Ethical norms

General provisions

Ethics guidelines of the editorial board are based on the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics, International standards for editors and authors, as well as the principles of DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment).

The editorial board considers the monitoring of ethics of the manuscripts as one of the aspects of its activities and the peer-review process.

Editors don’t approve the materials which contain insulting statements, manifestations of aggression or any discrimination, or incite ethnic and racial hatred, violate international legal norms and current legislation of Ukraine.

Editors are not responsible for opinions, judgments, results and conclusions made by the authors of articles and published in the journal. They do not represent the point of view of the editorial board.

Editors are not liable to the authors and/or third parties and organizations for possible damage caused by the publication of the article.

The authors are responsible for the originality or any unfair use of the intellectual property of other authors, as well as for the reliability of information, the accuracy of names, surnames, etc.

Editors reserve the right to review the above ethical principles to amend them.

Ethical guidelines for editors

▶ editors take responsibility for everything they publish and thus, all submitted materials are subject to careful selection and peer review. Editors reserve the right to reject an article or send back for improving;

▶ editors should make fair and unbiased decisions independent from commercial consideration and ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process within a reasonable time;

▶ editors are entitled to reject a manuscript without peer-reviewing if it doesn’t meet the editorial policy, ethics and requirements for manuscripts;

▶ editors shall not provide information related to the content of a manuscript under consideration to other persons, except ones involved in the professional evaluation of this manuscript;

▶ editors are authorized to withdraw the electronic version of the article published in the printed version of the journal, if someone’s rights or generally accepted rules of scientific ethics are violated. The editors inform the author who provided the article and the organization where the work was performed about the fact of withdrawal of the article. Editors also publish a notice of the fact of withdrawal of the article in the next issue of the journal;

▶ editors allow distributing any articles or extracts from the journal in electronic social networks, but reference to the original source is mandatory. The third parties or organizations are prohibited to publish and / or distribute the journal materials in paper form and data storage devices.

Ethical guidelines for authors

▶ the research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation. Authors should mention dangerous manifestations and risks associated with the research;

▶ researchers should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.

▶ researchers should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarised, and has not been published elsewhere;

▶ a manuscript can involve scientifically grounded criticism of a paper of another researcher. The personal comments are not regarded as relevant;

▶ funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed. Authors should guarantee a lack of the contractual relations or
property considerations, which could influence the publication of information contained in a manuscript;

▶ authors should indicate the sources of cited information, which should be properly acknowledged and referenced.

Ethical guidelines for peer-reviewers

▶ if an appointed peer-reviewer is not confident that his qualification meets the level of research, he/she should give the manuscript back immediately;

▶ a reviewer should be impartial when evaluating a manuscript, its experimental and theoretical parts, interpretation and statement, as well as take into account the correspondence of the research compliance with the high scientific and literature standards. The reviewer should respect the intellectual independence of authors.

▶ a reviewer should take into account a possibility of the conflict of interests if a particular manuscript closely relates to the reviewer’s current or published paper. If there are doubts, the reviewer should refuse to review the manuscripts referring to the conflict of interests;

▶ a reviewer should assess a manuscript if he/she has personal or professional relations and if such relations can influence the impartiality;

▶ a reviewer shouldn’t show a manuscript under review others or discuss it with colleagues, only if the reviewer needs professional advice;

▶ reviewers should adequately explain and justify their judgments so that editors and authors can understand the reasons their comments are based on;

▶ a reviewer should indicate any cases of a lack of citations of the papers of other scholars, any significant similarity between the relevant manuscript and any published article or any manuscript simultaneously submitted to another journal;

▶ a reviewer should provide a review without undue delay;

▶ reviewers should not use or disclose unpublished information, arguments, or interpretations contained in the manuscript without the consent of the author.

 

In accordance with the principles of DORA, the Journal:

• evaluates manuscripts solely on the basis of their scientific quality, originality, methodological soundness, and contribution to the advancement of knowledge;

• does not use journal-based metrics (including the Impact Factor) as a criterion for assessing individual articles or the scientific quality of an author;

• does not encourage artificial inflation of citation metrics;

• supports the responsible use of scientometric indicators.

 

Conflict of Interest Policy

A conflict of interest refers to any financial, professional, institutional, or personal relationships that may influence or appear to influence editorial decisions or manuscript content.

