Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The following Statement observes the Guidelines and recommendations included in the Core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices), accomodating the special profile of Különbség as well as national best practices.

Decision on Acceptance

The Editor in Chief and the Editorial Board hold the right of deciding on the acceptance or rejection for publication of submitted papers. They take responsibility for publishing only papers double-blind peer reviewed by specialists holding a PhD degree in philosophy and/or other relevant disciplines.

The Editor in Chief is responsible for selecting papers for publication in a given volume. He is responsible for making sure that papers published in the Journal observe laws, regulations and ethical standards concerning plagiarism, violation of intellectual property rights, defamation, and violation of minority rights. Papers violating any of these are rejected without submitting them to review.

The Editor in Chief consults with the reviewers, and/or Associate Editors, and/or the Editorial Board, and/or other specialists before accepting a paper for publication. He takes responsibility for publishing only papers that meet the profiles of the Journal and the highest professional quality standards. The observation of standards is impartial, ascertained by the double-blind peer review system, consultation with other editors of the Journal and/or external specialists, and the professional ethical integrity of the Editor in Chief. The final decision is the right of the Editor in Chief and is to be noted by authors.

Különbség publishes only original papers that have not been published (either in part, or entirely) earlier. Authors are responsible for submitting previously unpublished papers to the Journal and for not submitting them simultaneously to other journals.

Guidelines for Violation of Research Obligation

The Editor in Chief is responsible for preventing and detecting violation of research obligation. If suspicion of such violation arises, authors are first informed of the suspicion and they can clarify the circumstances. Suspicion is investigated with utmost care, collecting information from employers or other institutions concerned. If such violation is ascertained, the paper is rejected. If this happens posterior to the publication, the Journal publishes a statement of apology, or retracts the paper. Handling third party legal claims for violation of research obligation is the exclusive responsibility of author.

Integrity of Academic Record

Különbség is committed to the professional research and publication practice prevalent in philosophy, the humanities and social sciences. It precludes and resists fraud, forgery, misleading information, inaccuracy and the misuse of sources of any kind. The detection of any of these entails the rejection, correction or retraction of papers. Author is responsible for providing correct data in submitted paper. If non-intentional mistakes or inaccuracies are detected by author posterior to publication, he/she is obliged to report them immediately to the Editor in Chief. Upon report, these are corrected and a statement of correction is published in the next volume, with due prominence.

Intellectual Property Protection

Különbség acknowledges and protects intellectual property rights. It is primarily the responsibility of author to observe Hungarian Copyright Law LXXVI/1999. Author is obliged to include proper attribution upon quoting, paraphrazing, summarizing or relying on, the text(s), data, idea(s), theses, method(s), argumentation(s), conclusion(s) published by other authors and to avoid creating the impression that these are his/her original text(s), idea(s), etc. Attribution should clearly and correctly be provided in footnotes or the main text (in brackets), including the quoted, paraphrazed, etc. author’s name and the proper bibliographical data of the publication (including accurate page numbers).

Lack of attribution or misattribution are considered plagiarism. Cases of suspected plagiarism are investigated by the Editor in Chief. Minor cases of plagiarism (e.g. missing quotation marks, copying of short phrases) entail the notification of the author (as well as the author copied) and a statement of correction in the next volume of the Journal. Severe cases of plagiarism (copying of longer sections of texts, adoption of data, arguments, conclusions, etc.) entail request of explanation from author, notification of copied author(s), and if necessary, notification of author’s institution or superiors. In severe cases a statement of apology is published in the next volume of the Journal and the paper is retracted.

Különbség publishes only papers that are the original work of authors and have not been published (either in part or in entirety) before. Self-plagiarism and duplicate publication (recycling) is to be avoided by all means. Cases of suspected self-plagiarism or duplicate publications are investigated by the Editor is Chief. If the suspicion proves correct, the paper is rejected or retracted and an apology is published in the next volume of the Journal.

Authorship, Contributorship, Support

Author is obliged to include or make reference/acknowledgements to all those who contributed to the paper. Co-authors are those who made substantial contributions to the paper, contributors are those who helped author in various phases of the research and/or in writing the paper. Without the prior consent of co-author, author cannot submit a paper. Co-author should be notified about the reviewers’ evaluation and suggestions and about any changes made in the paper during the review process. Authors must agree in the order of their names to be listed as authors. In exceptional cases authorship might be changed after publication. Unethical ommission or inclusion of authors is carefully investigated by the Editor in Chief and if necessary, a correction is published in the next volume.

Author is obliged to acknowledge the support of individuals, institutions or organizations that have provided financial support for, or other aids in, creating the paper. Lack of acknowledgement detected after the publication of the paper is corrected in the next volume of the Journal. Handling third party legal claims concerning lack of acknowledgement is the responsibility of author.

Conflict of Interest/Competing Interests

Editor in Chief is responsible for doing his best to prevent professional, scientific, research, business, financial or other conflicts of interest and competing interests. Any such conflict or the suspicion thereof is carefully investigated. Papers involving such conflicts might be rejected or retracted.

If author is aware of such conflict(s) before submitting the paper or is informed about it after publication, he/she is obliged to report it to the Editor in Chief. Handling third party legal claims concerning conflict of interest or competing intrests is the responsibility of author.

If reviewers or editors are aware of any conflict of interest or competing interests concerning authors, research or institutions before undertaking the review, they are obliged to report them to the Editor in Chief and decline the review or editing. Reviewers are carefully selected with special regard to precluding conflict of interest. The review process is to be impartial at all times.

Ethical Oversight

The Editor in Chief is responsible for rejecting papers violating the rights of or discriminatory against, ethnic, religious, sexual, ratial or other minority groups vulnerable to discrimination. Editors and reviewers adopt the same policy.

Reviewers and editors are trusworthy and competent specialists, who treat papers confidentially all through the review and publication process. Disclosure of papers before publication to colleagues or other persons, especially without knowledge of the Editor in Chief, is strictly forbidden. All papers are evaluated on the basis of professional excellence alone.

Personal Data Protection

Különbség observes current national and EU regulations on personal data protection and the free movement of such data (Law CXII/2011 and EU 2016/679), and refrains from forwarding such data of authors to third parties, unless allowed by law.

Submitted manuscripts are treated confidentially all through the review and publication process and are only shared with the selected reviewers, and/or the editors of the Journal, and/or occasional guest editors.

Complaints, Appeals and Allegations of Misconduct

To preclude unwarranted or repeated complaints about rejection and the harassment of the Editorial Board, reviewers are obliged to provide clear comments, corrections and criticisms of submitted papers, including a reasonably detailed explanation for refusal. In the case of substantial disagreement between the two independent reviewers’ evaluations the manuscript is given to a third specialist for review. The third evaluation is decisive in favour of or against the paper. The final decision, however, is made by the Editor in Chief at all times. Complaints for refusal can mostly be handled by the double-blind peer review process and the detailed feedback of reviewers shared with authors. Nonetheless, cases of complaints for refusal are carefully investigated by the Editor in Chief, who might assemble an ad hoc Ethical Committee of the Journal’s editors to help to settle debated issues. Authors can appeal to the Ethical Committee in writing.

Any other complaint or allegation related to misconduct specified in the Ethics and Malpractice Statement are carefully investigated by the Editor in Chief. If necessary, he consults with the Editors and other colleagues or institutions concerned.