Instructions for authors

Principles of Publication Ethics

The journal Paedagogia Christiana has adopted and applies the ethical principles specified in the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We distinguish:

Editors’ responsibilities

1. To act in a balanced, objective and fair way while carrying out their expected duties, without discrimination on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, ethnic or geographical origin of the authors.

2. To admit to the proceedings original articles which have not been previously published in full or in part and do not contain borrowings from another work such that this would violate the rights of third parties and put the journal at risk of undermining its credibility; the editorial board may use appropriate software (CrossCheck powered by iThenticate) to check for possible plagiarism.

3. Not to disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

4. To require the authors of the publication to disclose, in the first footnote, the input of all the individuals who have made a contribution to the publication (stating their affiliation and contribution). In particular, information on the identity of the author(s) of the concepts, assumptions, methods, protocol, etc. used in the publication should be provided.

5. Not to allow practices such as: ghost-writing (the making of a significant contribution to the creation of a publication by a person who does not disclose his or her participation as an author) or guest authorship (assigning co-authorship to a person whose contribution to the creation of the work was negligible or non-existent); these practices are considered to be evidence of scientific unreliability. To require the authors to fulfil and sign the declaration concerning ghost-writing and guest authorship. To notify to the relevant entities (the institutions employing the authors, also scientific societies, associations of scientific editors, etc.) any cases of such practices which are discovered. To publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.

6. To document all manifestations of scientific unreliability, in particular breaches and violations of the ethics prevailing in science; after the discovery of such, it is the duty of the editor-in-chief either to include a correction or to remove the article from the electronic and paper edition— depending on the nature and seriousness of the violated rules. To present information about any such removal, with the reasons for this, in the chronologically nearest issue possible. The editorial board reserves the right to notify the institution employing the author(s) and/or financing their research of any evidence of scientific unreliability.

7. To accept an article for publication or to reject it after consultation with two external reviewers who evaluate the content of the text without knowing the identity of the author(s); the identity of the reviewers of a given article is also not disclosed (double-blind review); an article may be rejected by the editorial board without consulting reviewers if it is inconsistent with the journal’s profile or of low substantive level.

8. To demand disclosure of information regarding the sources of funding for the publication/research, and the financial contributions made by research institutions, associations and other entities (financial disclosure), if any, and information regarding any possible sources of conflict of interest (this also applies to co-authors who have not been responsible for the submission of the paper for publication).

Reviewers’ responsibilities

1. To make an objective and timely assessment of the manuscript, to provide the editor with a basis for making decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of the manuscript, as well as the conditions that must be met for the acceptance of the text.

2. To inform the editor about content substantially similar to other published or submitted articles, if noticed.

3. To inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest between the reviewer and author that may affect the objective evaluation of the manuscript and, if so, not to review the article.

4. To maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editor or author. To not retain or copy the manuscript.

Authors’ responsibilities

1. To submit only original manuscript and to acknowledge the work of others, and also to cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

2. To submit articles that have not been sent at the same time to the editorial board of another periodical or that have not been prepared for inclusion as a chapter in a publication of another publishing house.

3. To familiarise themselves with the ethical principles of the journal and to ensure they have complied with these principles.

4. To ensure that any studies involving human or animal subjects conform to national, local and institutional laws and requirements and confirm that approval has been sought and obtained where appropriate. Authors should obtain express permission from human subjects and respect their privacy.

5. To obtain the consent of any co-authors regarding the submission of the article to the journal before submitting it, as well as the consent of the institution financing the project, if required.

6. To sign a Licence Contract and Authors Declaration Form, which is the statement that all data in their article are real and authentic.

7. To maintain accurate records of data associated with their submitted manuscript, and to supply or provide access to these data, on reasonable request.

8. To declare any potential conflicts of interest (e.g. where the author has a competing interest (real or apparent) that could be considered or viewed as exerting an undue influence on his or her duties at any stage during the publication process).

9. To notify promptly the journal editor if a significant error in their publication is identified and to cooperate with the editor to publish an erratum, addendum, corrigendum notice, or to retract the paper, where this is deemed necessary.

10. To participate in the peer review process and cooperate fully by responding promptly to editors’ requests for raw data, clarifications, and proof of ethics approval, patient consents and copyright permissions.

