PUBLICATION ETHICS

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

This brief Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement is developed after the Core Practices and Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) https://publicationethics.org/ for a quick reference for duties and responsibilities of Editors, Authors, and Reviewers. The Lex Portus journal supports and encourages all parties to consult directly with the COPE Core Practices https://publicationethics.org/core-practices. We expect all parties to comply with this Publication Ethics, COPE Core Practices, and other COPE Guidelines and Principles cited below.

Editors’ Duties and Responsibilities

To comply with COPE Core practices and to ensure the integrity of the scholarly record, Editors should organize the editorial office following the COPE General approach to publication ethics for the editorial office https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.2.24 and The Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.12

Editors should exercise the highest standards of personal integrity, avoiding participation in editorial decisions where they have a competing interest.
The Editor-In-Chief of Lex Portus is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published.
Editorial decisions should be based solely on the relevance of a manuscript to the journal and on the manuscript's originality, quality, and contribution.
Editors ensure the timely processing of manuscripts considering the resources available to them.
Editors do not share information about manuscripts under review, their content and status in the review process, criticism by reviewers to anyone other than the authors and reviewers.
Editors follow COPE flowcharts https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Flowcharts on handling different aspects of publication ethics issues.

Authors’ Duties and Responsibilities

Authors should carefully read and follow this Publication Ethics and Instructions for Authors. Authors should be aware that their failure to comply with expected publication ethics practices will result in the rejection of a manuscript or the retraction of a published article. For more information, authors should consult COPE Retraction guidelines https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.4

All persons who have contributed substantially to the research should be listed as authors. Persons should not be added as authors if they have not contributed significantly to the project. Authors should follow the COPE guidelines How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2018.1.1
Authors should provide in full any funding information related to their research and manuscript.
Authors should declare any competing interests.
Authors should ensure that their work is entirely original and written by them. The source should be clearly cited when the material is taken from other sources (including authors’ own publications).
Permission should be obtained for the use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web).
Authors should provide documentation for any citations to unpublished work (e.g., articles in press/personal communications)
Authors should confirm that the manuscript has been submitted solely to this journal and is not published in the press or submitted elsewhere.

Reviewers’ Duties and Responsibilities

Peer reviewers play an essential role in ensuring the integrity of the scholarly record. Reviewers are expected to follow the COPE Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.9

Reviews should be conducted objectively.
Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.
Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments and references as necessary and not be defamatory or libelous.
Reviewers should declare any competing interests.
Reviewers should decline to review manuscripts in which they have a competing interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
Reviewers should respect the confidentiality of material supplied to them and may not discuss unpublished manuscripts with colleagues or use the information in their own work.
Any reviewer that wants to pass a review request to a colleague must obtain the editor's permission first.

Post-publication discussions, corrections, and retractions

Lex Portus journal follows COPE core practices on post-publication discussions and corrections https://publicationethics.org/postpublication

Post-publication discussions or corrections requests should be communicated through letters to the Editor.
Following requests for content correction, editors consider publishing an erratum (for production errors) or corrigendum (for author errors) linked to the original article.
When considering a retraction, editors adhere to the COPE Retraction guidelines https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.4