Editorial Policies
The journal articles reflect diverse research results concerning real estate sector, related sectors and interacting branches of science in the context of contemporary market development, which allows classifying the journal in the category of interdisciplinary scientific journals.
Fields of study/ research directions:
- built environment;
- real estate valuation and development;
- real estate policy, investments and management methodology;
- legal framework of real estate and construction industries;
- trends in residential management;
- energy efficiency and performance of buildings;
- renewable energy sources, engineering systems and novel indoor climate solutions;
- sustainability and circular economy in real estate and building industry;
- information and smart technologies in real estate and building industry;
- urban engineering and economy;
- urban landscape and smart built environment;
- development and cost estimation in civil construction;
- social, economic and political aspects of built environment;
- innovative building designs and materials;
- land use management;
- other related fields.
All manuscripts are subject to double-blind peer review by two internationally recognised experts. Article undergoes the double-blind peer review process after the evaluation of article according to the general requirements of the BJREECM Journal and after passing the CrossCheck plagiarism test procedures.
Peer review process may take up to one month (average). The average term, given to the reviewer, are two weeks, but, some delays are possible. In case the topic of the article is very specific, and delay in the review process may happen, but the aim is to provide the review results to authors as soon as possible – in one month, or earlier. Fees for reviewers are not practiced.
Reviewers should make reviews objectively. Personal criticism of author(s) should be avoided. Information received in the review process is confidential from scientific, legal and ethical points of view.
Corrections to the article can be suggested to the author also before the peer review stage by the Editorial Team. Resulting evaluation of the article can be as follows: accept, accept with minor corrections, accept only after corrections and repeated review, refuse. If not sufficient corrections have been done by authors after receiving the review, where some corrections to the article were asked, the Editor-in-Chief has the right to reject the article.
The Editor-in-Chief makes a decision on the article publication based on minimum two referee reviews. Documents, such as a preface etc., should not be peer-reviewed.
The confidentiality of authors and reviewers is ensured in the double-blind peer review process.
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Post-publication discussions and corrections
Post-publication discussions and correction opportunities are in the process of development and discussion. Technical corrections in affiliations, ORCID iD numbers and some other information (spelling mistakes etc.) are possible. Post-publication discussion can be done by contacting the corresponding author directly or the Journal editors by [email protected]. The opportunity to add supplementary files after online publication of an article (e.g., publication of additional files with data), is not practiced yet in the Journal.
Starting from 2018 in accordance with RTU Open Access Policy all journal articles are deposited in RTU institutional online repository ORTUS.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their works are unique, original, and that they fully acknowledge the source of any content which is not entirely the authors’ own. Authors take the full responsibility to the article. Author is referred as a person, who made a substantial intellectual contribution to the content of the article. Corresponding author is asked to accept and confirm the last version of an article before publication.
The BJREECM Journal Managing Editor will check articles for plagiarism (i.e., reproducing any content without attribution and permission) using Similarity Check (iThenticate tool). The percentage of similarities that may raise a concern is starting from the level of 25% reported by iThenticate tool. More information related to the plagiarism check is described in the subpart “Data and Reproducibility”.
Author Guidelines Template, Guidelines for Reviewers, License to Publish form, Editorial Policy description, Conflict of Interest Disclosure Forms for Editor and Authors are available at the Journal’s webpage. In case of changes of authorship, changes should be confirmed by co-authors, except extraordinary cases, when changes are proved. The reason should be provided to the Editor-in-Chief.
People or organisations that contributed to the paper but are not classified as authors, according to the conducted work, should be listed in the Acknowledgment, along with their contributions. It must be ensured that anyone named in the Acknowledgment agrees to being named.
At the end of the article, authors should provide their short biographies, considering the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union that includes the scientific and/or practical experience and their research interests.
The information we collect is: author’s name, surname; email; affiliation; country; ORCID iD number; number of submission, username (in case of submission through bjreecm-journals.rtu.lv).
In case of the complaints or appeals, they should be written in English and sent electronically to Editor-in-Chief via [email protected]. Complains should comply with the ethical aspects, and should have the agrumentation or the importance of the raised question. If conflict cannot be solved, it can go to a more senior person to resolution.
RTU Press and BJREECM require that, in accordance with “RTU Press Publication Ethics Guidelines”, the authors of manuscripts submitted for publication declare potential conflict of interests in order to allow editors and reviewers to consider whether it may influence the reviewing of the manuscript.
Having a conflict of interests is not considered as unethical aspect; such interests sometimes are inevitable. Nevertheless, it can directly or indirectly influence the author’s objective interpretation of the results of his/her research or those of others.
