Policies

The Journal of Valuation and Expertness (JoVaE) is a scientific, peer-reviewed journal, established in 2016, aimed at theory, practice and process in: appraisement and valuation of concerns, appraisement of effects, appraisement of real estate, appraisement of intangible property, and other aspects of experts' activities and appraisement. The journal publishes theoretical, methodological, and empirical articles from various economic fields. Preferred JEL classifications: D46 (Value Theory), G32 (Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill), G33 (Bankruptcy; Liquidation), H43 (Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate), Q51 (Valuation of Environmental Effects). Periodicity: annual in 2016-2017; two issues a year from 2018 onward. Language: English. ISSN: 2533-6258 (Online). Publisher: The Institute of Technology and Business in Ceske Budejovice, School of Expertness and Valuation, Okruzni 517/10, 370 01 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. Contact: editorial office phone +420 774 879 321 / +420 387 842 144, email kovac@znalci.vste.cz (also reachable at kovac@mail.vstecb.cz).

Submissions are entered via the journal's submission system and sent anonymously to reviewers. The paper must be original and must not be simultaneously submitted elsewhere. Authors are responsible for proofreading and layout quality, since the paper's appearance depends heavily on how carefully the manuscript is prepared; papers not meeting these standards face editorial rejection. Language and format: papers must be written in English, submitted as Microsoft Word documents, with an optimal length of 8-12 pages (extendable). Authors must download and follow the journal's template, including its heading-style formatting; adherence to the template structure is mandatory for publication. Every submission is evaluated by two reviewers, with the editorial board overseeing the review process (see the journal's Peer Review Policy). Questions about manuscript preparation or submission: kovac@znalcivste.cz.

Manuscripts are reviewed in the editorial management by assessing the adequacy of the article and in a mutually anonymous review process by two experts. Texts are assessed solely on their professional level, regardless of theoretical or ideological orientation, political views, religion, nationality, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. The editors make every effort to preserve the impartiality of the review process. An author whose paper shows evidence of plagiarism or falsification of data loses the opportunity to publish in the journal. These principles are based on COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) documents: COPE's Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Reviewers and authors are expected to be familiar with the COPE originals. Authors: must respect the requirement of originality; identical or similar texts must not be submitted for publication elsewhere. Authors must express their expertise precisely, respecting intellectual property and copyright law, and must accurately quote any part of another text or research results used. Using texts or other sources without stating original authors is plagiarism. Sources must be properly cited; personal contact must not be used without written consent. Authorship is limited to individuals who significantly contributed to the article. Plagiarism, inaccurate or false statements, falsification of data, and resubmission of an already-published manuscript are unacceptable and unethical. Reviewers: assess the technical quality of the article and suggest modifications to the author. A reviewer who does not feel sufficiently entitled to evaluate a manuscript notifies the editorial office and withdraws from the process. Reviewers assess manuscripts anonymised and must maintain confidentiality, assess objectively without personal criticism, and support recommendations with relevant arguments. Reviewers must not quote from a manuscript without the author's written consent, or use material from unpublished manuscripts for their own or others' work. Editorial Board: decides which articles to accept and publish, and may reject articles containing plagiarism, offensive or defamatory content, or in conflict with copyright law. Board members, reviewers and editorial staff evaluate manuscripts without personal bias, must not cite an unpublished manuscript without written permission, and must not distribute copies except for editorial work. Editors reject manuscripts that in their opinion cause a conflict of interest. Responsibility for the journal's academic quality and observance of ethical principles is borne by the publication editors and editorial board.

The Journal of Valuation and Expertness promotes the free flow of information and ideas through open access to its contents — a core value of the journal. JoVaE is committed to immediate open access to all its content: every article and review is free to access immediately from its date of publication. The journal is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence 4.0 (CC BY-NC). Authors retain copyright, and anyone may download, reuse, re-print, modify, distribute and/or copy the final version of a paper, on condition that appropriate credit is given to the author and that the Journal of Valuation and Expertness is credited as its first venue of publication.

Each paper is first submitted for a preliminary review in which editors ensure it complies with the submission guidelines and the focus and scope of the journal, and has no identifying information, to ensure a blind peer review process. All manuscripts are submitted to a plagiarism detection service prior to peer review. After the initial editorial review, each paper undergoes a double-blind peer review process: 1. Editors email selected reviewers the title and abstract of the submission, with an invitation to complete the review. 2. Reviewers agree to review, download the submission, submit comments, and select a recommendation - or decline, optionally suggesting other reviewers. 3. If the reviews recommend accepting or revising the manuscript, an academic editor copyedits the paper and conducts an editorial review to validate data sources, fact-check references, and make a final recommendation to the editor-in-chief. Academic copy editors actively search for the original sources cited in the manuscript to ensure context and accuracy, even after a plagiarism checker clears the paper. If at any point during review plagiarism, duplicate or redundant publishing, academic dishonesty, or research misconduct is found, the submission is rejected and the author may be precluded from submitting manuscripts for a period of 1 year — see the journal's Ethics policy. For a manuscript returned as revisions required or resubmit for review, the author has no more than 30 days to revise and resubmit; otherwise the manuscript is declined.