Journal Policy

Journal Policy

Contents

Open Access Policy

The journal operates according to the Diamond Open Access model. Readers may access, download, read, store, share, and cite published articles without subscription fees or access restrictions. Neither authors nor their institutions are charged submission, article processing, or publication fees.

All published content is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Authors retain copyright in their work while granting the journal the right to publish and disseminate the final version of record. The licence permits reuse, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided that appropriate attribution is given to the original authors and source.

Publication Ethics

The journal is committed to maintaining integrity, transparency, and accountability throughout the publication process. Editorial decisions, peer review procedures, and publication practices are guided by the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The journal will follow the COPE flowcharts regarding any potential acts of misconduct.

Authorship and Contributor Responsibilities

Authorship should be restricted to individuals who have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the research and manuscript preparation.

All listed authors are collectively responsible for the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of the published work. Individuals who contributed significantly should be acknowledged either as authors or in an acknowledgement section where appropriate.

Submitted manuscripts must represent original work. Material that has already been published elsewhere or is simultaneously under consideration by another publication will generally not be considered. Authors must disclose any reuse of previously published content.

Authors are expected to:

  • present their findings honestly and accurately;
  • provide sufficient methodological information to support verification and replication where possible;
  • appropriately acknowledge the work and contributions of others;
  • avoid fabrication, falsification, manipulation, or misleading presentation of results;
  • disclose funding sources and the role of funders in the research.

Changes to authorship after acceptance of the manuscript will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and require agreement from all authors, as well as editorial approval.

Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Science and Encyclopedia Publishing Centre of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania agrees with COPE’s position on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in research:

COPE position statement, 13 February 2023, https://publicationethics.org/cope-position-statements/ai-author

AI technologies may be used as research-support tools, including language assistance, coding support, image generation, or data analysis. However, AI systems cannot be identified as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for published content.

Authors who use AI tools in any substantive way must clearly disclose:

  • the name of the tool used;
  • the purpose for which it was used;
  • the extent of its contribution to the work.

The authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, legality, and ethical compliance of all submitted materials, including content generated or assisted by AI technologies. Authors must also ensure they hold appropriate rights to any third-party materials incorporated into their submissions.

Research Ethics

Research involving human participants, personal data, or human biological materials must comply with applicable ethical requirements.

Authors must obtain any necessary approvals before commencing research and must indicate in the manuscript the following information:

  • the body responsible for ethical review;
  • approval details where applicable;
  • relevant ethical standards or regulations followed.

Where ethical approval was not required, authors must explain the basis for exemption.

Research involving human participants must also indicate whether informed consent was obtained. If consent requirements were waived, the justification for the waiver should be provided.

Authors are expected to use respectful and inclusive language throughout their manuscripts. The journal does not support discriminatory, exclusionary, or prejudicial expressions related to race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, or similar characteristics.

Data Availability and Reproducibility

The journal supports open and reproducible research practices.

Authors are encouraged to make research data, software, protocols, code, and related materials openly accessible whenever legal, ethical, and contractual obligations permit. Data supporting published findings should preferably be deposited in trusted repositories and linked through persistent identifiers.

Where data cannot be shared openly, authors should explain any restrictions and indicate how qualified researchers may obtain access where appropriate.

The journal encourages research outputs that support the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

Conflict of Interest

Competing interests could arise when external relationships, commitments, or interests influence, or reasonably appear to influence, scholarly judgement.

Authors must disclose any interests that may be relevant to the submitted work, including:

  • financial relationships;
  • institutional affiliations;
  • consultancy activities;
  • personal relationships;
  • professional collaborations;
  • other circumstances that could affect objectivity.

A conflict disclosure should accompany every submission, regardless of whether a conflict exists.

Editors and reviewers must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts if circumstances exist that could compromise independent assessment. Such situations may include recent collaboration, personal relationships, financial interests, direct competition, or previous involvement in the work under review.

Disclosure alone does not automatically affect editorial consideration. Instead, transparency allows informed management of potential competing interests.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are based exclusively on scholarly merit and editorial criteria.

Members of the Editorial Board may also submit manuscripts to the journal. Any such submission is handled by an independent editor who has no relevant conflict of interest. Editorial Board members who are authors must not participate in reviewer selection, editorial discussion, manuscript assessment, decision making, or appeal procedures connected with their submission.

Institutional affiliation, professional position, funding source, nationality, gender, or other personal characteristics must not influence editorial outcomes.

