Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

General information

The „Különleges Bánásmód Interdiszciplináris Folyóirat” (further: KB)  (in English: Special Treatment Interdisciplinary Journal) is a journal published by  the University of Debrecen, which provides scholarly papers in all areas of which publishes scholarly articles addressing issues in related to individuals requiring special treatment , interpreted in the broadest possible sense, across the full spectrum of scientific disciplines, including—but not limited to—pedagogy, special education, psychology, sociology, the medical sciences, anthropology and cultural anthropology, the arts, law, and related fields.

KB has an international editorial board and is subject to the highest standards of peer review. KB is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and malpractice and therefore publishes in accordance with the rules laid down in the Chapter III of the Code of Conduct of the University of Debrecen, the Regulation of Scientific Research UD and the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors developed by the COPE. We take our responsibility to authors, reviewers, and readers very seriously, and strive to ensure that all published materials are of the highest quality and accuracy. We recognize the importance of protecting the rights of authors, and will ensure that authors are given due credit for their work. We also recognize the importance of protecting the rights of reviewers, and will ensure that their comments and critiques of submitted material are kept confidential. Finally, we are committed to protecting the rights of readers, and will ensure that all published materials are free from plagiarism and copyright infringement.

Integrity in research

We encourage honesty in all aspects of research, as it is essential to the integrity of any scientific endeavour. Research must be conducted with due care, thoroughness and excellence to ensure that the results are valid and accurate. We are committed to transparency, and open communication between researchers should also be encouraged to help maintain standards of trustworthiness throughout the research process. We are also committed to respecting all research participants; they should never feel exploited or mistreated as a result of their involvement in a study. We take accountability seriously, as it is the key to upholding ethical practice within a field; both authors themselves and others involved have a responsibility not only for their own work, but also for that which falls short of expected standards by others. Editorial independence can never be compromised by competing interests, fear or any other corporate, commercial, financial or political influence, nor can there ever be discrimination against anyone involved in authoring, editing or peer reviewing on the basis of identity or personal characteristics. Finally, we make active efforts to encourage submissions from scholars from diverse backgrounds who have been historically underrepresented in academic journals, so that everyone is given a fair chance to contribute to the advancement of knowledge and our understanding of the world around us.

Abusive behaviour or correspondence towards our staff, authors and other members of the publishing process will not be tolerated by the editorial board. We believe that everyone involved in the publishing process deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. As such, we reserve the right to take action against any act of abuse against us or those working on our behalf. Actions taken may vary depending on the severity of the abuse, but may include withdrawing consideration of a manuscript submission, challenging clearly abusive peer review comments or book reviews, and reporting to the relevant authorities where appropriate. In addition, we will ensure that appropriate measures are taken to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future involving us and/or individuals associated with us.

Authors' responsibilities

Authors must ensure that their work is accurate and free from plagiarism. They should also cite the work of others accurately, giving appropriate credit to the original source. The research results are required to be accurately reported without omitting relevant information or fabricating results. Authors should also strive for originality in their works, avoiding plagiarism at all costs as this could lead to legal action against them due to copyright infringement laws. Authors must take care not commit fundamental mistakes such as incorrect citations, wrong facts etc., since these errors can have serious repercussions both professionally and ethically speaking.

Authors should ensure that all formatting guidelines are strictly adhered to when preparing manuscripts prior to submission - failure to do so may result in automatic rejection, regardless of the quality of the content, for failure to meet the required standards and expectations set out in the submission for KB.

 KB does not charge the authors any fees for manuscript processing, publication or submission, and neither does it pay them any royalties. We believe in providing our authors with a platform for publication that is open and fair. As such, we require all authors who wish to have their work published through us to participate in our proof reading process. This ensures that only quality articles will be accepted for publication, giving readers access only the most reliable source of information available.

Every paper submitted to the KB should make a new and interesting contribution to our understanding of classical antiquity.

The participants of the proofreading process: four scientifically qualified (e.g. PhD) reviewers take part in the proofreading process of an article. Two of them are public reviewers, and the other two reviewers take part in the process of blind peer-reviewing. 

The role of the public reviewers is: they are involved by the Author, and they help the work of the author until the submission of the article. Their names will be published in the journal. They do the proofreading as volunteers without payment.