Sending an article

Articles can be sent by means of Journal Digital Platform of Nicolaus Copernicus University: http://wydawnictwoumk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/PCh First, there is a registration requiring the author's mailing address. After the registration is completed, the author can log in and submit a file, as well as, provide all the required metadata. Proper data entry and sending a text to the platform will result in an-email sent to an author confirming that the editorial staff has received the text. The same information will be sent to the editor of the journal. Please note that Journal Digital Platform of Nicolaus Copernicus University is supported by anti-plagiarism software iThenticate, thanks to which, since March 2014, each article of the journal has been verified with regard to plagiarism.

Instructions for authors

In-text citations and reference lists should be presented according to the APA style, the basic principles of which are presented below. If in doubt, use the following website: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines

1. Structure of the paper and format of the text

- Language: English or Polish;
- Length of text: 7000–7500 words;
- Font: 12-point Times New Roman; spacing: 1.5 line; margins: 3 cm (left), 2.5 cm (other);
- Include an Abstract and keywords (max. 5) at the beginning of the paper;
- The main text should be divided into sections and numbered: 1. Introduction; 2. … (for sub-sections: 2.1. …; 2.2. …, etc.); 3. …; 4. …; 5. Conclusion;
- Include a list of references at the end of the paper (sorted alphabetically);
- If necessary, include footnotes;
- Short quotations (fewer than 40 words) should be incorporated into the text (with single quotation marks, 12-point Times New Roman); quotations of 40 words or more should be written as block quotations (indented, without quotation marks; 10-point Times New Roman);
- Include an ellipsis (a sequence of three dots with a space before and after) to indicate omitted words within a quotation.

2. In-text citation style

- One author: Bagrowicz (2000) or (Bagrowicz, 2000) or (Bagrowicz, 2000, p. 12); (Chałas, 2018, 2019); (Śliwerski, 2004a, 2004b);
- Two authors: Ciechowska and Walulik (2018) or (Ciechowska & Walulik, 2018, pp. 87–88);
- Three or more authors: Biernat et al. (2018, p. 225) or (Biernat et al., 2018, pp. 225–226);
- Use alphabetical order when the number of sources for the same citation is greater (Biernat, 2016; Nowak, 2010; Stępkowski, 2019);
- Group author with abbreviation: (Ministry of Science and Higher Education [MSHE], 2020), and in the next citation (MSHE, 2020);
- Biblical texts: (Mc 9:7; 1Ti 4:12–16);
- Documents of the Catholic Church: (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2012 [CCC], no. 369), and in the next citation (CCC, no. 370);
- Secondary sources: (MacIntyre, 1998, p. 105, as cited in Kaźmierczak, 2019, p. 96);
- If the same work is cited in the next quote: (ibidem, p. 107).

3. List of references

- Books: Ferguson, G. A. & Takane, Y. (2002). Statistical Analysis in Psychology and Education. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Chapters in books: Opiela, M. L. (2017). Developing religious and patriotic feelings in pre-school aged children in Sisters Servants’ nurseries. In F. W. Wawro & A. Lendzion (Eds.), Educational and Psychosocial Dimension of Experience (pp. 235–279). Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL.
- Journal articles: Horowski, J. (2018). What conditions education for forgiveness in terms of the neo-Thomistic philosophy of education. Journal of Religious Education, 66(1), 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-018-0054-z
- Edited books: McCosker, P. & Turner, D. (Eds.). (2016). The Cambridge Companion to The Summa Theologiae. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Unpublished Master’s or Doctoral dissertations: Waga, L. (2016). Rola doświadczenia w tworzeniu wiedzy pedagogicznej [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.
- Websites: Hughes, P. M. & Warmke, B. (2017). Forgiveness. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved May 5, 2020, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/forgiveness/
- Legal acts: Ustawa z dnia 9 czerwca 2011 r. o wspieraniu rodziny i systemie pieczy zastępczej (Dz. U. 2011 Nr 149, poz. 887).
- If a book or journal article includes a DOI, include the DOI at the end of the reference.

4. Tables and figures

- Include a number for each table/figure, as well as a title, above it;
- Data presented in tables should not be repeated in the text;
- If the data included in a table is from your own research/notation, specify the source as follows: Source: Own study.
- Include information on independent variables at the top of the table: L=…
- Present dependent variables as percentage values (without specifying the number L in each category) in the sidebar(s) of the table.

Example:

Table 1
            Respondents’ declared basis of faith

Source: Own study.