ETHICAL RULES FOR THE PUBLISHERS OF THE POLICE FACULTY BULLETIN
GENERAL
Art. 1. (1) The rules stipulated herein apply to the publishers of the Police Faculty Bulletin and they set clear and common ethical norms of conduct for regulating the relations between the editorial committee, the reviewers and the authors.
(2) The rules stipulated herein are aimed at guaranteeing compliance with the high ethical standards regarded as a criterion for good faith and integrity in academic and scientific circles, and acknowledged by the international community. Thus they provide for the high quality of the Academy’s publishing activities.
Art. 2 (1) The ethical rules stipulated herein complement and enhance, in view of the traditions and high standards upheld by the Police Faculty academic community, the following ethical norms of conduct:
1. The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity;
2. The Ethical Code of Conduct for Civil Servants in the Ministry of the Interior;
3. The Ethical Code of Conduct for Academic Unity of the Academy of the Ministry of the Interior.
(2) The ethical policy of the journal reflected in the rules stipulated herein is in full compliance with the national and international legislation in the field of copyright and related rights.
ETHICAL RULES OF CONDUCT FOR AUTHORS
Art. 3. The autors of papers in the journal must observe the following ethical rules of conduct concerning the application process, the publishing and sharing of papers in the Bulletin:
1. Only papers which are the result of the author’s own research can be submitted;
2. The papers must be written with due respect for the works of other authors cited in them;
3. The papers must reflect accurately the contributions and the conclusions of each author if they have been written in co-authorship;
4. The papers cannot have been previously published elsewhere;
5. The papers must be submitted for evaluation to the reviewers after the authors have read the rules stipulated herein and fully comprehended their significance;
6. The papers must comply with the journal’s publishing standards;
7. The papers can be shared after being published in the Bulletin, or, if rejected, they can be offered for publication in another journal, paying due respect to the publishers, the editorial committee and the reviewers.
ETHICAL RULES OF CONDUCT FOR THE EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Art. 4. The members of the editorial committee must observe the following ethical rules of conduct:
1. They cannot take part in decision-making involving conflicts of interest or prejudice against the authors or the scientific merits of the papers;
2. They must select each reviewer based solely on the latter’s professional and moral qualities;
3. They must not allow papers showing disrespect, containing unfounded criticism or discriminatory views based on origin, social status, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, education, etc. to be published.
4. They must not allow papers undermining the good reputation of the authors cited to be published;
5. They must not allow papers which express political views and run against the constitutionally established order in the Republic of Bulgaria to be published;
6. They must observe the principle of anonymity throughout the review procedure and do not share information about the opinions and decisions of the individual members of the editorial committee;
7. They must show due respect for each author regardless of the decisions taken concerning the publication of their paper;
8. They must grant the authors the right to be informed about the procedures concerning submissions.
ETHICAL RULES OF CONDUCT FOR REVIEWERS
Art. 5. The reviewers of the journal must observe the following ethical rules of conduct with reference to the reviewing of papers:
1. They must decline to write a review for an author they are in a conflict of interest with, or if they feel prejudiced against the scientific merits of their publications;
2. They must decline to write reviews on topics which do not fall within their own field of scientific expertise;
3. They do not disclose information regarding the papers they have been assigned to review;
4. They must solely apply objective criteria when evaluating the papers they have been assigned to review;
5. They must promptly report any doubts of copyright infringement and breach of the ethical rules stipulated herein.
REPORTING BREACHES OF THE ETHICAL RULES
Art. 6. (1) Anyone has the right to file a report for breaching the ethical rules of conduct of the Bulletin.
(2) The examination of reports falls within the competences of the editorial committee.
(3) When there is a breach of the ethical rules committed by a member of the editorial committee, the report must be examined by the Academic Ethics Commission of the Academy of MoI.
Art. 7. (1) During the report examination, all the necessary evidence must be gathered, and statements from the persons interested must be collected.
Art. 8. (1) The examination must be completed within 1 month of receiving the report.
(2) The person against whom a report is filed must be provided with a reasonable deadline to give a statement about the case.
Art. 9. When breaches of these ethical rules are established, an apology to the readers and the persons concerned must be published in the next issue of the Bulletin.