Defence and strategy

Approved by the Editorial Board, valid from May 1st, 2012.

The purpose of these Ethical Standards is to define the rights and duties of the publisher (editorial bodies), authors and reviewers in the process of publishing and set policies for the publishing process to ensure transparency and best quality, objectivity and neutrality of the Obrana a strategie journal. These Ethical Standards are in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), contained in the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Notes: The Obrana a strategie journal is published by the University of Defence. To ensure the publication of the journal, the publisher established editorial bodies, which for the purposes of this document include: the Editorial Board (including its Chairman, Secretary and Executive Editor) and the Advisory Board. A person (author, reviewer, member of editorial bodies) who commits a breach of Ethical Standards is identified as “person in breach”. 

Ethical Responsibilities and Expectations

Editors’ responsibilities

• To approach all contributors, reviewers and other colleagues and journal makers impartially, assess their activities objectively and fairly, without discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, political believes, or ethnic origin.
• To approach the evaluation and publication of submitted contributions so that the principal criteria for assessment are technical quality and benefit. Commercial influences, as well as any other forms of influence are not permitted.
• To adopt measures that will allow authors and others to notify of possible breach of Ethical Standards, and establish procedures that will prevent such breaches. The publisher agrees to examine all received complaints to a reasonable extent, archive written documentation relating to their investigation, and seek immediate remedy in the case of their legitimacy.
• To follow consistently the established Review Process.  Publishing in the Obrana a strategie journal by members of its editorial bodies is subject to the same rules and criteria applicable to texts of other authors. Members of editorial bodies are obliged to conceal their authorship. They are obliged to abstain from voting of the Editorial Board during the assessment of their own contributions and shall leave the meeting during consideration of proposed names of reviewers.

Authors’ responsibilities

• To become familiar with the Guidelines for Authors and Ethical Standards, cooperate and communicate with the publisher to maximum extent, agree with publishing their contact information (e-mail) and a short professional CV.
• To affirm, by submitting their contribution, that an identical or significantly similar contribution has not been published by the author, offered or accepted for publishing elsewhere at the same time (under another title or in a modified form), and, during the time between submission and the final decision on its publishing or refusal, the author is not going to seek to have it published in another periodical or other publicly accessible information resources.
• To give, by submitting their contribution, the publishers an exclusive permission to publish and distribute the contribution in Czech or any other language on the territory of the Czech Republic and outside, both in printed and online form. The author shall also declare that the presented work has not yet been published, they have full and unlimited copyright to the work, and they are entitled to use the work. The author holds legal responsibility for the content of the work and for the work not containing information subject to confidentiality under applicable law. Other matters relating to copyrights, their protection and maintenance shall be governed by the current wording of the Copyright Act (Act No. 121/2000 Coll., on Copyright and Rights Related to Copyright and on Amendment to Certain Acts, as amended).
• If the contribution has been prepared with a financial or other support of another individual or institution, to state this explicitly, including the identification of the grant, sponsor of the project, etc. (The information will be temporarily removed before the commencement of the review process by the Executive Editor in order to maintain the anonymous character.)
• To properly cite used sources and literature. Limit the number of self-citations to a maximum extent. To obtain consent with publishing of information or borrowed passages which are subject to such consent from their author. Plagiarism is unacceptable.
• To accept any edits in their contribution arising from the outcome of the peer-review process, proofreading and other activities associated with the publication of the work.
• To keep and maintain records and information related to the creation and editing of the contribution. Based on them and upon request of the publisher, to provide proof of authorship or leadership in case of doubt or investigation of complaints about violations of Ethical Standards.
• To abstain from searching for the identity of reviewers and notifying the publisher of the facts which could jeopardize the anonymity and objectivity of the peer-review process.
• To avoid such unfounded evaluative statements in their paper which could have denouncing or offensive nature or are likely to harm others and good reputation of the journal.
• To agree that the contribution published in the Obrana a strategie journal cannot be published in another journal or publicly available information source without the approval of the Chairman of the Editorial Board and without adequate reference to this journal.
• To inform the publisher of any potential conflict of interest or facts which could have a negative impact on any stage of the publishing process and the credit of the journal.
• To notify the publisher immediately, if the paper is published with a severe error. The author is obliged to provide the assistance necessary to correct the error, publish an amendment or explaining information, etc. upon the request of the publisher.

Reviewers’ responsibilities

• To become familiar with the Ethical Standards and approved method of the peer-review process, to cooperate and communicate with the publisher to the maximum extent possible in the course of preparing the review opinion.
• To withdraw from the review process and inform the Secretary of the Editorial Board in a timely manner, if the reviewer finds out after becoming familiar with the reviewed text that they are not able to provide its adequate professional assessment due to their different professional focus, expertise or specialization.
• To contribute to improving the quality of the reviewed contribution by assessing it objectively, impartially and providing the opinion in time, in required length and quality in accordance with the prescribed formal appearance of the review opinion.
• To maintain confidentiality of information provided by the author or publisher in relation to the processing of the review opinion. Further use or distribution of the reviewed contribution during and after the review process by the reviewer is not allowed.
• To notify the publisher of each already published or submitted text that shows significant similarity with the reviewed contribution.
• To abstain from searching for the identity of the author and notifying the publisher of the facts which could jeopardize the anonymity and objectivity of the peer-review process.
• To inform the publisher promptly about a possible conflict of interests of the reviewer that may arise in connection with the peer-review process or any other facts that might affect its objectivity.

Procedures for Dealing with Unethical Behaviour

Identification of unethical behaviour

Anyone can notify the publisher of the violations of the above Ethical Standards. The provider of such information should provide sufficient information and evidence for investigation to the publisher (editorial bodies).

Investigation of unethical behaviour

Handling of notifications and complaints about unethical behaviour is the responsibility of the Chairman of the Editorial Board, who may advice the Editorial Board about such cases and consult it. In the event of serious breach he informs the publisher of the journal. The publisher approaches each case of breach of Ethical Standards with due seriousness and consistency in such a way as to preserve the conditions for fair and objective investigation of the case. Any information relating to investigations and results arising from it will not be provided to other people than those who are directly concerned.

Minor breaches of Ethical Standards

In the case of minor violations of Ethical Standards the person in breach is notified by the Chairman of the Editorial Board and asked to provide their opinion and remedy. Minor breaches can be addressed non-publicly without participation of other people and bodies.

Serious breaches of Ethical Standards

Serious breaches of Ethical Standards are solves by the Chairman of the Editorial Board in an appropriate way in collaboration with the Editorial Board and publisher. In order to assess the level of prospective breach objectively it is possible to invite other persons and bodies for investigation and consultation.

Outcomes of the investigation of breaches of Ethical Standards (in increasing order of severity)

After the investigation, it is possible to draw the conclusions from the breach of ethical standards and, within a reasonable extent, take some of the following measures. These may be adopted individually or in combination:

• Informing and advising the person in breach, if their unethical behaviour was the result of ignorance, incomprehension or incorrect interpretation and application of Ethical Standards;
• Strong written notice to person in breach and warning of the consequences of unethical behaviour;
• Publication of the offence in the form of a general notice;
• Publication of the offence including detailed analysis of violations of Ethical Standards and the identification of the person in breach;
• Embargo on the acceptance of contributions (if the person in breach is an author), exclusion from the pool of reviewers (if the person in breach is a reviewer), removal from the position and cancellation of the membership (if the person in breach is a member of the Editorial Board or Advisory Board) for a limited or unlimited period;
• Formal complaint about the person in breach addressed to their employer or professional organization and passing for further investigation and action.