Editorial Boards of the BJREECM Journal do not reject papers simply because of the existing conflict of interest and the identification of the conflict of interest does not preclude publication. The declaration of conflict of interests will provide the transparency of interpretation of the results. Editorial independence in the decision-making process on publishing articles is a very important aspect for us and is observed stricly.
Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form for Editor and Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form for Authors are available at Journal’s Sciendo webpage under the section of Supplementary Materials. Please fill in this form, sign it and submit together with your manuscript. The corresponding author fills in the form in the name of co-authors after having received authorisation from them, or they fill it themselves.
In case one of the BJREECM editors or colleagues submit an article, the conflict of interest is prevented. For instance, in case the Editor-in-Chief or some of managing editors make a submission to the BJREECM Journal, the editing process is undertaken by another editor/editorial board member, making the necessary separate subsection notice in the article for this process.
The Editorial Board participates in a growing community of Similarity Check System’s users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy.
Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.
Authors may be asked to provide the data in connection with the research for editorial review.
The number of used references should be appropriate for the study.
Data should be represented accurately, and the work of other authors should be appropriately cited. Plagiarism is a case of miscoduct.
We encourage all researchers to archive and share their data, thus broadening access to the research literature and research results. Authors may place their data available in suitable repositories.
The basic ethical oversight is published at RTU Press Publication Ethics Guidelines, in particular adhering to national and international copyright laws. Publishing an article in the BJREECM Journal should be agreed with all co-authors. Plagiarism or self-plagiarism should be avoided. The research should be original and contain elements of scientific innovation. The conflict of interests should be declared.
Researchers should ensure that only those individuals are rewarded with authorship who have made real, creative and substantial contribution to the research. Colleagues who have provided technical assistance (e.g., performing a standard analysis by using standard methods) or prepared figures or did editing should be listed in the Acknowledgement section of the article. Acknowledgement should also be given to individuals whose comments during the preparation of the manuscript have helped to interpret the results of the research.
Authors should declare all possible financial and/or non-financial conflicts of interest.
Authors, editors and reviewers are requested to adhere to the principles of international publishing ethics set out in the COPE Core Practices (publicationethics.org/corepractices).
Plagirism and self-plagiarism are considered to be the unethical publishing behaviour. In case of illegal action detection, the published article can be removed from the publication platform.
Copyright is a form of intellectual property applicable to certain forms of creative work. Author warrants that the submitted article is original, written by the stated author/s, has not been published before, does not contain unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any thirdparty rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author/s.
All articles are published and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License.
Information that has been obtained privately (e.g., internal information of a company, which can be classified as a trade secret) can be published only with a permission of the provider of information.
All articles are published in Open Access mandate form, so all articles are available for interested users at Sciendo platform free of charge and can be used for any lawful purpose.
We encourage the authors to share their published research.
Electronic backup is ensured by Sciendo.
The BJREECM Journal is published in Open Volume scheduled manner. It allows publishing single articles within an issue as soon as they appear. Articles are published upon Open Access mechanism; the principle that makes research outputs freely available online and supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
The copyediting (proofreading) stage is intended to improve the flow, clarity, grammar, wording, and formatting of the article. It represents the last chance for the author to make any substantial changes to the text because the next stage is restricted to typos and formatting corrections. The file to be copyedited is in Word format and therefore can easily be edited as a word processing document. The set of instructions displayed here proposes two approaches to copyediting. One is based on Microsoft Word’s Track Changes feature and requires that the copy editor, editor, and author have access to this program.
Article submissions are done to the Journal’s e-mail [email protected]. OJS system is also available for submissions, by accessing the link bjreecm-journals.rtu.lv/.
The next step is the evalution of articles before the peer review process. This step includes the usage of CrossCheck system. Corrections are asked, if necessary.
If an article is evaluated positively during the first steps, the article is sent to the double-blind peer review process. After double-blind peer review process, the proofreading of the English language and technical proofreading are done in cooperation with RTU Press.
When the corrections are confirmed/accepted by the author, the article is sent for the layout preparation. Final layout version of the article is confirmed by the author.
In case of submission through OJS system (bjreecm-journals.rtu.lv/), copyediting stages include:
- Initial copyedit. The journal copy editors will edit the text to improve flow, clarity, grammar, wording and formatting, equations and formulas, units, as well as including author queries as necessary. In case of submission through OJS system, once the initial edit is complete, the copy editor will upload the revised document through the Journal website (hand notify the author that the edited manuscript is available for review.
- Author copyedit. Before making dramatic departures from the structure and organisation of the edited manuscript, authors must check it with the editors who are co-chairing the piece. Authors should accept/reject any changes made during the initial copyediting, as appropriate, and respond to all queries.
