Key Information

• The key to increase chances for publication in the PPSY is to read this page carefully
• The manuscript’s standard length is 10.000–35.000 characters with spaces, excluding references
• PPSY employs APA Style 7^th Edition for citations (in-text) and references
• The only language of publication is English
• Submissions must be sent only through the Editorial System available here
• Each paper undergoes double-blind peer review
• Publishing a manuscript lasts from one to four months
• Submitting a manuscript means acceptance and compliance with the journal’s policy and ethical standards
• Polish Ministry of Education and Science scores a publication in the PPSY with 100 points
• PPSY is indexed in over 20 international databases
• This section offers guidelines for abstracts and a recommended article template
• Publishing a paper in the PPSY is free of charge

General Information

The Polish Political Science Yearbook (PPSY) accepts original manuscripts, including theoretical and methodological papers, conference reports, book reviews, and discussion papers. The only publication language accepted by the PPSY is English. The journal does not publish translations and reprints. The PPSY publishes papers related to the journal’s aims and main fields of interest, such as political science, international relations, and public policies (e.g., security issues, law, management, and governance analyses, etc.). The journal is open to all methodological approaches and research strategies, including qualitative, quantitative, or interdisciplinary, providing that a utilised methodology is adequate to the studies’ aims and empirical data.

The Editors will not accept a subsequent manuscript of the same author until the publication process has been completed for a previously submitted manuscript. Publication of the text in the journal is considered the completion of the process.

In case of publishing several works of the same author, it can be done no more frequently than one paper per year for maximum two papers. Considering each following manuscript is individual, and usually entails several years embargo for publishing in the journal, dependently on a given country regulations, e.g., next publication possible in a next parametric period.

The hard copy of the journal is the original copy. However, the journal publishes accepted and peer-reviewed papers ahead-of-print online.

Submitting a manuscript is possible after adjusting it to the journal’s requirements only through the Editorial System available here. In the moment of sending a submission, the author declares acceptance and compliance with the journal’s ethical standards available here. Every submitted article meeting the technical requirements undergoes double-blind peer review – read more about the process and check the review form here. Publishing a paper must be preceded by signing the copyright agreement and authorship declaration by the principal author. The publication procedure lasts from one to four months, dependently on the reviewers’ availability.

The publication is free of charge. The journal does not have article processing charges, editorial charges, or printing fees. The publishers and our donors cover all costs of publishing the PPSY. Authors, other individuals, or institutions may participate in publishing costs but it does not influence the editorial process and content assessment in any way.

Instructions for Authors

The PPSY accepts only papers in English. The Editorial Board ensures proof-reading by an English language editor or a native-speaker but already edited papers are welcome.

The standard length of a manuscript is 10.000–35.000 characters with spaces, excluding references. Please consult all proposals exceeding the limit with the Editors before the submission.

A conference report should include 2.500–10.000 characters with spaces, a discussion paper – 10.000–20.000 characters with spaces and a book review – 2.500–5.000 characters with spaces.

The PPSY uses in-text citations: the APA Formatting and Style Guide 7th Edition (see: Guidelines; instructions for citing legal documents in APA are available here).

Submitted papers and research reports must include a 150 to 200–words abstract and 3 to 8 keywords. The manuscripts should have no biographical note or any other information that could be used for identifying the author’s identity.

The PPSY still requires every author to provide information such as degree, name and surname, university, ORCID No., and e-mail address – but these must be filled only in the Editorial System during the submission procedure.

The PPSY Editors recommend using the following scheme for writing an abstract:

• Introduction (briefly declare the research field and problem, study’s aim, and hypothesis),
• Methods (present a selected method, data, and other relevant study’s conditions),
• Results (outcome of the analysis),
• Answer to the research problem and its implications.

The PPSY strongly suggests to apply following standards for arranging contents:

• Research papers: objective situation, research field, goal, research problem and hypothesis, other methodological aspects (data selection criteria, methods, techniques), state of the art, empirical sample, analysis, results, discussion of findings, conclusions, and list of references,
• Theoretical papers: research field, state of the art, new approach, application, possible verification, judgments, and list of references,
• Methodological papers: state of the art, description of a method, research procedure, new application example, conclusions, and list of references.

It is recommended though not mandatory to use the following manuscript’s template.

All supplementary material covered in the article, e.g., images and tables, should have title and source. Conference reports, discussion papers, and book reviews should have the title and a list of references. We require additional information for a conference report – Conference Title, Place, (Month, Day, Year), Organiser – a discussion paper and a book review – Author, Title of book/paper. Location: Publisher (number of pages). ISBN.

