Publication Ethics Statement

Ethical guidelines

Modern Geográfia is committed to publishing the results of quality research in accordance with the ethical expectations and norms of the professional-scientific community. The manuscripts received are published on the basis of their significance, originality, the expectations of our readers and quality. Commercial or political gain does not influence the editorial decisions. This statement is based on the Code of Ethics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/). Regarding the special research ethics guidelines for involving human subjects, see “Research ethics policy for author(s)” below. Adherence to the ethical rules of scientific research is a requirement for all participants in the publication process (editorial board, editors, reviewers, authors and publishers). In particular, the responsibilities of each stakeholder are the following:

 

The task of the editorial board

The members of the editorial board are renowned researchers in their respective fields. They are experts with scientific degrees and publishing in internationally recognized journals. Their role is primarily of an advisory nature, but at the same time they help during the review and publication process with their experience and expertise.

 

Duties of the editors

Duties of the editor-in-chief

The editor-in-chief of the journal decides, which of the submitted manuscripts that will be published. The editor-in-chief ensures that each manuscript is judged by at least two researchers with expertise in the given subject. The editor-in-chief decides on the timeframe for publishing the manuscripts, the content of the issues, and whether he or she supports or rejects them is in accordance with the applicable legislation and ethical standards.

Ensuring equal opportunities

The content of the received manuscripts is always evaluated on the basis of the described scientific results and evaluated according to their fit within the profile of the journal, regardless of the authors’ origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion or political views.

Source designation and plagiarism

Manuscripts are subject to plagiarism review by the editorial board before being submitted for review (using Turnitin for detecting similarity index). In doing so, the editors check whether the manuscripts have been published previously, and if so, the manuscript is rejected. By submitting the manuscript, authors agree that their paper may be subject to Turnitin.com’s text similarity check for plagiarism detection. All submitted manuscripts are entered into the Turnitin.com reference database as a source document for the sole purpose of filtering possible plagiarism in them. The Turnitin.com service is subject to the “Usage Policy” posted on Turnitin.com.

Confidentiality

The editors do not pass on any information about the manuscript submitted for publication, except for the stakeholders involved in the publication process.

Disclosure and conflict of interests

The journal editors and members of the editorial board may not use the unpublished materials of the submitted manuscript for their own research without the written consent of the author. Information obtained in the course of the review will be treated confidentially and may not be used for personal gain.

Participation and cooperation in the investigations of research misconduct

All reported irregularities will be investigated by a panel of members of the editorial board—chaired by the chairman of the editorial board—within 30 days. The editors are also involved in investigating ethical issues related to submitted or published research papers. Responses include contacting the author on ethical issues, but also communicating with concerned institutions as well as various scientific bodies. If the ethical concerns raised during the investigation are substantiated, a correction, revocation of publication, or other comments will appear in the journal.

 

Duties of the reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer review is an essential element of scientific communication that helps the editor-in-chief to make his or her decisions and can help raise the standard of communication through dialogue with the author.

The review process

To ensure quality, each submitted manuscript is evaluated by two professional reviewers. The review process is double anonymous (double blind peer review). Each manuscript is reviewed by two independent experts in the field, whose opinions are received by the authors. If there is significant disagreement among the reviewers making recommendations during the two first rounds of reviews, a third reviewer should also become involved in the process. The opinion may result in the following suggestions:

Publication of the manuscript
• acceptance in the submitted form;
• acceptance with minor corrections;
• acceptance with major corrections;
• rejection.

Eligibility criteria

Eligibility criteria for manuscripts to be published in the journal: compliance with formal requirements (presence of mandatory elements; adaptation to the topic of the journal; resource management) and scientific and professional value (consistency of the title with the content of the manuscript, consistency of the manuscript with the abstract and keywords, originality of the manuscript, the use of relevant sources, structure of the article, proportionality of chapters, overlaps between chapters, precise drafting of research objectives, a clear description of the research area and methods, the chosen methods, the adequacy of the presented data, the presentation of results, the validity of the conclusions, the need for and quality of illustrations and tables).

