Publication Ethics

This policy defines the main principles of publication ethics, research integrity, and the prevention of unethical publishing practices in the journal.

The journal is committed to ensuring honesty, transparency, and quality in scholarly publishing at all stages of the editorial process: manuscript submission, initial editorial check, peer review, editorial decision-making, article publication, and the consideration of issues arising after publication.

The journal’s publication ethics apply to authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, and all other persons involved in the editorial and publishing process.

1. General Principles

The journal considers only original research articles that correspond to its scope and meet the requirements for scholarly publication.

All participants in the publication process must follow the principles of research integrity, objectivity, transparency, respect for intellectual property, and responsibility for the materials submitted.

The editorial office takes measures to prevent and identify violations of publication ethics, including plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, citation manipulation, duplicate publication, improper authorship, failure to disclose conflicts of interest, and other forms of unethical research and publishing practice.

2. Responsibilities of Authors

Authors bear full responsibility for the content of the submitted manuscript.

By submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors confirm that:

the manuscript is an original scholarly work;
the article has not been previously published and is not under consideration by another journal or publication at the same time;
all sources used are properly cited and included in the references;
the research results are presented accurately and without distortion;
data, calculations, images, graphs, tables, and conclusions have not been fabricated or falsified;
all persons who made a substantial contribution to the work are listed as authors or properly acknowledged;
all authors have reviewed the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission to the journal;
potential conflicts of interest have been disclosed to the editorial office;
the use of generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies has been disclosed in accordance with the journal’s policy, if such tools were used.

Authors must respond to editorial requests in a timely manner, provide necessary explanations, and, where necessary, provide materials confirming the reliability of the results presented.

3. Originality and Prohibition of Plagiarism

The journal considers only original manuscripts.

Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, improper borrowing, duplicate publication, and the improper use of another person’s text, data, ideas, images, or results without proper attribution are not permitted.

Violations may include:

using another person’s text without quotation marks, citation, or proper paraphrasing;
including another person’s data, figures, tables, graphs, or results without permission or proper attribution;
reusing substantial parts of the authors’ own previously published work without proper acknowledgment;
submitting the same or substantially overlapping manuscript to multiple journals;
including references that were not used in the work or are not relevant to the content of the article.

The editorial office may use specialized text similarity screening services to identify possible plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and improper borrowing. The detailed procedure for screening manuscripts is described in the journal’s Plagiarism and Similarity Check Policy.

4. Unethical Publishing Practices

The journal does not tolerate any form of unethical research or publishing practice.

Unethical practices include, but are not limited to:

data fabrication;
falsification of results;
manipulation of images or graphic materials;
misrepresentation of methodology or research results;
concealment of significant limitations of the study;
citation manipulation;
inclusion of inaccurate, fabricated, or irrelevant sources;
honorary authorship, guest authorship, or exclusion of persons who made a substantial contribution;
failure to disclose conflicts of interest;
breach of peer review confidentiality;
attempts to improperly influence reviewers, editors, or editorial decisions.

If signs of such violations are identified, the editorial office may request explanations, additional materials, or original data from the authors. Depending on the nature of the violation, the manuscript may be returned for revision, rejected, or considered under the procedures for corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions.

5. Authorship and Author Contributions

Authorship must reflect the real and substantial contribution of each person to the research and manuscript.

A person may be listed as an author if they made a significant contribution to the conception of the research, acquisition or analysis of data, interpretation of results, preparation or substantial revision of the text, approved the final version of the manuscript, and accepts responsibility for the content of the work.

Persons who did not make a substantial contribution to the work must not be listed as authors. Persons who provided technical, organizational, advisory, or other assistance may be acknowledged in the acknowledgements section, where applicable.

Changes to the author list after submission are allowed only with justification and the agreement of all affected authors. Detailed requirements for authorship and author contributions are set out in the journal’s Authorship and Contributorship Policy.

6. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any circumstances that may affect the objectivity of the research, peer review, or editorial decision, or create the appearance of such influence.

Potential conflicts of interest may include financial, professional, institutional, personal, scientific, or other relationships that may affect the evaluation of the manuscript or interpretation of the results.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not always constitute grounds for rejection of a manuscript; however, such a conflict must be disclosed in a timely manner and properly considered by the editorial office.

The detailed procedure for disclosing and handling conflicts of interest is set out in the journal’s Conflicts of Interest Policy.

7. Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively, professionally, and confidentially.

A reviewer must:

assess the scientific quality, originality, and reliability of the manuscript;
provide reasoned and constructive comments;
maintain the confidentiality of the manuscript and the peer review process;
not use materials from an unpublished manuscript for personal benefit or for the benefit of third parties;
inform the editorial office of possible signs of plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, falsification of results, or other violations;
decline the review if there is a conflict of interest or insufficient competence to evaluate the manuscript.

Review reports must be appropriate in tone and must not contain personal, discriminatory, or offensive remarks.

8. Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for organizing a fair, independent, and transparent editorial process.

Editors must:

consider manuscripts based on their scientific quality, originality, relevance to the journal’s scope, and compliance with ethical requirements;
ensure the confidentiality of manuscripts and the peer review process;
take measures to prevent conflicts of interest;
ensure the independence of peer review;
prevent personal, financial, institutional, or other interests from influencing editorial decisions;
make decisions based on the scientific content of the manuscript, reviewers’ reports, and the journal’s policies;
respond to substantiated reports of possible violations of publication ethics.

