Publishing ethics

The journal Časopis Matice moravské publishes specialised articles in the field of historiography without regard to the gender or the religious and political affiliation of their authors. The task of the publishers of the journal is to ensure that these articles comply not only with professional but also with ethical standards. The publication process involves several phases during which compliance with these standards is verified. Responsibility for this is borne not only by the editorial board (including the editor-in-chief and the executive editor) but also by peer reviewers and authors themselves.

The publishers of the Časopis Matice moravské are guided by the principles of publication ethics as formulated by, for example, the Committee on Publication Ethics or the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. We present below the most important requirements placed on the editorial board, peer reviewers and authors.

Ethical requirements

The editorial board (including the editor-in-chief and the executive editor) is required to proceed objectively and impartially, regardless of the origin and sexual, religious or political orientation of the authors, and to ensure that articles fulfil only their professional and not any commercial purpose. If it finds deficiencies of an ethical nature, it shall inform the author of these and give him or her the opportunity to comment on these findings. Any related documentation is to be retained.

Peer reviewers must verify the quality of a submitted article within the agreed deadline, maintain confidentiality on any information supplied by the author and the editorial board and inform the editorial board about any ethical breaches found (plagiarism, self-plagiarism, conflict of interest, etc.).

It is the responsibility of authors to retain all data related to the publishing process and to assert that the article submitted is not under review elsewhere or has not already been accepted for publication. In the event that part of an article has been published elsewhere, the author must give notice of this. All sources of information must be given by the author as bibliographical references. It is the author's task to alert the editorial board or executive editor to any additional shortcomings found in the text and to work together with them to eliminate these.

Approach when ethical deficiencies are found

Unethical behaviour (see partial list above) may be pointed out by anyone during the entire publication process. Such findings must be supported by evidence, which will serve as the basis for an investigation. The final decision should be taken by the editor-in-chief; the latter may, if necessary, refer to the editorial board or other professionals. All related documentation must be retained.

Minor breaches are resolved simply by agreement with the author, but more serious misconduct may be reported by the editorial board (after consultation with other professionals) to the author’s employers.

The editorial board may provide information on its conclusions on breaches of publishing ethics in different ways, depending on the extent of the offence (by agreement with the author, by formal letter to the author, also by formal letter to the author’s employer). In exceptionally serious cases, the editorial board may withdraw an author’s right to publish in the Časopis Matice moravské, or even provide the relevant institutions with the documents needed for more extensive investigations.