The academic journal COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA only publishes original articles, which are results of original research, and which in a given form have not been previously published elsewhere. If a given article contains contributions of other persons, the authors are obliged to reveal their names and affiliation. The authors have to hold all legal rights to the content of their articles.
All the articles submitted for publication in COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA are peer reviewed for authenticity, ethical issues and usefulness. The editorial board of the journal is committed to conform to the highest standards of publishing ethics and to undertake any actions in order to prevent improper conduct in the publishing process. If the editors have discovered improper conduct on part of the author(s) or if they have been informed about such a fact, the editors have to substantiate it and notify the appropriate institutions about the fact.
Action taken when improper conduct in publications has been detected according to COPE.
The University of Szczecin Press (WNUS) policy on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in scholarly publications
These rules, drafted on the basis of the position expressed by the Association of University Presses on using generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in scholarly papers, lay down the rules for responsible use of AI tools in creating and publishing texts, graphic content, illustrations and charts. They aim to ensure scholarly reliability, transparency and respect for copyright.
1. Only a human being may be an author of a scholarly paper. AI tools (including chatbots such as ChatGTP) cannot be deemed authors/co-authors or quoted as authors since they do not meet fundamental criteria resulting from the definition of authorship; in particular, they may not be held responsible for reliability, integrity or originality of a paper. These tools do not have the capacity to perform acts in law, they cannot manage copyright, nor are they able to recognize the occurrence or lack of a conflict of interests. AI tools may support the author in editing or translating the manuscript, in data analysis or preparation of graphical content, provided that they do not replace independent and creative scientific contribution.
2. Authors who use AI tools when writing their texts, gathering and analysing data or creating graphical elements are obliged to disclose, fairly and fully transparently, which AI tool they have used, how and to what extent, and how it has affected a given manuscript.
3. AI may be used to do language editing and to improve readability of a manuscript, but it cannot replace key creative processes, such as formulating scientific conclusions, elaborating observations or generating research results.
4. Authors bear full responsibility for the content of a submitted manuscript and for all fragments that have been created using IT tools and are thus responsible for any possible breaches of publishing ethics. Tools such as ChatGTP have limitations that must be taken account of. The following are important in particular:
5. Each use of IT tools should be disclosed in the content of the work (e.g. in a footnote, in the abstract, in the “Methods” or “Acknowledgments” sections – ultimately selected by the journal’s editorial office/scientific council of the University of Szczecin Press) by providing the following:
6. Additionally, each author must submit to the WNUS/editors of a given journal a relevant declaration on the use of AI-assisted tools in creating their work, including chatbots, large language models (LLM) or image generators, along with a detailed description of why, how and to what extent they have been used. A template for the declaration is available for download on the journal’s website (in the “For Authors” tab).
7. Creation of images and videos by generative AI has caused infringements of copyright and principles of reliability in research. In observing the copyright in force and best practices of the publishing ethics, WNUS does not allow the use of those materials in publications, unless they are the substance of research in a given paper. Such cases should each time be justified upon manuscript submission and are evaluated individually by editors and reviewers. WNUS allows the use of AI tools to prepare supporting illustrations or data visualizations, provided that:
8. All materials sent to WNUS are subject to verification in an anti-plagiarism system that also detects the use of AI tools.
9. Rules for reviewers and editors on using artificial intelligence (AI) tools:
The University of Szczecin Press operates in accordance with recommendations of the Association of University Presses as its member: Stanowisko i rekomendacje Stowarzyszenia Wydawców Szkół Wyższych w kwestii stosowania narzędzi generatywnej sztucznej inteligencji (GAI) w pisaniu prac naukowych.
DUTIES OF EDITORS
Publication decisions: Editorial board consists of one literary scholar, one linguist and a secretary. The appropriate editor representing the chosen discipline (literature studies or linguistics) decides if the submitted article qualifies for publication. The decision to accept an article for publication or reject it is based on its importance, quality and its relevance to the scope of the journal. The final decision about the acceptance of an article depends on positive decisions of two independent, anonymous reviews by the reviewers, who do not know the author (double-blind review process). The editor strives to select the reviewers in a way that their research scope is compatible with the topic addressed in the article. In case of one negative review the editorial board asks other members of the Academic Advisory Council of the Journal (in accordance with the scholarly discipline they represent and the article concerns) for opinion and decides either to accept the article, to appoint a new reviewer or to reject the article, and informs the author(s) about the decision.
Transparency of the editorial process: The whole editorial process is conducted transparently with the use of the electronic support system of Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego (University of Szczecin Publishing House). After the submission of an article on the website of the journal COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA via the menu option “Suggest Article” the system automatically notifies the appropriate editor about it and the author is subsequently informed by the system about the following stages of editorial work, i.e. about the acceptance or rejection of the article by the editor, arrival of the review, the necessity of corrections in accordance with the review, as well as, after language correction, about sending the article to publication. The articles in the issues of COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA are primarily published in printed form and the author receives one author’s copy. Subsequently all articles in a volume are published electronically on the website of the journal COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA and are made available in electronic databases in which the journal is indexed.
Monitoring the ethical standards: Editorial board is monitoring the ethical standards of scientific publications and takes all possible measures against any publication malpractices. Before acceptance for publication all articles are checked with the use of anti-plagiarism software to verify their originality.