Confidentiality

The reviewers will keep the submitted manuscript confidential. No information will be shared about it, except with an authorized editorial staff member.

Objectivity

The assessment must be made objectively. Criticism of the author is not appropriate. The reviewers must clearly state their views and substantiate their arguments.

Disclosure and conflict of interests

The reviewers may not use the unpublished materials of the submitted manuscript for their own research without the written consent of the author. Information obtained in the course of the review will be treated confidentially and may not be used for personal gain. The reviewers may not evaluate the given manuscript if they have a conflict of interest with the authors of the manuscript, or related companies or institutions arising from any competitive situation, cooperation or other relationship.

 

Research ethics policy for author(s)

Submission of the manuscript

By submitting the manuscript, the author warrants that this is his or her original work, which has not been published elsewhere or submitted to another scientific forum for publishing. All manuscripts must include support for the relevance and topicality of the research, the aims and methods of the research, the obtained results, and the accurate communication of the available data. The manuscript should provide new, unpublished information as well as enough detail and references to make the description reproducible. Critical writings (review, book review) must be accurate, unbiased and comparative. The inclusion of false or deliberately inaccurate statements constitutes unethical and unacceptable behaviour.

Originality and plagiarism

The author must guarantee that the manuscript is his or her own original intellectual creation or, if he or she has used the works and / or thoughts of others, he has quoted and professionally referred to them in an appropriate manner. Plagiarism and self-plagiarism are considered unethical behaviours and are therefore considered unacceptable by the Editorial Board of Modern Geográfia. Based on the above, it is the responsibility of the author(s) to comply with copyright law. The use of any form of plagiarism results in the rejection of the manuscript.

Prohibition of multiple or simultaneous publication

Submitting the same manuscript to more than one place is an unethical and unacceptable practice. It is also not possible to submit a research paper that has already been published elsewhere. In special cases, on the basis of individual assessment, the second publication of certain manuscripts may be undertaken by the journal – while respecting the copyright law. In all cases, the consent of the concerned author(s) and that of the forum, which first published the research paper is required, as well as the inclusion of the exact bibliographic details of the original publication in the second publication.

Authorship of the manuscript

Only individuals can be considered authors responsible for the content who:

• participated as a significant contributor to the creation of the manuscript, either in the planning or execution of the research or in the analysis of the data;
• participated in the preparation of the manuscript or contributed to its completion with significant intellectual content;
• participated in the creation and correction of the final draft. Any person who has not contributed to the creation of the manuscript to the extent described above (e.g. technical assistance, editorial assistance) may not be included as an author. However, their names may be included in the acknowledgements section of the article.

Social science research involving human subjects

For research involving human subjects (questionnary survey, interview etc), the article (Methods) must include a statement that the participants gave informed consent before taking part (or a statement that consent was not required and why). The information should state that participation is voluntary, can be stopped and revoked at any time without consequences and the need to give reasons. The collected data is processed in accordance with data privacy laws. Anonymity and data protection in all cases must be ensured. It is also necessary to pay attention to the sensitivity of the interviewees due to their cultural and social situation. Where illustrations inserted in the manuscript include recognizable individuals, great care must be taken to ensure that consent for publication has been given. Photographs need to be cropped sufficiently to prevent human subjects from being recognized, and the eye area must be masked using coarse pixilation to make the individual unrecognizable.

Artificial intelligence policy

Text or figures generated by AI cannot be used in papers submitted to Modern Geográfia, without explicit permission from the editors. An AI program cannot be an author of a submitted paper. A violation of this policy constitutes serious scientific misconduct.

Disclosure and conflict of interests

All authors must disclose any financial or other material conflict of interest that may have affected the results of the research or the interpretation of the manuscript. All targeted financial resources used in the research should be made public.

Basic errors in published articles

If an author believes there is a significant error or inaccuracy in the publication, he or she is obligated to report it immediately to the editors or the publisher of the journal, and to work with the editor-in-chief to revoke or correct the error.

 

Other information

Publication costs
The journal does not charge any fees.

Open access
The content of Modern Geográfia is freely accessible.

Pécs, February 1, 2021.

Editorial Board of Modern Geográfia