The role of the reviewers of the blind peer-reviewing process: they are invited by the Editorial Board of the Journal, and they proofread the article after its submission. Their names will be unknown to the authors and the readers.

The reviewers are required to be researchers from several institutions and multiple countries.

Authors must honestly disclose any potential conflicts of interest when submitting their manuscript for review, so that editors can properly evaluate its merits without bias from outside influences. Competing interests can take many forms, such as financial relationships between authors and the organisations they study, personal relationships with other researchers who may be cited in their work, or even political views held by authors that may influence how they interpret their results.

Authors have an obligation to notify journal editors or editorial boards immediately if any errors are discovered. It is important for authors to cooperate with journal editors or editorial boards when errors occur, as this helps to ensure accuracy and reliability in published work. Authors should provide accurate references and indicate whether any financial support was received during the course of their studies, so that readers have full transparency into how the work was conducted.

KB is committed to providing original and unique content to its readers. As such, the journal does not reprint material that has already been published elsewhere. It welcomes contributions from authors from all around the world, regardless of their location or nationality. The primary languages ​​of the publication are Hungarian and English.

KB accepts both single-author and multi-author manuscripts. In the latter case, the order of authors must be determined by the first author in consultation with the co-authors. Following the submission of the manuscript, no changes to authorship are permitted (the journal does not accept post hoc authorship claims). Clear and transparent communication among all parties involved helps ensure that each individual’s contribution is appropriately acknowledged and duly recognized throughout the writing process.

Proof-reading process

Professional peer review is essential to maintaining the quality of our publications. On average, a period of three to six months elapses between submission and publication. Deviations from this timeframe may occur only in cases where an exceptionally high number of manuscripts are submitted to the journal; in such instances, the editorial office informs the author of the expected publication date of the manuscript.

Manuscript submission is continuous, with quarterly submission deadlines as follows:

• 15 February
• 15 May
• 15 August
• 15 November

Rejected manuscripts are not retained or archived. A manuscript may be rejected if it fails to pass the plagiarism screening, if it is deemed to be of insufficient quality by the internal reviewers, if the submitted manuscript does not comply with the formatting requirements, or if the submitted study does not fall within the thematic scope of the journal.

Peer-reviewed manuscripts are treated as confidential prior to publication. Information relating to a submitted manuscript is disclosed exclusively to the corresponding author, the reviewers, and the editors, and to no other parties. This policy ensures that all authors can be confident that their work is handled with discretion and with full respect for their intellectual property rights.

Our editors are accountable for the strict observance of these protocols when handling confidential information related to submissions under review by members of the editorial board or by reviewers during the peer-review process, in which their identities remain concealed throughout the evaluation and decision-making stages, until the final acceptance or rejection decisions are communicated through official channels, such as email notifications issued at the conclusion of the review process.

If all four reviewers deem a manuscript suitable for publication, it is accepted for publication. Following acceptance, the edited manuscript is returned to the author for the correction of any typographical errors, minor inaccuracies, or for the identification and completion of missing references.

We acknowledge the fundamental importance of peer review in scholarly publishing and take our responsibility seriously in facilitating a rigorous, fair, and efficient review process for all publications. To this end, we provide appropriate systems and support for reviewers and encourage them to familiarize themselves with best practices in peer review, including the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) ethical guidelines for reviewers

Feedback management

In case of any complaint about the editorial process or content of an article, it is essential that those concerns be addressed in a timely fashion. The editor-in-chief or technical editor should be contacted if there are complaints related to either area. The editorial team takes feedback seriously, and will evaluate all reports and take appropriate action based on the results of the investigation.

Treatment of research misconduct

KB firmly opposes all forms of research misconduct, including falsification or fabrication of data, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results, and will not publish any article that does not meet the ethical standards of the journal. The reviewers are responsible to detect any research misconduct and to notify the Editor-in-Chief who will prevent the article from being published.

The Journal also checks for plagiarism and research fabrication (invention of research data); falsification (manipulation of existing research data, tables, or images), and improper use of humans or animals in research. In accordance with the code of conduct, the Journal will report any cases of suspected plagiarism or duplicate publishing. The Journal reserves the right to use plagiarism detecting software (iThenticate Plagiarism Software-CrossCheck) to screen submitted papers at all times. Submissions are compared against several databases.

