The fundamental principle guiding the editorial board of the journal  The Opole Studies in Administration and Law is scientific integrity. In order to comply with this principle and maintain the high quality of articles, the editorial board, aware of its obligations towards the above principle, upholds and enforces ethical standards, both in relation to authors of scientific publications and reviewers. 

The Editorial Board has implemented the standards of ethical behavior promulgated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. All parties involved in the publication process: Author, journal editor, reviewer, publisher are obliged to follow COPE standards in publication ethics.

All manuscripts submitted to a peer-reviewed publication are expected to conform to COPE's standards of ethical behavior.

 The editors of OSAP adapt the following principles of academic and publishing ethics:

Academic impartiality and integrity

OSAP shall publish only articles observing the rules of scientific integrity and honesty. Any attempt of fabrication, falsification, and manipulation of information will be faced with adequate steps in accordance with the procedure set out in the COPE diagrams. This includes adequate and exhaustive citation and reference with respect of the copyrights of their owners.

The editors reserve the right to inquire about the research methods and data obtaining, to which the author should provide adequate and exhaustive information. Should any mistakes in this regard be found in already accepted paper, or in the data the paper is based on, the author would be obliged to retraction or corrections of the relevant mistakes. In the case of already published work, the authors will have the opportunity to publish a correction in the next volume of OSAP.

Non-discrimination policy

All materials submitted to OSAP are evaluated solely of the basis on their academic excellence, precision and clarity of argumentation, its originality, and value to the discipline. The author’s nationality or ethnicity, their political views, gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation are not taken into account. Whether the author suspects violation of this rule by the reviewer or any member of the editorial team, they should inform the Editor-in-Chief.

Confidentiality

The editors of OSAP and the University of Opole Press protect data, documents, and information obtained at every stage of the publishing process, including submissions, author’s data, reviews, and correspondence between editors and authors. Reviewers and authors are also required to maintain confidentiality in this regard.

The editors shall disclose to the public information necessary for the proper publication of the papers, as well as their indexing by scientific internet search engines to increases the recognizability and citation of papers published in the Journal.

The originality of papers

OSAP accepts only original, previously unpublished research papers, translations, and reviews. By submitting to the journal, the authors and translators declare their authorship of their work and their absence from consideration by other journal. In exceptional cases already published work might be considered with the consent of the copyright owner.

Anti-plagiarism policy

Any use of works by other authors, whether borrowings, quotations, or cross-references, should be adequately and comprehensively marked. For detailed editorial requirements see Submissions. Failure in observing these regulations will be recognized as an infringement of the copyright owners, and the editors will take adequate steps in accordance with the procedure set out in the COPE diagrams. Any such cases identified by the editors will be brought to light, including notification of the relevant authorities (authors' employing institutions, academic associations, associations of scientific editors, etc.), as well as law enforcement agencies.

 Conflicts of interest

The Editors and Editorial Board of OSAP are devoted to maintaining the highest standards of academic impartiality, reliability, and honesty. With respect to them, authors are obliged to reveal the sources of funding of the research that resulted in the submitted paper. Authors should also inform the editors on any other circumstances influencing their impartiality or independence in research methods, data obtaining, interpretation of results or on their view expressed in the work submitted to OSAP.

Unpublished, original research material submitted to the journal will never be used by the editor or any other person who had access to it before publication for their own research purposes without the explicit written permission of the author.

Anti-duplication policy

Any duplications of previous works by the author submitting, that is, containing substantial repetition of argumentation, theses, text, and results, shall be recognized as violations of academic honesty. Should the editors suspect such a breach of academic standards, they will take steps in accordance with the instructions set out in the COPE diagrams. Identified cases of duplication will be disclosed, including notifications of relevant bodies.

 Retraction of the already published study

In case of acknowledgement of manifest violations of the above-described publishing ethics, and especially plagiarism, unjustified duplications, ghost authorship, guest-writing, or significant conflict of interest, the editors may decide on retraction an already published paper. It will be removed from the Journal’s webpage at the OJS, and if print copies of a given volume were made, the explanation and/or apologies will be published in the upcoming volume of OSAP. Prior to a decision on retraction, the authors will be informed and offered a possibility to provide a comment and/or defence.

COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS

A complaint against the Journal and/or the Editorial Board and/or Reviewers should be in writing,

- if it concerns the editorial board members or reviewers – to the Editor-in-Chief (e-mail: redakcja.osap@gmail.com);

- if it concerns the conduct of the Editor-in-Chief, the complaint should be addressed to the Publisher (wydawnictwo@uni.opole.pl) and sent in cc to the Editor-in-Chief.

The subject of the complaint may be, for example, the infringement of the interests of the complaining party, negligence, protracted response or lack of response in the matter on the part of the editorial board.