Ethics and publication malpractice statement

(composed on the basis of existing Elsevier policies)

 

Duties of Editors

Fair play and editorial independence

Submitted manuscripts are evaluated exclusively on the basis of their academic merit and relevance, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy or institutional affiliation. Decisions to edit and publish are independent of any authorities outside of the journal itself.

Publication decisions

The editors are responsible for ensuring that all manuscripts being considered for publication undergo double step (abstract and paper) blind peer-review by at least two reviewers expert in the field. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the conference BSA will be accepted for publication, based on the validation of the work in question, its importance to researchers and readers, the reviewers’ comments, and legal requirement currently in force, in particular regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The Editor-in-Chief has full authority over the entire editorial content of the publication and the timing of publication of that content.

Disclosure and Confidentiality

Editors and editorial staff will 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.
Editors and editorial staff will not use unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their own research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent. Privileged information or ideas obtained by editors as a result of handling the manuscript will be kept confidential and not used for their personal advantage.

Conflicts of interest

Editors will recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships/connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the papers; instead, they will ask another member of the editorial board to handle the manuscript.

Ethics

Editors will take responsive measures when ethical concerns are raised with regard to a submitted manuscript or published paper. Every reported act of unethical publishing behaviour will be looked into, even if it is discovered years after publication.

 

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer review support editors in editorial decisions. Through editorial communications with authors, may assist authors in improving their manuscripts.
Reviewers commit themselves to act objectively and to formulate comments and argumentations clearly so that authors can use them for improving the manuscript. Personal criticism of the authors is inappropriate.
One of the reviewers’ task is to identify missing acknowledgement of published works by the authors. Statements that are an observation, derivation or argument from previous publications should be provided with appropriate citations.
A reviewer should also notify the editors of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other manuscript (published or unpublished) of which they have personal knowledge.

Confidentiality and disclosure

Invited reviewers, independently of the acceptance to serve, commit themselves to the highest confidentiality with respect to any manuscripts received, and cannot use for personal advantages any information and ideas obtained through peer review.
Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be shown, discussed with others neither used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the authors.

Conflicts of interest

Any invited reviewer who has conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the manuscript and the work described therein should immediately notify the editors to declare their conflicts of interest and decline the invitation to review so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.

 

Duties of Authors

Quality and originality, multiple publication, plagiarism and acknowledgment of sources

Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and the results, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work. The manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work.
Papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. Authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published. Concurrent submission of a manuscript to more than one journal is unacceptable.
Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Authors should ensure that the work and/or words of others used in the paper, are appropriately cited. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported in the manuscript should also be cited. Information obtained while providing confidential services, such as reviewing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used unless they have obtained the explicit written permission of the author(s) of the work involved in these services.

Authors accept the policy and conditions of the publisher (http://bupress.unibz.it/en/for-authors#quality) as from the publishing agreement, and in particular they provide proper declaration that the work is original, not previously published, respectful of third parties’ rights and of the rules and laws in force. The authors accept to remain liable for third parties’ requests related to violations of their rights and responsible of obtaining and making available all the required authorizations for publishing images, pictures, texts, or similar, copyrighted.

Data access and retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable. The confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.

Authorship of the manuscript

Only persons who meet these authorship criteria should be listed as authors in the manuscript as they must be able to take public responsibility for the content: (i) made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the study; and (ii) drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for important intellectual content; and (iii) have seen and approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication. All persons who made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript (such as technical help, writing and editing assistance, general support) but who do not meet the criteria for authorship must not be listed as an author, but should be acknowledged in the “Acknowledgements” section after their formal permission to be named as been obtained. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate coauthors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate coauthors are included in the author list and verify that all coauthors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Authors should at the earliest disclose any conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript, as for instance financial ones, such as honoraria, educational grants or other funding, membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest, and paid expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements, as well as non-financial ones, such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs in the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. All sources of financial support for the work should be disclosed.

Hazards and human or animal subjects

If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the authors must clearly identify these in the manuscript. If the work involves the use of animals or human participants, the authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them; the manuscript should contain a statement to this effect. Authors should also include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human participants. The privacy rights of human participants must always be observed.

Peer review

Authors accept to undergo the peer review process and to respond promptly to editors’ requests, in particular for raw data, clarifications, and proof of ethics approval, and copyright permissions. In the case of a necessity of revisions, authors should respond to the reviewers’ comments systematically, point by point, and in a timely manner, revising and re-submitting their manuscript by the deadline given. Authors accept the decision of the editorial board about the publication of their contribution.

Fundamental errors in published works

Significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, have to be promptly notified by the authors to the editors or publisher as soon as discovered. The maximum cooperation should be provided to either correct the paper in the form of an erratum or, in case, to withdraw the paper. If the editors or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy, then it is the authors’ obligation to promptly correct or retract the paper or provide evidence to the journal editors of the correctness of the paper.

 

Duties of the Publisher

Handling of unethical publishing behaviour

The policy and conditions of the publisher are available at http://bupress.unibz.it/en/for-authors#quality.

Access to journal content

The publisher is committed to the permanent availability and preservation of scholarly research and ensures accessibility by partnering with organizations and maintaining our own digital archive.