Ethical guidelines

Azienda Pubblica is actively involved in the promotion of learning and knowledge. We trust in the dissemination of scholarly research, because any people should have equal access to high-quality knowledge. To serve and follow the specific requirements of scientific publications, with a particular focus on transparency and integrity, Azienda Pubblica embraces and promotes the ethical standards sets by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We are aware they aren’t a legal code and there are no proper courts to judge the acceptance of those conditions. But precisely for this reason we ask to our stakeholders (editorial boards, reviewers, authors) a concrete effort to apply the Ethics stated in this guideline and based on the COPE Core Practices and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice for Scholarly Publications, signed by COPE, DOAJ and OASPA.

Authorship 

We ask our authors to help us keeping high standards on the publications. In particular, they have to submit original unpublished manuscripts that are not currently in review by any other journal. Furthermore, in case of multiple authors, the names of all those who contributed to the work must be declared, specifying their names, their affiliation and possibly their ORCID. This means that any author takes part in the same way to the research, and so all of them share equally the responsibilities, unless otherwise stated.

Statement about the use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Azienda Pubblica does not prohibit, in principle the use of generative AI to support research activities. The use of AI to generate ideas and /or research questions, to analyze data, to support writing or for any other purposes in a submission to Azienda Pubblica should be transparently disclosed in the manuscript, preferably in the literature review and/or methods sections (it has to be visible for the reader and reviewers).

Authors using AI in any step of their research process are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of AI-generated materials. AI tools cannot be listed as an author of a paper. AI tools used should be listed in the bibliography indicating: Author of the AI programme, year of the programme version used (in brackets), Name of AI (in italics), Version, if applicable (in brackets), Publisher, if different from the author, URL, if applicable. Please refer to the example below:

Open AI (2024) ChatGPT 4o (version September 2024), https://chat.openai.com

Rules of good conduct

Azienda Pubblica is committed to supporting the integrity of scientific research and adopts a system of ethical guidelines consistent with that promoted by major international journals.

In order not to damage the trust in the Journal, the professionalism of scientific authorship, as well as the entire scientific effort, authors must refrain from falsely disclosing the results of their research. Preserving the integrity of scientific research and its dissemination is possible thanks to the pursuit of certain rules of good conduct, which include:

• the manuscripts submitted to the Journal must not have been simultaneously subjected to evaluation in another journal;
• the submitted work must meet the originality requirements and must not have already been published in another form or language (partially or entirely), unless the new work represents an expansion of the previous one. In this regard, the authors must provide precise and transparent indications about the re-use of the material already published;
• a single study cannot be divided into several parts in order to produce multiple research outputs to be presented to multiple journals or to the Journal itself over time;
• the concomitant or delayed publication of research output referring to the same study is possible as long as certain conditions are met, as in the case of the translation of a manuscript or its presentation to different groups of readers;
• the research results must be presented clearly, transparently and without inappropriate creation, manipulation or falsification of data;
• no data, text or theory of others must be presented as the property of the author (plagiarism). In order to give appropriate and adequate recognition of the contributions of others, the latter must be mentioned when paraphrases are proposed, while the literal copies of other sources must be reported in quotation marks, verifying that the conditions for copyrighted materials are respected;
• the authors must ensure that they have the necessary authorizations for the use of software, questionnaires and web surveys (if necessary);
• the authors must avoid false statements about the subjects (individuals or groups of them, companies, etc.) or to propose a description of their behavior that could be considered a personal attack or accusation against the person;
• Authors are strongly recommended to ensure that the group of authors, the corresponding author and the order of authors are correctly presented at the time of submission. The addition and / or deletion of authors during the revision phases is generally not allowed, but in some cases it may be justified and appropriately motivated. Changes to the scientific authorship of the works are not, however, permitted after the publication of the manuscripts;
• at the request of the editors of the Journal or of the reviewers, the authors must be ready to send the relevant documentation or data in order to verify the validity of the results presented (for example, databases used, recordings, transcripts of interviews, etc. with the exception of sensitive information in the form of confidential or proprietary data.

In the event that an incorrect behavior is found that differs from the information provided here, the Editorial Committee may take the following decisions:

• if the manuscript is still under review, it can be rejected and returned to the author;
• if the article has already been printed and published online, depending on the nature and severity of the infringement, you can proceed with an erratum (correction to be included in the article) or with a withdrawal of the article, giving express reasons. In the event that the article is withdrawn, the article will remain on the platform, but it will be indicated as "withdrawn" and a justification will be given in a note to the same. In such cases, the author's institution may be informed.

Correction of errors

Authors are obliged to correct errors once a significant error or inaccuracy has been discovered in the article already published. Authors are asked to contact the journal and explain how the error impacted the article. Depending on the significance of the error, an erratum will be made or the article retracted.

Exclusion of reviewers

Authors may request the exclusion of certain people when submitting their manuscripts. Please note that the Journal may not take this into account.

Ethical standards

In order to ensure objectivity and transparency in the research, as well as to ensure compliance with recognized principles of ethical and professional conduct, the authors must provide information on any sources of funding, potential conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial) and informed consent if the research included personal participation.

This information should be reported in a supplementary file titled "Compliance with Ethical Standards"; authors should report the following statements (if applicable):

• Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
• Informed consent of the people involved in the research.

In particular on conflicts of interest, authors must disclose all relationships or interests that could influence or prejudice the work. Although an author does not believe that there are conflicts, disclosure of relationships and interests allows for a more transparent review process and, therefore, an accurate and objective evaluation of the work. Awareness of actual or perceived conflicts of interest is a perspective to which readers are entitled and is not intended to imply that a financial relationship with an organization that sponsors research or compensation for consultancy work is inappropriate. Examples of potential conflicts of interest directly or indirectly related to research may include but are not limited to the following:

• research funding (indicate the funding entity and the identification details of the funding);
• remuneration received for speaking at symposiums;
• financial support for participation in symposia;
• financial support for training programs;
• employment or consulting relationship;
• support from a sponsor of the project;
• position on the advisory committee or the board of directors or in other types of management relationships;
• multiple affiliations;
• financial relationships (for example shareholding or investment interests);
• intellectual property rights (for example patents, copyrights and royalties deriving from these rights);
• interests of spouses and / or children who may have financial interests in the work.

In addition, non-financial interests that may be relevant to readers should also be disclosed. These may include, but are not limited to, personal relationships or conflicting interests directly or indirectly related to the research, professional interests or personal beliefs that may influence the research.

Examples of disclosure of conflicts of interest can be:

• Funding: “this study was funded by X (identification details of the funding obtained)”.
• Conflict of Interest: “Author A received research funding from Company A. Author B received an honorarium from Company X for exhibiting at a symposium / Author C owns shares in Company Y / L ' author D is a member of the Z committee ”.

In the event that there are no situations of conflict of interest, in the supplementary file it will be necessary to declare:

• "Conflict of interest: the authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest".

Authors are invited to carefully read the information provided in this section. The corresponding author must be able to prepare and provide the above information during the review process or after publication. The Editorial Committee reserves the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the aforementioned guidelines.

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