The Editorial Board of the scientific journal Management and Business adheres in its activities to international principles of publication ethics, academic integrity, editorial independence, objectivity, confidentiality and the appropriate management of conflicts of interest.
The journal’s editorial policy is based on the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and Elsevier’s Publishing Ethics Resource Kit.
The Editorial Board adheres to the following principles:

• ensuring the scientific validity, objectivity and reliability of published materials;
• treating all participants in the editorial process impartially, regardless of their academic status, place of employment, citizenship or other personal characteristics;
• applying double-anonymised peer review involving independent and competent experts;
• ensuring editorial independence and preventing commercial, personal or institutional interests from influencing publication decisions;
• providing authors with the necessary clarification concerning the formatting, structure, content and ethical requirements applicable to submitted materials.

Data Sharing Policy
The journal supports the principles of transparency, verifiability and openness in scientific research while ensuring the protection of personal, confidential and commercially sensitive data.
Authors are encouraged to specify in the manuscript the conditions under which the data supporting the research findings may be accessed. Data may be:

• deposited in an open repository;
• included in the article or supplementary materials;
• made available by the corresponding author upon reasonable request;
• unavailable because of legal, ethical or contractual restrictions or confidentiality requirements.

Requests for access to data must be sent to the journal’s official email address and must specify the intended purpose of their use. The Editorial Office forwards a justified request to the author for consideration.
Data are provided subject to participants’ informed consent, personal data protection requirements, copyright, confidentiality and other legal restrictions. Where necessary, a confidentiality agreement may be concluded or specific conditions governing the use of the data may be established.
The Editorial Office may request the original data during peer review or when investigating possible misconduct. Such materials are treated as confidential and used exclusively for editorial verification.

Publication Decision-Making
Decisions to accept, request revision of or reject a manuscript are made by the Editor-in-Chief or another authorised editor who has no conflict of interest.
The decision is based on:

• the scientific quality and originality of the manuscript;
• its compliance with the journal’s scope;
• the validity of the methodology and conclusions;
• compliance with publication ethics;
• the results of independent peer review.

The editor must take account of legal requirements concerning copyright, personal data protection, defamation, plagiarism and other infringements.
The editor must not use unpublished data, ideas or findings from a manuscript in their own research without the author’s written consent.
The manuscript is evaluated independently of the author’s sex, age, citizenship, origin, religious or political beliefs, academic status or place of employment.

Confidentiality
All submitted manuscripts, peer review reports, editorial decisions and related correspondence are confidential.
The editor and members of the Editorial Board must not disclose information concerning a manuscript to persons who are not directly involved in its consideration.
Access to the manuscript may be granted only to:

• the authors;
• appointed reviewers;
• authorised editors;
• academic consultants;
• representatives of the publisher involved in the editorial process.

Reviewers and editors must not discuss the manuscript with third parties, share its materials or use unpublished information for their own benefit.

Management of Conflicts of Interest
A conflict of interest is understood as any financial, professional, academic, personal or other circumstance that may influence, or may reasonably be perceived as influencing, the objectivity of a participant in the editorial process.
Authors must disclose:

• sources of funding;
• financial or professional relationships with organisations interested in the results of the research;
• other circumstances that may influence the interpretation of the findings.

Editors, reviewers and academic consultants must withdraw from working with a manuscript if they:
– work with the author at the same institution or on the same project;
– have recently co-authored a publication with the author;
– are in a relationship of supervision, competition or personal conflict with the author;
– have a financial or other interest in the acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.
Where a conflict of interest is identified, the manuscript is assigned to another independent editor or reviewer.
Complaints and reports of possible misconduct are considered by a person who is not involved in the relevant conflict. Where necessary, the Editorial Office may involve an independent expert, request explanations from the parties, arrange a further round of peer review or contact the institution of the author or reviewer.
If a conflict of interest or another violation is identified after publication, the Editorial Office may publish a correction, an expression of concern or a retraction notice, depending on the nature of the violation.

Post-Publication Discussion Policy
The journal supports professional and constructive discussion of published research.
Readers and authors may submit the following to the Editorial Office:

• comments on articles;
• reports of errors;
• questions concerning the methodology or findings;
• substantiated concerns regarding the reliability or ethical integrity of the research.

The Editorial Office may also consider comments published on recognised post-publication discussion platforms, including PubPeer.
All comments must relate to the content of the research, be supported by reasoned arguments and contain no offensive or discriminatory language or unsubstantiated allegations.
Substantiated reports are investigated by the Editorial Office in accordance with the journal’s policies on publication ethics, corrections and retractions.