Final editorial decisions are made by the journal’s editorial office.

9. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently of commercial, financial, political, institutional, or personal interests.

Publication fees, if ever introduced, as well as the author’s status, affiliation, nationality, gender, religion, political views, or other factors unrelated to scientific quality must not influence the decision to accept, revise, or reject a manuscript.

At this stage, the journal does not charge any fees for submission, consideration, peer review, or publication of articles.

10. Confidentiality

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are treated as confidential documents.

Editors, reviewers, and other persons involved in the editorial process must not disclose the content of the manuscript, information about the authors, reviewers’ comments, the course of consideration, or editorial decisions to third parties, except in cases provided for by editorial procedures or legal requirements.

Unpublished materials contained in a manuscript must not be used by editors, reviewers, or other persons for their own benefit without the written permission of the authors.

11. Ethical Oversight

If the research requires special ethical approval, approval by an authorized body, consent of research participants, or compliance with special requirements for handling data, authors must indicate this in the manuscript and, where necessary, provide supporting documents at the request of the editorial office.

Authors are responsible for compliance with applicable ethical, legal, and professional requirements related to their research.

If ethical approval is not required for a particular type of research, the editorial office may ask authors to provide an appropriate explanation.

12. Data, Reproducibility, and Research Transparency

Authors must present methods, data, calculations, and results clearly and completely enough for reviewers and readers to assess the reliability of the research.

Where applicable to the nature of the research, the editorial office may request additional explanations, original materials, data, code, or calculations necessary to clarify or verify the results presented.

The journal encourages research transparency and responsible handling of data while respecting confidentiality, intellectual property, and applicable law.

Detailed requirements for data availability and research transparency are described in the journal’s separate policy.

13. Intellectual Property and Third-Party Rights

Authors are responsible for respecting copyright and other third-party rights when using texts, images, tables, graphs, data, software code, and other materials.

If the manuscript uses materials whose rights belong to third parties, authors must obtain the necessary permissions or ensure that such materials may be used lawfully.

The copyright and licensing terms for published articles are set out in the journal’s Copyright & Licensing Policy.

14. Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

The use of generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies must comply with the journal’s separate policy.

Authors bear full responsibility for all materials prepared with the assistance of such tools. AI tools cannot be listed as an author or co-author of an article.

If AI tools were used in the preparation of the manuscript or in the research process, such use must be disclosed in accordance with the journal’s policy.

15. Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other interested parties may submit complaints, requests, or appeals to the editorial office concerning editorial decisions, the manuscript consideration process, published materials, or possible violations of publication ethics.

All submissions are considered in good faith, objectively, and with due regard to confidentiality. Persons with a conflict of interest must not participate in the consideration of the relevant complaint or appeal.

The detailed procedure for submitting and considering complaints and appeals is set out in the journal’s separate policy.

16. Post-Publication Discussions

The journal allows the consideration of substantiated reports, comments, or questions concerning published materials.

Readers, authors, reviewers, and other interested parties may contact the editorial office if they believe that a published article contains a significant error, violation of publication ethics, unreliable data, incorrect references, or other issues requiring editorial consideration.

The editorial office considers such reports and, where necessary, takes appropriate measures, including requesting explanations from the authors, publishing a correction, issuing an editorial notice of serious concerns regarding the published article, or retracting the article.

17. Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

If errors, inaccuracies, or possible violations are identified after publication, the editorial office considers the situation in accordance with the journal’s policy on corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions.

An expression of concern is an editorial notice of serious concerns regarding a published article when an investigation is still ongoing or when the available information is not yet sufficient to make a final decision on correction or retraction.

Depending on the nature and seriousness of the issue, the editorial office may:

publish a correction;
publish an expression of concern;
retract the article;
take other editorial measures aimed at preserving the integrity of the scholarly literature.

Retraction of an article does not automatically mean removal of the published material from the journal website. Information about the retraction must be clearly indicated and linked to the relevant article.

18. Consideration of Reports of Misconduct

The editorial office considers reports of possible violations of publication ethics relating to both submitted and published articles.

Upon receiving such a report, the editorial office may:

conduct a preliminary assessment of the information;
request explanations from the author or authors;
request additional data, original materials, or documents;
consult reviewers, Editorial Board members, or external experts;
make an editorial decision in accordance with the journal’s policies.

The editorial office seeks to consider such matters fairly, objectively, and without unjustified harm to the reputation of participants in the process before the circumstances are clarified.

19. Consequences of Violations of Publication Ethics

If a violation of publication ethics is confirmed, the editorial office may take one or more measures, including:

returning the manuscript to the author for revision;
rejecting the manuscript;
prohibiting resubmission for a certain period;
notifying all authors;
notifying the author’s institution, where necessary and justified;
publishing a correction, expression of concern, or retraction if the violation is identified after publication;
taking other measures necessary to protect the integrity of the scholarly literature.

The nature of the measures taken depends on the seriousness of the violation, the stage of consideration or publication of the article, and the available evidence.

20. Responsibility for Compliance with the Policy

Compliance with this policy is mandatory for authors, reviewers, editors, and other participants in the publication process.

By submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors confirm that they have read the journal’s publication ethics requirements and agree to comply with them.

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.