The Authors are obliged to comply with the basic principles of research ethics, and if applicable and available for the given article, the fact of the research ethics license must be disclosed in the article.

Only submissions by one of the authors will be accepted. The submitting author will take responsibility for the paper during submission and peer review. The submitting author can contact mezo.katalin@ped.unideb.hu for support.

Authors must ensure that they have written original works. In addition, they must ensure that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere. Any work or passages written by other authors, contributors, or sources should be appropriately credited and referenced. Authors are also responsible for language editing before submitting the article. Authors submitting their works to the journal for publication as original articles confirm that the submitted works represent their authors’ contributions and have not been copied or plagiarized in whole or in part from other works without clearly citing. Any work or passages written by other authors, contributors, or sources (including online sites) should be appropriately credited and referenced. All authors should disclose financial or any other conflict(s) of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript (financial support for the project should be disclosed). When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper. An author agrees to the license agreement before submitting the article. All articles must be submitted using the online submission procedure. Submitting a paper simultaneously to more than one publication at a time is a breach of publication ethics.

In case of detection of research misconduct in already published issues, KB investigate the allegations and reserves the right to initiate ethics proceedings against the author, withdraw the article from the online platform and publish a correction in the next issue. Retractions are issued when an article contains significant errors or has been found guilty of plagiarism or fabrication. Corrections may also be made when there is an error in the data reported in an article that does not affect the conclusions drawn from it. In the event of an infringement, we shall additionally pursue the appropriate legal action.

The editors of KB have a responsibility to ensure that the published articles are original and of high quality. To this end, we use plagiarism detection softwares available to the University of Debrecen for identifying instances of professional plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct. If any form of plagiarism is detected in a submission, it will be rejected immediately, as the publication of such material would not only damage the reputation of the journal, but could also lead to legal action against both authors and publishers. In addition to these pre-publication tools, we also take action post-publication if a case or suspicion of plagiarism that was ot detected in the initial peer-review process arises.

Fundamental mistakes

A fundamental flaw is defined as any flaw that significantly affects the accuracy, validity, or reliability of the results presented in an article. Examples include incorrect data analysis techniques, inappropriate citation practices, or failure to provide sufficient evidence to support conclusions drawn from research findings. All authors submitting work are expected to rigorously check their manuscripts prior to submission and to ensure that all sources are accurately cited throughout the paper, so that facts or ideas taken from other authors' work aren't misrepresented without giving due credit where credit is due. In addition, all figures should be clearly labelled with appropriate captions and tables should always contain accurate information; both of these elements will help to improve the reader's understanding and avoid misunderstandings about the results reported in a study.

In cases where fundamental errors are identified after publication, corrections can generally take one of two forms: either retraction (removal) of the entire article, if necessary, or publication of errata (corrective statements) if only minor changes need to be addressed. Corrections may also involve a re-evaluation of the peer-review processes used prior to publication, if deemed necessary by the editors who oversee each stage involved in the successful publication of an article. Ultimately, however, publishers strive for accuracy in all aspects of scholarly writing; therefore, this policy serves as a reminder that high standards must always be maintained in the conduct of scholarly research in any given subject area.

Criticism and defamation

While we recognise and protect people's right to express critical views objectively based on verifiable facts or the consensus opinion of experts in the field, articles or reviews containing nasty remarks that are self-serving rather than helpful will not be tolerated by our journal editor, as this could lead to further problems with breaches of libel law in the future. We therefore ask all authors and reviewers submitting material through these channels to adhere strictly to these guidelines when expressing opinions within their submissions, to avoid any potential risks associated with inadvertently publishing defamatory material.

Image manipulation, falsification and fabrication

The ethical standards of academic research require that all authors provide accurate and reliable data in their publications. This includes not only the accuracy of the information, but also any images or graphics used to support conclusions or claims made within a paper. All images submitted to a journal should be clearly labeled and described, and any images that are used from third-party sources should be clearly credited. When submitting to KB, the following policy outlines acceptable practices for image manipulation, falsification and fabrication:

First, authors must clearly identify any changes they have made to an image before submitting it for publication. Any changes should be limited to improving clarity or making minor adjustments, such as cropping out irrelevant parts of an image, without changing the overall content. All alterations must be documented in detail so that other researchers can reproduce them if necessary; this documentation should include a description of how each alteration was made and the appropriate software settings used during processing (if applicable). Authors using digital editing tools are expected to retain unaltered original versions wherever possible, so that these can be provided for verification if required by editors/reviewers.

