Reliability in science is one of its foundations and as such, readers of the journal should be sure that the authors of the publication present the results of their work in a reliable and honest way. Proof of the ethical attitude of the researcher and the most important editorial standards should be the disclosure of information about all entities contributing to the publication.

Our principles cover:

• honesty in all aspects of research,
• scrupulous care, thoroughness in research practice,
• transparency and open communication,
• care and respect for all participants in and subjects of research.

Anyone who believes that research published in the Theological Yearbook has not been carried out in line with these principles should raise their concerns with The Editorial Board, or email rocznikteologiczny@chat.edu.pl.

Plagiarism is defined as ‘submitting as one’s own work, irrespective of intent to deceive, that which derives in part or in its entirety from the work of others without due acknowledgement.

Examples of plagiarism include copying by:

• quoting verbatim another person’s work without due acknowledgement of the source;
• paraphrasing another person’s work by changing some of the words, or the order of the words, or translating form another language without due acknowledgement of the source;
• using ideas taken from someone else without reference to the originator;
• cutting and pasting from the Internet to make a pastiche of online sources;
• submitting someone else’s work as part of one’s own without identifying clearly who did the work. For example, not attributing research contributed by others to a joint project.

Plagiarism can occur in respect to all types of sources and media, including material downloaded from websites, drawn from manuscripts, or unpublished material, such as lectures, presentations and grey literature.

We do not tolerate plagiarism in any of our publications, and we reserve the right to check all submissions through appropriate plagiarism checking tools. We expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of plagiarism, either by contacting The Editorial Board or by emailing rocznikteologiczny@chat.edu.pl. Submissions containing suspected plagiarism, in whole or part, will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered post-publication the article will be retracted (see below).

Duplicate or redundant publication, or ‘self-plagiarism’, occurs when a work, or substantial parts of a work, is published more than once by the author(s) of the work. This can be in the same or a different language. We can accept duplicate or redundant publication only if the auhtor(s) prove(s) that this will strengthen the academic discourse, and we have clear approval from the original publication.

Procedures which contravene our policy of openness and honesty in science are ghostwriting and guest authorship. We have to do with ghostwriting when someone has contributed to the publication without revealing his or her participation as one of the authors or without referring to his or her role in the acknowledgements included in the publication. We have to do with guest authorship (honorary authorship) when the participation of the author is negligible or none, although  he or she is the author/co-author of the publication.

Authors submitting a manuscript to the editorial board are required to declare any potential conflicts of interest that could interfere with the objectivity or integrity of a publication. These may be financial, non-financial, professional, contractual or personal in nature. We expect from reviewers to inform The Editorial Board if they could be in any potential conflicts of interest.

Where we are made aware of fraudulent research or research misconduct, our first concern is the integrity of content we have published. We work with the relevant editor(s), and other appropriate institutions or organizations, to investigate. Any publication found to include fraudulent results will be retracted (see below), or an appropriate correction or expression of concern will be issued.

Freedom of expression is critical to us as academic publishers, but we do not support publishing false statements that harm the reputation of individuals, groups, or organizations.

Prevention and retraction

To prevent the cases of publication misconduct by the authors, the Editorial Board of the Theological Yearbook have introduced the following procedures:

• Authors who send their publications to the editors should disclose the contribution of individual authors of the publication, giving their affiliation and information, who is the author of the concepts, assumptions, methods, statistical summaries, etc., used in the preparation of the publication. The main responsibility for the correctness and reliability of the information lies with the author submitting the work for publication.
• The Editorial Board informs authors that any cases of scientific misconduct detected will be disclosed, including notifying the relevant entities (institutions employing the authors, scientific societies, associations of scientific editors, etc.).
• The Editorial Board obliges authors of the submitted texts to provide information on possible sources of financing of the publication; the contribution of scientific and research institutions, associations and other entities to the creation of the scientific text (financial disclosure).

The Editorial Board will consider retracting a publication if:

• we have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable as a result of misconduct,
• it constitutes plagiarism,
• it reports unethical research.

We are aware of our responsibility to investigate suspicions and any allegations made and to reach a conclusion on the basis of those investigations. We will seek the complainant’s views on any explanation and evidence provided by the author. Similarly, we will seek the views of the author on any explanation and evidence provided by the complainant. We always aim at a full clarification of all questionable cases.

The Editorial Board will remove any articles in which the author has committed scientific misconduct from the online version, or notices of retraction will be linked to the retracted article in all electronic versions and give the reason for its removal. The editors will also publish this information in the following printed version of the journal.

Retraction is a mechanism for correcting the literature and alerting readers to publications that contain such seriously flawed or erroneous data. Retractions are also used to alert readers to cases of redundant publication (i.e. when authors present the same data in several publications), plagiarism, and failure to disclose a major competing interest likely to influence interpretations or recommendations. The main purpose of retractions is to correct the literature and ensure its integrity rather than to punish authors who misbehave.

The Editorial Board allows for the publication of corrigenda, errata and polemical articles in the Theological Yearbook and on the website of the journal.