Procedures for dealing with complaints and appeals

Any individual or institution may, at any time, report to the Editor and/or Editorial Board any suspected unethical behaviour or any type of misconduct by giving the necessary information/evidence.

Investigation
- The Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with the members of the Editorial Board, will decide to initiate a procedure aimed at verifying the allegations and evidence presented.
- During an investigation, any evidence should be treated as strictly confidential and only made available to those strictly involved in the procedure. 
- Persons suspected of violating ethical standards will be given the chance to respond to any charges made against them. 
- If it is established that irregularities have indeed occurred, an assessment will be made as to whether they should be characterized as a minor offense or a gross violation of ethical standards.

Minor misconduct
Situations characterised as minor misconduct will be dealt directly with those involved without involving any other parties, e.g.:
- Communicating to authors/reviewers whenever a minor issue involving misunderstanding or misapplication of academic standards has occurred. 
- A warning letter to an author or reviewer regarding fairly minor misconduct. 

Major misconduct
The Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with the Editorial Board, and, when appropriate, further consultation with a small group of experts, should make any decision regarding the course of action to be taken using the evidence available. The possible outcomes are as follows (these can be used separately or jointly):
- Publication of a formal announcement or editorial describing the misconduct. 
- Informing the author's (or reviewer's) head of department or employer of any misconduct by means of a formal letter.
- The formal, announced retraction of publications from the journal in accordance with the Retraction Policy.
- A ban on submissions from an individual for a defined period.
- Referring a case to a professional organization or legal authority for further investigation and action.

When dealing with complaints and appeals, the Editorial Board of the journal Proceedings of the Faculty of Economics of Brčko will rely on the guidelines and recommendations provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE.