Statement on Ethics & Publication Malpractice Statement

Belügyi Szemle/Academic Journal of Internal Affairs (AJIA), (print ISSN 2062-9494 and online ISSN 2677-1632), and its Publisher, Ministry of Interior (Hungary), are dedicated to following best practices on ethical matters, errors, and retractions. The prevention of publication malpractice is one of the important responsibilities of the editorial board. Any kind of unethical behavior is not acceptable, and the Editorial Board of this journal does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Authors submitting articles to Belügyi Szemle/Academic Journal of Internal Affairs (AJIA) affirm that manuscript contents are original.
As such, this journal follows the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers. The following duties outlined for editors, copy editors, authors, and reviewers are based on the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors, AERA Code of Ethics, and APA Publication Ethics.
Editors evaluate submitted manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit (importance, originality, study’s validity, clarity) and its relevance to the journal’s scope, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy or institutional affiliation. he Editor-in-Chief has full authority over the entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content.

Duties of Editors

Publication Decisions: Based on the review report of the Editorial Review Board, the editor has complete responsibility and authority to accept, reject or request modifications to the manuscript.
Review and peer-review of manuscripts: Each editor must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated by the editor for originality, making use of appropriate software to do so. Following desk review, the manuscript is forwarded blind peer review to the editor's assigned reviewer, who will make a recommendation to accept, reject, or modify the manuscript.
Fair Review: The editor must ensure that each manuscript submitted to Belügyi Szemle/Academic Journal of Internal Affairs (AJIA) is reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to sex, gender, race, religion, citizenship, etc. of the authors.
Confidentiality: The editor must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: The editor of this Journal shall not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for his/her own research without the written consent of the author.
Errata Information: The editor must publish errata pages or make corrections when needed.
Ethical Guidelines: The editor shall ensure that all research material they publish conforms to internationally accepted ethical guidelines.
Proof of Misconduct: The editor should not reject papers based on suspicions, they should have proof of misconduct.
Accountability: Each month, the editors meet in person or via online to advise on journal policy and scope, suggest ideas, new initiatives and programs if necessary to include in the journal. They may review submitted manuscripts, identify topics for special issues or attract new authors and submissions if necessary.

Duties of Authors

Publication guidelines: Authors must follow the submission guidelines of the journal. (See submission guideline policies)
Original Work: Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original work. Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere.
Multiple Submissions: Authors must certify that the manuscript is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.
Peer Review Process: Authors must participate in the peer review process. (See review process and expected timeline)
Authorship of the Paper: All authors mentioned in the paper must have significantly contributed to the research.
Data Access and Retention: Authors should provide raw data related to their manuscript for editorial review and must retain such data.
Authenticity of Data: Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript. Authors must state that all data in the paper are real and authentic.
Conflict of Interest: Authors must notify the Editors of any conflicts of interest.
Fundamental Errors: Authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes at any point of time if the author(s) discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in the submitted manuscript.
Research on Human Subjects: When appropriate, all authors must cite approval by an institutional review board (IRB) for research on human subjects.

Duties of Reviewers

Confidentiality: Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information.
Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers must ensure that authors have acknowledged all sources of data used in the research.
Standards of Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author.
Supporting Argument: Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Plagiarism, Fraud and Other Ethical Concerns: Reviewers should let the editor know if you suspect/find that a manuscript is a substantial copy of another work, citing the previous work in as much detail as possible.
Relevant Work: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
Conflicts of Interest: Reviewers should not review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
Promptness: In the event that a reviewer feels it is not possible for him/her to complete review of the manuscript within stipulated time then this information must be communicated to the editor so that the manuscript could be sent to another reviewer.
Accountability: The reviewers participate in a peer review meeting at the Editorial Committee meeting held once a year, either in person or via online, to discuss the policy and scope of the journal, suggest ideas, new initiatives and programmes where appropriate. They review submitted manuscripts, identify themes for thematic issues, and propose inviting new authors and submitting manuscripts where necessary.

Duties of Editorial Committee

The Editorial Committee typically consists of a group of prominent scholars in the fields of law enforcement, law and criminology in Hungary and internationally.
In the journal of Belügyi Szemle/Academic Journal of Internal Affairs (AJIA), the editorial committee members are ambassadors for the journal.
Committee members attend one annual meeting to approve the annual Editor-in-Chief's report and adopt the annual plan for the year. They make professional suggestions on the policy and scope of the journal, propose ideas, new initiatives and programmes as necessary. They may review submitted manuscripts, identify topics for special issues or attract new authors and submissions if necessary.