‘Ghostwriting’ and ‘Guestauthorship’

Procedure against ‘Ghostwriting’ and ‘Guest Authorship’ in publications published by Polish Real Estate Scientific Society

Reliability is the essence of science’s quality. Readers should be convinced, that authors of published articles present the results of their work in a clear, reliable and honest way, whether they are direct authors or were supported by experts (physical or legal person). Ethical attitudes of scientific workers and the highest editorial standards should be assured by clear information on the persons and institutions contributing to the article whether through mentoring, expertise, and financial or other support. This is not only required by good manners, but also social responsibility.

To prevent ‘ghostwriting’ (where somebody makes a significant contribution to publication without being mentioned as one of the authors or his/her role was omitted in acknowledgements) and/or ‘guest authorship’ (where somebody’s contribution is minimal or none but he/she is mentioned as co-author of article), the Editorial Team has the following requirements:

1. Corresponding author (first author) shall complete in REMV Editorial System a declaration where he/she confirms:
   
   • Affiliation of each author(s);
   • Share (converted into points gained for publishing article) and contribution (information on who is the author of the conception, assumptions, methods, protocol, etc., used in the article). The corresponding author (first author) is the main person who bears the responsibility;
   • Information on publication’s financial sources, and financial disclosure of scientific-research institutions, associations, companies, foundations, and other bodies.
2. Corresponding author (first author) in his own name and the other authors shall give PRESS „LICENSE TO PUBLISH” through accept adequate declaration.
3. Declaration should be signed (electronically in REMV Editorial System).
4. Consequences for authors of articles with revealed ‘ghostwriting’ or ‘guest authorship’ include restrictions in publishing in Journals and passing information to proper units (institutions hiring authors, scientific societies, scientific editors associations, etc.). The author shall reimburse the Editorial Team for all the reasonable costs incurred in making and publishing corrections.