Ethics
Experimental research on plants (either cultivated or wild) including collection of plant material, must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines. We recommend that authors comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
All research involving human subjects must be approved by the relevant ethics committees associated with the institution(s) in which it is conducted. A manuscript presenting the results of surveys or interviews should contain confirmation that the authors have ensured the voluntary participation of respondents, obtained their written informed consent (including consent to the publication of the results), and guaranteed confidentiality, anonymity and the prevention of any form of discrimination or pressure. The ethics of the research should be duly justified and, if possible, supported by references to international professional standards and codes, including: American Sociological Association’s Code of Ethic (1997), ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market, Opinion and Social Research and Data Analytics (2025), Guidance Note of the European Commission on ethics and data protection (2021).
When reporting on research involving human subjects, authors should state that the research was conducted in accordance with the following standards. An approval from the local institutional review board (IRB) or other appropriate ethics committee must be obtained before undertaking the research to confirm the study meets national and international guidelines. All participants must be fully informed if the anonymity is assured, why the research is being conducted, how their data will be used and if there are any risks associated. Ethical approval from an appropriate ethics committee must be obtained prior to conducting the study. If ethical approval is not required, authors must either provide an exemption from the ethics committee or are encouraged to cite the local or national legislation that indicates ethics approval is not required for this type of study.

Responsibilities of the Editorial Board
The Editorial Board must:

• treat authors fairly and impartially;
• ensure the confidentiality of manuscripts and peer review reports;
• make decisions exclusively on the basis of the scientific quality of the material;
• refrain from independently altering the scientific content of an author’s text;
• agree substantial editorial amendments with the authors;
• prevent the publication of materials that fall outside the journal’s scope, lack adequate scientific value or contain indications of breaches of publication ethics;
• ensure the involvement of independent and competent reviewers;
• respond appropriately to reports of errors and possible misconduct.

Responsibilities of Reviewers
Reviewers must:

• evaluate manuscripts objectively, impartially and on the basis of reasoned arguments;
• agree to review only materials that fall within their area of expertise;
• comply with the deadlines established by the Editorial Office;
• treat the manuscript as a confidential document;
• refrain from sharing the manuscript with other persons without the permission of the Editorial Office;
• refrain from using unpublished data, ideas or findings;
• avoid offensive, personal or discriminatory language;
• refrain from requesting unjustified citations of their own works or publications from a particular journal;
• inform the Editorial Office of any conflict of interest;
• report any identified indications of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication or other misconduct.

If a reviewer lacks the necessary expertise or is unable to complete the assessment within the established period, they must inform the Editorial Office promptly.

Responsibilities of Authors
Authors must:

• submit original, reliable and scientifically substantiated materials;
• provide appropriate references to all sources used;
• refrain from plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification;
• refrain from submitting the same manuscript to more than one publication simultaneously;
• disclose previous publications, preprints or conference materials related to the manuscript;
• declare all sources of funding and conflicts of interest;
• obtain the necessary permissions to use third-party materials;
• ensure the appropriate retention of original data;
• cooperate with the Editorial Office during peer review and the investigation of possible misconduct.

By submitting a manuscript to the journal, the authors confirm that the material may be published on the journal’s website and transferred to scientific, bibliographic and abstracting databases in accordance with the journal’s copyright terms and licensing policy.
All sources used, including the authors’ own previous publications, must be properly acknowledged.
If an author identifies a material error after submission or publication, they must immediately inform the Editorial Office and cooperate in correcting it.
If information concerning a material error or possible misconduct is received from a third party, the author must provide an explanation and, where necessary, the original data or other materials required for verification.

Authorship Statement
All persons identified as authors must:

• have made a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the study, or to the collection, analysis or interpretation of data;
• have participated in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it;
• have approved the final version of the article;
• have agreed to be accountable for the reliability and integrity of the work.

All authors must agree with the content of the manuscript and its submission to the journal.
Honorary, guest and ghost authorship are not permitted. Persons whose contributions do not meet the criteria for authorship may be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section with their consent.
Changes to the composition or order of authors after submission are permitted only with the written consent of all authors and an appropriate justification.

Submission Declaration
Submission of a manuscript means that:

• the work has not previously been published in a substantially similar form;
• the manuscript is not under consideration by another publication;
• all authors have approved its content and submission;
• all necessary permissions have been obtained from institutions, data owners and other authorised persons;
• the material does not infringe the copyright or other rights of third parties.

Once accepted, the article may not be republished in the same or another language without appropriate permission and a reference to the original publication.

Advertising Policy
The journal does not place advertisements in scientific materials and does not accept advertising proposals that may influence editorial decisions.
The journal’s editorial and financial activities are kept separate. Any payments required under the journal’s policy do not guarantee acceptance of a manuscript and do not influence the outcome of peer review.

Research Funding Policy
Authors must disclose all sources of financial and material support for the research, including:

• grants provided by research institutions and foundations;
• funding from governmental or non-governmental organisations;
• commercial or private support;
• internal funding provided by universities and other institutions;
• the provision of software, equipment, access to data or consultancy services free of charge.

Where funding has been received, the authors must provide the name of the organisation, the grant or project number and the role of the funding body in conducting the research and preparing the manuscript.
Where no funding was received, the following statement must be provided: “The research received no funding.”