In order to eliminate any conduct that may raise doubts on publication ethics or publication malpractice, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Arts, Institute for Research of Constantine and Methodius´ Cultural Heritage hereby issues this Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement (hereinafter referred to as „Statement“).

The objective of the Statement is to provably inform authors and co-authors, editor-in-chief and editors, as well as the publisher of Constantine´s Letters magazine of the conditions of publishing and criteria for assessment of contributions submitted for publishing in Constantine´s Letters magazine.

The Statement is drawn up on the basis of, and in accordance with, Section 2 of Statement on the Scopus Journal Selection Process, version of December 2010, source: http://www.info.sciverse.com, 27 June 2013, as well as upon recommendation of Committee on Publication Ethics.

The content of the Statement may not be construed in discrepancy with Act no. 185/2015 Coll. - the Copyright Act as amended (hereinafter referred to as „Copyright Act“) or other generally binding legal regulations.

Article I Basic Terminology

1) Constantine´s Letters magazine (hereinafter referred to as „magazine“) is an international scientific magazine issued in print form and the issuance of which is, as far as content is concerned, provided by Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Arts, Institute for Research of Constantine and Methodius´ Cultural Heritage seated at Štefánikova 67, 949 74 Nitra, Slovak Republic.

2) The publisher of the magazine (hereinafter referred to as „publisher“) is Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra seated at Trieda Andreja Hlinku 1, 949 74 Nitra, Slovak Republic.

3) Author is any natural person which on the basis of its scientific research prepares and submits to the publisher a draft of its contribution. Co-author is a person which significantly contributes to the draft of contribution should a joint draft of contribution of more co-authors be submitted. The duties of an author stipulated in the Statement shall apply accordingly to the co-author of the draft of contribution.

4) Contribution is a written piece of work of author or co-authors including annex images, charts or graphs published in the magazine. A contribution is particularly in the form of an article or review. Until a contribution is published, the submitted document is deemed to be a draft of contribution.

Article II Submitting of Draft of Contribution and Publication Ethics of Author

1) The author is obliged to submit a draft of contribution to the publisher duly and timely. The author shall be held liable for the scientific and expert level of the draft of contribution, chosen methodology and interpretation of findings.

2) The author is responsible for originality of the draft of contribution. Scientific findings that were or currently are published in other magazine and are not supplemented with new facts may not be published in the magazine.

3) The author is responsible for the proper identification and citation of the sources of information the author drew from during preparation of the draft of contribution.

4) A co-author has the right to be stated as one of the authors of the draft of contribution. Should a draft of contribution of co-authors be concerned, the co-authors shall agree on the order in which they are to be stated as the authors of the draft of contribution. A person that failed to significantly contribute to its own research or to the preparation and elaboration of the draft of contribution shall not be stated as a co-author.

5) The author is liable for the proper identification of persons or organisations that took part in the creation of contribution but the participation extent of which does not meet requirements for co-authorship.

6) Should a draft of contribution of co-authors be concerned, the liability for individual parts of the draft of contribution shall be divided among the co-authors. The co-authors are obliged to properly incorporate the aforementioned fact into the text of the draft of contribution.

7) The author is obliged to properly state in the draft of contribution any information that raises or may raise a suspicion of the conflict of interests.

8) The author is obliged to properly disclose any public financial sources which supported his research or publishing of research results, as well as any other support from public sources.

9) Incorrect or insufficient identification of sources, persons, organisations in terms of the previous paragraphs, as well as any other breach of duties stipulated hereunder is in discrepancy with bacis scientific requirements imposed on a scientific work. Such an action or omission shall not be accepted.

Article III Assessment of Draft of Contribution

1) A duly and timely delivered draft of contribution is subject to assessment by three editors of the magazine who shall elaborate opinions on the draft of contribution. The editors are the employees of the publisher and conduct their activities on behalf of Institute for Research of Constantine and Methodius´ Cultural Heritage.

2) The editor authorised to elaborate an opinion on the draft of contribution is obliged to forthwith inform the editor-in-chief of

a) any suspicion of the conflict of interest with respect to the relationship of the editor to the subject matter of the draft of contribution or with the author or co-authors,

b) a situation when due to objective reasons the editor does not possess sufficient expert knowledge or experience regarding the subject matter of the draft of contribution.

Under such circumstances the editor-in-chief shall decide on how to proceed further and may authorise other editor to elaborate an opinion on the draft of contribution.

3) Based on opinions of editors, the draft of contribution shall be assessed by reviewers who are experts in the scientific area or discipline which is the subject matter of the draft of contribution. The journal carries out a double-blind peer review evaluation of drafts of contributions. The editor-in-chief shall decide on the selection of reviewers. A reviewer may also include a natural person that is not an employee of the publisher. Provided a suspicion of conflict of interest of a reviewer is raised, paragraph 2 hereunder shall be used accordingly.

4) The editor and the reviewer shall assess the content of the contribution regardless of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, citizenship or political belief of the author.

5) The editor and the reviewer are obliged to assess the draft of contribution objectively. The opinion shall contain arguments, partial findings setting clear and understandable grounds and the final verdict.

6) The author is entitled to familiarise with the provisions of the opinions on the draft of his contribution. The author is not entitled to familiarise with the identity of the editor or reviewer of the draft of his contribution. Also the identity of the author is kept hidden from the reviewer. In this manner the identity of both the author and reviewer is kept anonymous for them.

Article IV Decision on Publishing of Contribution

1)The editor-in-chief shall decide on the publishing of contribution in the magazine subject to opinions of reviewers. The editor-in-chief is during the decision process bound by the law of Slovak Republic, particularly by the Copyright Act and the Statement.  The editor-in-chief shall during the decision process assess suspicions of the existence of offensive content, libel, untrue or misleading statements, breach of copyright and plagiatorism.

2) The editor-in-chief may refuse to publish the contribution. The editor-in-chief shall inform the author in writing of the grounds for rejection without undue delay.

Article V Confidentiality

1) The draft of contribution is deemed to be confidential during the process of assessment. The draft of contribution may not be discussed among editors, reviewers or third parties during the process of elaboration of an opinion, save for the editor-in-chief.

2) From the time of delivering the draft of contribution to the publisher until publishing of the magazine, neither publisher, editor-in-chief, editor nor reviewer may disclose the draft of contribution, a part thereof or any information therein to a third party without an express written consent of the author.

3) Unpublished information which is a part of the draft of contribution may not be unlawfully used by the publisher, editor-in-chief, editors or reviewers for the sake of their own research or publication without an express written consent of the author.

Article VI Final Provisions

1) Any action or omission that has a character of breach of publication ethics or publication abuse shall be subject of qualified assessment of a competent body of the Publisher.

2) Upon signing the Licence Agreement (Section 65 of the Copyright Act) for the publication of the contribution in the magazine the author at the same time undertakes to follow the provisions of the Statement. The Statement shall constitute an Annex to the Licence Agreement. Breach of Article II of the Statement by the author may be construed as a material breach of contractual duties of the author.

3) Breach of Articles III to V may be construed as a material breach of contractual duties of the publisher.

This Statement shall come into effect as of the 2^nd of September 2015.