- Editors should act in a balanced, objective, and fair way while carrying out their expected duties, without discrimination on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, ethnic or geographical origin of the authors. In case of special issues the editors should handle submissions in the same way as other submissions, so that the papers are considered and accepted solely on their academic merit. Editors should adopt and follow reasonable procedures in the event of complaints. All actions dealing with malpractice should be documented by the editors. Editors should give authors a reasonable opportunity to respond to any complaints. All complaints should be investigated no matter when the original publication was approved. Documentation associated with any such complaints should be retained.
- Reviewers should contribute to the decision-making process, and to assist in improving the quality of the published paper by reviewing the manuscript objectively, in a timely manner. Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential. Reviewers should maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editor or author and not retain or copy the manuscript. They should alert the editor to any published or submitted content that is substantially similar to that under review. 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 submitted paper should notify the editor and excuse himself/herself from the review process. Moreover, reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have any potential conflicts of interest (e.g., financial, institutional, collaborative or other relationships between the reviewer and author) and to alert the editor to these, if necessary withdrawing their services for that manuscript.
- Authors. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Authors should confirm that the manuscript they submitted is not under consideration or accepted for publication elsewhere. Where portions of the content overlap with published or submitted content, they should acknowledge and cite those sources. Additionally, they should provide the editor with a copy of any submitted manuscript that might contain overlapping or closely related content. Authors should confirm that all the work in the submitted manuscript is original and they are obligated to acknowledge and cite content reproduced from other sources. If necessary they should obtain permission to reproduce any content from other sources. Authors should maintain accurate records of data associated with their submitted manuscript, and to supply or provide access to these data, on reasonable request. Authors should declare any potential conflicts of interest. They should notify promptly the journal editor or publisher if a significant error in their publication is identified and cooperate with the editor to correct it.
Research data in general
Research data are data obtained through various methods in order to understand, test or confirm hypotheses and draw conclusions. This data is generated or processed during the research process. Data can have various formats, such as: numerical data, notes, interviews, photographs, transcripts, software code, etc. If data are not recorded or stored digitally, it is advisable to consider digitising this material to facilitate storage in a data repository. Making data available increases the transparency and verifiability of research results, improves their usability in future studies and increases the value of data that has already been collected.
Research data policy
According to the Decree on the implementation of scientific research work in accordance with the principles of open science (Decree), the Acta hydrotechnica co-funder (Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency) requires the Acta hydrotechnica to provide open access to the research data used in the papers prior to publication. The data must be prepared according to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). If data cannot be fully shared for legal, ethical, or other valid reasons, the authors must provide justification. This may be necessary in cases involving the protection of personal data (see the EU General Data Protection Regulation), trade secrets or other commercially sensitive information that is regulated by legislation, or data involving security risks. According to the principle 'as open as possible, as closed as necessary', the Decree requires authors to provide open access to research data and other results from co-funded research.
Trusted repositories
Authors must deposit their research data in a trusted repository, archive or centre that provides the appropriate access arrangements. Some of the trusted repositories recommended by the Acta hydrotechnica co-funder:
- Repository of the University of Ljubljana
- Repository of the University of Nova Gorica
- Repository of the University of Primorska
- Zenodo (Instruction on how to submit to Zenodo)
The Creative Commons licenses CC BY 4.0 (or equivalent) should be used when publishing research data.
Citation of research data and data availability statement
Authors must cite all data sources appropriately and in accordance with the repository’s instructions and the Acta hydrotechnica citation style or explain in the “Data availability” statement if the data has not been digitized or has not been published due to other restrictions as explained above. A link to the published research data (e.g., DOI) should be provided. Example of Data availability statement is: “Input data used in the research was deposited at Zenodo (ADD DOI LINK TO ZENODO DATASET).”
Responsibilities of authors, editors and reviewers
The data must be made available to editors and reviewers when the manuscript is submitted, and to the public by the time the article is published. Embargoing data access is only permitted in exceptional cases, and should be accompanied by appropriate conditions and a reasoned explanation. It is the editors' responsibility to evaluate whether the article is based on research data, either the author's own or third-party. If they determine that such data exist but have not been properly cited, editors will ask the author to revise the article. The same applies to the journal's reviewers.
- Editor-in-chief: Dušan Žagar, University of Ljubljana
- Editor-in-chief: Mojca Šraj, University of Ljubljana
- Technical Editor: Nejc Bezak, University of Ljubljana
- Željko Arbanas, University of Rijeka, Radmile Matejčić 3, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
- Anton Bergant, Litostroj Power d.o.o, Litostrojska 40, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Ognjen Bonacci, University of Split, Matice Hrvatske 15, 21000 Split, Croatia
- Mihael Brenčič †, University of Ljubljana, Privoz 11, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Renata Jecl , University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
- Mira Kobold, Slovenian Environment Agency, Vojkova 1b, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Mario Krzyk, University of Ljubljana, Hajdrihova 28, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Čedo Maksimović, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
- Matjaž Mikoš, University of Ljubljana, Jamova 2, 1000 Ljubljana
- Nevenka Ožanić, University of Rijeka, Trg braće Mažuranić 10, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
- Andre Paquier, IRSTEA, 69336 LYON Cedex 09, France
- Gregor Petkovšek, HR Wallingford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BA, United Kingdom
- Dragan Savić, University of Exeter, North Park Road, Exeter EX4 4QF, United Kingdom
- Andrej Širca, IBE, d.d., Hajdrihova 4, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia