Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
At the journal Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean, we uphold the highest standards in academic research declared by the University of Warsaw (see here), where we are based, and comply with the detailed Publication Ethics of our Publisher, the University of Warsaw Press (see here), fully in accordance with the COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. The Chief Editor and the University of Warsaw Press (Publisher) are responsible for implementing the above policy.
The Authors are expected to submit their own original work and clearly cite contributions from other scholars (using the Acknowledgments section for those not meeting criteria of authorship). All sources of financial support, as well as other forms of sponsorship, should be indicated to the best of the Author’s knowledge; it is expected that ownership of the data will also be acknowledged.
Sufficient information should be presented to reliably identify the sources used as well as to follow the Author’s reasoning. Presenting and interpreting data and research results not in compliance with universal ethical publication standards is unacceptable.
It is considered unethical also to present the same research in more than one journal. However, in archaeology, reporting on primary research results often takes on a partial and interim form, which is not in conflict with later more comprehensive and conclusive studies.
Ghostwriting and guest authorship are treated as scientific misconduct. They are, however not to be mistaken for extensive editing, copyediting, and language revision, which the Editors can request or provide to aid the Authors in meeting the journal’s goals of clarity of presentation and language intelligibility.
A suitably qualified Editorial team is appointed for discharging the tasks and duties involved in the editorial process. Authors are made fully aware and participate in the editing work, which is carried out by or under the supervision of the Chief Editor, and need to approve the final draft of their work before publication.
The Editors at Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean are dedicated to an editorial policy of ensuring and encouraging academic integrity as well as the integrity of the academic record. The Editors are aided in this task by the Editorial Board and Advisory Committee, safeguarding the scientific reliability of the published content through a controlled process of review and editing.
The wide membership of the Editorial Board and Advisory Committee reflects the thematic scope of the journal. This requires often specialist in-depth knowledge in different fields of archaeology and related disciplines across a range of territorial and chronological issues covered by the Journal’s scope. Contacts between the Editors and the members of the Editorial Board, individually or collectively, depend on current needs related to the running of the journal.
The Editors work together with the Author(s) in full compliance with the standards of ethical behavior in academia, fair play, confidentiality, and avoiding conflicts of interests. Manuscripts submitted to the journal are evaluated on their academic merit and significant contribution to the field, taking into account the clarity of presentation and intelligibility.
Breaches of intellectual property are tracked down actively and treated accordingly; should cases of academic misconduct go untraced prior to publication, the Editors undertake to publish appropriate rectification, explanation, or apology. Content will be removed if there is evidence of unreliability or falsification of the data, unintentional error, previous publication, or plagiarism. Errors, if discovered by the Author after publication, will be amended by the Editorial team in the online version of the article (but not the paper version), indicating the nature and date of the modification.
The editorial process follows a set of Editorial policies and Instructions for contributors available for inspection on the PAM journal’s website.
Information on submissions is not disclosed to anyone but the Editorial team, Editorial Board, and Advisory Committee. members, reviewers, and Publisher, as appropriate.
Reviewers for the double-blind reviewing process implemented in the journal are selected from mainstream academia, care being taken to ensure academic reliability and confidentiality of research. Reviewers are obliged to follow confidentiality and conflict of interest guidelines and should inform the Editor of issues in this respect. Reviewers are expected to be objective in their reviews, identify potential cases of malpractice, avoiding personal criticism of the author; they are encouraged to comment extensively, if needed, on issues of concern, whether academic or related to research misconduct. Their input may go beyond evaluation; in post-review processing, assisting in establishing the final form of the paper and improve the publication through communication with the Authors.
Members of the Editorial Board and Advisory Committee, being experts in their respective fields, can be called on as reviewers for individual papers (in such instances, the other reviewer must be external). They are obliged to follow the same standards as external reviewers.
In cases of conflicting opinions that the Chief Editor cannot resolve internally, advice will be sought from the Editorial Board and Advisory Committee.
The Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, which established the journal and which is associated with the publication of the journal today, does not exercise any forms of influence on the published matter.