Disclosure is mandatory for:

authors (financial and non-financial relationships);

reviewers (potential competing interests);

editors (when handling manuscripts involving their institution or colleagues).

If a potential conflict is identified:

the editor or reviewer must recuse themselves;

an independent handling editor is appointed;

independent reviewers are assigned;

decisions and justifications are documented.

Submissions by Editors or Editorial Board Members

Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief or editorial board members:

are handled by an independent editor;

undergo standard double-blind peer review;

exclude author involvement in editorial decisions;

include a published COI disclosure statement.

 

Retraction Policy

The journal follows COPE recommendations to ensure transparent and justified retractions and corrections.

Retraction

Retraction may occur in cases of:

plagiarism, fabrication, or falsification;

major errors invalidating findings;

ethical violations;

duplicate publication.

The procedure includes:

editorial investigation;

consultation with authors and institutions if necessary;

formal editorial decision;

publication of a retraction notice.

Retracted articles remain accessible but are clearly marked as “Retracted.”

Corrections

Minor errors not affecting scientific conclusions are addressed via:

publication of an erratum or corrigendum;

preservation of the original version;

clear indication of correction date.

 

Policy on the Use of AI

The Journal’s policy on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools is based on international and national recommendations and regulatory documents, in particular the statements of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the provisions of the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act), the Concept for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in Ukraine, and the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Academic Integrity”.

The Journal recognizes the possibility of using AI tools as auxiliary instruments during the preparation of scientific materials. At the same time, the use of such tools must comply with the principles of academic integrity, transparency, and the author’s responsibility for the content of the scientific work and the reliability of the results presented.

AI tools may be used, in particular, for auxiliary tasks such as language editing, structuring of materials, technical data processing, and similar activities. Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, and scientific validity of the submitted materials, proper citation of sources, and for the absence of plagiarism, fabrication, or falsification of research results.

The Journal requires authors to openly disclose any use of AI tools during manuscript preparation. AI systems cannot be considered authors or co-authors of scientific articles, as they cannot take responsibility for the content of a publication.

Editors and reviewers must also adhere to principles of confidentiality and must not use AI tools in a way that would disclose unpublished manuscript materials or any other confidential information obtained during the editorial review process.

Violations of the principles for using AI tools may be considered breaches of academic integrity and publication ethics and may result in appropriate editorial actions, including rejection of the manuscript or retraction of a published article.

 

Privacy, Personal Data Protection and Ethical Approval Policy

The Editorial Board adheres to the principles of academic integrity and research ethics and ensures the protection of personal data in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and international standards for data processing.

1. Collection and Use of Personal Data

Names, email addresses, and other personal data provided by authors, reviewers, and website users are used exclusively for the following purposes:

ensuring the editorial and publishing process;

communication regarding manuscript submission, peer review, and publication;

maintaining and supporting the functioning of the journal’s website.

Personal data are not transferred to third parties and are not used for commercial purposes without the explicit consent of the user, except where required by law.

The Editorial Board applies appropriate technical and organizational security measures to prevent unauthorized access, loss, alteration, or disclosure of personal data. Personal data are retained only for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes of processing or as required by law.

Users have the right to:

access their personal data;

request correction of inaccurate or outdated data;

restrict or object to data processing;

request deletion of personal data (“right to be forgotten”) where provided by law;

withdraw consent to the processing of personal data at any time.

For questions regarding personal data processing or the exercise of their rights, users may contact the Editorial Board using the official contact details provided on the journal’s website.

2. Ethical Approval of Research

This policy applies to all submitted manuscripts if the research:

involves human participants (respondents, experts, interviewees, etc.);

includes the processing of personal or confidential data;

is based on surveys, interviews, focus groups, or other empirical methods involving human participants;

uses restricted-access data or data requiring special authorization.

Authors must confirm that:

participation in the research was voluntary;

participants were properly informed about the purpose and nature of the study;

informed consent was obtained where required by applicable legislation;

confidentiality and proper protection of personal data were ensured in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Personal Data Protection”.

If the research required review by an ethics committee or another authorized body, the relevant approval must have been obtained prior to the commencement of the study and must be indicated in the manuscript (in the “Methodology” or “Ethical Considerations” section).

By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm compliance with this Policy and bear full responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided. The Editorial Board reserves the right to request supporting documentation, refuse publication, or retract a published article in case of violations of ethical standards or legal requirements.