Academic integrity is extremely important for the development of science, scientific publications, and universities. Compliance by authors with the requirements of academic integrity is the key to the successful development of the journal, increasing its citation index, and expanding the circle of readers.

According to subparagraph 3¹  of paragraph 1 of Article 58 of the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education”, academic, scientific, and pedagogical staff are obliged to: “observe academic integrity in the educational process and scientific (creative) activities and ensure its observance by applicants for higher education”.

 

 

In accordance with Article 42 of the Law of Ukraine “On Education”, subparagraph 2 of Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine “On Academic Integrity”, “academic integrity is a set of ethical principles and rules defined by law that participants in the educational process must follow during learning, teaching, and conducting scientific (creative) activities in order to ensure trust in learning outcomes and/or scientific (creative) achievements”.

Article 8 of the Law of Ukraine “On Academic Integrity” defines academic integrity in the creation and publication of academic works.

1.When creating an academic work, the author must adhere to the values, principles, and rules of academic integrity.

If an academic work uses the results of another person’s intellectual creative activity (text, image, idea, development, statement, information, opinion, etc.), this must be indicated in such academic work with reference to the relevant source of information and/or the relevant author.

Reference to the source of information shall be made in a way that makes it possible to distinguish the author’s contribution in the academic work from the results of intellectual creative activity of other persons.

1. An academic work must contain reliable information and must not contain information fabricated or falsified by the author.

If assumptions or unproven statements are provided, this must be indicated in the academic work.

1. All authors of an academic work shall be indicated in the published academic work.
2. In the event of the use in an academic work of an object generated by artificial intelligence, the author must disclose this in such work, indicating the generation methodology and/or reference to the relevant computer program or its description in accordance with the requirements for the formatting and/or publication of the relevant academic works established by the relevant subject of academic activity.
3. In the published academic work, in addition to the authors, other persons who participated in the work on it (providing recommendations, consulting, editing, formatting, conducting experiments, calculations, translation, etc.) shall also be indicated, specifying the nature of each person’s contribution.

Information about the reviewer(s) of an academic work may remain undisclosed in accordance with the publisher’s editorial policy.

1. If the author uses in a new academic work their own previously published scientific results (partially or fully), this must be obligatorily indicated in the new academic work.

Violations of academic integrity that may be detected during the editorial and publishing process include:

1. transfer of authorship — transfer by the author(s), whether commissioned or not, free of charge or for payment, of an academic work (or part thereof) created by them to another person, followed by publication of such academic work (or part thereof) indicating as the author a person who is not its actual author;
2. academic plagiarism — publication (partially or fully) of a scientific (creative) result obtained by another person (other persons) as the result of one’s own academic activity and/or reproduction in an academic work (partially or fully) of a previously published work of another author (other authors) without reference to the relevant source of information and/or its author(s) (if information about the author/authors is available), and/or publication in an academic work of a translation of a foreign-language work (or part thereof) without indicating the author(s) of the translated work;
3. attribution of authorship — publication of a work among whose authors is a person who did not participate in its creation;
4. self-plagiarism — publication (partially or fully) of one’s own previously published scientific results without indicating information about the source of the previous publication;
5. fabrication — invention by a subject of academic activity of data or facts concerning the results of their own academic activity;
6. falsification — deliberate alteration or modification of existing data leading to the creation of knowingly false information regarding the results of academic activity;
7. dishonest use of results generated by artificial intelligence — deliberate violation of assessment requirements established by this Law, legislation, internal regulations, or competition conditions, resulting in overestimation or underestimation of the assessment of academic activity results.

According to the principles of academic integrity and relevant ethical standards, members of the academic and research community are obliged to:

• uphold the values of academic integrity and adhere to its principles in all types of educational, professional, and research activities;
• maintain personal and institutional scientific reputation in the organization and conduct of research activities;
• consider unacceptable the provision of false information regarding their own educational, scientific, or creative activities and their results, as well as the misappropriation of authorship of texts, including academic texts, created by other persons.

All allegations of violations of academic integrity shall be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief. In the event of suspected academic misconduct, the Editors-in-Chief shall act in accordance with COPE recommendations, ethical standards, and applicable internal policies and regulations on ensuring academic integrity.

If reviewers or editors comment on a potential violation of academic integrity, the authors will be asked to provide explanations. If the explanations are satisfactory and the issue results from an error or misunderstanding, the issue may be resolved easily. Otherwise, the manuscript shall be rejected or withdrawn, and the editorial board may impose a ban on publication in the journal for such author(s) for a certain period of time.

In the case of published plagiarism or duplicate publication in several journals, an announcement explaining the situation shall be made.

If allegations concern the authors, the review and publication process of their submission shall be suspended until completion of the relevant proceedings. The investigation shall be conducted even if the authors withdraw the manuscript.

If allegations concern reviewers or editors, they shall be replaced in the review process during the current investigation.

For violations of academic integrity, authors, reviewers, and/or editors may be subject to the following academic liability:

• refusal of publication with notification to the institution constituting the main affiliation of the author or reviewer regarding the violation of academic integrity detected during the editorial process;
• deprivation of the editor’s or reviewer’s right to participate in the editorial work of the publication.

The procedure for reviewing allegations of academic integrity violations may involve authorized representatives of the relevant institution, members of the editorial board, editors, and other responsible persons or bodies.

Each person in relation to whom the issue has been raised that they violated academic integrity / failed to comply with academic integrity has the following rights:

• to familiarize themselves with all materials of the inspection regarding the establishment of the fact of violation of academic integrity and to submit comments thereon;
• personally or through a representative to provide oral and written explanations or to refuse to provide any explanations, and to participate in the examination of evidence of violation of academic integrity;
• to know the date, time, and place and to be present during consideration of the issue of establishing the fact of violation of academic integrity and bringing them to academic liability;
• to appeal the decision on bringing them to academic liability to the body authorized to consider appeals or to a court (paragraph 8 of Article 42 of the Law of Ukraine “On Education”).

Violations of academic integrity do not include an “honest mistake” or differences in opinion.