The Journal applies ethical standards in accordance with international publishing ethics practices, including the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. General Principles

The Journal promotes:

• academic integrity,
• transparency of the editorial process,
• impartiality in decision-making,
• responsible scholarly publishing.

All participants in the publication process are required to adhere to these principles.

2. Authors

Authors are expected to:

• make a genuine contribution to the work,
• disclose all conflicts of interest,
• submit original work, properly cite all sources, and comply with the author guidelines,
• prepare manuscripts in accordance with high scientific and professional standards.

3. Editorial Board

The responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board are:

• ensuring the scientific quality and relevance of published papers,
• assigning competent reviewers,
• maintaining high ethical standards,
• making editorial decisions without bias,
• ensuring confidentiality for all participants in the process.

4. Reviewers

Reviewers are required to:

• disclose any potential conflicts of interest,
• maintain confidentiality of manuscripts,
• contribute to editorial decisions by providing objective and well-reasoned evaluations,
• provide expert and impartial reviews,
• not request the addition of their own references solely to increase citation counts.

Information or ideas obtained during the review process must be treated as confidential.

5. Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when financial, institutional, or personal relationships may influence objectivity.

All participants are required to disclose any conflicts of interest.

In cases of conflict of interest, the individual is excluded from the process.

6. Corrections, Retraction, and Expression of Concern

6.1. Corrections (Erratum / Corrigendum)

Corrections are published when errors do not affect the conclusions of the paper.

6.2. Retraction

A paper is retracted if:

• there is evidence of scientific misconduct,
• data have been falsified or fabricated,
• duplicate publication exists,
• serious methodological errors are present,
• the research was conducted unethically.

Retracted papers remain available but are clearly marked as “Retracted”.

6.3. Expression of Concern

An Expression of Concern is published when there are doubts regarding the reliability of a paper while an investigation is ongoing.

7. Procedure for Ethical Misconduct

Allegations of unethical conduct are reviewed by the Editorial Board.

The procedure includes:

• initial assessment,
• communication with the authors,
• involvement of the authors’ institution where necessary,
• decision-making in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Confidentiality and impartiality are maintained throughout the process.

8. Open Access

“Proceedings” is a journal of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Rijeka, and is based on the principles of open access.

The journal content is freely available in its entirety. Users may read, download, and share content provided that the source and authors are properly acknowledged, without commercial use and without derivative works, in accordance with the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND license.

The Journal does not charge submission fees or Article Processing Charges (APCs).

Authors retain copyright and grant the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Rijeka, the right of first publication.

Authors may independently deposit the published work in digital repositories and archives, provided that full publication details are included (authors, title, journal name, volume, issue, year, pages, DOI, and link).

All articles are archived in Hrčak – the Portal of Croatian Scientific and Professional Journals – and in the Croatian Web Archive.

9. Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools is permitted solely as an aid in research and writing. AI tools cannot be listed as authors of a manuscript. Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and legality of the content.

Authors may use AI tools for language editing, translation, text structuring, and analytical support. AI tools must not be cited as authors or sources of information, nor may AI-generated content be adopted uncritically.

Authors are required to verify the accuracy of all information obtained through AI tools, including citations and references, and ensure that AI use does not lead to violations of copyright, data confidentiality, or other ethical principles.

Authors must disclose the use of AI tools (name and purpose) in the manuscript (e.g., in the methodology or a dedicated statement).

Example statement: During the preparation of this manuscript, the AI tool [name] was used for [purpose]. The authors reviewed and edited all generated content and assume full responsibility for the final version of the manuscript.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to verify the use of AI tools and may request additional clarification from authors.