Publication Ethics

GeoSport for Society follows and meets commonly used standards of publication ethics, which are in accordance with principles and rules introduced by COPE – Committee on Publication Ethics, Ethics in research & publications introduced by ethics.elsevier.com with the international standards of the responsible research publication (E. Wager and S. Kleinert, 2011 etc.).

Before submitting the manuscript (scientific article), please carefully read the GeoSport for Society ethical and publication malpractice statement presented below. The author(s) of the manuscript need(s) to ensure that the original data, the text, the illustrations etc. do not infringe upon any existing copyright or other third-party entities rights (see “Cover Letter”). The Cover Letter stipulates the ethical issues and all authors must sign it. It must accompany the manuscript submitted to the GeoSport for Society, otherwise it will be automatically rejected.

In order to avoid any type of publication malpractice each manuscript must be accompanied by the GeoSport for Society Cover Letter, completed in full and signed by all authors.

The authors of the articles have to consider in their work the professional, social, environmental and ethical issues.

The manuscript submitted for evaluation (including text, figures etc.) remains in the property of the GeoSport for Society, being subject to the copyrights laws. If the article is rejected, the property right of all materials goes back to the authors. The reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article in whole or in part requires a reference to the GeoSport for Society (see Cover Letter).

The submitted manuscript must represent the author’s original work. The results submitted by the authors must be clearly and truthfully presented, without fabrication, forgery or improper handling of data and ideas.

The manuscript was neither submitted for publication to another journal, nor has already been published (please see the Cover Letter). If this is the case, the manuscript will be automatically rejected and all authors will lose the right to future submission and publication of manuscripts in the GeoSport for Society.

Manuscripts with any type of plagiarism will be automatically rejected and the authors will lose the right to future submission and publication in the GeoSport for Society.

If the authors try to republish an already published paper (using their own or other authors’ data), the editors of the GeoSport for Society will inform the editors of the other journal where the original paper was published, the funding agency (where appropriate), the institution and the reviewers.

* The authorship of the manuscripts must accurately and honestly reflect the contributions of each member. All authors listed in the manuscript need to meet the authorship criteria. All of them must have participated substantially in the work to the conceptualisation, design, execution or interpretation of the manuscript and they are prepared to take full public responsibility for their work (please see the Cover Letter).

* Furthermore, all authors must have contributed to the manuscript and the common agreement has been reached before submission (please see the Cover Letter). The corresponding author should ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and they have accepted its submission for publication.

If there are others who have participated in certain substantial aspects of the research project aiming at the scientific paper, they should be recognized or listed as contributors.

The applicable copyright law and treaties will be met. The authors must be sure that the original data within the manuscript can be clearly distinguished from the data published in other scientific papers. In addition, the content of the text, captions and any other materials included do not infringe upon any existing copyright or other (third-party) rights (please see the Cover Letter). Reproduced materials (such as tables, figures, extensive quotes) concerning copyright will present adequate confirmation and permission.

* Previous papers and relevant publications, both of the respective authors and other researchers, should be acknowledged and properly mentioned in the paper. Moreover, data, text, figures, images, etc. or ideas belonging to other researchers should be properly acknowledged and clearly and truthfully mentioned in the paper.

For the purposes of editorial revision, authors are requested to provide the raw data related to the paper and they should be ready to give public access to such data.

* Researchers should not, in general, publish or share identifiable individual data collected during the research without the specific consent of the person in charge or his/her representative.

* Authors should mention all funding sources for the research on which the scientific paper is based, including direct and indirect financial support, the provision of equipment or materials and other assistance, etc.

* If materials are taken directly from other researchers’ publications, they should appear in quotation marks with the appropriate quotations.

* Authors must present clearly and summarised the part of the methodology, conclusions etc. so that the experiments can be repeated by other researchers in other researches.

* If some of the data sets have been published or some are sent for publication, the authors must inform the editors and be able to provide details and evidence upon request.

* If the authors’ decide to withdraw the paper from the revision process or they decide not to respond to the reviewers’ comments, after having received a conditional acceptance, they must inform the editors. Authors should respond to comments made in reviews in a professional manner and in due time.

Authors must immediately notify the editor if they discover an error in any submitted, accepted, or published paper.

Authors should cooperate promptly with editors whenever necessary.

Editors and reviewers should make sure that the assessment is fair, impartial and in due time.

If the manuscript does not comply with the online published publication requirements and guidelines or it does not meet the aim and scope of the journal, the editors at the GeoSport for Society reserve the right to reject the manuscript without peer review. Each paper will be sent to at least two independent reviewers. If major discrepancies are recorded between the two reviewers, a third reviewer will be asked to review the manuscript. The journal editors will decide whether to accept or reject the manuscripts according to these reviews.

* Editors and reviewers should make sure they avoid any conflict of interests during the peer-review process.

* Editors and reviewers may not disclose other communications and materials related to the revision process to others and may not keep or copy the manuscript.

* Editors have a duty to act promptly and appropriately if they suspect improper conduct or if they are accused of improper conduct.

* Editors are ethically and morally bound to pursue alleged cases of misconduct that may lead to the rejection of articles. Editors, possibly with the help of relevant employers of the institution or an appropriate body, etc., should first seek an answer from those suspected of misconduct.

* Editors should encourage and be willing to take into account the convincing criticism of the papers published in GeoSport for Society. The authors of the criticised materials should have the possibility to respond.

* Editors should consider withdrawing a paper in cases such as: the existence of clear evidence that the results and discussions are not reliable; that inappropriate conduct was used, i.e., data fabrication etc.; human errors, such as miscalculation or experimental errors; it was previously published elsewhere without proper cross-reference, permission or justification; it is plagiarism; it reports unethical research etc.

The retracted state of the articles must be indicated as clearly as possible in the electronic archives where they are kept, etc.