O Bulletin
Genesis
The Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management of Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU) in Poznań was one of the two institutions in Poland to launch, since the academic year 2007/2008, a Regional Development speciality under measure 5.4.3, "Support for the education of personnel for the purposes of regional development in the Spatial Management field of study, in specialities contracted for with the Minister of Science and Higher Education", co-financed by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.
One of the initiatives implemented under this project was working out the conception of and launching a new journal of a national range: a bulletin, in a Regional Development and Regional Policy series. The series format was intended to offer the possibility of popularising the results of the latest studies, exchanging opinions, and presenting experiences in regional development and regional policy issues in Poland. Initially, the Bulletin had three parts: articles, practical experiences, and new publication and reviews.
The Bulletin was an important source of information for students of the Regional Development speciality about current theoretical problems in regional development and regional policy. It allowed them to get acquainted with practical experiences following from the implementation of regional programmes. An important supplement to each volume was information about new publications on regional development and regional policy that appeared on the Polish and foreign markets, supported by reviews.
As part of inter-university cooperation, the libraries of all the academic centres in Poland offering a Spatial Management course of study received every volume of the Bulletin. A copy of each was also sent to all Marshal Offices and Voivodeship Offices. Thanks to the financial support granted, the journal was distributed free of charge. In accordance with the assumptions of the project, which closed in 2011, the series ended in 16 volumes, each appearing in 500 copies.
The Bulletin today
On completion of the 5.4.3 project, "Support for the education of personnel for the purposes of regional development in the Spatial Management field of study, in specialities contracted for with the Minister of Science and Higher Education", co-financed by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, the Institute decided to continue publishing the series (nos. 17/18 and 19), which met with a highly encouraging response from readers, especially people conducting research on, and active in the practice of, development policy.
In order to enhance the Bulletin's status, the Institute turned to the Minister of Science and Higher Education with a request to put it on his list of point-scoring journals. The official's decision being favourable, the Bulletin has been added to list B of such journals. Therefore, steps have been taken not only to maintain the ministerial score, but also to increase the number of points awarded:
● in order to widen the spectrum of readers, the journal's title has been changed to Regional Development and Regional Policy. Bulletin of the Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań;
● the Editorial Council has been enlarged to include representatives of foreign academic centres;
● new principles of publication have been adopted, and the journal has started to come out in an electronic version apart from the printed form;
● the journal's structure has been decided upon, making it a rule to publish no fewer than 24 articles a year, including two in congress languages;
● new rules for reviewing papers submitted to the journal have been adopted, which will certainly improve the quality of the articles published here; and
● measures have been taken to prevent cases of "ghostwriting" and "guest authorship".
In its present form, the journal offers an opportunity to popularise the results of the latest research and to exchange opinions and experiences in the field of broadly understood development policy in terms of both, theoretical determinants of development processes and the public intervention undertaken. It is an important source of information about current theoretical problems in regional development and regional policy, and about practical experiences acquired in the course of building a new model of Polish regional policy.
The journal's distribution will embrace libraries of those academic centres in Poland whose research and teaching offers cover a similar field. An obligatory copy will also go to the Ministry of Regional Development and to the Marshal Office of each voivodeship.
The editors plan to publish 4 volumes per year, with circulation running at 100 printed copies and a possible publication of additional special issues.
The journal is indexed in the following databases: Arianta, EBSCO, CEEOL, CEJSH, CEON Biblioteka Nauki, Google Scholar, WorldCat, ERIH PLUS, MOST WIEDZY.
International Publisher Number: ISSN 2353-1428
Editorial Ethics of the Journal Rozwój Regionalny i Polityka Regionalna (Regional Development and Regional Policy)
(developed in accordance with the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors)
ANTI-PLAGIARISM POLICY
To ensure the originality and high quality of published articles, the Journal applies the latest procedures for evaluating them, and uses the Crossref Similarity Check anti-plagiarism system employing iThenticate software. The system makes it possible to identify similarities in a text by comparing it with publications available on the Internet and indexed databases, and identifying the sources of passages. Works in which borrowings from other authors are found, inappropriately cited or plagiarised, will be rejected by the editors, and violations of either copyright or good scientific practice will be reported to the management of the author's employing institution. If plagiarism is found in a published paper, the Editorial Board will withdraw the text and post a notice to this effect on the Journal's website and/or in its printed version.
EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
The Journal is published in both print and electronic formats.
The Editor-in-Chief decides which manuscripts submitted to the Journal should be published. The decision is based on the manuscript's significance, originality, clarity, content-related value, and relevance to the Journal’s scope.
Evaluation criteria are transparent and can be found in the review form. They include assessment of intellectual content, originality of the subject, quality of argumentation and reasoning, compliance with methodological standards, stylistic quality and so on.
Manuscripts are reviewed regardless of the authors' race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, nationality, or political philosophy.
The Editor-in-Chief and the editorial team must ensure that all submitted materials remain confidential during the review process. Neither the Editor-in-Chief nor editorial members may disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, other editorial advisors, or the publisher.
Unpublished materials from submitted manuscripts cannot be used by the Editor-in-Chief or editorial members for personal research without explicit written consent from the author.
Unethical behaviour, such as “ghostwriting” and “guest authorship”, are unacceptable and treated as forms of scientific misconduct. Detected instances thereof will be exposed.
In such cases, the procedures of COPE’s guidelines and flowcharts are implemented to address unethical issues (https://publicationethics.org/guidance?f%5B0%5D=type%3A21&f%5B1%5D=type%3A47). In cases of suspected plagiarism, falsification of results, ghostwriting, guest authorship, or related conflicts of interest, the Journal reserves the right to suspend the editorial work, reject the text submitted, or withdraw from its publication. Proven instances of misconduct result in the withdrawal of the published article and potential notification of relevant institutions (e.g. authors’ employers).
