Publication Ethics

ing.grid assures an environment in which all the community is connected and able to share and discuss the results of research before its publication. A successful open review process also depends on all parties focused on taking part in this setting, considering that respectful behaviour is necessary for an atmosphere of ideas and collaboration. 

ing.grid is committed to ethical publishing and works hence to the core practices and values defined by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).

Editorial process

ing.grid carries an open peer-review policy, in which the authors agree that their work is shared with the assigned referees and the scientific community registered on our platform. ing.grid should also maintain an open-access environment. Respectful behaviour by all users of this environment is expected. 
There should not be any type of discrimination based on race, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual identity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, age, medical condition, physical/personal characteristics, neurodiversity, and any other identities, beliefs or backgrounds. 
With this statement, ing.grid also values a non-tolerance policy for violations of good scientific practice. Whether coming from authors, peer reviewers, editors or the community - ing.grid will take adequate actions to protect others from abuse.

ing.grid strongly recommends the practices indicated by COPE for new editors and reviewers.


Authorship and contributorship

  • Authors should submit manuscripts that were not published under peer-review before and that are not being peer-reviewed in any other journal. They also compromise that the manuscripts are original and free of unethical or forbidden practices such as plagiarism or self-plagiarism, data fabrication or manipulation, or improper author contribution or attribution.
  • Any person who made substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution or interpretation of the manuscript should be cited as a co-author at the moment of submission. Authors should fill out a statement of contributions, considering the CRediT Taxonomy. The order of the names in the manuscript must be decided by authors before submitting, in accordance with clear criteria.
  • Individuals who contributed to the article somehow but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be mentioned in the “Acknowledgments” section of the manuscript.
  • Chatbots and other AI tools cannot be listed as authors in a paper. According to the COPE statement on Authorship and AI tools, authors who use these tools should describe them in the Material and Methods (or similar section) of their manuscripts. Authors must remember that they are responsible for the accuracy and originality of their submissions and liable for publication ethics breaches.
  • All the mentioned works should be displayed in the "References" section of the manuscript.
  • Authors should be aware that they will not be anonymous during the open peer-review process.
  • Contributions from reviewers and commentators are already displayed in the open peer-review platform as made by them under this role. So, even if a substantial contribution is made at this point, there is no need to identify a reviewer as an author.
  • ing.grid is open to author name changes post-publication, understanding that an author may change their name during the scientific path. If this applies, authors should contact managing editor Kevin Logan for the request. 

A further discussion on the topic "Authorship" is also displayed on the COPE website. This statement is also in line with the German Research Foundation (DFG) criteria.

Conflicts of interest

Authors, editors and reviewers are required to declare any potential conflict of interest regarding a publication - desirable before starting the open peer-review process. These conflicts can come in many forms, either financial, non-financial, professional, contractual or personal. 
ing.grid wants to ensure that conflicts of interest do not bias the decisions regarding publications.

Data sharing, reproducibility and intellectual property

ing.grid requires manuscripts to be published under a CC-BY licence. This type of permission ensures the collaborative atmosphere provided by the journal. The details of all the CC-BY licences allowed are displayed on our Open Access Policy.
Authors are also responsible for transparency and providing necessary supplementary material regarding datasets and software repositories.

Post-publication discussion and corrections

ing.grid is open to considering post-publication critiques to manuscripts when they are reasonable and not related to any defamatory content, preferably accompanying evidence or data for supporting the claims. ing.grid will then contact the authors to discuss the action to be made. A reasonable request (such as a substantial error) from the authors for a post-publication correction can also be addressed (as disclaimed in the "Authorship and contributorship section", a change of name, for example, can be considered) - although it is recommended to carry any substantial corrections during the final approval phase.

Complaints and appeals

Anyone who believes that ing.grid did not maintain any part of this process or that ing.grid is not operating under the Publication Ethics described in this section should contact managing editor Michaela Leštáková for further inquiries. ing.grid will open a dispute and take care of each case individually. ing.grid will also analyse complaints and inquiries regarding the people involved in the process.