The publication ethics, developed according to the Code of Conduct and the Best Practice Guidelines of COPE (Committee of Publication Ethics), must guide each activity in the process of publishing periodicals and recognized by all parties involved – authors, reviewers, and editors. The Human and Social Studies Foundation – Sofia is committed to promoting and gearing these ethical principles in the field of humanities.

Authorship and originality of the manuscript

Authors should ensure that they have written and submitted only entirely original works. All submissions are automatically checked for plagiarism.

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study. All individuals who have made a significant contribution to a particular study should be listed as co-authors. Where others have been involved in certain substantive aspects of a research project, their participation should be acknowledged, or they should be listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that only all actual co-authors are included in the manuscript, and that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and have consented to its submission for publication.

Citing sources

The use of works and/or words of other authors should be consistent with good practices, and all citations should be indicated as such in the appropriate manner.

All works of others used in a submission must be properly acknowledged. Authors are required to cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature and character of the manuscript submitted for publication.

Any non-public information from third parties – such as information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties – may in no case be used and published without the explicit written permission of the source. Any information obtained through the provision of confidential services, such as reviewing manuscripts or grant applications, may in no case be used without the explicit written permission of the author involved in these services.

The use of images created by others in submissions is permissible only with the consent of the original creator (including where such images are published under an appropriate standard licence) and provided that the source is credited.

Reporting standards

Authors of articles reporting original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient details and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements and data constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.

Using artificial intelligence systems

Any auxiliary use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, including for data processing, word processing, data visualization, generation of bibliographies, etc., should be disclosed and described in detail upon the initial submission of the manuscript. The responsibility for the quality of the submitted textual and other materials rests entirely with the author. For the avoidance of doubt, any unreliable data, unsubstantiated claims, non-authentic sources, omissions, non-conformities, or other flaws and imperfections of the texts and/or materials submitted for publication constitute grounds for rejection of a manuscript and referral to the competent ethics bodies.

Authors may not claim authorship of scientific texts, data, plans, or other materials that have been created, in whole or in part, through the use of AI systems. The submission for publication in the journal of any texts and materials that are wholly or partially generated automatically is categorically inadmissible.

Multiple submission/publication

Authors may not publish manuscripts with identical or similar wording, or manuscripts describing the same aspects of the same scientific research, in more than one journal or primary publication. Authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published in another journal.

The Editorial Board of the journal must explicitly grant its consent to the author in the case of a secondary publication, which must present the same data and interpretations as those contained in the primary document. The secondary publication must include a reference to the primary material.

The above paragraph does not apply in cases of secondary publication by depositing in an open-access repository (also known as “green open access”).

Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously also constitutes unethical behaviour in scholarly publishing and is inadmissible.

These rules also apply to translations of the primary publication into another language.

Data access and retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to provide public access to such data, if practicable. In any event, authors should ensure accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least 10 years after publication, provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.

Ethical principles for conducting research involving humans

When reporting data that involve humans, the article should include: an ethics committee approval decision; confirmation that participants have given their informed consent to participate in the study. If the research has not been approved by an ethics committee and informed consent was not obtained from the participants, the article should explain why. The Editorial Board reserves the right not to publish articles that do not comply with basic ethical principles in the field of social sciences.

 Acknowledgement of funding sources

All sources of research funding must be disclosed in the proposed manuscript.

Licensing

Authorship of submitted scientific texts belongs to the respective author or co-authors.

By signing a licensing agreement with the Human and Social Studies Foundation – Sofia (HSSF), the author or co-authors concede their exclusive rights to use the scientific text, together with any appendices, data/databases, charts, and images submitted for publication, to the HSSF, for all types of use (including reproduction, distribution, and public communication), worldwide and for an indefinite period of time.

The author reserves the right to secondary publication under Bulgarian law. Specifically, if the text results from research financed wholly or partially by public funds, the author has the right to deposit the work of scientific literature for publication in an open-access repository (e.g., the institutional repository of the higher education institution to which the author is affiliated, or the Bulgarian Portal for Open Science (BPOS), provided that the primary publication on the HSSF website is duly cited.

For the avoidance of doubt, all rights to further use remain with the HSSF. The author may not publish the scientific text secondarily in any case other than that described in the preceding paragraph, nor authorize further use of the manuscript and/or the final publication, except with the explicit written consent of the HSSF.