Folia Iuridica Universitatis Wratislaviensis

Reliability in science is one of its qualitative foundations. Readers should be sure that the authors of the publication in a transparent, reliable and honest way present the results of their work, regardless of whether they are its direct authors, or whether they used the help of a specialized entity (natural or legal person).

The ethical attitude of a researcher and the highest editorial standards should be evidenced by the disclosure of information about entities contributing to the publication (substantive, factual, financial contribution, etc.), which is a manifestation of not only good manners, but also social responsibility.

Counterfeit examples are ghostwriting and guest authorship.

We deal with ghostwriting when someone made a significant contribution to the publication, without revealing their participation as one of the authors or without mentioning his role in the acknowledgments included in the publication.

We are dealing with guest authorship (honorary authorship) when the author's participation is negligible or not at all, and yet he is the author / co-author of the publication.

To counteract the cases of ghostwriting, guest authorship, the editorial board of "Folia Iuridica Universitatis Wratislaviensis" introduced the following solutions:

1. The editorial board requires those submitting works for publication to disclose the contributions of individual authors to the preparation of the work (along with their affiliation and contribution, i.e. information on who is responsible for ideas, assumptions, methods, protocols, etc. used in the preparation of the publication). Primary responsibility rests on the author submitting the manuscript.

2. The editorial board is of the view that "ghostwriting", understood as a contribution to the authorship of a publication without disclosing someone's participation as one of its authors or without disclosing his/her role among acknowledgements included in the publication, as well as "guest authorship", understood as a situation in which the contribution of the individual(s) formally listed as author(s) is nominal or non-existent, constitute academic misconduct and all such cases will, if discovered, be exposed and reported to the relevant institutions (authors' employer, scientific associations, scientific editorial associations, etc.).

3. The editorial board requires information about sources of financing for publications, the contribution of research institutions, societies and other entities ("financial disclosure").

4. The editorial board documents all cases of academic misconduct, particularly violations of ethical principles applicable in the field of science.

Source: Information concerning the practice of 'ghostwriting' (https://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/help/pl/czasopisma-i-ankiety/wyjasnienie-dotyczace-zjawiska-ghostwriting