REVIEWER RESPONSIBILITIES
Peer review assists the Editor-in-Chief and editorial team in making editorial decisions and helps authors improve their manuscripts.
Reviewers should contact the editorial team without delay and decline reviews if they feel unqualified or unable to complete the review.
Manuscripts must be treated as confidential and not shared without the Editor-in-Chief’s permission.
Reviews should be objective, constructive, and devoid of personal criticism.
Reviewers should present their opinions clearly, substantiating their arguments.
Reviewers should highlight relevant work not cited by the author and report to the Editor-in-Chief any substantial similarity or overlap with other published articles.
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
Reviewers must avoid manuscripts involving conflicts of interest related to competition, collaboration, or connections with any authors or affiliated institutions.
Comments in reviews should be adequately substantiated.
Reviews are anonymous (double-blind review).
Reviews should conclude with a clear recommendation (accept or reject).
AUTHOR RESPONSIBILITIES
The Journal accepts original, unpublished articles in Polish and English. Use of others’ works or excerpts must be properly cited.
Authors guarantee the originality of their submitted work. Manuscripts must not have been previously published in full or in substantial parts in other Journals.
Proper citation of influential works is mandatory.
Authorship should be limited to individuals who made significant contributions to the work.
Each author should identify their contribution, agree to publication, and take responsibility for the content.
Authors must comply with the Code of Scientific and Scholarly conduct:
https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/index/for_editors.
Authors should disclose all financing sources regarding the project, course, development, interpretation and publication of research results, and the contribution of scientific and research institutions to obtaining the presented results. It is required to provide the number and title of the grant and the name of the institution awarding it.
Authors agree to open access dissemination under the Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license.
Authors approve the final version of the work for publication.
The Journal uses iThenticate software to prevent plagiarism and ensure high-quality original work.
Authors must not submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research to more than one Journal. The submission of the same article to more than one Journal is unethical and unacceptable. Authors should refer to publications determining the character of a submitted article.
Authors should include only those who actually contributed to the work. All individuals directly involved in the preparation of the article should be acknowledged, either as authors or in acknowledgments.
The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are mentioned, and also that all co-authors read the final version of the article, approved it and accepted for publication.
If significant errors or inaccuracies are discovered in a published article, authors must promptly notify the Journal and cooperate to correct or retract the article.
The author or authors of the publication and the reviewers do not know their identities (a so-called "double-blind review process"). The names of the reviewers of individual publications or issue numbers of the Journal are not disclosed. Once a year, the Journal publishes a list of collaborating reviewers.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The Editor-in-Chief:
• oversees the entire Journal, including its content and quality,
• manages all substantive activities of the editorial team, including comprehensive planning of article topics,
• makes strategic decisions regarding the Journal, including devising the magazine's publishing plan,
• supervises the selection of reviewers,
• reads scientific reviews of texts and decides whether to accept them or not,
• determines the order of published works,
• collaborates with members of the scientific council and the publisher,
• ensures that ethical and academic standards are maintained,
• influences the final form of the publication,
• deals with formal matters related to the publication of the Journal,
• prepares estimates of expenses related to maintaining the Journal,
• proposes obtaining additional funding for the development of the Journal, e.g. under appropriate ministerial programs, cooperates with donors from other universities, e.g. regarding special issues of the Journal.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TECHNICAL EDITOR/SECRETARY
The Technical Editor:
• cooperates with the Editor-in-Chief,
• handles e-mails of the Journal,
• informs potential authors about the possibilities of publishing in subsequent volumes,
• archives submitted manuscripts,
• runs the publishing process, including plagiarism checks using iThenticate,
• informs authors about the decision regarding accepting or rejecting the article for review,
• checks and analyses manuscripts in terms of editorial requirements,
• makes a preliminary correction,
• proposes reviewers; after their acceptance by the Editor-in-Chief, a technical editor invites them to review the article,
• maintains contact with authors and other participants in the publishing process, including Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe,
• prepares proofread texts for typesetting,
• sends texts for authors’ revision after typesetting,
• runs administrative work related to the publishing process and coordinates its course, including the financial and accounting procedure,
• uploads articles to the PRESSto website,
• sends notification of the online publication of the Journal’s new issue to authors and potential audience,
• sends original printed copies,
• manages, updates and modifies the Faculty website of the Journal
OPEN ACCESS POLICY
All Journal articles are published in accordance with the Open Access narrative: they undergo a full peer-review process, are freely accessible on the PRESSto platform, and can be downloaded and used free of charge under the Creative Commons license.
The Journal provides immediate open access to its content (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.pl), adhering to the principle that free availability of research supports scientific advancement and knowledge sharing. The Editorial Board encourages authors to store articles published in the Journal in open repositories, with links to the Journal's website and the article's DOI. The Journal Editorial Board does not require or recommend that authors put research data associated with the article in public repositories.
Anyone is free to create derivative works, to download, copy, and distribute articles published in Rozwoj Regionalny i Polityka Regionalna on any medium and for any purpose, provided the original author(s) and source (the Journal title, volume and issue numbers, year of publication, hyperlink to the original article, and DOI) are credited, with reference to the CC BY 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.pl).
The journal does not charge any fees for accepting and publishing articles.
A Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 Attribution 4.0 International license applies. Authors are allowed to self-archive preprints and postprints. The editorial office does not oblige the authors or recommend depositing in a public repository the research data accompanying the preparation of the article.
© 2017 Marcin Jaroszewski - majaroszew@gmail.com ↑