Publishing Policy of the Publishing House of the AWSGE University of Applied Sciences in Józefów

The Publishing House of the AWSGE University of Applied Sciences in Józefów (hereinafter: “AWSGE Publishing House”) is an organisational unit of the University without separate legal personality. The University is responsible for the publishing activity.

The mission of the Publishing House is to publish and disseminate the results of original scientific research, in particular peer-reviewed monographs, and to support the national and international circulation of knowledge. This Policy establishes uniform standards for the qualification of works, peer review, ethics, accessibility and the documentation of the publishing process.

The profile covers the social sciences, in particular legal sciences, pedagogy, psychology, management and quality sciences, economics, political science and public administration, and security studies. The Publishing House publishes single-authored and multi-authored monographs, edited monographs, conference proceedings of a monographic character, scientific reports and teaching publications.

Whether a work qualifies as a scientific monograph is determined by its actual character and the applicable legal provisions, and not merely by the name of the series or publication. The Publishing House develops cooperation with national and international researchers and publishes in Polish and in foreign languages.

Each submitted project undergoes a formal assessment and a preliminary scientific assessment, followed by independent peer reviews and a publishing decision. The criteria include the originality of the research problem, contribution to the development of the discipline, methodology, reliability of sources, currency of the literature, quality of argumentation, ethics and consistency with the publishing profile.

The Publishing House applies the same criteria to authors employed at the University and to external authors, irrespective of the language of publication, the source of funding, or whether and in what amount a fee is paid. Payment of a fee does not guarantee publication. Decisions to accept a work, return it for revision or decline publication are documented together with a statement of reasons.

Before publication, every scientific monograph, including an edited monograph, is subject to at least two written reviews by independent experts from outside the University. Double-blind peer review is the standard rule, provided that the nature of the material allows anonymity to be effectively maintained; any departures require justification and documentation.

Reviewers are selected on the basis of their competence, scholarly record and the absence of conflicts of interest. The review assesses originality, methodology, the significance of the results and scholarly craftsmanship, and recommends acceptance, revision or rejection. The author receives the comments and submits a response together with a revised version. In the event of a significant discrepancy between reviews, a third reviewer may be appointed. The final decision remains independent of funding.

The Publishing House retains documentation of reviews, declarations and decisions in accordance with data protection legislation and internal archiving rules. The detailed procedure is set out in a separate, publicly available peer review procedure.

The Publishing House applies principles of publication ethics consistent with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). It does not permit plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of results, undisclosed secondary publication, improper attribution of authorship, citation manipulation or concealment of conflicts of interest.

Authors submit declarations concerning originality, authorship, rights to third-party materials, funding and conflicts of interest. The Publishing House provides for a procedure for examining allegations, giving the persons concerned the opportunity to provide explanations, publishing corrections and — where necessary — retracting a publication together with a public statement of the reasons. The rules for the use of artificial intelligence tools are laid down in a separate policy; AI tools may not be listed as authors.

The Publishing House provides substantive, language, technical and bibliographic editing appropriate to the nature of the work. It may establish scientific boards for its academic series, with the participation of independent national and international experts. The composition of such bodies, their competences, selection criteria and actual involvement in the assessment of publications should be made public.

On its website, the Publishing House publishes its current profile, instructions for authors, the peer review procedure, ethical principles, rules on funding and fees, the Open Access Policy, contact details and the catalogue of publications.

The moral rights of authors are protected, and the rules governing the exercise of economic rights are set out in the publishing agreement. The Publishing House supports Open Access; the access and licensing conditions of each publication are specified individually. Details are governed by the Open Access Policy.

The activity of the Publishing House is financed from the University’s own funds, grants, research and teaching projects, funds provided by external entities and other sources provided for by law or by agreements. The Publishing House follows the principle that its publishing activity is financed primarily at the level of the costs necessary for the proper preparation, publication and dissemination of publications. As a rule, fees charged to authors or funding bodies serve to cover publishing costs and not to generate profit. Any funds remaining after costs have been settled are allocated to the statutory purposes of the University.

The terms of funding of a publication are determined individually, taking into account the status of the author, the nature of the publication, the manner in which it is made available (Open Access or a model other than Open Access), the planned print run and the anticipated use of the publication in the research and teaching activities of the University. For publications by University employees made available under the Open Access model, the rule is that no fee is charged to the author and the justified costs of the publishing process are financed from University funds, subject to the availability of those funds and the adopted publishing plan.

For publications by authors not employed at the University, the Publishing House may make the publishing process conditional on the justified costs being covered by the author, the commissioning entity, a funding institution or another authorised entity. These costs may include, in particular, scientific peer reviews, substantive and language editing, proofreading, bibliographic preparation, typesetting and layout, preparation of electronic files and — in the case of printed publications — printing, binding and distribution. The scope of costs is determined according to the type, length, complexity and format of the publication.

When determining the University’s share in funding publications by external authors, the scientific and educational value of the publication for the AWSGE academic community is also taken into account. In particular, consideration is given to the possibility of free use of the publication by the University’s students and staff and to its consistency with the profile of the University’s teaching and research. Making a publication available under the Open Access model may therefore constitute grounds for reducing the fee, co-funding it or waiving it; it does not, however, give the author a claim to such a decision.