Confidentiality: Editorial boards will make sure that all materials submitted to the Journal remain confidential during the whole editorial process. Editorial board is not permitted to disclose any information about the submitted manuscript to any persons besides the author(s), reviewers, potential reviewers, Academic Advisory Council and the publisher. Unpublished materials cannot be used by the editorial board and the members of the Academic Advisory Council in their own research without a written consent of the author(s).
Maintaining the integrity of the academic record: The editors will guard the integrity of the published academic record by issuing corrections and retractions when needed in case of allegations of research and publication misconduct. Plagiarism and fraudulent data are unacceptable.
Retractions of the articles: Journal’s editors will consider retracting a publication if the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification or the article constitutes plagiarism. Retracted articles will not be removed from printed copies of the journal nor from electronic archives but their retracted status will be indicated as clearly as possible.
DUTIES OF AUTHORS
Originality and plagiarism: Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others they need to be cited or quoted. Plagiarism and fraudulent data are not acceptable.
Acknowledgement of sources: The proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given, this pertains to works directly cited, as well as paraphrased. All the works referred to in an article shall also be listed in the bibliography.
Multiple or concurrent publication: Authors should not in general publish a manuscript describing essentially the same research in more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. In exceptional cases – if this can be justified by e.g. issues of availability of a previously published article or by different language of publication – it is possible to publish the article provided that the author obtains the permission from the editorial board (the publisher) of the previously published article and adds respective information at the beginning of the article.
Errors in published works: Prior to publication every article undergoes repeated verification: first by the appropriate editor, secondly by two anonymous reviews from appointed reviewers, by the professional proofreader and by the editor of the publishing house. The author(s) should read all the remarks, suggestions of corrections of language mistakes and incorporate them into their article. After the editing process in the publishing house there is still the opportunity for the author(s) to correct the proofs. When the author discovers an error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor. Should the author(s), without justification, not observe the suggested remarks and correction suggestions, their article can eventually be rejected.
Before the article is accepted for publication, the authors have to sign the declaration on ghostwriting, which is to be found on the COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA journal’s website in the menu option “For Authors”, and send it to the Editorial Office; hereby the authors declare that:
DUTIES OF REVIEWERS
Contribution to editorial decisions: Peer reviews assist the editor in making editorial decisions and may also help authors to improve their manuscript. Should the reviewer have critical remarks concerning the manuscript, they are to assess whether in spite of these the manuscript can be accepted for publication. If it is so, the reviewer should also formulate suggestions of improvements and/or additions to be made. The reviewer in such case can demand another insight in the corrected manuscript or – in case of remarks of lesser factual significance – leave the decision to the editorial board.
Competence and promptness: Any selected reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its timely review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself/herself from the review process.
Confidentiality: The whole manuscript received for review must be treated as confidential document and shall not be used for personal profit. The manuscript must not be shown to or discussed with others except those authorized by the editor.
Acknowledgement of sources: Reviewers should identify the relevant published work that has not been cited by authors. Any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper should be reported to the editor.
Standards of objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively and expressed clearly by means of appropriate arguments. The reviewed academic articles are confidential and reviewed anonymously (double-blind review process). Generally the reviewers and the author(s) have to be affiliated with different academic institutions. If, however, the reviewer knows the identity of the author and believes that there is a conflict of interests, they should notify the editorial board about this fact. The reviewers are obliged to disclose potential conflict of interests, pertinent in particular to:
For this purpose the reviewers are requested to fill in and sign the Reviewer’s declaration available on the website of the journal COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA in the menu option “Reviewing procedure”
Transparency of the reviewing procedure: The current list of reviewers is published in each issue and on the Journal’s website but the surnames of reviewers of a particular article are not revealed. Rules of assessing articles and a reviewing form are made public on the Journal’s website in the section “Reviewing procedure”. Reviews are in written form and are basis for accepting or rejecting an article. If there is a controversy, the final decision is made by the thematic editors together with the Academic Advisory Council of CGS.
DUTIES OF THE ACADEMIC ADVISORY COUNCIL
Composition: The Academic Advisory Council of the journal COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA is composed of acknowledged researchers from various academic institutions from various countries, who are academic authorities in the field of one of the two basic scholarly disciplines pertinent to the topics of the articles published in the journal COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA, i.e. literature studies or linguistics of German-language countries.
Function: the members of the Academic Advisory Council of the journal COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA act in an advisory capacity of the editorial board with respect to various issues concerning the functioning of the Journal and the strategy of its further development, as well as better promotion of the Journal among Polish and international German philologists. Moreover, the members help the editorial board to make decisions concerning accepting for publication or rejecting an article which obtained two mutually exclusive reviews. In such cases the editors turn to selected members of the Academic Advisory Council having scholarly expertise in the same or similar field as the one pertinent to the article, and ask them for opinion.
Confidentiality: The members of the Academic Advisory Council of the journal COLLOQUIA GERMANICA STETINENSIA shall not reveal any information about the authors, manuscripts and their reviews to any persons besides the editors and the publisher. The unpublished materials must not be used by the members of the Academic Advisory Council in their own research without a written permission of the author(s).
