OPEN ACCESS POLICY

The journal Pravni Zapisi is published according to the so-called open access policy. All of its content is available to users free of charge. Users can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search the full text of articles, and create HTML links to them, without the obligation to seek the consent of the author or publisher.

The right to use the content without written consent does not release users from the obligation to cite the content of the journal in the manner described under Licensing.

All published journal volumes are archived by law into a digital deposit of the National Library of Serbia and, at the same time, deposited in the Repository of SCIndeks – Serbian Citation Index.

The journal Pravni zapisi do not charge publication costs to authors or third parties. Both manuscript submission and editing services and article publishing services are free of charge. There are no hidden costs.

PEER REVIEW

Pravni Zapisi applies external, a double-blind anonymous peer review for all articles. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two reviewers. Reviewers act independently of each other, and their identities are unknown to one another. Reviewers are selected solely according to whether they have the relevant knowledge to evaluate the manuscript. They must not be from the same institution as the authors of the manuscript, nor be their co-authors in the recent past. Any named suggestions for reviewers made by the author of the manuscript are not taken into consideration.

The purpose of the review is to help the Editorial Board decide whether the article should be accepted or rejected for publishing. The aim is also to improve the quality of the manuscript in the process of communication with the editor, authors and other reviewers.

The manuscripts are referred for review only after the initial evaluation of whether they are eligible for publication in the journal, given their form and thematic scope. Particular attention is paid to ensuring that the initial assessment does not take longer than necessary.

In normal circumstances, the review process takes no more than four weeks and only exceptionally up to three months. The period from the receipt of the paper to its publication takes an average of 90 days.

During the review process, the Editor-in-Chief may require authors to provide additional information, including primary information, if necessary to make a judgment on the manuscript. The editor and reviewers must keep such information confidential and must not use it for other purposes.

The entire review process takes place under the supervision of an editor in an online environment, within the SCIndeks Assistant program, based on the OJS platform. The system also allows manuscript authors to follow the review process.

In the event that authors have serious and well-founded objections to the review, the Editorial Board verifies objectivity of the review and whether it meets academic standards. If there is any doubt about the objectivity or quality of the review, the editor will hire additional reviewers.

Additional reviewers are also hired when the decisions of the reviewers (to reject/accept) are mutually contradictory or otherwise irreconcilable.

The final decision to accept the manuscript for publication is taken solely by the Editorial Board.

PUBLICATION ETHICS

Any individual or institution may at any time report to the editor and Editorial Board members about ethical standards’ violations and other irregularities and provide credible information/evidence to initiate inquiry. The process of verifying the evidence presented is as follows:

  • the Editor-in-Chief makes the decision to initiate an inquiry;
  • during the course of the proceedings, all evidence is considered confidential and presented only to the persons directly involved in the case;
  • suspects are given an opportunity to respond to the allegations made;
  • if an irregularity is found to be true, it is assessed whether it is a minor offense or a gross violation of ethical standards.

Minor offenses, without consequences for the integrity of the work and the journal, for example when it comes to misunderstanding or misapplication of publication standards, are resolved in direct communication with authors and reviewers, without the involvement of third parties, in one of the following ways, for example:

  • a warning letter is sent to the authors and/or reviewers;
  • correction of the article is published, e.g. in the case where references, properly cited in the text of the article, are not listed in the list of references;
  • eratum is published, e.g. if the mistake is a consequence of an editorial error.

In the event of a gross violation of ethical standards, the Editor-in-Chie/Editorial Board, may take various measures:

  • Publication of a formal announcement or editorial describing the misconduc
  • notify the affiliate organization of the author/reviewer;
  • withdraw published article in the manner described under Withdrawal;
  • prohibit publication in the journal for a fixed period of time;
  • present the case to the competent organizations and regulatory bodies for the purpose of taking measures within their jurisdiction.

These measures can be applied individually or simultaneously. Relevant expert organizations, bodies or individuals are consulted if necessary in the process of resolving the case.

In resolving ethically contentious proceedings, the editorial board is guided by the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) https://publicationethics.org/core-practices

PREVENTING PLAGIARISM

Pravni Zapisi do not publish plagiarized works. The editorial board is of the view that plagiarizing, i.e. taking someone else’s ideas, words or other forms of creative contribution and presenting them as their own, is a gross violation of scientific and publication ethics. Plagiarism may include copyright infringement, which is punishable by law.

Plagiarism includes:

  • verbatim (word for word) or almost verbatim use or with the aim of concealing sources, intentional paraphrasing of parts of texts of other authors without clearly indicating the source, in the manner described under the Responsibilities of the author;
  • copying equations, data or tables from other documents without properly indicating the source and/or without the permission of the original author or copyright holder.

A manuscript in which clear indications of plagiarism are identified will be automatically rejected. In the event that plagiarism is detected in a previously published article, the article will be withdrawn in accordance with the procedure described under Withdrawal of articles.

To prevent plagiarism, manuscripts are subject to verification using the iThenticate/CrossRef system within SCIndeks Assistant. The results are verified by the editorial board of the journal in accordance with the guidelines and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

WITHDRAWAL POLICY

In the case of infringement of the rights of publishers, copyright holders or authors themselves, or in the case of publication of the same article in multiple journals, false authorship, plagiarism, manipulation of data for fraud or any other misuse, the published work must be withdrawn.

Work can also be withdrawn to correct serious and numerous errors that cannot be covered by publishing a correction. The withdrawal is published by the Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Board, the author (s) or both parties by mutual agreement.

Withdrawal takes the form of a separate paper, which is shown in the table of contents of the journal number and editorially classified as Withdrawal or Retraction.

