Publication ethics and publication malpractice statement
The latest version of the Publication ethics and publication malpractice statement was approved by the Editorial Council of “Proceedings of LAS” on 19 March 2018.
Publication ethics and publication malpractice statement of the journal “Latvijas Zinātņu Akadēmijas Vēstis. A daļa: Humanitārās un sociālās zinātnes” (Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences)
- Editorial Council and Academic Editorial Board
- General publishing ethics principles of the journal
- Peer-review process
- Authors, authorship, author’s duties and responsibilities
- Editor’s duties and responsibilities
- Reviewer’s duties and responsibilities
- Copyright and access
- Archiving
- Ownership and management, revenue sources
- Other principles of transparency and best practice
- Publisher’s Confirmation
For all parties involved in the act of publishing ”Proceedings of LAS”, Section A (the author(s), the journal editor(s), the peer reviewer(s) and the publisher) it is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behaviour. The publication ethics and publication malpractice statement for “Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences” (further “Proceedings of LAS”, Section A), is based on the Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), 2011) and its updated version.
Editorial Council and Academic Editorial Board
The full names and affiliations of the members of Editorial Council and Academic Editorial Board of the ”Proceedings of LAS”, Section A see HERE.
Members of the Editorial Council and Academic Editorial Board are recognised experts in the humanities and social sciences. Of 27 members of the Academic Editorial Board 22 are members of the Latvian Academy of Science (including 8 foreign members). 14 members of the Academic Editorial Board are foreign scientists from Australia (two members), Canada, China, Czech Republic (two members), Estonia (two members), Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden. Latvian Academy of Sciences is the leading scientific institution in Latvia and independent research institution, registered in the Register of research institutions of Latvia.
General publishing ethics principles of the journal
Introducing the journal “Proceedings of LAS”, Section A and inviting the publication of articles, only true and non-misleading information is provided about its editorial and the journal.
Ethical oversight and avoiding research misconduct
Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the ethical oversight and takes reasonably responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper. Every discovered act of unethical publishing behaviour is looked into in the Editorial Office, even if it is discovered years after publication.
Publisher and editor are obliged to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occured, and to avoid any support to such misconduct or knowingly favour it.
In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, takes all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum or, in the most severe cases, complete retraction of the affected article (See also Publisher’s Confirmation below).
An editor should persecute reviewer’s and editorial misconduct and take reasonably responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented in such cases.
Handling of complaints and appeals. Questions, complaints and suggestions concerning a published paper, as well as during the preparation process to publishing, should be sent to Editor-in-Chief in the form of Letter to editor. These letters are registered in the “Register of complaints and recommendations” of the journal. Letters with questions, complaints and suggestions regarding the preparation process or published manuscripts are analysed and discussed at meetings of the Editorial Council. Peer-reviewer who might be concerned with these questions or complaints may be invited to participate in such a meeting. The Editorial Council decides of further activities that might include: written explanation to the author or peer-reviewer from Editor-in-Chief, correction of a published text in the forthcoming issue, or denial of a published information.
Journal policies on conflicts of interests and competing interests. An editor ensures that advertising, reprint or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions and requires all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after publication.
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
Journal policies on data sharing and reproducibility. The sharing and reproducibility of data published in the journal is not restricted to the extent permitted by the “Copyright law”. The journal is freely available on the Internet.
Journal’s policy on intellectual property. When implementing intellectual property rights, the Editorial Office observes the Law of the Republic of Latvia “Copyright Law” governing the rights and protection of creative intellectual property.
Journal’s options for post-publication discussions and corrections. If there is serious scientific or ethical concerning, the case is investigated and actions are taken immediately to, if proven, initiate correction or retraction procedure, regardless, when the concerned issue is discovered. Corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies, when necessary, are always published.
Peer-review process
Each academic article is anonymously evaluated by two peer-reviewers. All of the journals content is additionally evaluated by the Editorial Council. More about the peer-review process see HERE.
Authors, authorship, author’s duties and responsibilities
Authors of the ”Proceedings of LAS”, Section A are Latvian and foreign scientists who have submitted articles on topical and important scientific topics, original results of theoretical and applied research and findings, as well as problem articles, scientific discussions and correspondence, and inform about current events in the scientific life in Latvia and Latvian Academy of Sciences. The Section A of the “Proceedings of LAS” publishes articles in Latvian, English and German.
“The publication ethics and publication malpractice statement for “Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences”” sets forth authors’ duties and responsibilities that include the following aspects: reporting standards; originality and plagiarism; multiple, redundant or concurrent publication; acknowledgement of sources; autorship and contributorship; hazards and human subjects; disclosure and conflicts of interest; fundamental errors in published works. Authors are obliged to participate in peer-review process so that they analyse suggested improvements and, if necessary, correct the text and avoid errors.
Authorship is limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions are listed as co-authors.
More about authors duties and responsibilities see HERE. More about submission of manuscripts see in page “Information for authors” (The procedure of the submission of articles).
Editor’s duties and responsibilities
Accountability
An Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal “Proceedings of LAS, Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences”, is accountable for everything published in the journal and is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published.
The selection of articles for publishing depends on the significance of an article for researchers and readers, originality of the research and clarity of the text of an article, correspondence of the research to the scope of the journal that is approved by the statutes and editorial policy documents of the journal, as well as reviewers’ evaluation. In making the decision, an editor may be guided by the Statutes of the Scientific Journal of the Latvian Academy of Sciences “Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences” (adopted on 13.07.2017), Editorial Policy of “Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. Section A – Humanities and Social Sciences” (adopted on 19.03.2018), as well as by legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. An editor may confer with other editors and reviewers when making publication decisions. An editor should maintain the integrity of the academic record (correctness, concordance and completeness of texts and facts), preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards, and always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.
