e-ZBORNIK, electronic collection of papers of the Faculty of Civil Engineering (hereinafter: the journal) is the electronic journal of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy University of Mostar. It publishes scientific and professional papers in the fields of civil engineering, architecture and urban planning, environmental protection, geodesy, technical sciences as well as related fields. Papers undergo a peer review process. Papers are reviewed by double “blind” peer review, where reviewers send filled Reviewer Form to the Editor who forwards the answer to authors. Double “blind” peer review implies that information about both authors and reviewers are not known to each others. No fee is paid to the journal considering submission, translation or publishing of papers in the Journal. This is an open access journal and the content is fully available free of charge. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal, without asking permission from the publisher or the author, but with attribution in accordance with the Creative Commons (CC) license. The journal is published twice a year in June and December. The journal does not have a digital archiving policy. The journal archive is available on its web page. The journal allows the authors to retain publishing rights without any restrictions. E-ZBORNIK, electronic collection of papers of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, follows the highest ethical and professional standards. Prevention of malpractice is one of the most important tasks of the editorial board. Any kind of unethical behavior and plagiarism is not tolerated. The editorial board has the task of ensuring the ethics of practices, and eliminating falsification of research results, manipulation of research procedures, use of other people's results, viewpoints and conclusions as one's own without acknowledging the source and similar actions and procedures. Authors of papers must confirm that their content is original and that it is the result of their research and analysis. This task is based on the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors (2011). The following ethical guidelines are defined to contribute to the quality of the journal:
The Editor and the Editorial Board of the Journal
The Editor and the Editorial Board of the journal should actively work on the improvement of the journal quality. Submitted manuscripts are confidential and the authors are guaranteed the confidentiality of all information on their manuscripts before their publication, and the information on rejected manuscripts are also confidential. For the journal quality, the Editor may ask for the opinion of the authors, reviewers, the Editorial Board members, as well as readers. The Editor may reject a manuscript before review process if he/she considers the topic irrelevant for the journal or if a manuscript is of bad quality. The Editor must be unbiased in assessing the content of the submitted manuscripts and their inclusion in the peer-review process. If the author of a submitted manuscript is the Editor of the journal or a member of the Editorial Board, an unbiased peer-review should be ensured. The reviewers do not know the identity of the manuscript authors and vice versa. The paper is finally classified after the conventional doubleblind process of peer review. If the reviewers’ opinions differ, the editorial board may ask for the opinion of the third reviewer or the Editor and the Board may decide on final categorization. The Editorial Board should inform the author of the review results no later than six months since the manuscript receipt. The Editorial Board shall ensure enough international reviewers in order to avoid the conflict of interest. The Editorial Board members shall actively contribute to the development and promotion of the journal, which includes the assistance in the selection of reviewers, and personally peer review the manuscripts from their field of expertise; assist in engagement of reputable authors whose manuscripts could be published in the journal, as well as actively participate in the Editorial Board meetings.
Reviewers
In the first contact with the reviewer, the Editorial Board sends only the title and abstract of the manuscript and after the reviewer's acceptance of the peer-review process, the reviewers are sent the manuscripts and review forms. Reviewers will get a manuscript and a review form which is to be filled in and submitted within a two months since the day of receipt. Reviewers may ask for the extension of this deadline if they are not able to submit the review in the given time, which should be timely reported to the Editorial Board. Peer-reviews are saved in the form sent by the reviewers. Reviewers shall assist in the improvement of the manuscript quality. Reviewers should respect the confidentiality of peer review and not reveal any details of the manuscript or its review, during or after the peer-review process. Also, no details of the rejected manuscript may be revealed. Reviewers must be objective and their peer-reviews should be scientifically based. Revised versions may be sent to reviewers for re-review. The reviewers' suggestions to the submitted manuscript should be scientifically supported. Reviewers should not leave any traces of their identity in the manuscript which is to be sent to the author (such as comments or file names).
Authors
The Author(s) of the manuscripts should take ethical responsibilities about the originality of content. The author(s) should submit only original and unpublished works to the journal. If a paper was presented at a conference, with the same or similar title, it should be properly noted by the author. Manuscripts should be written and submitted according to the defined standards of the journal, described in Author guidelines. Author is exclusively responsible for the content of the manuscript. If the authors find any mistakes in the manuscripts after its submission, it is their duty to inform the Editorial Board, correct the mistakes or withdraw the manuscript. If there is serious violation of the authorship, the Editorial Board shall not publish the manuscript. The authors of recensions and book reviews should be objective. The authors, who submit the manuscript for publishing in the journal, also agree with its publishing in printed as well as electronic issue.
Policy on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The journal does not accept papers created using diverse Artificial Intelligence based tools, such as Large Language Models (LLMs), chatbots, etc., as they cannot be held accountable for the content of the submitted paper and they cannot be listed as authors.
Plagiarism
Any kind of plagiarism is not tolerated. The journal utilizes plagiarism prevention service Turnitin to detect submissions that overlap with published and submitted manuscripts. Manuscripts found to have been plagiarized from another author's manuscript, whether published or unpublished, will be rejected, and authors may be subject to sanctions. All sources must be cited when used, and the reuse of phrases must be properly cited or referenced in the text. The editorial board has the task of ensuring the ethics of practices, and eliminating falsification of research results, manipulation of research procedures, use of other people's results, viewpoints and conclusions as one's own without acknowledging the source and similar actions and procedures. Authors of papers must confirm that their content is original and that it is the result of their research and analysis.