COPYRIGHT

The authors retain the copyright of the published articles and give the publisher a non-exclusive right to publish the article, to be listed as its first publisher in case of further use of the article, and to distribute the article in all forms and media.

LICENSING

Published articles are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY) license. The article may be copied and distributed in all media and formats, revised, modified and upgraded for any purpose, including commercial, provided that its original authors are correctly cited, link to the original license provided and indicated whether the article was modified.

Users are required to provide a full bibliographic description of the article published in this journal (authors, title, journal title, volume, number, pages), as well as its DOI. In the case of publication in the electronic form, they are also obliged to post an HTML link, both with the original article published in the journal Pravni Zapisi and the license used.

Authors are permitted to deposit the published version of the article at any time after publication in the journal, in an institutional or thematic repository or to publish it on personal websites (including social media profiles such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, etc.) or on the website of the institution where they are employed.

Authors are, in that case, required to provide a full bibliographic description of the article published in the journal (authors, title, journal title, volume, number, pages) and link to both the DOI of that article and the license used.

The views expressed in published papers do not express the views of editors and Editorial Board. The authors are under legal and moral responsibility for the ideas presented in their works. The publisher will not be liable for any claims for damages.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE AUTHOR

The authors guarantee that the manuscript represents their original contribution, that it has not been published before and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Simultaneously submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals is a violation of ethical standards, which excludes it from further consideration for publication in the journal. An article that has already been published elsewhere cannot be reprinted in the journal Pravni Zapisi.

The authors are solely responsible for the entire content of the manuscript. The manuscript must not contain unsubstantiated or unlawful claims or infringe upon the rights of others.

Authors are obliged to ensure that their authors’ team, listed in the manuscript, covers all and only those persons who have significantly contributed to the content of the manuscript. If other persons were involved in important aspects of the research project and the preparation of the manuscript, their contribution should be noted in a footnote or special note (Acknowledgements).

It is the responsibility of the author to indicate in the note the name and code number of the scientific research project within which the manuscript was created, as well as the full name of the funding institution. In the event that the manuscript was presented verbally at a meeting/conference under the same or a similar title, the details thereof should be provided in the same note.

Authors are required to fully and correctly cite sources that have significantly influenced the content of the research and manuscript. Parts of the manuscript, including text, equations, figures or tables, which are verb-for-verb taken from other works must be clearly marked with a special note, e.g. quotation marks with precise indication of the part from where the text was taken from (page number) or, if more extensive, given in a separate paragraph.

In the event that authors find an important error in their article after its publication, they are obliged to immediately notify the Editor-in-Chief (or publisher) and cooperate to have the work withdrawn or corrected.

It is the responsibility of the author to indicate in the manuscript whether they are in financial or any other significant conflict of interest that could affect their results or the interpretation of the results.

By submitting the manuscript, the authors undertake to comply with the editorial policy of the journal Pravni zapisi.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The Editorial Board makes the final decision on which manuscripts will be published. Decisions are made solely based on the value of the manuscript. They must be free from racial, sex and gender, religious, ethnic or political prejudice. When deciding whether to publish, the Editorial Board is guided by its editorial policies, taking into account defamation laws, copyright infringement and plagiarism.

Editorial Board members, including the Editor-in-Chief, must not be in conflict of interest with regard to the manuscripts they are considering for publishing. Members who are presumed to be in a conflict of interest do not participate in the process of deciding on a particular manuscript.

Manuscripts are kept confidential. The information and ideas contained in the manuscripts must not be used for personal purposes without the express written permission of the author.

The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board are required to take all reasonable steps to keep the authors and reviewers anonymous during and after the evaluation process in accordance with the applied procedure.

The Editorial Board is required to assist the reviewers by providing them with additional information about the manuscript, including the results of the manuscript’s verification for plagiarism.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE REVIEWERS

Reviewers are obliged to submit to the editor in a qualified and timely manner an evaluation of the scientific and professional value of the manuscript. The reviewer takes special care of the actual contribution and originality of the manuscript. The review must be completely objective. The evaluation of reviewers must be clear and substantiated by arguments.

Reviewers evaluate the manuscripts with respect to the content’s compliance with the journal’s profile, the importance and usefulness of the content, the adequacy of the methods used, the scientific value of the information contained, the style of presentation and the content of the text. The review has a standard format that includes grades of individual dimensions of work, a general grade and a concluding recommendation. The review is delivered through an online journal editing system, where it is deposited indefinitely.

The reviewer must not be in conflict of interest with the authors or the funder of the research. If such a conflict exists, the reviewer is obliged to inform the editor in due time. The reviewer does not accept the review of articles outside the field that he/she considers to be fully competent for.

Reviewers should alert the Editor-in-Chief if they have reasonable doubt or knowledge about possible violations of ethical standards by the author of the manuscript. They should also identify relevant sources that were not considered in the paper. They may recommend the citation of certain references, but may not require the citation of papers published in the journal Pravni Zapisi or their own works if there is no justification for it.

Reviewers are expected to improve the quality of the manuscript with their suggestions. If they estimate that the article deserves publication with corrections, they are obliged to specify how that can be achieved.

Manuscripts sent to the reviewer must be considered confidential. Reviewers may not use the manuscript material for their research without the express written permission of the author.

Publication policy standards in the Repository of SCIndeks – Serbian Citation Index

Publication policy standards are also available in the Repository of SCIndeks – Serbian Citation Index, at http://scindeks.ceon.rs/PublicationPolicy.aspx?issn=2217-2815