Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement 

(The following statements are based on Elsevier recommendations

and COPE's Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors)

To maintain fair practice we (International Scientific Journal Economics and Business, published quarterly by the Faculty of Economics and Business, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University) strongly believe in following these guidelines. We are committed to fair practice of publication. Success in this regard can be achieved if ethics are well practiced by following participants:

(1) Authors, (2) Editors, (3) Reviewers,  (4) Publisher & (5) Copyright Transfer and Licensing Information

1. Authors: Authors should present an objective discussion of the significance of research work as well as sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the experiments. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. Review articles should also be objective, comprehensive, and accurate accounts of the state of the art. The authors should ensure that their work is entirely original works, and if the work and/or words of others have been used, this has been appropriately acknowledged. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
Authors should not submit articles describing essentially the same research to more than one
journal. The corresponding author should ensure that there is a full consensus of all co authors in approving the final version of the paper and its submission for publication.

• Duties of Authors:

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 constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. Review and professional publication articles should also be accurate and objective, and editorial 'opinion' works should be clearly identified as such.
Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review,
and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

• Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of other’ that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism takes many forms, from 'passing off' another's paper as the author's own paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. In general, an author should not submit for consideration in another journal a previously published paper.

• 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 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 co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

• Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her 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 the editor or the publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error, it is the obligation of the author to promptly retract or correct the paper or provide evidence to the editor of the correctness of the original paper.

2. Editors: Editors should evaluate manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit. An editor must not use unpublished information in the editor's own research without the express written consent of the author. Editors should take reasonable responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.

• Duties of editors:

Publication decisions
The editor of a peer-reviewed journal is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published, often working in conjunction with the relevant society (for society-owned or sponsored journals). The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always drive such decisions. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors orreviewers (or society officers) in making this decision.

An editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted
manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, othereditorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

3. Reviewers: Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviews should be conducted objectively, and observations should be formulated clearly with supporting arguments, so that authors can use them for improving the paper. Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

• Duties of reviewers:

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication, and lies at the heart of the scientific method. Academy Publisher shares the view of many that all scholars who wish to contribute to publications have an obligation to do a fair share of reviewing.

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

4. Publisher: does not allow any form of plagiarism. Plagiarism is considered to be a serious
breach of scientific ethics by the entire scientific community. Incidents of plagiarism in a
manuscript or published paper whether detected or reported, will be dealt seriously. We constantly support/advise and take suggestions from our Editors/Editorial Board/Reviewers on avoiding any malpractice of publication ethics.

5. Copyright Transfer and Licensing Information
Copyright Transfer

Journal Economics and Business asks all authors of articles to sign a Transfer of Copyright. In
doing so, an author transfers ownership of his or her article to the Journal’ Publisher. Ownership of copyright gives the Publisher the right to publish the article and to defend against improper use (or even theft) of the article. It also permits the Publisher to mount the article online or to use the article in other forms, such as when a journal article becomes part of a content collection or another derivative product.
The Publisher needs copyright for an article because the publisher is in the best position to
defend the article legally. In addition, transfer of copyright assures the Publisher that the work in question is entirely the author's own. Once again, the purpose of transfer of copyright is not to prevent the author from reuse of his or her own work, as long as this doesn't involve republication in a competing journal or other competing resource.
If you send a manuscript to the publisher, you will be given the opportunity during submission to agree to our electronic transfer of copyright, or our open access policy. You should print and send a signed hard copy of the Copyright Transfer Form.

Open Access Policy

The journal Economics and Business is freely available online and all articles published in the
Journal are freely accessible. Authors are required to agree with this open access policy which enables unrestricted access and reuse of all published articles. The articles are published under the Creative Commons copyright license policy CC-BY-NC-ND. Authors may post the published version of their article to their personal website. Users are allowed to copy and redistribute the material in printed or electronic format and build upon the material, without further permission for non commercial use.

Standards of Submission and Publication of Scientific Articles in the Journal of Economics and Business 

The journal publishes scientific articles in Georgian, English, German  languages on topical issues of economic theories and history of economic teaching, economic policy, economics and business, as well as reviews of recently published monographs and textbooks;

       1. The article must be topical, independently performed, original, previously unpublished and not submitted to other publishers; the use of published texts without reference to the authors is unacceptable;  

       2. All articles, along with the main text, must contain the introductory and final parts.

The introduction should include: (a) the level of study and the relevance of the research problem, (b) the goals and objectives of the research, (c) the originality of the research - the contribution of the author to the study of the problem, (d) The article should be based on the methodology correctly and show the use of modern methods of research.

In the main text, a number of subchapters should be outlined in according to the issues discussed.

The basic theoretical and practical results of the research and adequate recommendations should be clearly formulated in the final part of the study.

       3. The article should be accompanied by correctly selected keywords.

       4. The abstract should be informative, reflecting the main content of the article, describing the purpose of the research, summarizing the main findings of the research and demonstrating its theoretical and practical significance;

       5. The article should be submitted in A4 format. The volume of the article, including the list of literature and research papers must not exceed 20 computer pages and must be printed in 12 point letters with 1.5 line spacing.

       6. The article written in Georgian language must be accompanied by an abstract (author's resume) up to 600 characters in Georgian and English languages, as well as the title in English and Russian languages. The article written in a foreign language must be accompanied by the basic content of 2 pages in Georgian language and the abstract in the same foreign language. The article which according to reviewers and editorial board meets the international standards will be published in Georgian and English languages. In addition, the article considered important by the editorial board must be accompanied by expanded resume (2 pages) in Georgian and English languages. The latter will be printed along with the article (with the consent of the author);

       7. Two printed copies of article should be submitted to the editorial board along with electronic version (MS Word, Georgian article in Sylfaen, and Foreign text – in Times New Roman);

       8. Under the title of the article (on the right hand side) there must be indicated the full name, surname, academic degree, position, phone number and email of the author (authors);

       9. The article should examine important literature related to the research problem. The list of the references should be placed as a single list (literature) at the end of the article:  - a) the book title in the following sequence - the surname and initials of the author (the authors), book title, place of publication, publishing house, year, number of pages; b) for the journal article – the title and initials of the author (the authors), title of the article, title of the journal, year, journal number (indicating the pages of the article).

The list of references should be made only from the sources indicated in the text - according to their sequence. When quoting from the author's work, it must indicate the source with the corresponding page in the following form [5.p..41], where the first digit corresponds to the number of the quoted source on the list of used references, and the other - the page from which a quote is given. The bibliographic description of each book (journal) on the list of references must be relevant to its title sheet. Non-English references must be accompanied by its exact English translation (in brackets);

       10. Tables, graphs and charts in the text should be placed at the point of reference, if the place is insufficient, it may be on the next page. Tabless, graphs and schemes should have a title and a number.

       11. Master students are required to submit their own independent scientific article along with the conclusion of the supervisor and the recommendation of the relevant department - as an extract from the protocol;

       12. The article that does not meet the above mentioned requirements will not be accepted;

       13. Reviewing articles published in the journal, based on international practice, is anonymous. Evaluation is done by the rating system (text is accompanied by it). The submitted articles will be sent to reviewers after editorial processing. After passing through these processes, the article will be submitted to the Editorial Board member for evaluation. The final decision on the publication of the article in the journal is taken at the editorial board meeting.