Copyright

Forum Philosophicum is available free of charge online to anyone who accesses its URL. Our journal does not use article processing charges (APCs). Articles published in this journal incur no cost to the author. Authors are welcome and encouraged to self-archive the final published version of their work in institutional and disciplinary repositories of their choosing. Authors of papers that have been accepted will be asked to grant the publisher—i.e. Ignatianum University Press—the royalty-free right to first publication, which means that if they should mention the place of the original publication when re-publishing the papers published earlier in Forum Philosophicum.

Financing

All authors whose research is supported by special sources of financing, such as grants, research programs, etc., are asked to prepare an information note mentioning the support they have received.

Forum Philosophicum does not charge the Author with any expenses for the publication.

Originality

Forum Philosophicum will only accept manuscripts of papers not previously published in, or submitted to and currently under review by, another journal or collection.

The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education requires the editors of all Polish journals which they evaluate to remind authors of certain basic rules of scientific honesty —even though we strongly believe that the authors submitting papers to Forum have no intention whatsoever of breaking those rules, and in spite of the fact that the rules pertaining to joint authorship are rarely applicable to papers submitted to a philosophical journal. Thus, we remind authors that it is not acceptable to submit papers that reflect anything other than original research or reflections conducted by the author himself/herself. Concealing the true authorship of a part of a paper, even if the paper is in itself an original contribution, also constitutes a breach of such rules. Since all papers are reviewed by specialists, those seeking to make a submission should work on the assumption that all instances of such plagiarism or ghostwriting will be detected. For jointly authored papers, a clear indication must be given in the paper itself of the manner and extent of each and every author’s contribution. Papers with so-called “guest authors,” whose contribution to the thesis of the paper is actually minimal, cannot be accepted. All cases of academic dishonesty, if detected, will be reported to the organisations with which the authors are affiliated.

Ethical issues: plagiarism and redundant publication

By plagiarism, we understand a situation when an author presents the work of others (data, words or theories) as if they were his/her own and without proper acknowledgement. Plagiarism constitutes unethical scholarly behaviour and is never acceptable. Therefore, a proper acknowledgement of the work of others used in a research project must always be given. See the COPE’s policies on plagiarism (suspected both in submitted and published work), which are implemented in our journal.

By redundant publication, we understand a published work (or substantial sections from a published work) is/are published more than once (in the same or another language) without adequate acknowledgement of the source/cross-referencing/justification,
or
the same (or substantially overlapping) data is presented in more than one publication without adequate cross referencing/justification, particularly when this is done in such a way that reviewers/readers are unlikely to realise that most or all the findings have been published before. See the COPE’s policies on redundant publication (suspected in both submitted and published work), which are implemented in our journal.

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the concept, design, execution, or interpretation of the research study. All those who have made significant contributions should be offered the opportunity to be listed as authors. Other individuals who have contributed to the study should be acknowledged, but not identified as authors. All authors should provide upon submission of the article their affiliation(s) to institutions at the time the research that is reported was conducted and/or written up.

All collaborators share some degree of responsibility for any paper they co-author. Every co-author should have the opportunity to review the manuscript before it is submitted for publication. Any individual unwilling or unable to accept appropriate responsibility for a paper should not be a co-author.

It is unethical for an author to publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal of primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently is unethical and unacceptable.

When an error is discovered in a published work, it is the obligation of all authors to promptly notify the publisher and discuss appropriate action (such as a retraction or erratum).

Authors' Contributions

To ensure transparency in the collaborative process of philosophical scholarship, authors are required to include a brief statement of individual contributions at the end of each paper. This statement should follow the format below and reflect the specific stages of work undertaken by each author. Appendix to be included at the end of the paper, before the bibliography:

• Authors’ Contributions:
Author1: [List specific contributions]
Author2: [List specific contributions]

Possible stages of preparing a philosophical (non-empirical) paper:
• Conceptualisation – Identifying the central philosophical problem; determining scope and aims of the paper.
• Literature Review – Locating relevant philosophical sources; synthesising prior arguments and debates.
• Argument Development – Constructing original arguments or positions; responding to opposing views.
• Drafting (main sections) – Writing key parts of the paper (introduction, body, conclusion); incorporating
philosophical terminology and citations.
• Revisions and Objections – Critically reviewing the draft; addressing counterarguments; restructuring for
clarity or coherence.
• Formatting and Citations – Adapting paper to the journal style; verifying accuracy of citations and references.
• Peer Review and Responses – Managing communication with the journal; revising in response to reviews.
• Final Proofreading – Polishing grammar, style, and consistency; approving final manuscript version.

Authors should only list those stages in which they made a meaningful intellectual contribution. All authors listed on the manuscript must approve the final version and agree with the stated contributions.

