Rules of Publication Activities

All the staff members of the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, as well as students, carry out their publishing activities in accordance with the basic ethical principles set by the university and the faculty in the Code of Ethics of Charles University and in the Dean's Measure no. 18/2015 Quotations and acknowledgement of the sources: measures against plagiarism.

When working with one’s own texts as sources of new texts, it is also necessary to avoid autoplagiarism and it is necessary to acknowledge other authors’ texts which the new publication draws on. Simultaneous publication of texts should also be avoided. The use of already published texts in scholarly journals (of course with the publisher’s consent), e.g. in a dissertation or habilitation thesis, or a comprehensive book publication, is not considered autoplagiarism, providing the author points this out.

The ambition of IKSŽ employees should be the publication of field-relevant texts in prestigious domestic and foreign publishing houses, as well as in journals (in the case of journals indexed in databases, this means journals in the first half of the rankings). Less prestigious publishing platforms are also acceptable; however, the following rules must be followed when choosing.

For scholarly book publications, self-published text is not acceptable for reward. A publishing house must always incorporate a quality research board. It is also necessary to avoid such foreign publishing houses which deliberately deceive with the name similar to prestigious publishers and make a living from it.

In the case of journal publications, those dedicated to IKSŽ are also unacceptable for publication if in a journal published by the author. As is the case with book publications, journals for publication should be carefully considered. In the case of less-known journals (as well as of those included in ERIH, Scopus or Web of Knowledge), it is necessary to review carefully the editorial board, look at the issuance frequency of the journal and the number of texts in individual issues and check any references with colleagues and on the Internet. In case of any doubts concerning procedural matters in the case of journals from the category of so-called “open-access” periodicals, please contact the faculty’s “open-access librarian” Mgr. Jitka Štruncová.

This is because the so-called open (free of charge for readers) access to texts can sometimes be associated with dishonest behaviour of the publisher, who promises in exchange for an often high fee a publication the parameters of which s/he does not follow (e.g. inclusion in prestigious Web of Knowledge or Scopus databases). These publishers are called predators, and you can learn more about this issue on the website of the Central Library of Charles University.

Journals of this nature can also be recognized by the fact that they are often aggressively offered by e-mail, they also offer to individual researchers (without even knowing them in any way) membership in editorial boards or in the circle of their reviewers. The basic questions that one should ask when evaluating the open access journal in which one intends to publish can also be found on the website of the Ryerson University Library & Archives where they are provided in a very clear and understandable way.

Caution is also in place towards conferences promising for a fee the publication of all texts in an anthology indexed by a prestigious database, or in a journal included in one of the prestigious databases.

These rules are intended to serve as a basic definition of professional publication guidelines, and thus they cannot, of course, be all-encompassing. In case of any doubts when looking for a suitable publishing platform, contact the management of departments or an institute.

Rules valid from August 20, 2015.