- Final copyedit. The journal copy editor will verify changes made by the author and incorporate the responses to the author queries to create a final manuscript. When finished, the copy editor will upload the final document through the Journal website (bjreecm-journals.rtu.lv/) and alert the layout editor to complete formatting.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their works are unique, and that they fully acknowledge the source of any content which is not entirely the authors’ own. The journal will check articles for plagiarism (i.e. reproducing any content without attribution and permission) using Similarity Check (iThenticate tool) and considers the inclusion of plagiarised content to be misconduct by the authors.
The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. Detailed description of the Similarity Check System can be found at:
https://www.crossref.org/services/similarity-check/
The use of the article will be governed by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license as currently displayed on https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, throughout the world, in any form, in any language, for the full term of copyright, effective upon acceptance for publication.
Rights of Authors. Authors retain the following rights: copyright, and other proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights.
User Rights. Authors and users are free to share this work (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format giving appropriate credit, providing a link to the license). Authors and users are free to adapt this work (remix, transform and build upon the material and indicate if changes were made) for any purpose, even commercially.
BJREECM Journal focuses on the evaluation of a particular case of misconduct following RTU Press Publication Ethics Guidelines and COPE practices. Misconduct includes falsifying data, plagiarizing others’ works, salami publishing and breach of confidentiality. If misconduct is suspected during the review process, the manuscript will be held until any concerns have been resolved. If misconduct is confirmed during the review process, the manuscript will be immediately rejected. If misconduct is proved after publication, then the article will be retracted.
In the case of a suspected misconduct, it has to be reported to the Editor-in-Chief of the BJREECM Journal first. Initial investigation is performed by Editor-in-Chief of the Journal. Confidentiality is observed during the process of collecting information and confirming the proof. In case of minor misconduct investigation is not necessary. In case of serious misconduct, the author has the opportunity to present the explanation. However, the BJREECM Journal reserves the right to speak directly to the author’s institution. If severe misconduct is suspected, RTU Press and RTU Legal Department shall be involved.
The aim of RTU Press is to ensure that the parties involved in the publishing process adhere to RTU Press Publication Ethics Guidelines and, if relevant, declare conflict of interest.
RTU Press Publication Ethics Guidelines are based on adherence to ethical principles set out in “Latvian Council of Science Code of Researcher’s Ethics “, “RTU Code of Ethics of Students and Personnel” and in Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines of Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE).
RTU Press Publication Ethics Guidelines set out the duties and responsibilities of editors, reviewers, authors and RTU Press and set out the process of dealing with cases of unethical behaviour or undisclosed conflicts of interest.
RTU Press Publication Ethics Guidelines are approved and monitored by RTU Ethics Committee (nominated by the Rector of RTU) which provides consultancy and investigates the cases compromising intellectual and ethical standards as well as takes the decisions in accordance with the principles set out in the legal acts of the Republic of Latvia.
1. Duties and responsibilities of Editor-in-Chief of a scientific journal
1.1. Editor-in-Chief ensures that
1.1.1. the journal has clearly defined principles of publishing ethics: the requirements regarding authorship, reviewing process, ethical guidelines, principles of disclosure of conflict of interest;
1.1.2. information on principles of publication ethics is accessible for authors and reviewers;
1.1.3. editors do not allow cases of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, redundant publication and “salami slicing” and see to the authorship issue of papers;
1.1.4. authors, editors and reviewers adhere to the principles of publishing ethics and norms set out in “Latvian Council of Science Code of Researchers’ Ethics”, “RTU Code of Ethics of Students and Personnel” and in Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines of Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE);
1.1.5. authors, editors and reviewers declare conflict of interest.
1.2. Editor-in-Chief should make honest and objective decisions.
The evaluation of manuscript and the decision on publishing should not be biased and influenced by personal reasons (professional, political, ideological, etc.). Possible financial and non-financial conflict of interest
should be assessed and the editor should abstain from the evaluation of the manuscript.
1.3. Editor-in-Chief has the authority to reject a manuscript on grounds of the declared conflict of interest of author, reviewer, or in case the manuscript does not adhere to the of RTU Press Guidelines of Publication Ethics.
1.4. If the Editorial Board of a journal receives a complaint about ethical misconduct the Editor-in-Chief should follow the procedures set out in the RTU Press Guidelines of Publication Ethics and investigate the complaints even if the manuscript has been accepted for publication. Editor-in-Chief should keep all documentation related to the complaints.
1.5. Editor-in-Chief ensures that the selected peer reviewers are free from disqualifying conflict of interests. The publication should not be reviewed by the tutor of a promotional work or by a co-author.
