Journal policies
Journal information:
„Budownictwo i Architektura”
Lublin University of Technology
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture
Nadbystrzycka Street 40
20-618 Lublin
Publisher: Lublin University of Technology Publishing House
ISSN 1899-0665, e-ISSN 2544-3275
The journal is recognised by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education: id no. 200165, 40 points, ICV 100 (2021)
Abstracting and indexing: Arianta, BASE, BazTech, CEEOL, DOAJ, EBSCO, ERIH Plus, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Infona, OpenAlex, ResearchGate, TIB, WorldWideScience.
- Aims and scope
- Publication ethics and malpractice statement
- Peer review procedure
- Open access and copyright
- Privacy statement
Budownictwo i Architektura publishes original research papers that explore the following areas:
- architecture and urban sciences
- civil engineering and transport
- structural engineering
- structural mechanics
- mechanics of composite materials
- road and bridge design, construction and maintenance
- geotechnics
- construction materials manufacturing methods
- construction economics and management
- maintenance and restoration of built heritage
- history of architecture
- city planning and history of city planning
- social and economic aspects of architecture
- sustainable development in architecture and construction
- maintenance and restoration of built heritage
- urban renewal
- real estate appraisal and management
- geomatics and land surveying
We invite scientists and specialists in the abovementioned fields to submit manuscripts for publication in the journal. Budownictwo i Architektura publishes articles concerning general issues in civil engineering and architecture and works addressing local problems specific to Central and Eastern Europe. Texts are published in English; the Polish translation of the article can be published alongside the primary version in English.
All articles published in the journal are peer-reviewed by experts in the field.
2. Publication ethics and malpractice statement
The following statement is based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
- 2.1 Editor responsibilities
- Publication decisions
The editor is solely and independently responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published, basing his or her decisions on the importance of particular works to researchers and readers, as well as on the opinions of reviewers, experts in the field and the remaining editors of the journal. Furthermore, he or she should be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and, at the same time, follow relevant legal requirements concerning libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
The editor should not reverse decisions to accept submissions unless serious problems are identified with the submission. Similarly, new editors should not overturn decisions to publish submissions made by the previous editor unless serious problems are identified.
The final decision concerning acceptance for publication or rejection of the manuscript is made by the Editorial Board.
- Peer review
It is the responsibility of the Editorial Board to ensure that the peer-review process is fair, unbiased, and timely. Articles are reviewed by two external and independent reviewers, experts in a given field, selected by the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board shall follow best practice in avoiding the selection of fraudulent peer reviewers, as well as review all disclosures of potential conflicts of interest.
- Fair play
The editor shall evaluate the submitted articles for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
There is a transparent mechanism for appeal against editorial decisions functioning in the journal.
- Journal metrics
The editor must not attempt to influence the journal’s ranking by artificially increasing any journal metric (for instance, by requiring authors to include references to articles published in the journal, written by the editor or by any other person associated with the journal).
- Confidentiality
The editor must protect the confidentiality of all material submitted to the journal and all communications with the journal, unless otherwise agreed with the relevant authors and reviewers. Where it is necessary to investigate suspected research misconduct, the editor may share limited information with editors of other journals.
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author. Information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
- Conflicts of interest
The editor must not be involved in decisions about papers which s/he has written him/herself or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission must be peer-reviewed independently of the relevant author/editor and their research groups. In such case, the Editorial Board appoints an independent guest editor who is not associated with the journal, and it is his or her decision whether such an article should be published.
- Detection of misconduct and complaints
The editor shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred. In no case shall the editor encourage such misconduct, or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place. Whenever it is recognised that a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distorted report has been published, it must be corrected promptly. If, after an appropriate investigation, an article proves to be fraudulent, it should be retracted. The Editorial Board should always publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.
In ethical matters and in case of complaints, the editor follows the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and applies the procedures included in the flowcharts. These include procedures for dealing with allegations of research misconduct, suspicions of plagiarism, retracting or correcting articles, etc.
- 2.2 Reviewer responsibilities
- Contribution to editorial decisions
Reviewers assist the editor in making editorial decisions by providing reliable reviews of the submitted manuscripts. Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review a given manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible, or suspects a possible conflict of interest, should notify the editor and decline to participate in the review process.
- Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review and the related materials (e.g. communications with the Editorial Board) must be treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not share the review or information about the paper with anyone except if authorised by the editor.
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author, nor published or disclosed to a third party. Information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
- Alertness to ethical issues
Any potential ethical issues in the paper should be reported to the editor. These include any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which the reviewer has personal knowledge.
- Objectivity and conflicts of interest
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Reviewers should not be affected by any personal bias when reviewing a paper. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments, which should refer directly to the paper under review.
Reviewers should consult the Editor before agreeing to review a paper where they have potential conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
- 2.3 Author responsibilities
- Reporting standards
Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are unacceptable.
- Data access
Authors may be asked to provide the research data supporting their paper for editorial review so that reliability of the presented research can be verified.
- Originality and acknowledgement of sources
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. When submitting a manuscript to the journal, the authors sign a declaration in which they confirm the originality of their article and in which they specify the contribution of each author in percent. If the authors have used the work and/or words of others, they should be appropriately cited or quoted and permission should be obtained where necessary. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical behaviour and is unacceptable.
- Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication
Submitting the same manuscript (containing the same research results) to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical behaviour and is unacceptable.
- Confidentiality
Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in these services.
- Authorship of the paper
Authorship should be 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 substantial contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the paper, they should be recognised in the acknowledgements section. 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. Authors take collective responsibility for the work.
- Conflicts of interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could be viewed as inappropriately influencing their work. All sources of financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article should be disclosed. Examples of potential conflicts of interest which should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding.
- Hazards and animal subjects
If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the authors must clearly identify these in the manuscript. If the work involves the use of animals, the authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them. The manuscript should contain a statement to this effect.
- Notification of fundamental errors
When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper if deemed necessary by the editor. If the editor or the publisher learn from a third party that a published work contains an error, it is the obligation of the author to cooperate with the editor, including providing evidence to the editor where requested.
All texts published in Budownictwo i Architektura are peer-reviewed. The magazine uses double-blind peer review, i.e. the author and reviewers do not know each other’s identity.
The first step is for the Editorial Board to assess the article’s suitability for publication and its conformity to the stated aims and scope of the journal. If the manuscript is accepted for review, it is forwarded to at least two independent reviewers appointed by the Editorial Board. At least one reviewer cannot be affiliated in Polish institutions.
If the reviews are:
- positive – the manuscript is forwarded to the Editorial Board, who make the final decision regarding the publication of the text,
- negative – the editorial staff takes note of the comments and makes the decision to designate other reviewers or to reject the author’s work,
- positive and negative – a third reviewer is appointed.
In the case of positive reviews that require corrections, the article is sent back to the Author. The Editors forward the comments and suggestions of the reviewers to the Author. The Author responds to the review. If he or she maintains his or her position, he or she is obliged to provide the Editor with additional explanations. After the corrections have been introduced by the Author, the article is sent again to the Reviewer or accepted by the Editorial Board, depending on the number and complexity of the required corrections. The Editor-in-Chief receives the final version of the manuscript. The necessary editorial corrections are introduced, and the linguistic correctness of the paper is assessed. The editorial version is sent to the author for final corrections and approval.
Budownictwo i Architektura supports the open science programme. The journal enables Open Access to its publications. Everyone can view, download and forward articles, provided that the terms of the license are respected.
The authors publish by transferring copyright to the journal on the basis of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0 Int.) licence. Permission to transfer the copyright is granted by the author when the article is submitted to the journal through its website.
The names and email addresses entered on this website will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