Conflict of interest

Our journal follows COPE guidelines and core practices to safeguard the ethical standards in publishing and to act appropriately whenever their breach is suspected. We emphasize that It is every author’s, contributor’s, reviewer’s, and editor’s responsibility to identify, prevent and deal with any signs of publication misconduct. 

All parties involved in the process of publication, such as authors, co-authors, reviewers, and editors are held to disclose interests that might prevent or be perceived as preventing their contribution, either in presenting the work, or in assessing it, from being objective and impartial. Competing interests as well any associations which may be considered by others as a competing interest, either financial or non-financial in nature, should be disclosed immediately to allow appropriate publication decisions to be taken and in the case when the submission is accepted, to offer readers the opportunity to form their own judgments regarding a potential bias.

Editors are forbidden to act as reviewers for the submitted papers. Editors are allowed to submit their own research to the journal, but they are required to take extra precautions not to exploit their position or to create an impression of impropriety. Our journal has a procedure for handling submissions from editors or members of the editorial board that ensures that the peer review is handled independently of the author/editor. In such cases the submission is handled directly by the editor-in-chief (or the appointed person), who conducts the peer-review process out of the journal management system by sending documents with reviewer forms directly to the reviewers. Once the review is made, the review is sent to the author/editor and to the editor-in-chief. In this way, the editor, who submitted the paper, cannot know who reviews (or has reviewed in the past) his or her article.

Regarding peer-reviewers and their identity, and the conflict of interests between reviewers, editors, and authors, the journal follows COPE guideline. Authors are obliged to disclose the potential ocnflict of interests when submitting the paper.

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

Forum Philosophicum is committed to maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the scholarly record. The journal handles corrections, retractions, expressions of concern and other post-publication updates in accordance with the guidelines and flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Authors, readers and other interested parties who identify a possible error or instance of misconduct in a published article should contact the editorial office. Every concern will be considered by the Editor-in-Chief or an editor appointed by the Editor-in-Chief. Where appropriate, the journal may request explanations or supporting evidence from the authors, reviewers, their institutions or other relevant parties. Authors will normally be given an opportunity to respond to the concerns raised, but their consent is not required for the publication of a correction, expression of concern or retraction.

Corrections

A correction will be published when an error or omission affects the interpretation, accuracy or completeness of a published article but does not invalidate its principal arguments or conclusions. Minor typographical or stylistic errors that do not affect the meaning or scholarly record will normally not require a formal correction.

A correction notice will:

• clearly identify the article concerned;
• describe the error and the changes made;
• be published as a separate, freely accessible item with its own publication date and, where applicable, DOI;
• be linked electronically to the original article, while the original article will be linked to the correction notice.

The journal will not make substantial changes to a published article without issuing a transparent notice. Where the online version of the article is updated, the date and nature of the correction will be stated, and the integrity of the original scholarly record will be preserved.

Retractions

An article may be retracted when there is clear evidence that its findings, arguments or conclusions are unreliable as a result of a major error or research misconduct. Grounds for retraction may include, but are not limited to:

• fabrication or falsification of evidence;
• plagiarism;
• redundant or unauthorised publication;
• serious errors that invalidate the article’s principal conclusions;
• unethical research or a serious breach of publication ethics;
• manipulation or serious compromise of the peer-review or editorial process;
• unauthorised use of data or other material;
• legal reasons requiring retraction.

The decision to retract an article is made by the Editor-in-Chief, or by the publisher where appropriate, after an investigation conducted in accordance with COPE guidance. The journal may consult the authors’ institutions or other relevant bodies when necessary.

A retraction notice will:

• be published promptly and remain freely accessible;
• clearly identify and link to the retracted article;
• state who is retracting the article;
• explain the reason for the retraction in an objective and factual manner;
• distinguish, where possible, between honest error and misconduct.

The retracted article will normally remain available in the journal archive in order to preserve the scholarly record, but every electronic version will be clearly marked as retracted and linked to the retraction notice. An article will be removed entirely only in exceptional circumstances, such as a binding legal requirement, a serious infringement of privacy or a substantial risk of harm.

Expressions of Concern

The journal may publish an expression of concern when there are serious doubts about the integrity or reliability of a published article, but the available evidence is inconclusive or an investigation has not yet been completed. The expression of concern will be linked to the article and will state the reasons for the journal’s concern. When the matter has been resolved, the expression of concern will be followed by an appropriate correction, retraction or notice that no further action is required.

Article Removal and Replacement

In exceptional circumstances, an article may be temporarily or permanently removed when its continued availability would violate the law, infringe the rights or privacy of another person, or create a serious and immediate risk of harm. In such cases, the article’s bibliographic information will remain available wherever legally possible, together with a notice explaining why the content has been removed.

An article may be replaced only when this is necessary to address a serious risk while preserving the main substance of the publication. The replacement will be accompanied by a notice describing the changes and linking to the relevant correction or retraction information.

This policy follows the current COPE Retraction Guidelines and the COPE recommendations concerning the visibility of corrections and retractions.