Publishing Ethics

Publication Ethics

The editorial board and editorial staff of the journal Professionalitet uphold a policy of adherence to publication ethics. Monitoring compliance is treated as one of the central components of peer review and editorial work.

Duties of the Editor-in-Chief

Publication Decisions

The editor-in-chief of Professionalitet is responsible for deciding whether submitted manuscripts are published. This decision rests on verifying the work's validity and its significance to researchers and readers. The editor-in-chief follows the editorial board's guidelines along with legal requirements, avoiding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. When needed, the editor-in-chief may consult with members of the editorial board, reviewers, or members of the academic community.

Fairness

The editor-in-chief evaluates submitted work on its intellectual merit, regardless of the author's race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political views.

Confidentiality

The editor-in-chief and editorial board members do not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to third parties, except the author, reviewers, potential reviewers, and editorial board consultants.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Information from a submitted manuscript cannot be used in the editor-in-chief's or editorial board members' own work without the author's written permission. Confidential information and ideas obtained through peer review are kept private and never used for personal gain.

The editor-in-chief must withdraw from reviewing a manuscript when a conflict of interest exists, whether from competition, collaboration, or other relationships with the authors, companies, or institutions connected to it. The editor-in-chief requires authors to disclose any competing interests and publishes corrections if a conflict of interest comes to light after publication. Other measures, such as publishing a retraction or an expression of concern, are taken when necessary.

Handling Ethics Complaints

When an ethics complaint is raised about a manuscript or a published article, the editor-in-chief acts within a reasonably short time, staying in contact with the editorial office or the academic community.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists the editor-in-chief in deciding on publication and, through the editorial office's communication with the author, helps improve the manuscript.

Timeliness

A reviewer who feels unqualified to assess a manuscript, or who cannot complete the review within the set deadline, must notify the editor and withdraw from the process.

Confidentiality

A manuscript submitted for review is a confidential document. It must not be shown to or discussed with third parties without the editor's permission.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews are conducted objectively. Personal attacks on the author are not permitted. The reviewer's views should be stated clearly and with proper justification.

Acknowledgment of Sources

If the authors have not cited a significant published work, the reviewer notes this. Any claim that data, a conclusion, or an argument has already been published must be accompanied by the corresponding citation. If the reviewer finds substantial similarity between the manuscript under review and a previously published work, they report this to the editor-in-chief.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Unpublished information from a manuscript cannot be used in a reviewer's own work without the author's written permission. Confidential information and ideas obtained through review are kept private and never used for personal gain. A reviewer withdraws from the review process when a conflict of interest exists, whether from competition, collaboration, or other relationships with the authors, companies, or institutions involved.

Duties of Authors

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors guarantee the originality of their submitted work. Use of material from other authors must be indicated through citation or noted in the text. Plagiarism in any form — presenting someone else's work as one's own, copying or paraphrasing substantial portions without attribution, or claiming the results of someone else's research — is unethical and unacceptable. Submitting a manuscript to several publications at once, as well as resubmitting an already published article, is likewise unacceptable. Authors must cite publications that influenced the content of their work.

Authorship

Only those who made a significant contribution to the concept, planning, execution, or interpretation of the described research are listed as authors. All such individuals must be granted co-author status. Participation in a substantial part of the project calls for either inclusion among the co-authors or a formal acknowledgment.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All authors disclose in the manuscript any financial or other material conflict of interest that could affect the assessment of the work. Sources of financial support for the project must be indicated.

Errors in Published Work

If a significant error or inaccuracy is found in a published work, the author must promptly notify the editor-in-chief and assist in publishing a retraction or correction. If the editor-in-chief learns of the error from a third party, the author must promptly publish a retraction or correction, or provide evidence that the published data is correct.

Detection of Plagiarism

The editorial board and editorial staff of Professionalitet commit to supporting the scholarly community in upholding publication ethics, in particular in cases of suspected duplicate submission or plagiarism.