PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT
The Romanian Orthodox Church Review is the Official Bulletin of the Romanian Patriarchate and a peer-reviewed journal committed to ensuring the highest standards of publication ethics. All parties involved in the act of publishing (editor, authors, reviewers) have to agree upon standards of ethical behavior. We state the following principles of Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement:
Responsibilities of the Editor
Editorial board of the Romanian Orthodox Church Review is created from recognized experts in the field. The editor provides full names and affiliations of the members as well as updated contact information for the editorial office on the journal website. The editor is solely and independently responsible for selecting, processing and deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal meet the editorial goals and could thus be published. The editor is responsible for the final decision regarding whether or not the paper is accepted or rejected. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always drive such decisions. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
The editor will evaluate manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic and intellectual merit, without regard to the author(s)’ race, age, gender, ethnic origin, religious belief, citizenship, political orientation, social class etc. Priority will be given to texts with certain qualities: the accuracy of the description, the scientific depth in the presentation of the theme, the topicality of the subject and the relevance of the chosen bibliography. All articles submitted for possible publication are subjected to a double-blind, peer review process. Articles are first reviewed by editors. Articles that are found suitable for review are then sent to two experts in the field of the paper. Referees of a paper are unknown to each other. Editors should publish guidance, which should be regularly updated, to both authors and reviewers on everything that is expected of them.
The editorial staff does not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript will not be used in an editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review will be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. The editor will publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies whenever needed.
The texts published in the Romanian Orthodox Church Review can be used in the annual volumes of the Studies and Articles Collection – Romanian Orthodox Church Review (sBORa), dedicated to the Homage and Commemorative Year in the Romanian Patriarchate and edited under the auspices of the Basilica Publishing House of the Romanian Patriarchate.
Responsibilities of the Authors
The authors are responsible for the authenticity of the text, the Romanian Orthodox Church Review not allowing the violation of the copyright law (Law no. 8/1996 on copyright and related rights, in force since June 24, 1996, text of the law republished in the Official Monitor no. 489 of June 14, 2018).
The responsibility for the opinions presented, as well as some critical attitudes, rest entirely with the authors, who are instructed to respect all recommendations and copyrights posted electronically at the journal’s web address: www.revistabor.ro . Therefore, authors assume full responsibility for the content of articles submitted for publication, including permission to quote or translate articles by other authors.
Also, the authors are asked to keep the exclusivity of a single editorial appearance of the recorded text. Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or cited. Plagiarism takes many forms, from “passing off‟ another´s paper as the author´s own paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another´s paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
The responsibility for the opinions released, the correctness from the point of view of the Orthodox Christian teaching of faith, as well as some critical attitudes, rest entirely with the authors. They do not in any way represent the position of the Editorial Office or the Ecclesiastical Institutions.
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author´s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper. If the editor or the publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, it is the obligation of the author to promptly retract or correct the paper or provide evidence to the editor of the correctness of the original paper. Also, it is mandatory that the works of the doctoral students are accompanied by the recommendation of the supervising professor.
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.
The authors can use the texts published in other own works, with the specification of the original publication in the Romanian Orthodox Church Review and all the coordinates regarding the publication (title, journal number, year of publication, pages etc.). At the same time, the authors will consider respecting the copyright rights of the visual materials (images, illustrations) sent for publication.
Authors should also disclose financial or other conflict of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support should be disclosed. The Romanian Orthodox Church Review, the Official Bulletin of the Romanian Patriarchate, is published under Open Access and does not charge any publication fees.
Responsibilities of the Reviewers
The “peer review” process of the Romanian Orthodox Church Review, the official Bulletin of the Romanian Patriarchate, takes into account both the national and international norms for the scientific evaluation of articles and studies received for publication, with the aim of ensuring publications of the highest quality in the representative bulletin of our Church.
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication. Authors who wish to contribute to publications have an obligation to do a fair share of reviewing.
Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on content without regard to the authors’ race, age, gender, ethnic origin, religious belief, citizenship, political orientation, social class etc. Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor. Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer´s own research without the written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.