Complaints and Appeals Policy

This policy defines the procedure for submitting, considering, and resolving complaints, requests, and appeals related to editorial decisions, the manuscript review process, the actions of participants in the publication process, published materials, or possible violations of the journal’s policies.

The journal seeks to consider complaints and appeals objectively, in good faith, fairly, and with due regard to confidentiality. All submissions are considered in accordance with the journal’s policies, principles of publication ethics, and the need to protect the integrity of the scholarly literature.

1. General Principles

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other interested persons have the right to contact the editorial office regarding matters related to the journal’s activities, manuscript consideration, or published materials.

The editorial office considers submissions regardless of the identity of the person submitting them, their status, place of work, citizenship, scientific position, or other circumstances not related to the content of the submission.

The submission of a complaint or appeal must not be used to exert pressure on the editorial office, reviewers, authors, or other participants in the publication process.

Complaints and appeals must be substantiated, appropriate in form, and contain sufficient information for their consideration.

2. Types of Submissions

The following types of submissions may be sent to the editorial office:

  • complaints related to the manuscript consideration process;
  • complaints related to the actions of editors, reviewers, or other participants in the publication process;
  • appeals against editorial decisions;
  • reports of possible violations of publication ethics;
  • submissions related to published articles;
  • submissions related to authorship, conflicts of interest, plagiarism, corrections, or article retractions;
  • other substantiated submissions related to the activities of the journal.

The editorial office determines the procedure for considering a submission based on its content and the applicable journal policies.

3. Complaints

A complaint may be submitted if the person submitting it believes that there have been violations of editorial procedures, publication ethics, confidentiality, objectivity of consideration, or other journal policies in the work of the journal.

A complaint may concern, in particular:

  • violation of the manuscript consideration procedure;
  • unjustified delay in manuscript consideration;
  • inappropriate conduct by participants in the editorial process;
  • violation of confidentiality;
  • a possible conflict of interest;
  • improper consideration of a report of a publication ethics violation;
  • errors or problems related to a published article;
  • other circumstances requiring consideration by the editorial office.

The complaint must contain a description of the situation, information about the relevant manuscript or published article, where applicable, and arguments supporting the need for consideration of the submission.

4. Appeals Against Editorial Decisions

An author has the right to submit an appeal against an editorial decision if the author believes that, when making the decision, the editorial office misunderstood circumstances related to the manuscript, or that there was incomplete consideration of the manuscript, a violation of editorial procedure, or incorrect application of a journal policy.

An appeal must not be based only on the author’s disagreement with the opinion of reviewers or the editorial office.

The appeal must contain:

  • an indication of the editorial decision with which the author disagrees;
  • a reasoned explanation of the author’s position;
  • an indication of the circumstances that, in the author’s opinion, were misunderstood or not taken into account by the editorial office;
  • additional materials or explanations, if they are necessary for consideration of the appeal.

Submission of an appeal does not guarantee a change in the editorial decision. The editorial office considers the appeal and makes a decision based on the arguments presented, the manuscript materials, the reviewers’ reports, and the journal’s policies.

5. Submissions Related to Published Articles

Complaints and submissions may concern articles that have already been published.

Such submissions may be related to:

  • significant errors in a published article;
  • unreliable or unsupported results;
  • plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or improper borrowing;
  • violation of copyright or third-party rights;
  • violation of authorship rules;
  • an undisclosed conflict of interest;
  • data fabrication or falsification;
  • improper use of artificial intelligence;
  • the need to publish a correction, expression of concern, or article retraction.

Such submissions are considered in accordance with this policy, as well as the journal’s Publication Ethics Policy and the policy on corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions.

6. Procedure for Submitting a Complaint or Appeal

A complaint, request, or appeal must be sent to the editorial office using the official contact details provided on the journal website.

The submission must contain:

  • the name and contact details of the person submitting it;
  • a description of the substance of the submission;
  • information about the manuscript or published article, if the submission is related to a specific material;
  • facts, arguments, or documents supporting the position of the person submitting it;
  • an indication of the expected outcome of consideration, where applicable.

The person submitting the request is encouraged to present the submission clearly, appropriately, and to the point.

Submissions without contact details, including anonymous reports, may be taken into account by the editorial office only if they contain specific, verifiable, and sufficiently substantiated information. Such submissions do not constitute an automatic basis for editorial action and are assessed by the editorial office in view of the content of the information provided.

7. Initial Consideration of a Submission

After receiving a submission, the editorial office conducts its initial assessment.

At this stage, the editorial office may:

  • confirm receipt of the submission, if necessary and possible;
  • determine whether the submission falls within the competence of the journal;
  • identify which journal policy applies to the case;
  • request additional information or documents from the person submitting the request;
  • request explanations from authors, reviewers, editors, or other persons, if necessary;
  • determine the further procedure for considering the submission.

If the submission does not relate to the activities of the journal, does not contain sufficient information, or is clearly unsubstantiated, the editorial office may refuse to consider it further.