Complaints, Appeals, and Corrections

Authors may request reconsideration of editorial decisions when they believe a procedural error or significant misunderstanding affected the outcome.

Appeals should clearly explain the grounds for reconsideration and provide supporting evidence where appropriate. Appeals are reviewed by an editor who was not directly involved in the original decision whenever such separation is necessary.

The journal also accepts complaints relating to editorial processes, publication ethics, reviewer conduct, conflicts of interest, or other publication-related matters.

Post-publication concerns may result in corrections, amendments, expressions of concern, or retractions where justified. The objective is to preserve the reliability and integrity of the scholarly record.

Research Misconduct

The journal investigates alleged misconduct affecting submitted or published manuscript.

Examples include:

  • plagiarism;
  • duplicate publication;
  • data fabrication;
  • data falsification;
  • manipulation of the review process;
  • undisclosed competing interests;
  • unethical research practices;
  • inappropriate authorship practices.

When concerns are raised, the editorial editors may request explanations, supporting documentation, or institutional clarification. Depending on the findings, actions may include manuscript rejection, publication of corrections, expressions of concern, or article retraction.

Investigations are conducted fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with recognised publication ethics frameworks.

Privacy Statement

Personal information provided to the journal, including name(s) and email address(es), is collected and processed solely for purposes directly related to manuscript submission, publication, and journal administration.

The journal does not disclose personal information to third parties except where required by law or necessary for the publication process.

By submitting a manuscript, the corresponding author confirms that all authors have authorised the submission and that the work is original, lawful, and does not infringe the rights of others.

Authors retain copyright in their work. Upon publication, the article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0), which allows others to share and adapt the material for any purpose provided that appropriate attribution is given.

Any reuse of published material must acknowledge the authors, the journal, and the article's DOI where available.

Preprint Policy

The journal welcomes submissions that have previously been shared through recognised non-commercial preprint services.

Authors should disclose the existence of related preprints when submitting a manuscript. Preprint dissemination is not considered prior publication provided that the relationship between the preprint and the published version remains transparent and identifiable.

Publication Corrections and Retractions

Where errors or integrity concerns are identified after publication, the journal may issue:

  • corrections;
  • corrigenda;
  • errata;
  • expressions of concern;
  • retractions.

The chosen action will depend on the nature and seriousness of the issue. Minor typographical or language errors that do not affect interpretation generally do not require retraction.

All post-publication actions are guided by recognised publication ethics recommendations and are undertaken to protect the accuracy of the scholarly record.

Similarity Screening

Every submission is screened for textual overlap before peer review.

The journal uses Crossref Similarity Check powered by iThenticate to identify potential plagiarism, duplicate publication, excessive overlap, or inappropriate reuse of previously published content.

Submissions that raise significant integrity concerns may be rejected, returned for clarification, or subjected to further investigation.

Allegations of plagiarism discovered after publication are handled under the journal's misconduct and correction procedures.

We expect our readers, reviewers, and editors to raise and share any suspicions of plagiarism by emailing Relevant.Tomorrow@lnb.lt.

Digital Preservation and Archiving

As a publisher in scholarly research, Science and Encyclopedia Publishing Centre of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania recognizes the roles of both librarian and publisher as custodian of scholarly content and is committed to the preservation of the scholarship in its research for generations to come. We regard digital preservation as the set of processes and activities that ensure that information, which exists in digital formats, is backed up and distributed to guarantee a continued access for the long term.

Our preservation policy includes the following measures:

  • In order to support preservation and continuity of access, published materials are maintained through recognised preservation mechanisms, including participation in the PKP Preservation Network;
  • The electronic versions of all articles are stored at the Lithuanian Academic Electronic Library (eLABa), the national aggregated open access (OA) repository (https://www.elaba.lt);
  • Bibliographic information on published articles is available on the ibiblioteka.lt portal of the Lithuanian Integrated Library Information System (LIBIS);
  • Backup copies are maintained as part of the publisher's digital preservation strategy;
  • Authors may deposit submitted, accepted, and published versions of their work in institutional, disciplinary, or personal repositories, provided that appropriate citation to the journal version is maintained;
  • We intend and expect to continue to publish our journal for a long time. If, due to some rare, unfortunate circumstances, we are forced to stop publishing the journal, the manuscripts published in it will be kept online and accessible to the readers for at least 10 more years. When required under specific conditions, such as a discontinuation of the collection or a catastrophic failure of the website, the content will be accessible through the PKP Preservation Network or the eLABa.