Information on the anticipated scope of publishing services, the rules for calculating costs, the amount and deadlines of payment and any waivers or co-funding is provided to the party concerned before an agreement is concluded or a financial commitment is made. The final decision on the method of funding a given publication, the extent of co-funding by the University, the amount of fees and the granting of a waiver or reduction is taken by the Editor-in-Chief of the Publishing House, within the limits of her competences and the applicable laws and internal regulations of the University. The agreed terms must be appropriately documented.

Neither the charging of a fee, its amount, a fee waiver nor the source of funding of a publication may influence the selection of reviewers, the course and outcome of peer review, or the scientific assessment and decision to accept a work for publication. Payment of a fee does not guarantee publication. The terms of funding of publications do not infringe the principles of the Open Access Policy of the AWSGE Publishing House.

Authors are obliged to respond diligently to the comments of reviewers and the editorial team and to make the changes deemed necessary to ensure the scholarly and formal quality of the work. Revisions may be required at various stages of the publishing process, including after peer review, during editing and at the author’s proofreading stage. If the author refuses to take substantive comments into account, the author provides a justification, which is assessed by the Publishing House. Failure to make the required changes may result in the publishing process being suspended or publication being declined.

After a work has been published, the Publishing House may issue a correction or publish an erratum if the errors identified do not undermine the fundamental reliability of the results, findings or conclusions. A correction of an error arising in the course of the publishing process takes the form of an erratum, and a correction of an error originating from the author takes the form of a corrigendum. A correction should clearly identify the publication, the scope of the corrected information and the date of the correction. Where an electronic file is replaced with a corrected version, the version must be appropriately marked and, where justified, information on the changes made must be retained. Substantive corrections require an assessment of their significance for the scholarly content of the publication.

A publication may be retracted in particular in the event of 

• the disclosure of research misconduct, including the fabrication or falsification of data or results;
• the identification of serious methodological, computational or factual errors, including unintentional ones;
• plagiarism, self-plagiarism or duplicate publication (publication of the same content, results or conclusions elsewhere without proper disclosure and consent);
• a material infringement of copyright or other third-party rights;
• a serious breach of the principles of research ethics, including conducting research without the required approval of an ethics committee or the consent of research participants;
• other circumstances as a result of which the findings or conclusions of the publication cannot be considered reliable.

The retraction of a publication due to an unintentional error does not imply that the author has breached the principles of research integrity, and this is reflected in the wording of the retraction notice. Retraction proceedings may be initiated by the author, the Editor-in-Chief or the editorial team, or on the basis of a credible report by a third party. Before a decision is taken, the author should, where possible and appropriate, be given the opportunity to provide explanations.

The decision to retract a publication is taken by the Editor-in-Chief after considering the available information and, where necessary, after consulting experts or the relevant units of the University. The retraction is documented together with a statement of reasons. The Publishing House publishes on its website a notice of retraction (retraction note) identifying the work and stating the date and, to the extent legally permissible, the reason for the retraction, and referring to the description or the full text of the publication. The notice indicates the body that took the decision. As a rule, the publication is not removed from the scholarly record but is clearly marked as retracted; information on the retraction is placed in the catalogue record and, where possible, on the page preceding access to the file and in the file itself. The Publishing House also takes steps to update the metadata in the distribution channels under its control.

Complete removal of a publicly available full text is an exceptional measure, applied only where the continued availability of the publication would be contrary to the law, a final court ruling or the obligation to protect the rights and safety of persons, in particular due to the unlawful disclosure of sensitive data, a serious violation of privacy or personal rights, or a serious threat to health or public safety. To the extent legally and technically possible, the Publishing House leaves the bibliographic description publicly available, together with information on the reason why the content is unavailable, without disclosing protected information.

Requests for corrections or retractions should be submitted to the Publishing House. Cases are handled with respect for the principles of impartiality, confidentiality, personal data protection and the rights of the persons concerned. The Publishing House documents the requests, the actions taken, the positions of the parties and the final decisions. The provisions of this section apply accordingly to printed and electronic publications, taking into account the limitations arising from their form and from the agreements concluded.

The Publishing House disseminates its monographs in Poland and abroad through its own website, library catalogues, repositories, cooperation with libraries and research institutions, and print and digital distribution. For each monograph it provides bibliographic metadata, an ISBN, information on peer review and on the authors, an abstract and keywords; English-language metadata and persistent identifiers, where available, are also recommended.

The Publishing House carries out documented monitoring of its national and international reach, covering, among other things, presence in catalogue and repositories, citations, scholarly reviews, use of publications and international cooperation. It does not claim indexing in any database without confirmation of acceptance.

The Policy is applied together with the peer review procedure, the ethics policy, the rules on AI and the Open Access Policy. It is reviewed at least once every two years and following significant changes in the law. It applies from the date of its approval and publication on the website of the Publishing House. This document does not affect acquired rights arising from previously concluded agreements.