8. Consideration of a Complaint or Appeal

Complaints and appeals are considered by the editorial office objectively and in view of all available materials.

Where necessary, the editorial office may:

  • examine the manuscript or published article materials;
  • review editorial correspondence and related documents;
  • request additional explanations from the person submitting the request;
  • request explanations from the author or authors;
  • consult reviewers, Editorial Board members, or external experts;
  • arrange additional peer review;
  • transfer consideration of the matter to another editor or Editorial Board member if there is a conflict of interest;
  • decide whether a correction, reconsideration of a decision, or other editorial action is necessary.

Consideration of a submission is conducted with respect for confidentiality and the rights of all participants in the process.

9. Conflicts of Interest in the Consideration of Submissions

Persons who have a conflict of interest in relation to a complaint, appeal, manuscript, published article, the person submitting the request, or other participants in the process must not participate in the consideration of the relevant submission.

If the submission concerns the actions of a particular editor, reviewer, or Editorial Board member, that person must not make a decision on the submission.

In such cases, consideration of the submission is transferred to another editor, Editorial Board member, or other authorized person who does not have a conflict of interest.

10. Possible Outcomes of Consideration

As a result of considering a complaint or appeal, the editorial office may make one or more decisions, including:

  • leaving the original editorial decision unchanged;
  • changing the editorial decision;
  • sending the manuscript for additional peer review;
  • returning the manuscript for revision;
  • reopening consideration of the manuscript;
  • rejecting the appeal as unsubstantiated;
  • requesting additional materials or explanations;
  • publishing a correction;
  • publishing an expression of concern;
  • retracting an article;
  • taking other editorial measures in accordance with the journal’s policies.

The decision depends on the nature of the submission, the evidence presented, the stage of manuscript consideration or article publication, expert opinions, and the applicable journal policies.

11. Notification of the Person Submitting the Request

After considering the submission, the editorial office informs the person submitting it of the outcome, if this is possible and the editorial office has the contact details of that person.

The editorial response may contain:

  • information about the outcome of consideration;
  • a brief explanation of the decision made;
  • information about further actions, if any are provided for;
  • reference to the relevant journal policies, if necessary.

The editorial office is not required to disclose confidential information, internal editorial correspondence, reviewer identities, or information that may violate the rights of other participants in the publication process.

12. Timeframe for Consideration

The editorial office seeks to consider complaints and appeals within a reasonable period of time.

The timeframe for consideration may depend on the complexity of the submission, the need to obtain additional explanations, the involvement of experts, the examination of manuscript or published article materials, and other circumstances.

If consideration of the submission requires additional time, the editorial office may inform the person submitting it about the progress of consideration, where possible.

13. Repeated Submissions

If the person submitting the request does not agree with the outcome of consideration, they may submit a repeated request only if there are new facts, documents, or arguments that were not previously submitted and may affect the decision.

Repeated submissions that do not contain new information may be left without further consideration.

The editorial office is not required to consider the same matter repeatedly if it has already been considered on its merits and the person submitting the request has not provided new substantial circumstances.

14. Bad-Faith or Offensive Submissions

The journal considers submissions made in good faith and in an appropriate form.

The editorial office may leave without consideration submissions that:

  • contain offensive, discriminatory, or threatening statements;
  • are intended to exert pressure on the editorial office, reviewers, authors, or other participants in the process;
  • do not contain specific information;
  • are clearly unsubstantiated;
  • repeat previously considered matters without new circumstances;
  • are used to abuse the complaints and appeals procedure.

At the same time, criticism or disagreement with an editorial decision is not in itself a ground for refusing to consider a submission, provided that it is submitted appropriately and contains a reasoned position.

15. Confidentiality

Complaints, appeals, submissions, and related materials are considered as part of the editorial process and are handled with due regard to confidentiality.

The editorial office does not disclose the content of a submission, correspondence, internal discussions, review materials, or information about participants to third parties, except where this is necessary for the objective consideration of the submission, provided for by the journal’s policies, or required by law.

16. Relationship with Other Journal Policies

This policy is applied together with other journal policies, including:

  • Publication Ethics;
  • Peer Review Policy;
  • Authorship and Contributorship Policy;
  • Conflicts of Interest Policy;
  • Plagiarism and Similarity Check Policy;
  • Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies Policy;
  • Copyright & Licensing Policy;
  • Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions Policy.

If a submission is related to several policies at the same time, the editorial office considers it comprehensively, taking into account all applicable requirements.

17. Responsibility of the Editorial Office

The editorial office is responsible for the objective, good-faith, and fair consideration of complaints and appeals.

Consideration of a submission does not automatically mean a change in the editorial decision or the adoption of editorial measures.

A decision on a complaint or appeal is made by the journal’s editorial office in view of the materials submitted, the applicable journal policies, and the need to maintain the quality and integrity of scholarly publication.

The editorial office reserves the right to update this policy to bring it into line with developments in international scholarly publishing practice and requirements for responsible publication conduct.