Ethics Statement

The editorial team of the “Medical Library Forum” journal undertakes to uphold the highest standards of scientific credibility in terms of the published content. Considering diligence and honesty to be the elementary values of academia, it strongly opposes any misconduct concerning the publication of academic papers. “Medical Library Forum” disallows any plagiarism, such as copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, even the author’s own publication, without stating its source of origin. The quoted item must be appropriately marked and its original source stated in a footnote.

COPE

The editorial team follows the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) -- an international organization assembling publishers and editors of academic journals. These guidelines include a detailed description of the course of action in case of suspected unethical activity in terms of publishing.

THE COPE STANDARDS AID EDITORS IN CASES SUCH AS:
  • suspicion of plagiarism,
  • suspicion of an unnecessary publication,
  • suspicion of fabricated data,
  • suspicion of an ethical problem occurring,
  • suspicion of an undisclosed conflict of interest,
  • suspicion of the author’s idea or data being appropriated by the reviewer.

COPE diagrams also present the recommended course of action in case of a request to introduce changes to the authors’ list, as well as in case of a suspected presence of a ghost author or a guest author. COPE diagrams are available here: [LINK].

ICMJE

The editorial team relies on the recommendations by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) -- a committee assembling the editors of reputable journals, such as “Nature Medicine”, “New England Journal of Medicine”, and “The Lancet”. These recommendations aim to support editors, authors, and reviewers in upholding the highest ethical standards on each stage of the publishing process. Our editorial team expects everyone cooperating with the journal to follow ICMJE’s guidelines, which are available here: [LINK].

RESPONSIBILITIES

THE EDITORIAL TEAM’S RESPONSIBILITY
  • The editorial team evaluates the received papers only on basis of merit, accordance with the journal’s theme, and following the ethical guidelines, all in agreement with the reviewers.
  • The editorial team assures that every paper is reviewed by at least one expert in the field prior to publication. The review forms are made available on the reader’s demand (on an open peer-review basis).
THE AUTHOR’S RESPONSIBILITY
  • In accordance with the ICMJE’s guidelines, a person can be credited as an author if they significantly contributed to the paper, took part in preparing the manuscript, accepted its final version for publication, and take accountability for all aspects of the paper. ICMJE recommends that every person credited as an author fulfils the criteria, and that every person fulfilling the criteria be credited as an author.
  • A person can be credited as a corresponding author if they assume the responsibility of communicating with the editorial team during the publishing process, as well as that of fulfilling the formal requirements associated with publishing in the specific journal. A corresponding author answers the questions asked by the editor and the reviewers, as well as undertakes to answer the academic community’s questions after the paper is published.
  • The authors should be listed according to how much they contributed – from the most to the least. It is allowed to credit the authors as equal contributors. The last position may be reserved for the senior author, however, the senior author must fulfil the criteria of authorship no matter the contribution.
  • The contribution of each author must be specified in the license agreement.
THE REVIEWER’S RESPONSIBILITY
  • Every reviewer who does not feel competent enough to review the received paper, or knows that a quick review is not possible, should notify the editorial team immediately and refuse the request for cooperation.
  • The reviewer should refuse the request for cooperation, should there be a professional or familial relationship or a conflict of interest between the reviewer and any of the authors.
CONFIDENTIALITY
  • All persons involved in the publishing process are bound to treat all received papers as confidential documents. It is disallowed to show or discuss them with third parties, unless in justified circumstances, with the consent of the Editor in Chief.
  • Information gained during the publishing process cannot be used to personal gain of any person involved in the publishing process.