Fairness
An editor should evaluate manuscripts for intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of author(s).
Confidentiality
An editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, the publisher, and, in some instances, the Editorial Council.
Disclosure, conflicts of interest, and other issues
An editors will be guided by COPE’s Guidelines for Retracting Articles when considering retracting, issuing expressions of concern about, and issuing corrections pertaining to articles that have been published in “Proceedings of LAS”, Section A, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editors’ own research without the expressed written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
An editor is committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions.
An editor should seek to ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process, recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which he/she has conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of authors, companies, or (possibly) institutions connected to the papers. An editor should 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 the publication of a retraction or expression of concern.
Protection of individual data
An editor must obey laws on confidentiality in its own jurisdiction. Regardless of local statutes, however, he/she should always protect the confidentiality of individual information obtained in the course of research or professional interactions. It is therefore almost always necessary to obtain written informed consent for publication from people who might recognise themselves or be identified by others (e.g. from case reports or photographs). It may be possible to publish individual information without explicit consent if public interest considerations outweigh possible harms, it is impossible to obtain consent and a reasonable individual would be unlikely to object to publication.
Reviewer’s duties and responsibilities
Contribution to editorial decisions
Peer reviewer assists an editor in making editorial decisions and, through the editorial communication with the author, also assists an author in improving of manuscript.
Promptness
Any invited reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its timely review will be impossible should immediately notify the editors so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.
Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by an author.
Standards of objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of an author is inacceptable. Reviewers should express their views clearly with appropriate supporting arguments.
Acknowledgement of sources
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by an author. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published data of which they have personal knowledge.
Disclosure and conflict of interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider evaluating 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 submission.
Copyright and access
Property authorship regarding “Proceedings of LAS” and particular articles belongs to the Latvian Academy of Sciences, unless otherwise is agreed in LAS agreements. Private rights of authors are inviolable in compliance with the Latvian Copyright Law, and the Latvian Academy of Sciences protects these rights.
The journal is published in a printed version and available electronically free of charge within its homepage www.lasproceedings.lv (with abstracts in English and information about authors) and digital resources of the National Library of Latvia (1992-2009).
Hard copies of the journal are available at the the National Library of Latvia and six largest libraries, and are also free of charge distributed to authors, management of LAS, members of the Editorial Council and Academic Editorial Board, and internationally via library interchange process developed by the Academic Library of the University of Latvia.
Subscription of the printed version of the journal is available. The annual subscription fee for the printed copies of the journal is 19.92 EUR plus postage for Latvian subscribers and 30 EUR plus postage to the particular country for foreign subscribers. The printed copies of the journal are available at the bookstore of the Latvian Academy of Sciences building (Akadēmijas laukums 1, Rīga, LV 1050, Latvija). Pay-per-view is not established.
Archiving
The period of retention of published manuscripts is two years after publication. Rejected manuscripts and manuscripts that were not improved after negative evaluation of two peer-reviewers and due to this reason were not published should be retained at least two years after the final decision regarding publication. Published manuscripts should be archived according to the existing normative regulation of Latvia.
Published articles are archived in compliance with the normative regulation of archives. In compliance with the Legal Deposit Law (adopted on 20.06.2006) seven copies of each issue should be deposited in the Department of the Library Stocks of the Latvian National Library. The National Library of Latvia transfers six received legal deposit copies to other largest libraries. One copy is deposited in the stocks of the National Library of Latvia.
Full digitalised stock of the journal (all issues and articles since 1992) is available at the journal’s homepage www.lasproceedings.lv and deposited in the digital resources of the National Library of Latvia (1992-2009).
Ownership and management, revenue sources
The journal is owned by the Latvian Academy of Sciences.
Latvian Academy of Sciences is the leading scientific institution in Latvia and independent research institution, registered in the Register of research institutions of Latvia. Academies of Sciences are internationally well known science institutions, existing in many countries, having unique place in the science system, therefore misleading of potential authors and editors about its nature is impossible.
Management of the journal is established by the Senate of the Latvian Academy of Sciences in compliance with the Statutes of the Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. It contains Editorial Council, Academic Editorial Board and Editorial Office management. Members of the journals’ team are high qualified experts from different fields of humanities and social sciences.
The revenue sources of the Journal are determined by the Statutes and editorial policy Publishing of the journal “Proceedings of LAS”, Section A is financed from the budget of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, attracted unconditional or targeted sponsors’ funds and other sources. Attracted financing should not influence editorial decision making.
Third-party advertising materials are not published in the journal.
Other principles of transparency and best practice
Website
The journals’ WEB site is www.lasproceedings.lv. It contains the following information: basic information about the set of journals “Proceedings of Latvian Academy of Sciences”, information, how to reach Section B of the journal (via SCIENDO), and detailed information about the “Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences”.
The Editorial Office has taken efforts to ensure that the journals Web site meets high ethical and professional standards. All information that is necessary for authors is easily available and clear. Deatailed explanation of the journals’ status, main publication principles and editorial policy, can be found in attached full texts of the relevant documents, thus providing maximum information and transparency for users. Recent and archived issues are available from year 1992.
Publishing schedule
“Proceedings of LAS”, Section A is published four times a year – in the end of March, June, September and December.
Name of journal
The full journal’s name “Latvijas Zinātņu Akadēmijas Vēstis A daļa: humanitārās un sociālās zinātnes” is unique and can not be confused with another journal. It is descriptive and clearly informs potential authors and readers not only about the nature of its content but also about its owner.
Publisher’s Confirmation
In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum or, in the most severe cases, complete retraction of the affected.
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