Publishing and ethics

Publishing and ethics policy

Papers published in the Journal of Early Years Education must adhere to the professional and ethical guidelines set by the Editorial Board. These guidelines are guided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) standards for the conduct of journal editors (COPE Guidelines) and the expectations set out in the Code of Scientific Ethics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. All stakeholders contributing to the publication of a paper must agree to the standards of professional and ethical conduct expected.

Duties of the Editors

The Editorial Board (hereafter: Editors) determines which contributions are published on the electronic platform of the Journal of Early Years Education. The board is responsible for the initial review of submitted papers, initiating the peer review process, evaluating the reviews, carrying out the editorial tasks required for publication and publishing papers accepted for publication. The Editors reserve the right to

(1) run papers through a plagiarism detection system,

(2) reject a manuscript for formal or substantive deficiencies before the review process has begun.

The publication of the manuscript and the editors’ ability to publish may also be limited by the laws on defamation, copyright infringement and plagiarism currently in force. The editorial team cannot be held responsible for any shortcomings in the plagiarism filtering system.

Fair play: the Editors will evaluate submitted manuscripts for their intellectual content, without regard to the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity, nationality, or political affiliation of the authors.

Confidentiality: editorial team shall not disclose any information about the manuscript submitted for publication to anyone other than the author, the proofreaders, potential proofreaders, other editorial consultants, or the publisher.

Publication and Conflict of Interest: Manuscripts accepted for publication will be published by the Editors. Papers awaiting publication but not yet published and results to be published may not be used by contributors in their research and publication activities.

Responsibilities of the reviewers

Papers are evaluated by two independent and anonymous reviewers, who may be members of the Editorial Board but predominantly are external experts. The journal does not pay any honoraria for reviewing, but will provide a certificate of proofreading upon request. Publication of submitted manuscripts is subject to the reviewers’ opinions and, in the case of divergent editorial opinions, the Editor-in-Chief will decide whether to accept or reject the paper. Compliance with formal requirements is a prerequisite for the start of the peer review process.

Contribution to the editorial board’s decisions: the reviewer comments on the submitted manuscripts, recommends rejection or acceptance, and proposes changes and corrections for papers to be revised. The reviewer advises the editors if a substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and any previously published paper of which the reviewer is aware is detected.

Accuracy and expertise: Reviewers are invited by the Editors. The reviewers are selected on the basis of their expertise. Reviewers may request to be dismissed after the review process has started if they consider that the study under review is outside their research area, a conflict of interest exists, or they know that rapid peer review is impracticable. In the latter cases, the person requesting the exemption must notify the Editor-in-Chief and propose a new reviewer. The reviewer shall have 4 weeks from the date of acceptance of the review activity to complete the review.

Confidentiality: all manuscripts submitted for review must be treated confidentially by the reviewer, who is not allowed to consult others and may only cite the scientific results after publication.

Objectivity: the reviewers’ opinion must be objective. Criticism of the author’s person or identity is not acceptable. Peer reviewers must provide arguments to support their claims.

Disclosure and conflict of interest: if the reviewer obtains confidential information in the course of the review process, he/she must keep it confidential and not use it to his/her own advantage. Reviewers should not review manuscripts which present a conflict of interest with any of the authors or the author’s institution.

Responsibilities of the authors

Acceptance of manuscripts is subject to compliance with the publication and ethical guidelines. As the journal can only partially verify compliance with the guidelines, it is the author's responsibility to comply fully with them according to the standards set out below.

Principles of publication: authors should accurately describe the original research in their papers in a way that allows for critical discussion. Papers should adhere to the formal requirements of the journal, references should be cited, and data and results should be presented in a factual and accurate manner.

Originality and plagiarism: any form of plagiarism is unethical and unacceptable. Authors must ensure that their written work is entirely their own intellectual product. Where authors use the work and/or expressions of others, they must cite and quote appropriately. Editors will check the originality of all manuscripts submitted.

Multiple publication: It is unethical and unacceptable to publish a piece of writing with the same text and content in more than one journal.

Authorship: authorship of publications should be limited to those who have made a genuine and substantial contribution to the paper’s concept, design, writing or interpretation. All those who made a significant contribution to the study should be listed as co-authors. The Principal Investigator or first listed author should ensure that all eligible co-authors are included in the manuscript and make sure that the final version of the study accepted for publication is made available to all co-authors.

Major errors in the published paper: Major errors or inaccuracies can be corrected before and after publication of the manuscript. If the author discovers a substantial error in a published or submitted paper, he/she is obliged to report this fact to the Editors. The Editor-in-Chief will then allow the correction of the error or the publication of a correction.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest: Authors must disclose the sources of financial support for the research related to the paper, financial and other potential conflicts of interest that may affect the interpretation of the results.