Publication Ethics

The ethical principles for the Vallis Aurea (Journal of Sustainable Development and Innovation) are based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
The Editorial Board is committed to following these internationally accepted principles. The adopted ethical principles are binding for the Editorial Board, reviewers and authors.

AUTHORS

The expected duties of authors are to present an accurate account of their work and objectively discuss its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain significant detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable. The duty of authors:

  • to agree with the journal’s open-access policy, which enables unrestricted access and reuse of all published articles
  • to provide raw data for editorial review, and be prepared to provide public access to such data, if practicable and retain such data after publication
  • to ensure that they have written entirely original work, and if they have used the work and words of others, that the citations or quotations are accurately conveyed
  • not to use plagiarism in any form. Plagiarism takes many forms, from ‘passing off another’s paper as the author’s paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another’s paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others
  • not to submit the same study in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal constitutes unacceptable publishing behaviour.
  • to make proper acknowledgement of the work of others
  • to limit authorship to those who have made a significant contribution to the: conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study
  • to disclose financial or substantive conflict of interest that might be construed as influencing the results or performance of their manuscript
  • to notify the editor or the publisher when discovering a significant error or inaccuracy in published work, to retract or correct the paper
  • neither to pay a submission nor a publication fee
  • to use the publisher’s PDF if self-archiving the paper and to include a link to the publisher’s website.

EDITORS

Editors, and members of the editorial board of our journal Vallis Aurea (Journal of Sustainable Development and Innovation) , are committed to proper and professional behaviour in all aspects of our publishing operations. Our goal is to publish original high-quality papers which have value to the scientific community according to the highest possible standards. We expect similar standards from our reviewers and authors.

Honesty, originality and fair dealing on the part of authors, and fairness, objectivity and confidentiality on the part of editors and reviewers are among the critical values that enable us to achieve our aim.

Submissions to the Vallis Aurea (Journal of Sustainable Development and Innovation) authored by the editors or the employees of the Faculty of Tourism and Rural Development Pozega or the editorial board and advisory board members will be handled in such a way as to ensure unbiased reviews. Editors evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors. Submissions authored by the editors or employees of the FTRR are considered by an appropriate advisory board member, whereby the advisory board member also chooses two reviewers, not employees of the FTRR.

Every reported act of unethical publishing behaviour must be considered, even if it is discovered years after publication. In conjunction with the publisher, the editors should take reasonable, responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper. Such measures will generally include contacting the authors of the manuscript or published paper and giving due consideration to the respective complaint or claims made, but may also include further communications to the relevant institutions and research bodies, and if the complaint is upheld, the publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or another note, as may be relevant.

Editors should be accountable for everything published in the Vallis Aurea (Journal of Sustainable Development and Innovation). This means the editors should:

  • strive to meet the needs of readers and authors
  • have processes in place to ensure the quality of the papers that will be published
  • champion and encourage freedom of expression
  • maintain the integrity of the academic record
  • support initiatives to reduce academic misconduct
  • inform researchers about publication ethics
  • preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards
  • always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.

Editors of the Vallis Aurea (Journal of Sustainable Development and Innovation) :

  • Are accountable and should take responsibility for everything they publish
  • should make fair and unbiased decisions, independent of commercial considerations and should ensure an adequate and appropriate peer review process
  • must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate
  • should adopt editorial policies that encourage maximum transparency and complete, honest reporting
  • ought to guard the integrity of the published record by issuing corrections and retractions when needed and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct
  • should pursue reviewer and editorial misconduct
  • need to make it clear to peer reviewers and authors what is expected of them
  • must not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript in the editor’s research without the express written consent of the author
  • keep confidential, privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review and do not use them for personal advantage
  • recuse themself from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers
  • require all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after publication. If needed, other appropriate action should be taken, such as rejection, the publication of a retraction or expression of concern
  • should apply relevant policies in place for handling editorial conflicts of interest under COPE guidelines
  • need to take all responsible steps to ensure the quality of the material published by having systems in place to detect falsified data and basing decisions about the journal on relevant evidence of factors that raise the quality of reporting.

EDITORIAL BOARD

The publisher will establish a suitably qualified editorial board whose members can actively contribute to the development and good management of the journal. Editorial board members are aware of their membership role in the Vallis Aurea (Journal of Sustainable Development and Innovation) . Their expected functions and duties are:

  • to act as ambassadors for the journal
  • to support and promote the journal
  • pre‐reviewing and reviewing submissions to the journal
  • to seek out the best authors and best work (e.g. from meeting abstracts) and actively encourage submissions
  • to accept commissions to write editorials, reviews and commentaries on papers in their specialist area
  • to actively attend and contribute to advisory and editorial board meetings
  • to assess the effects of their journal’s policies on author and reviewer behaviour and revising policies, as required, to encourage responsible behaviour and discourage misconduct
  • Ensure that any press releases issued by this journal reflect the message of the reported article and put it into context.

The editors are obliged to consult editorial board members at least once a year to gauge their opinions about the journal’s running, inform them of any changes to the journal’s policies and identify future challenges.

The editors have the right to update the list of the editorial board according to the journal’s needs.

REVIEWERS

The peer review process is an independent quality control procedure for articles submitted to the journal. It is vital for enhancing published research’s quality, credibility and acceptability. The expected duties and responsibilities of the reviewers are:

  • to assist the editors in making editorial decisions and to help the author in improving the paper
  • to notify the editors about the availability of prompt reviews
  • to treat the manuscripts as confidential documents
  • to conduct checks objectively and express the views clearly with supporting arguments
  • to identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited
  • to inform the editor about any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript and any other paper
  • not to use materials disclosed in a manuscript in their own research without the author’s written consent.
  • to keep privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review confidential
  • not to consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.

In addition, peer reviewers should be aware of all other detailed COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers and use them in the review process.

The journal will adopt procedures for detecting plagiarism in submitted items and act under Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE: http://publicationethics.org/).