2. Duties and responsibilities of peer reviewers (of journal articles, books and teaching materials)
2.1. Peer reviewer should
2.1.1. assess the academic content, the obtained research results, author’s competence and the scientific significance of the manuscript, and clearly communicate critical comments without being hostile;
2.1.2. ensure that the review is based on the merits of the work and not influenced either positively or negatively, by any financial, or other conflicting considerations or by personal biases (professional, political, religious or ideological);
2.1.3. declare all potential conflicting interests and decline to review the manuscript if he/she is not able to be objective;
2.1.4. notify the editor or publisher if he/she has concerns about ethical aspects of the work or is aware of similarities between the text of the submitted manuscript to another published article;
2.1.5. respect the confidentiality and avoid to use the submitted manuscript for his/her personal benefit;
2.1.6. only agree to review manuscripts which he/she has the subject expertise required to carry out a proper assessment and decline to review if he/she does not have the respective competencies.
3. Ethical guidelines for Authors
3.1. All authors submitting to a RTU Press journal are expected to adhere to the following ethical guidelines:
3.1.1. Authors should adhere to national and international copyright laws and the RTU Press Publication Ethics Guidelines.
3.1.2. Publishing of a manuscript should be agreed with the project manager or leader of the research group and all co-authors.
3.1.3. Using text of publication of another author without reference to the author is qualified as plagiarism and violation of copyright.
3.1.4. Tables, figures or extensive quotations should be reproduced only with appropriate permission from the author or publisher, should be properly acknowledged with reference to the source.
3.1.5. When quoting scientific discoveries, its primary source should be acknowledged. The same research can be used only if the primary source is cited.
3.1.6. Repeated publishing of previously published work is unethical. It does not relate to inclusion in literature overviews.
3.1.7. Authors should ensure that their research is original and has not been published before. Submitting of manuscripts to multiple publishing or simultaneous publishing is considered unethical.
3.1.8. On submission of the manuscript authors should present information about all related and similar publications, including translations, published with other publishers.
3.1.9. Researchers should ensure that only those individuals are rewarded with authorship who have made real and creative and substantial contribution to the research work. Colleagues who have provided technical assistance (e.g. doing standard analysis using standard methods) or to the publication (e.g. prepared figures or did editing) should be listed in the Acknowledgement section. Acknowledgement should be given also to individuals whose comments during the preparation of the manuscript have helped to interpret the results of the research.
3.1.10. Authors should declare all possible financial and/or non-financial conflicts of interest.
4. Responsibilities of RTU Press
4.1. RTU Press is fully committed to ethical publication practice and organizes its work to detect:
- plagiarism;
- self-plagiarism (text recycling of a previously published text);
- redundant publication;
- “salami publication”;
- wrong information about authorship;
4.2. RTU Press monitors the procedure of editors, reviewers and authors declaring possible financial and non-financial conflict of interests in order to ensure the transparency of the publishing process.
4.3. In cases when RTU Press receives complaints or report on ethical misconduct, Head of RTU Press should investigate the complaints and report even if the manuscript has already been accepted for publishing. RTU Press should keep all documents related to complaints.
5. Dealing with cases of suspected misconduct
5.1. In the case of a suspected misconduct, it has to be reported to the Editor-in-Chief of the respective journal or to RTU Press. The reporter should provide grounded proof about the misconduct for it to be investigated.
5.2. Initial investigation is performed by Editor-in-Chief together with RTU Press. Confidentiality should be observed during the process of collecting of confirming proof.
5.3. In case of minor misconduct investigation is not necessary. In any case of discovered misconduct, the author should be given the opportunity to present the explanation.
5.4. In case of a serious breach the Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal in consultation with RTU Press, decides whether to notify the employer of the author or to involve outside experts in further investigation.
5.5. In case of serious misconduct Editor-in-Chief of the journal in consultancy with RTU Press submits the proof of the facts for investigation at RTU Ethics Committee and recommends to take the following steps:
5.5.1. Author or reviewer is given the notice about the misconduct and receives warning in writing;
5.5.2. The scientific journal publishes a notice about the occurred misconduct;
5.5.3. A letter of notice is sent to the employer of the author or reviewer;
5.5.4. The employer of the author or reviewer is sent a letter announcing that the publication is deployed from the scientific journal and the databases indexing it;
5.5.5. Editor-in-Chief in consultancy with RTU Press sets the period of time by which the respective author’s manuscripts will not be accepted for publishing;
5.5.6. A report on the misconduct and consequences is sent to the respective professional organisation and higher institutions for further investigation and action.
See in https://www.rtu.lv/en/research/publications/rtu-press-publication-ethics-guidelines