PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

The journal Acta Universitatis Carolinae Iuridica – Charles University Law Review (AUCI) publishes scientific papers whose high quality is assured by an anonymous peer-review process. The editors therefore ensure that the review process and the assessment of manuscripts is thorough, objective and fair.

This Ethical Code describes the principles of ethical conduct for all the participants in the review and assessment of manuscripts. Authors, editors, and reviewers are required to follow the rules outlined in this Code of Ethics. Authors and reviewers should follow the guidelines provided by the AUCI Editorial Office and Karolinum Press.

AUTHORS

Each manuscript submitted for peer review by AUCI must be an original authored publication. The manuscript must not have been previously published or accepted for publication in another journal or publisher. Exceptions to the "originality" rule apply to the following submissions: 1) conference papers published on the relevant conference website; 2) papers published in part as part of a master's thesis, rigorous thesis, dissertation thesis, or habilitation thesis, which must be notified to the editors in advance by the author. An author may not submit a manuscript to AUCI for consideration that is under review by another journal or submit a manuscript to another journal that is currently under review by AUCI. Nor may a manuscript submitted to the AUCI Editorial Office be submitted for publication either as a monograph or part of a monograph or as a contribution to (conference) proceedings.

The manuscript must not contain plagiarism, falsification, fabrication or serious omissions. Authors are required to refer to the other authors' writings when quoting them verbatim or paraphrasing their ideas. In case of plagiarism or self-plagiarism (republication of one's own papers), the manuscript will be rejected.

Autoplagiarism (duplicate publication of one's own writing) is in principle not allowed. If the manuscript draws on another author's work that has already been published, is in press or is being considered for publication, the author must refer to this paper.

The author shall ensure that the manuscript does not infringe copyright. In case the author uses other contributions (graphics, tables), the use of which requires the consent of the author, the author shall ensure the necessary permissions before submitting the manuscript.

Authorship should be given only to persons who have made a significant contribution to the conception, form or execution of the present paper. It is the responsibility of the author communicating with the editors (corresponding author) to ensure that all co-authors are listed in the manuscript and that, on the contrary, persons who are not co-authors are not listed. The author will also ensure that all co-authors have approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to submit this version for publication. All co-authors must be clearly identified on the manuscript when it is submitted to the editors.

The author is required to disclose in the manuscript any financial or other conflicts of interest that might affect the results presented in the manuscript or their interpretation. All sources of financial support must be disclosed.

The author must adhere to the ethics of citation, follow the rules for citing sources, and acknowledge all sources used, including proper acknowledgement of secondary citations.

EDITORS

The editors (members of the Editorial Board of AUCI) retain their independence. They do not abuse their position and approach authors objectively, discreetly, constructively and impartially. They evaluate the manuscripts only on the basis of their professional qualities, relying on peer review. Editors should avoid potential conflicts of interest between authors and reviewers. The editors strive for theoretical and methodological pluralism, but at the same time expect manuscripts to be of an appropriate professional standard and to be useful and accessible to the reader. In the event of proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism, the editors will take the necessary steps to clarify and correct the situation. The editors will not include a manuscript in the AUCI that is suspected to be unoriginal or to have been plagiarized.

The editors will not disclose the manuscript and information concerning it, including peer review, to anyone other than the reviewers, authors, co-authors, or members of the Editorial Board, while always maintaining the anonymity of the authors and reviewers.

Responsibility for accepting or rejecting manuscripts rests with the editorial office, which respects the recommendations of the reviewers. The Editorial Board informs the reviewers of the results of the review process and of the final decision to accept or reject the manuscript.

REVIEWERS

Reviewers are usually two renowned experts in the field, but not from the same department as the author of the paper under review.

Reviewers must withdraw from reviewing a manuscript in which they believe they have an actual or potential conflict of interest. In case of doubt as to whether there is a conflict of interest, reviewers shall inform the Editorial Office of this fact. Protected information or ideas obtained in the review process are considered confidential and must not be misused for personal gain. Reviewers must strictly observe the anonymity of the peer review process (double blind peer review).

Reviewers shall evaluate manuscripts in an unbiased, objective, fair and professional manner. Reviewers are honest with the author if they have doubts about the quality of the manuscript, but without personal attacks on the author. Reviewers are expected to adequately justify their recommendations to the editors and to provide the author with an appropriate amount of commentary and, where appropriate, recommendations. The Reviewers will produce the review in a timely manner according to the agreed deadline, usually within 14 days.

Publication ethics of AUCI is primarily based on the Ethical Code of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), available at https://publicationethics.org (Guide for new researchers: https://publicationethics.org/files/2003pdf12_0.pdf; COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers: https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/cope-ethical-guidelines-peer-reviewers; COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors: https://publicationethics.org/files/u2/Best_Practice.pdf).