The journal Tranzicija / Transition is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in the publication process and to preventing any form of unethical behaviour or malpractice. In its work, the journal follows the principles and guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

 

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors submitting manuscripts to Tranzicija / Transition are responsible for ensuring that:

• the submitted manuscripts are original, scientifically or professionally sound, and have not been previously published or simultaneously submitted to another journal;
• all references and sources used are properly cited;
• all forms of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication and falsification are avoided;
• all co-authors have made a genuine contribution to the research and are aware of the final version of the manuscript;
• all potential conflicts of interest are clearly disclosed;
• all ethical aspects of the research (involving humans, animals or data) have been carried out in accordance with relevant regulations, approvals and institutional guidelines.

Authors are obliged to inform the editorial office of Tranzicija / Transition without delay if they discover any significant error or inaccuracy in their submitted or published work.

 

Responsibilities of Editors

Editors of Tranzicija / Transition are responsible for:

• fair, impartial and timely decisions on submitted manuscripts, based solely on their scholarly merit and relevance to the journal’s scope;
• organizing the peer-review process in line with accepted academic standards, applying a double-blind review system;
• maintaining the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and all related documentation;
• avoiding conflicts of interest in relation to authors, reviewers and institutions;
• taking appropriate action in cases of suspected unethical behaviour by authors, reviewers or other parties involved in the publication process.

Editors must not use unpublished material from submitted manuscripts for their own research without the explicit written consent of the authors.

 

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers for Tranzicija / Transition are expected to:

• provide objective, constructive and timely reviews;
• treat the manuscript as confidential and not use any information from it for personal advantage or the advantage of third parties;
• inform the editors of any suspicion of plagiarism, duplicate publication, data manipulation or other forms of unethical behaviour;
• decline to review manuscripts where there is a real or potential conflict of interest (personal, professional or institutional).

Reviewers should help authors improve their manuscripts through clear and well-founded comments, even when recommending rejection.

 

Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher of Tranzicija / Transition (University FINRA Tuzla) is responsible for:

• supporting editorial independence and academic freedom;
• ensuring transparency and consistency in all procedures related to submission, peer review and publication;
• handling ethical disputes in accordance with COPE guidelines and best practices in scholarly publishing;
• securing long-term archiving and accessibility of published articles.

 

Prevention of Misconduct

Tranzicija / Transition applies a number of measures to prevent unethical behaviour, including:

• the use of plagiarism-detection software and other tools to identify potential misconduct;
• a double-blind peer-review process for scientific and professional papers;
• clear policies on authorship, citation, conflicts of interest and publication;
• adherence to COPE protocols in cases of suspected ethical violations.

 

Handling of Unethical Behaviour

In cases of suspected plagiarism, data manipulation, duplicate publication, authorship disputes or other breaches of ethics, Tranzicija / Transition will:

• initiate an internal investigation within the editorial office;
• request a written explanation from the author(s) and, where appropriate, additional clarification from reviewers or independent experts;
• involve additional reviewers or experts if necessary to ensure an objective assessment;
• issue a correction, retraction of the article, or formal notice (e.g. expression of concern), if required by the findings of the investigation.

This policy applies to all manuscripts submitted to Tranzicija / Transition, as well as to articles that have already been published in the journal.