The journal publishes images or photographs of children, students, or individuals requiring special treatment or support only if the author of the study has obtained the appropriate authorization and has provided documented evidence of such permission to the journal. Such images may be published exclusively in compliance with personality rights and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Full responsibility for the content and publication of these images rests solely with the author.

Second, fabrication of images is strictly prohibited under all circumstances, unless explicitly authorised by the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission (e.g. for educational purposes). Fabrication involves creating new material from scratch using digital editing tools, rather than simply manipulating existing material; this type of manipulation has no place in scientific work and will not be tolerated under any circumstances within the scope of our journal. Finally, falsifying data is also unacceptable behaviour, whether by traditional methods (i.e. writing up false results) or by digitally manipulating images/data sets beyond what would reasonably be considered "enhancing clarity" as outlined above; such actions will result in immediate rejection without consideration for review, given their serious implications for scientific integrity.

The editorial board of KB takes issues of accuracy very seriously and expect our authors to adhere strictly to these guidelines when preparing manuscripts for publication with us - failure to do so may result in disciplinary action being taken against those responsible, depending on the severity of the issue(s).

Transparency

KB takes transparency very seriously. Authors must be transparent about their sources and methodology to avoid misrepresenting the findings and conclusions of their research. First and foremost, citation accuracy is of the utmost significance. The author bears full responsibility for any hallucinated or non-existent references appearing in bibliographies generated with the assistance of ChatGPT. Should the editorial office identify a manuscript submission that relies on fabricated or hallucinated sources, the journal reserves the right to reject the manuscript for publication. Transparency on where data was obtained, how it was collected, and what procedures were used to analyze it can increase readers' confidence in the correctness of results provided in an article or paper. In addition, as part of the efforts to increase the transparency of research papers, detailed information about any potential conflicts of interest should be included, as this could affect how one interprets certain findings presented by authors with a vested interest in particular topics being studied.

Referee’s liability

The journal's policy on referees' responsibilities is of paramount importance in ensuring the quality and integrity of published research. Referees are expected to make a significant contribution to editorial decisions by providing unbiased feedback in a timely manner. In order for their input to be meaningful, referees must maintain confidentiality about any material they review and remain objective in their evaluation of submissions.

When referencing sources or citing other work, it is essential that referees provide accurate information from reliable sources such as peer-reviewed journals or reputable websites. In addition, any potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed prior to reviewing material, including situations where there may be an incompatibility between reviewing a paper and your own interests (e.g. if you have previously worked on related topics).

By adhering strictly to these guidelines on confidentiality and objectivity, and by responding promptly to submissions, reviewers can help to ensure that only high quality work is accepted for scientific publication, while protecting authors from unfair criticism based solely on personal bias or interests that are not relevant to the review.

Editors’s liability

The editorial team of KB is responsible for maintaining the integrity and accuracy of its content. As such, editors have certain responsibilities that must be taken into account when developing policies for their publication. Our primary responsibility is to ensure fairness in all aspects of publication, from manuscript selection to final review and acceptance decisions. This includes ensuring that authors are given equal consideration regardless of race, gender, or any other factor unrelated to the quality or relevance of the work submitted. In addition, we strive to maintain the confidentiality of submissions and editorial decisions; this ensures fairness among competing authors while protecting the intellectual property rights associated with the submitted work.

The editor-in-chief and editorial board members can also publish in the journal. In such a case, the same proofreading and ethical rules apply to them as any other author, but they cannot participate in the process of selecting the anonymous reviewer, and the anonymous reviewer cannot know the authors' names until the end of the proofreading process. If the editor-in-chief or editorial board tries to influence the reviewers in any way regarding the favorable assessment of their study, the reviewer must report this to the publisher and the scientific advisory board of the journal, and an ethical investigation must be initiated.