Publication Ethics Statement

 

Ethical Standards

Sofia – Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Social Sciences and Humanities at Sofia University (Sofia-SSHjournal) adheres to high ethical standards in academic publishing and follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The full text of these guidelines is available at: COPE Guidelines – https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines

Authors submitting manuscripts for consideration are expected to comply with the following ethical principles:

1. Originality and Integrity

  • Manuscripts must present original research findings and must not be simultaneously submitted to another journal.

  • All sources of information, ideas, and data must be accurately cited and acknowledged.

  • Any instance of plagiarism, data fabrication, or falsification constitutes a serious breach of ethical standards.

  • Authors should clearly describe the methodology and procedures to facilitate reproducibility and verification of the data.

2. Authorship and Contribution

  • Only individuals who have made a significant contribution to the research and/or writing of the article should be listed as authors.

  • All co-authors must give their consent for the submission and publication of the manuscript.

  • Any changes to the list of authors during the review process must follow COPE procedures.

3. Conflicts of Interest

  • Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest (financial, personal, institutional, etc.) that could influence the objectivity of the research or interpretation of the results.

  • The editorial team must publish declarations of conflicts of interest alongside the article to ensure transparency for readers.

  • In the event of a conflict identified during review or after publication, COPE or WAME procedures must be followed to manage the issue and, where necessary, publish a correction or statement.

4. Ethical Considerations in Research Involving Human Participants

5. Transparency and Corrections

  • Upon discovery of significant errors post-publication, authors must promptly inform the editorial board so that a correction can be issued or, if necessary, the article retracted.

  • In severe cases (e.g. fraud or major ethical violations), the journal may retract the article following COPE procedures.

  • All actions are documented transparently, with explanations and citations to the original publication.

  • The journal publishes clear information regarding ownership, funding, editorial processes, access policies, and copyright in accordance with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice.

  • Relevant policies (author guidelines, reviewer guidelines, procedures for complaints and appeals, open access) are publicly accessible on the journal’s website.

6. Plagiarism and Duplicate Publication

  • All manuscripts are checked using plagiarism detection tools; any detected case of plagiarism will result in immediate rejection or, if already published, a correction or retraction.

  • Self-citation must be justified and kept to a reasonable level; the editorial board may refer to COPE guidance on citation manipulation.

  • Authors must not present parts of their previous publications as new content without appropriate citation and a clear justification for the additional value.

  • Articles previously published on personal or public websites not associated with other publishers may still be considered for publication.

7. Confidentiality and Ethical Treatment of Research Participants

  • For studies involving human participants, authors must have obtained valid ethical approval from a competent ethics committee and must report this approval in the manuscript.

  • Written informed consent must be obtained, clearly describing the research aims, risks, and benefits, and ensuring participants' right to withdraw at any time without adverse consequences.

  • Personal data must be processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other applicable legislation. Anonymisation or pseudonymisation should be applied where possible, particularly for sensitive data.

  • When using secondary data, appropriate ethical approvals and terms of use must also be provided.

8. Peer Review and Editorial Procedures

  • Manuscripts undergo either a two-stage or double-blind peer review process, in line with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice and COPE flowcharts.

  • Reviewers must sign confidentiality and conflict of interest declarations before accepting a review assignment.

  • Ethical concerns raised by reviewers are handled in accordance with COPE procedures (e.g. flowcharts for suspected plagiarism, misconduct, fraud, etc.).

9. Open Access and Licensing

  • The journal operates under an Open Access model. Authors retain their copyright and grant the journal a licence to publish.

  • All publications are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence:
    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    This permits free use, distribution, and adaptation, provided proper attribution is given.

  • Authors must declare how data and code (where applicable) will be shared, supporting reproducibility and open science.

10. Responsibilities of Authors and the Editorial Board

  • Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their data and interpretations, as well as for adherence to ethical standards.

  • The editorial team ensures that the evaluation process is impartial, transparent, and timely, and is informed by the latest ethical guidance from COPE, WAME, and other relevant bodies.

  • In complex cases, the editorial board may seek advice from an external consultant or ethics committee.

11. Final Notes

  • These ethical guidelines are mandatory for all authors and are available on the journal’s website.

  • The editorial team periodically reviews and may update these requirements in accordance with new recommendations from COPE, WAME, WMA, and other relevant organisations (publicationethics.org).

  • Authors are encouraged to regularly check the links to the full guidance and familiarise themselves with the latest versions of publication ethics principles.

  • All procedures described above are consistently documented and applied to maintain the trust of readers and the academic community.

12. Sources

The following documents have been consulted in the preparation of these ethical standards and offer full guidelines and details:

COPE Core Practices:

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (COPE/DOAJ/OASPA/WAME):

Declaration of Helsinki:

WAME Recommendations on Publication Ethics Policies:

ICMJE Recommendations (if applicable to medical research):

GDPR and National Ethical Standards: