About the Journal

Publisher

University of Maribor Press
Slomškov trg 15, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
E-mail: zalozba@um.si
http://press.um.si; http://journals.um.si

Co-publisher

University of Maribor, Faculty of Law, Slovenia

Principal contact

Vesna Rijavec, PhD
University of Maribor, Faculty of Law
Mladinska ulica 9
SI-2000 Maribor
Phone: +386 (0) 2 250 42 34
E-mail: vesna.rijavec@um.si

Publishing Frequency

2 issues per year in April and October, full-text versions of the papers are available free of charge in Acrobat portable document format (pdf).

Print ISSN

2463-7955

Online ISSN

2630-2535

Copyright

© University of Maribor, University Press / Univerza v Mariboru, Univerzitetna založba

Text © Authors, 2023

This journal is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.

Any third-party material in this journal is published under the book’s Creative Commons licence unless indicated otherwise in the credit line to the material. If you would like to reuse any third-party material not covered by the journals’s Creative Commons licence, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Aims and Scope

Medicine, Law and Society is an international journal for the study topics on the intersections of medicine and law published two times a year (in April and October). The journal publishes articles that contribute to the better understanding of theory and practice in the relevant fields and that are of especial interest to scholars, policymakers, and practitioners from Europe. The Journal focuses on the critical analysis of the newest developments in medical law and medicine in Europe, whereby presenting an open forum for the presentation of pertinent issues in individual countries. Medicine, Law and Society is abstracted and indexed in ESCI (Emerging Science Citation Index), DKUM (Digitalna knjižnica Univerze v Mariboru – Digital library of the University of Maribor), dLib.si (Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije – Digital library of Slovenia), UlrichsWebIBZ (Internationale Bibliographie der Zeitschriftenliteratur) and COBISS (Co-operative Online Bibliographic System and Services)

Publication Fees and Financing

Medicine, Law and Society does not charge any publication fees. The publication of Medicine, Law & Society is co-financed by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARIS).

Indexation

Medicine, Law and Society is indexed in Scopus, ERIHplus, and ESCI. 

Editor Responsibilities 

- Accountability 

The editor of a peer-reviewed journal is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal
should be published, and, moreover, is accountable for everything published in the journal. In making these
decisions, the editor may be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board as well as by legal
requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other
editors or reviewers when making publication decisions. The editor should maintain the integrity of the
academic record, preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards, and always
be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.

- Fairness 

The editor should evaluate manuscripts for intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual
orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s). The editor will
not disclose any information about a manuscript under consideration to anyone other than the author(s),
reviewers and potential reviewers, and in some instances the editorial board members, as appropriate.

- Confidentiality 

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, other editorial advisers, and the
publisher, as appropriate.

- Disclosure, conflicts of interest, and other issues

The editor will be guided by COPE’s Guidelines for Retracting Articles when considering retracting, issuing
expressions of concern about, and issuing corrections pertaining to articles that have been published in the
Dependence Modeling. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an
editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas
obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. The editor is
committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on
editorial decisions. The editor should seek so ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process. Editors
should recuse themselves (i.e. should ask a co-editor, associate editor or other member of the editorial board
instead to review and consider) from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest
resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors,
companies, or (possibly) institutions connected to the papers. Editors should require all contributors to
disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after
publication. If needed, other appropriate action should be taken, such as the publication of a retraction or
expression of concern.

- Involvement and cooperation in investigations 

Editors should guard the integrity of the published record by issuing corrections and retractions when
needed and pursuing suspected or alleged research and publication misconduct. Editors should pursue
reviewer and editorial misconduct. An editor should take reasonably responsive measures when ethical
complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.

- Reviewer Responsibilities 

Contribution to editorial decisions 
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through the editorial communication with
the author, may also assist the author in improving the manuscript.

- Promptness 
Any invited referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its
timely review will be impossible should immediately notify the editor so that alternative reviewers can be
contacted.

- Confidentiality 
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to
or discussed with others except if authorized by the editor.

- Standards of objectivity 

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inacceptable. Referees should
express their views clearly with appropriate supporting arguments.

- Acknowledgement of sources

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 data of which they have personal
knowledge.

- Disclosure and conflict of interest 
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for
personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider evaluating 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 submission.

Author Responsibilities 

- Reporting standards 

Authors reporting results 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
manuscript. 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.

- 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 others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

- Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than
one journal or primary publication. Parallel submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal
constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

- Acknowledgement of sources 

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should also cite publications
that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

- Authorship of a manuscript 

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 named in an Acknowledgement section. The corresponding author should
ensure that all appropriate co-authors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors
are included in the author list of the manuscript, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final
version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

- Hazards and human or animal subjects 

If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use,
the authors must clearly identify these in the manuscript.

- Disclosure and conflicts of interest 

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that
might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. All sources of financial
support for the project should be disclosed.

- 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’s editor or publisher and cooperate with them to either retract the
paper or to publish an appropriate erratum.

- Publisher’s Confirmation 

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism the publisher, in
close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend
the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum or, in the most severe cases, the
complete retraction of the affected work.

 Research data management (Notes for authors) 

Medicine, Law & Society supports open access to research data, which form the basis of modern scientific research.

About research data

Research data are data obtained through various methods to understand, test or confirm hypotheses and draw conclusions, and are generated or processed during research. It can be in various formats: notes, interviews, photographs, transcripts, numerical research data, software code, etc. If data is not recorded/stored in digital form, it is advisable to consider whether this material can be digitized to facilitate its storage in a data repository. A data repository enables storage and access to different types of data (e.g. research data, public sector data, etc.) and associated documentation.

The availability of data increases the transparency and verifiability of research results and improves their usability in future studies, thereby increasing the investment in already collected data. Data sharing can also promote the professional development of researchers by increasing the visibility of their work and facilitating collaboration with new partners.

Policy on the mandatory citation of research data

According to the Decree on the implementation of scientific research work in accordance with the principles of open science, the journal co-funder (Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency) requires the editorial board to provide open access to the research data used in the article prior to publication. The data must be prepared according to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

Exceptions to open access to research data

If data cannot be fully shared for legal, ethical or other valid reasons, the authors must provide justification – for example, in cases involving the protection of personal data (see the EU General Data Protection Regulation), material containing trade secrets or other commercially sensitive information regulated by legislation, or data involving security risks. The regulation defines open access to research data and other results from co-funded research according to the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”.

List of trusted repositories

Authors must deposit research data in trusted data repositories, archives or centers that provide appropriate access arrangements. The trusted repositories recommended by the journal’s co-funder are listed here.

The editorial board recommends that Slovenian researchers deposit their research data in trusted national repositories, such as:

• Digital Library of the University of Maribor
• Digital Repository of Research Organizations of Slovenia (DiRROS)
• Repository of the University of Ljubljana
• Repository of the University of Nova Gorica
• Repository of the University of Primorska
• Slovenian Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure (CLARIN.SI)
• Slovenian Social Science Data Archives (ADP)

Authors can also search for a suitable repository using tools such as https://fairsharing.org or https://www.re3data.org.

We recommend using the Creative Commons licenses CC BY 4.0 or CC0 1.0 (or equivalent) when publishing research data.

Citation of research data

Authors must cite all data sources appropriately – in accordance with the repository’s instructions and the journal’s citation style (e.g. APA Style) – or explain in the data availability statement if the data has not been digitized or has not been published due to other restrictions (e.g. Personal Data Protection Act (ZVOP-2), Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZASP)). A link to the published research data (e.g. DOI) must be provided in the reference list of the article and, if applicable, in a footnote.

Responsibilities of authors, editors and reviewers

The data must be available to the editors and reviewers at the time of submission of the manuscript and to the public at the latest when the article is published. An embargo on data access is only permitted in exceptional cases and must be accompanied by appropriate embargo conditions and a reasoned explanation. It is the editor’s responsibility to assess whether the article is based on research data (either the author’s own data or third-party data). If the editor determines that such data exists and has not been properly cited, he or she must ask the author to revise the article. The same applies to the journal's reviewers.

Additional information

For further clarification, authors can contact the data steward at their institution or the journal’s editorial office or contact relevant support institutions for research data management.

Funding

Medicine, Law & Soceity is co-funded by Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (Javna agencija za znanstvenoraziskovalno in inovacijsko dejavnost Republike Slovenije [ARIS]).