Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

You are welcome to read Publication Ethics Guidelines based on Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing and used by Virtus Interpress.

Virtus Interpress, as a publisher of scholarly journals and books, is committed to meeting high standards of ethical behaviour at all stages of the publication process.

These guidelines outline the publishing ethics responsibilities of Virtus Interpress, authors, peer reviewers and editors. This is a document reflecting the recent standards and practices in publication ethics used by Virtus Interpress also referring to the advice and resources on the organizations where Virtus Interpress holds a membership.

Membership

We are a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), an organisation that provides advice and resources on all aspects of publication ethics and research and publication misconduct and we follow COPE Guidelines on Good Publication Practice as well as other relevant guidelines issued by COPE. As a member, we also closely follow industry associations such as The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM), The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSL), and our Editors refer to Council of Science Editors (CSE), providing best practice recommendations for the conduct and reporting of scholarly research.

How to raise a concern

Anyone who believes that research published by Virtus Interpress has not been carried out in line with these principles should raise their concerns with the relevant editor, or email publishingethics@virtusinterpress.org.

The basic Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing followed by Virtus Interpress and applied to our journal can be found below too (as well as the part of the Publication Ethics Guidelines provided above as a PDF document).

1. Web-site

• Web-site of Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review, including the text that it contains, ensures high ethical and professional standards (see below).

• ‘Aims & Scope’ statement is included on the website and the readership clearly defined (see below). In terms of authorship and authorship responsibilities the journal uses recommendations of The Council of Science Editors. The journal does not consider multiple submissions, redundant publications. Submissions to the journal should be original unpublished work and should not be under review with any other journal. The authors should follow the international standards of responsible research publication promoted by Committee on Publication Ethics. Manuscript reviews are blind so authors names need to be removed from all submitted manuscripts. Authorship is limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. The journal follows the guidelines introduced by COPE “Short guide to the Ethical Editing for Editors”, COPE “Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers”.

• ISSNs of the journal is clearly displayed, separate for print and electronic (ISSN - 2519-8971 (print); ISSN - 2519-898X (online)) (see below).

2. Name of journal

• Name of Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review is unique. It is not confused with another journal and does not mislead potential authors and readers about the Journal’s origin or association with other journals. This info is clearly stated at the web-site of the journal.

3. Peer-review process

• All of a journal’s content is subjected to peer-review. Peer-review is defined by the journal as obtaining advice on individual manuscripts from reviewers’ expert in the field who are not part of the journal’s editorial staff. The journal uses a double-blind peer review model. The peer review process, as well as any policies related to the journal’s peer review procedures, is clearly described on the journal’s web-site. Journal does not guarantee manuscript acceptance or very short peer review times.

4. Ownership and management

• Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review is owned and published by the publishing house "Virtus Interpress". This information is clearly indicated on the journal’s web-site.

5. Governing body

• Journal has an Advisory and Editorial boards whose members are recognized experts in the field. The full names and affiliations of the members are provided on the journal’s web-site.

6. Editorial team/contact information

• Journal provides the full names and affiliations of the journal’s editors on the journal web-site as well as contact information for the editorial office, including a full address.

7. Copyright and licensing

• The policy for copyright is clearly stated in the author guidelines and journal policies, and the copyright holder named on all published articles published in the journal. Licensing information is clearly described in guidelines on the website, and licensing terms are indicated on all published articles.
  Policies on posting of final accepted versions or published articles on third party repositories is clearly stated at the web-site of the journal too.

8. Author fees

• Fees or charges that are required for manuscript processing in the journal are clearly stated in a place at the journal web-page that is easy for potential authors to find prior to submitting their manuscripts for review or explained to authors before they begin preparing their manuscript for submission. Article processing charge at EUR 840 should be paid by the authors if the paper is accepted for publishing. The structure of the article processing charge as well as the method of payment are the following. Any other fees that can be paid by the authors of the papers are below too.

9. Process for identification of and dealing with allegations of research misconduct

• Publisher of Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review and the journal editors take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, including but not limited to plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, among others. In this context the Publisher and Editors of the journal use the COPE guidelines “Sharing of information among Editors-in-Chief regarding possible misconduct”, “Guidelines in good publication practice” approved by COPE, CSE’s “White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications”. This information is properly mentioned at the journal web-page. In no case a journal or its editors encourage such misconduct, or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place. In the event that a journal’s publisher or editors are made aware of any allegation of research misconduct relating to a published article in their journal, the publisher or editor shall follow COPE’s guidelines in dealing with allegations.

• We expect that the authors of the papers submitted to the journal will follow the principles of research integrity: honesty in all aspects of research; scrupulous care, thoroughness and excellence in research practice; transparency and open communication; care and respect for all participants in and subjects of research; accountability both for one’s own research integrity and that of others when behaviour falls short of our standards. In addition to the general principles above, we expect our journal editorial team to provide specific guidelines and policies for authors on research integrity and ethics appropriate to their subject matter and discipline.

10. Publication Ethics

• A journal also has policies on publishing ethics. It is clearly visible on its website, and refers to: i) Journal policies on authorship and contributorship; ii) How the journal will handle complaints and appeals; iii) Journal policies on conflicts of interest / competing interests; iv) Journal policies on data sharing and reproducibility; v) Journal’s policy on ethical oversight; vi) Journal’s policy on intellectual property; vii) Journal’s options for post-publication discussions and corrections. See at https://virtusinterpress.org/Journal-Policies,4575.html.

11. Publishing schedule

• Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review is published quarterly. Periodicity at which a journal publishes is clearly indicated at the journal web-page.

12. Access

• This is an open access journal (since 2025).

13. Archiving

• The journal uses the services of Portico. A journal’s plan for electronic backup and preservation of access to the journal in the event a journal is no longer published is clearly indicated at the journal web-site.

14. Revenue sources

• Methods of journals’ finance and revenue sources of the journal are article processing fees, reprints, institutional/organizational support, etc. It is clearly stated on the journal’s web-site. Publishing fees or waiver status do not influence editorial decision making.

15. Advertising

• Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review does not allow any sort of advertisement on the journal pages. The journal publishes just scholarly papers and related content (Editorials).

16. Direct marketing

• Any direct marketing activities, including solicitation of manuscripts that are conducted on behalf of the journal, are appropriate, well targeted, and unobtrusive. Information provided about the publisher or journal is truthful and not misleading for readers or authors.