The integrity of our academic content and publishing process is of paramount importance. We uphold high standards and expect the research published by RJIL to abide by the following principles:

• 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 for that of others when behaviour falls short of our standards. 

In addition to the general principles, we expect our Journal’s editorial teams to provide specific guidelines and policies for authors on research integrity and ethics appropriate to their subject matter and discipline.

We are committed to editorial independence and strive in all cases to prevent this principle from being compromised through competing interests, fear, or any other corporate, business, financial or political influence. Our editorial processes reflect this commitment to editorial independence. 

We do not discriminate against authors, editors, or reviewers based on personal characteristics or identity. We are committed to embedding diversity, acting without bias, removing barriers to inclusion, and promoting equality at every stage of our publishing process. 

We actively seek and encourage submissions from scholars of diverse backgrounds, regardless of their race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, citizenship, nationality, religion, disability, or any other characteristic protected by the law. 

We do not tolerate abusive behaviour or correspondence towards our staff and others involved in the publishing process on our behalf. 

If anyone involved in this process engages in such behaviour, we have the right to take action to protect others from this abuse. This may include, for example, withdrawal of an article from consideration, or challenging clearly abusive peer review comments. 

Plagiarism

RJIL defines plagiarism as ‘using someone else’s ideas, words, data, or other material produced by them without acknowledgement’.

Plagiarism can occur in respect to all types of sources and media, including: 

• text, photographs, drawings, graphs, etc.;
• material downloaded from websites or drawn from manuscripts or other media; 
• published and unpublished material, including lectures, presentations and grey literature. 

We do not tolerate plagiarism in any of our publications, and we reserve the right to check all submissions through appropriate plagiarism-checking tools. Submissions containing suspected plagiarism, in whole or part, will be rejected. 

If plagiarism is discovered after publication, we will follow our guidance outlined in the Retractions, Corrections and Expressions of Concern section of these guidelines. 

We expect our readers, reviewers, and editors to raise any suspicions of plagiarism, by writing an e-mail at the following address: elena.lazar@drept.unibuc.ro  

Duplicate and redundant publication

Duplicate or redundant publication, or ‘self-plagiarism’, occurs when a work, or substantial parts of a work, is published more than once by the author(s) of the work without appropriate cross‑referencing or justification for the overlap. 

It is irrelevant for the fulfilment of this condition if the suggested paper was previously published in another language.

We do not support substantial overlap between publications unless the following cumulative conditions are met:

• it is felt that, editorially, this will strengthen the academic discourse; 
• we have clear approval from the original publication; 
• we include citations of the original source. 

We expect our readers, reviewers and editors to raise any suspicions of duplicate or redundant publication, by writing an e-mail at the following address: elena.lazar@drept.unibuc.ro  

Copyright and licensing

Open Access authors retain the copyrights of their papers and grant the Journal right of first publication.

The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations. 

While the advice and information in this Journal are considered to be true and accurate on the date of its publication, neither the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors and/or omissions that may be made. 

The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

Affiliations

Any article affiliations should represent the institution(s) at which the research presented was conducted and/or supported and/or approved. For non-research content, any affiliations should represent the institution(s) with which each author is currently affiliated. 

Retractions, corrections and expressions of concern

If an author is found to have made an error, the Journal will issue a corrigendum. 

If the Journal is found to have made an error, they will issue an erratum. 

Retractions are usually reserved for articles that are so seriously flawed that their findings or conclusions should not be relied upon, or that contain substantial plagiarism or life-endangering content. 

In exceptional cases, where we consider it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, we reserve the right to remove an article from online publication. 

This includes, without limitation, where we have concerns that the article:

• is defamatory
• violates personal privacy or confidentiality laws
• is the subject of a court order
• might pose a serious health risk to the general public

Image manipulation, falsification and fabrication

Where research data is collected or presented as images, modifying these images can sometimes misrepresent the results obtained or their significance. 

We recognise that there can be legitimate reasons for modifying images, but we expect authors to avoid modifying images where this leads to the falsification, fabrication, or misrepresentation of their results. 

Fraudulent research and research misconduct

Where we are made aware of fraudulent research or research misconduct by an RJIL author, our first concern is the integrity of content we have published. 

Any publication found to include fraudulent results will be retracted, or an appropriate correction or expression of concern will be issued.

Please see the Retractions, Corrections and Expressions of Concern section of these guidelines for more information. 

Data and supporting evidence

We support transparency and openness around data, code, and other materials associated with research. 

We expect authors to maintain accurate records of supporting evidence necessary to allow others to understand, verify, and replicate new findings, and to supply or provide access to this supporting evidence, on reasonable request.

Anyone who believes that research published by RJIL has not been carried out in line with these Academic Research Publishing Ethics Guidelines, or the above principles, should raise their concerns by sending an email at elena.lazar@drept.unibuc.ro or filiplariu@drept.unibuc.ro