Academic Integrity and Publication Ethics Policy

1. General Provisions

The journal adheres to the principles of academic integrity and high standards of publication ethics at all stages of the editorial process, including manuscript submission, peer review, editorial consideration, and publication.

The journal’s editorial policy is based on international standards of scholarly publishing, in particular the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

2. Basic Principles of Academic Integrity

  • honesty and responsibility in conducting scholarly research;
  • reliability and transparency of research results;
  • respect for intellectual property;
  • objectivity and impartiality in the peer review process;
  • prevention of any forms of academic misconduct.

3. Responsibilities of Authors

  • to submit only original scholarly works;
  • to properly cite all sources used in the manuscript;
  • not to submit the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously;
  • to include as authors only those persons who made a substantial contribution to the research;
  • to disclose any potential conflicts of interest;
  • to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the research results presented.

4. Plagiarism Screening

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are screened for textual similarity using the iThenticate system.

The journal does not tolerate the following forms of academic misconduct:

  • plagiarism;
  • self-plagiarism;
  • falsification of research results;
  • fabrication of data;
  • improper authorship.

5. Policy on Citation Manipulation

The journal strictly prohibits any form of citation manipulation by authors, editors, or reviewers.

  • artificial inflation of citations to particular authors or journals;
  • including references that are not relevant to the research;
  • excessive or unjustified self-citation;
  • coordinated reciprocal citation practices between authors or journals.

6. Internal Monitoring of Abnormal Citation Patterns

The Editorial Board carries out internal monitoring of possible abnormal citation patterns, including:

  • excessive self-citation;
  • disproportionate citation of particular authors or journals;
  • dominance of a small group of authors in the journal’s publications;
  • reciprocal or coordinated citation between journals.

7. Reviewer Citation Manipulation

The journal does not allow the practice of reviewer citation manipulation, when a reviewer requests that the author add citations to the reviewer’s own publications without proper scholarly justification.

The Editorial Board examines such recommendations and may reject unjustified requests to add references.

8. Responsibilities of Reviewers

  • to provide an objective and reasoned expert evaluation of manuscripts;
  • to maintain confidentiality;
  • to disclose any conflicts of interest;
  • to inform the Editorial Board of possible cases of plagiarism or other academic misconduct.

9. Complaints Regarding Plagiarism

Authors, readers, or other interested parties may submit a complaint regarding suspected plagiarism to the journal’s Editorial Board by email.

A complaint should include:

  • a description of the alleged misconduct;
  • a reference to the relevant article;
  • the source of the original text;
  • the text fragments that allegedly contain plagiarism.

10. Procedure for Handling Complaints

Plagiarism complaints are reviewed using the COPE principles.

  • the Editorial Board conducts a preliminary analysis of the complaint;
  • if necessary, an additional similarity check is carried out using the iThenticate system;
  • the author(s) are contacted and asked to provide an explanation;
  • after reviewing the explanation, the Editorial Board makes a decision.

The Editorial Board may make one of the following decisions:

  • no violation is found;
  • corrections to the article are required;
  • a correction notice is published;
  • the article is retracted.

11. Absence of Author Response

If the author fails to respond within the time period specified by the Editorial Board, or if the explanation provided is unsatisfactory, the Editorial Board may decide to retract the article.

12. Disclaimer

The authors of each article bear full responsibility for the content of their publications. The Editorial Board of the journal and the publisher are not responsible for any consequences arising from the use of information published in the journal.