit the article to double-blinded anonymous review process and other evaluations of the editor. Authors grant the publisher the right to publish the manuscript in printed or electronic form and include the article in databases in which PHS is contained.

The submitted manuscript must be the result of the author’s authentic creative work; the publication of texts generated by artificial intelligence is prohibited.

The use of artificial intelligence is permitted for non-creative aspects of the author’s work, such as translating the manuscript, checking the text’s grammar, etc. In such cases, the author is always responsible for the final quality of the text and must indicate which tool was used in the relevant section of the text.

The author must adhere to citation ethics, follow the rules for citing sources, and list all sources used, including proper indication of secondary citations.

Editors

The editors (members of the Editorial board of PHS) act impartially and independently. The editors judge manuscripts only on the basis of their professional qualities, relying on peer review. The editor evaluates the manuscript based on its intellectual content. While the editors strive for theoretical and methodological pluralism, they expect manuscripts to be of an appropriate professional standard and to be useful and accessible to the reader.

The editors do not provide input to anyone other than reviewers, authors, co-authors, or editorial board members, while always maintaining the anonymity of authors and reviewers.

Responsibility for accepting or rejecting manuscripts rests with the editors, who respect the reviewers’ recommendations. The editorial board informs the reviewers of the results of the review process and of the final decision to accept or reject the manuscript.

The editor must not use unpublished materials from submitted manuscripts for own research without explicit written approval of the author(s). Protected information and ideas received during the review process must be considered confidential and may not be used for personal benefit.

The editors (and publishers) shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred.

Reviewers

Reviewers are renowned experts in the field, but not from the same department as the author of the paper under review.

Reviewers must decline to review a manuscript in which they believe they have an actual or potential conflict of interest. In case of doubt as to whether there is a conflict of interest, reviewers shall inform the editors of this fact.

Reviewers inform the editor in case he does not feel sufficiently qualified to professionally evaluate the manuscript or if he cannot elaborate the review for any other reasons on his side.

Reviewers shall evaluate manuscripts in an unbiased, objective, fair and professional manner. Reviewers are honest with the author if they have doubts about the quality of the manuscript. Reviewers are expected to adequately justify their recommendations to the editors and to provide the author with an appropriate amount of commentary and, where appropriate, recommendations. Reviewers will produce their review in a timely manner according to the agreed deadline, normally within 30 days. Reviewers ensure that information related to the manuscript and contained in it remains confidential.

Publication ethics of PHS is primarily based on the Ethical Code of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).