Editorial policies
Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity. The journal follows internationally recognized guidelines, including those of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This page outlines the ethical and other principles that guide our journal, as well as the responsibilities of authors, reviewers, and the editors. All parties involved in the publication process are expected to adhere to the standards described below.
- Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
- Peer Review and Responsibilities of Reviewers
- Responsibilities of Editors
- Use of Generative AI
- Complaints and Appeals
- Corrections and Retractions
- Licensing, Author Fees, and Re-use of Published Research
1. Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
1.1. Originality and Plagiarism
Authors must ensure that their submissions are original works. Any use of others’ work, including text, data, figures, or ideas, must be properly cited. Plagiarism in any form—including self-plagiarism, duplication, or unattributed reuse—is unacceptable. All submissions may be screened using plagiarism-detection software.
1.2. Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication
Papers submitted to Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe may not be simultaneously under consideration at another journal. Manuscripts that have been published previously, in whole or in substantial part, including in a different language, will not be considered unless full transparency is provided and prior publication is clearly acknowledged.
1.3. Authorship
Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made significant intellectual contributions to:
- The conception or design of the work, or data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation;
- Drafting or critically revising the manuscript;
- Approving the final version; and
- Agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately. Changes in authorship, including changes to the order of the authors, after submission require written consent from all listed authors. Changes in authorship are not possible following publication.
1.4. Data Integrity and Reproducibility
Authors must present data accurately and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate manipulation. We urge all authors to make their underlying data public, either through an appropriate repository, or as an annex to their paper on Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe’s website. We acknowledge that not all data can be made public due to data protection and confidentiality regulations or ethical guidelines.
1.5. Ethical Approval and Informed Consent
Papers submitted to Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe that report research involving human participants must comply with applicable ethical standards and regulations. Authors must:
- Obtain approval from an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board. We may request authors to provide a copy of the approval document, especially if the research reported in the paper implies more complex ethical issues (for example, research involving children).
- Provide a statement confirming ethical approval in the manuscript, and be transparent in the paper about the ethical choices made.
- Confirm that informed consent was obtained where required, respondents have been anonymized if required, and how any sensitive data has been handled.
1.6. Conflicts of Interest and Funding
Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that could have influenced the research or its interpretation.
All sources of funding for the research must be clearly identified.
2. Peer Review and Responsibilities of Reviewers
2.1. The Review Process
Manuscripts of research papers submitted to Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe first undergo an editorial review, checking whether they meet the formatting requirements, fit into the profile of the journal, and meet minimum quality standards. Editors may desk reject papers, request modifications, or decide to submit the paper to peer review.
Authors are required to ensure that their submission includes an anonymized main manuscript. All names and institutional affiliations must be removed from the text and the file’s metadata, as well as all acknowledgments. The paper should be written in such a way that it does not reveal an author’s identity. Authors should avoid excessive self-citation, and either mask any self-citation that is absolutely necessary for the duration of the review process, or refer to their previous work in the third person.
Papers submitted to peer review will then be reviewed by two anonymous reviewers, who are experts on the topic. The review process is double blind: both the reviewers’ identities are hidden from the authors, and the authors’ identities are hidden from the reviewers.
Based on the reports of the reviewers, the editors will make a decision on whether to accept or to reject the paper, or to ask for revisions. Due to the nature of this process, we request authors to allow up to 12–14 weeks for a first decision to be made on their paper.
Authors are given up to 3 months to revise their manuscript, should the editors require revisions. After receiving the revised manuscript from the author(s), the editors will make a final decision, taking into consideration the revisions made, the original peer reviews, and potential consultation with the peer reviewers. This may take an additional 3 to 4 weeks. Authors may be required to do a second round of revisions.
The editors aim to publish accepted papers as quickly as possible, and no later than 6 weeks after acceptance.
We understand that this is a long process, but it is required to ensure the quality of the papers we publish. We know that it can be frustrating if reviews or decisions are delayed, but such delays do happen. We request patience from authors and ask that they rest assured that their paper is being dealt with.
We are unable to accommodate requests for expedited peer review and publication under any circumstances.
Note that short Introductory papers for special issues and book reviews are not peer reviewed.
2.2. Responsibilities of Reviewers
We highly value the work that peer reviewers carry out for Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe. Their support greatly contributes to the success of our journal and our ability to publish quality research.
Manuscripts received for review by peer reviewers must be treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not share, discuss, or use unpublished material for personal advantage, and they may not upload papers to AI systems.
Reviews should be conducted objectively, fairly, and constructively. Reviewers should provide clear arguments and supporting evidence for their evaluations, as well as constructive and helpful comments on how authors can improve the quality of their papers.
Reviewers should comment on the relevance of the topic, the quality of the literature review, methodological rigour, the relevance of the findings, as well as the clarity, structure, and writing of the paper.
Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest that could bias their assessment and decline review if such conflicts exist.
Reviewers should respond promptly to review invitations and complete reviews within agreed timelines. If unable to do so, they should inform the editorial office and negotiate a new deadline. Reviewers need to keep in mind that once they have agreed to review, they need to deliver that review, otherwise they may cause delays and potential harm to the author.
3. Responsibilities of Editors
The editors of Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe have full authority over editorial decisions and are responsible for determining which manuscripts are published, based on academic merit, originality, methodological rigour, relevance to the journal’s scope and ethical compliance. Manuscripts are evaluated solely based on these criteria, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, citizenship, or institutional affiliation.
Editorial decisions are not influenced by commercial interests or personal relationships.
Editors will treat all submitted manuscripts as confidential and will not disclose information about a manuscript to anyone other than those involved in the publication process.
Editors will recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.
4. Use of Generative AI
Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe allows submissions where authors have used Generative Artificial Intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, ethically and responsibly.
The use of AI in research and scholarly publishing must adhere to principles of transparency, accountability, and research integrity. Unethical uses of AI include, but are not limited to: the generation of substantial manuscript content without appropriate disclosure or author oversight; fabrication or falsification of data, analyses, images, or results; plagiarism, including AI-assisted paraphrasing intended to obscure original sources; and the inclusion of fabricated or unverifiable references.
Additional unethical practices include the manipulation of figures or visual data using AI without explicit disclosure; misrepresentation of methods, analyses, or authorship contributions; reliance on biased or unvalidated AI outputs; and breaches of data protection or confidentiality through the use of sensitive or proprietary data in AI systems without consent.
Please note that an AI tool cannot be listed as an author of a paper. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all content, irrespective of any AI-assisted tools employed, and are thus liable for any breach of copyright or publication ethics.
Authors who use AI tools during their research and/or the writing of a manuscript, including in the literature search, data collection, data analysis, the production of images or graphical elements, must be transparent in disclosing this fact. If generative AI or AI-assisted technology has been used, the paper should include the following statement:
During the preparation of this paper, the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.
In case authors used AI tools as part of their research methodology, they should also provide the relevant details in the Methodology (or similar) section of the paper, describing how the AI tool was used and which tool was used.
5. Complaints and Appeals
Peer reviewers make academic judgements about manuscripts, and different reviewers may highlight different issues, or come to differing conclusions about a manuscript. Editorial decisions are driven by the peer reviewer comments and any additional editorial assessments of the manuscript’s quality, especially in case of divergent reviews.
There is no possibility of appealing against the academic judgement of the peer reviewers or the editors. The author may not agree with the comments of a peer reviewer or the editorial decision, but we will not accept, or even reply to any appeals or complaints based on these grounds.
There are however grounds for appeal if the author can demonstrate that the editors or the peer reviewers have violated any of Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe’s editorial policies, as outlined on this webpage.
Authors may lodge a written, reasoned explanation to the editorial office. Appeals will be reviewed by an independent ad hoc committee composed of members of the journal’s editorial board and/or senior academics at Corvinus University of Budapest, the journal’s publisher. The review of complaints will follow COPE’s Flowcharts on handling complaints and responding to possible misconduct or inappropriate behaviour. The Editor-in-Chief will communicate the outcomes of the process and take necessary measures to prevent future similar situations.
6. Corrections and Retractions
Anyone who believes that research published by Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe has not been carried out in line with the journal’s policies and/or raises issues of ethical misconduct should raise their concerns with the Editor-in-Chief.
Papers that have been assigned a DOI and have been published online, either as an online first or in a regular journal issue, can no longer be modified.
If a published paper requires a small correction, generally for honest errors that do not invalidate the work (such as a typo that significantly changes the meaning of a sentence or an argument), the author can request the publication of an erratum linked to the original article.
Papers found to have larger errors that invalidate the findings, or are shown to be results of unethically conducted research, will be retracted.
7. Licensing, Author Fees, and Re-use of Published Research
Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe has been a gold open access journal since 2019, with all papers published under the Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 License.
This means that readers can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link to the full texts of all articles, or use and adapt them for any lawful purpose, even commercial, provided appropriate attribution to the original source is given.
Authors retain the ownership and further rights related to their article, while they grant Corvinus University of Budapest an irrevocable nonexclusive license to publish the article in electronic form.
Authors are free to archive their accepted manuscripts (post-prints) and/or the typeset final published PDF file in institutional repositories or websites like ResearchGate or Academia.edu.
Society and Economy in Central and Eastern Europe does not charge submission fees or article processing charges under any circumstances. Publication is therefore completely free for authors. If an author receives an email asking them to pay a fee to publish in Society and Economy, it is likely fraudulent.