References should be in the “in-text citation” style. For one author: (Smith, 2010) and Smith (2010) or (Jones, 2012, p. 10) and Jones (2012, p. 10); For two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2005) or Smith and Jones (2005); For three authors and more: (White et al., 1998) or White and others (1998). Multiple works should be referred as: (Smith, 2010; Jones, 2012; White et al., 1998).

Editing the reference list please follow the APA Formatting and Style Guide 7th Edition:

• An article in a Journal:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume(issue number), pages. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy

• Book:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work. Publisher.

• Edited Book:

Editor, A. A., & Editor, B. B. (Eds.) (Year). Title of work. Publisher.

• Chapter in an Edited Book:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor, & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. pages of chapter). Publisher.

• An article in a Newspaper or Magazine:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper or Magazine, issue number, pages.

• Electronic sources:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Name of Website. http://www.address.com/url

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Each reference should have a transcription written in Latin alphabet

Criteria for Publication

The Polish Political Science Yearbook accepts original manuscripts prepared under the highest scientific standards and contributing to the scholarly knowledge. It involves research and review papers, conference reports, book reviews, and discussion papers written in English. Submitted papers must present research findings or discuss theoretical approach or explain the application of research methods. The PPSY welcomes innovative ideas and pioneering approaches and supports interdisciplinary perspectives in social sciences.

The Editors carefully verify each submitted manuscript in terms of compliance with the journal’s scope, technical requirements, and general scientific quality. The key to increase chances for publishing a manuscript is to strictly follow instructions for authors and the journal’s ethical policy. All submitted papers must be written in English. Only these articles which meet the general criteria and essential requirements are referred to the editorial process.

The PPSY does not accept translations, reprints, and manuscripts that are currently under review for publication or that have been printed in another journal.

How to Cite Us in Other Journals

Please include the following information when citing an article published in the Polish Political Science Yearbook in other journal:

• Author’s name and surname
• Article’s title
• Journal title: Polish Political Science Yearbook (please avoid acronyms that may be confused with other titles)
• Volume number
• Issue number
• Page number
• Year of publication
• DOI

Anhui is one of the leading knowledge-based regions of China, which relies on academic research innovation. This publication aims to present the factors that influence of plagiarism on Chinese students and also explores the common perceptions of students themselves on the idea and act of plagiarism in higher level education environments. The literature provided identifies two major facets of plagiarism, which are both internal and external factors. Qualitative evidence from students demonstrates that both internal and external factors encourage Chinese students to plagiarize during their studies due to the availability of the internet (ICT and Web), lack of teaching expertise, poor academic skills, pressure from family members and peer groups, and financial constraints. It was also found that personal pride played a significant role in catalyzing the decision to plagiarize. On the basis of the said literature and qualitative evidence, the authors provide relevant recommendations about overcoming the concerns of students regarding plagiarism at the university level.

Scientific plagiarism and punishable plagiarism – de lege lata considerations from the perspective of the constitutional requirement of specific features of the type of a prohibited act

Scientific work, as a “form of expression” of a scientific finding, is the result of a creative, but relatively standardized work of the scientist. This “form of expression” is protected under copyright law. Nevertheless, in the scientific community it happens that this is used not in accordance with the principle of fire use, i.e. fair borrowing. On this basis, the phenomenon of scientific plagiarism is born. However, there is a serious difficulty in distinguishing between these scientific plagiarisms, which can be understood as scientific misconduct (scientific fraud), from punishable ones under Art. 115 paragraph 1 of the Act on copyright and related rights. Not all scientific plagiarism is punishable plagiarism under this Article. Nevertheless, the current formula of the statutory hallmarks of this act is so elastic that it becomes a problem to distinguish the protected elements of a scientific work from those elements which are not protected from the point of view of copyright as well as criminal law. In turn, such a state of affairs may contribute to the weakening of the principle of nullum crimen sine lege certa and stricta, and thus to interference with the freedom of scientific activity under Art. 73 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

Purpose of his article is to present to the reader the phenomenon of submitting somebody else’s MA thesis as one’s own. Based on author’s studies (experiment, in-depth interviews and content analysis) the most important characteristics of this “business” are described: terms of transactions, buyers and sellers characteristics, prices, seasonal, types of thesis and so on. In the second part of this article is presented the interpretation of the phenomenon contexted to Robert Merton’s functional theory. The theory helps to present selling and buying thesis as an innovative strategy in educational system, but at the same time dysfunctional. Not only a microsociological point of view is presented but also a broader context is described: anomy phenomena in Polish society.