Our journal follows the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers.
http://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct
The journal follows the COPE general guidelines as well (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines).

Duties of Editors

1. Editors should evaluate submitted manuscripts exclusively on the basis of its academic merit and the relevance to the scope of the journal.

2. Ensure the quality of published material through peer-review.

3. Assigning reviewers to the respective articles.

4. Editors and editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, potential reviewers, editorial members.

5. Editors should avoid situations of any possible conflicts of interest in which the relationship could bias judgement of the manuscript. Such conflicts may include, but are not limited to, handling papers from present and former students, from colleagues with whom the editor has recently collaborated.

6. Editors should provide reviewers with written, explicit instructions on the journal's expectations for the scope, content, quality, and timeliness of their reviews.

7. Editors should respect the intellectual independence of the author(s).

 

Authors responsibilities.    Authors should not submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research as previously published. Parallel submission of the same text to different journals constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
Originality and Plagiarism: The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. If the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Our Editorial Board currently uses the Plagiarism Checker 'Unicheck' for all the manuscripts.
Authorship of the Paper: All authors mentioned in the paper must have significantly contributed to the research. The author submitting the manuscript to the journal ensures that all contributing co- authors and no uninvolved person(s) are included in the author list.

Authorship and AI tools

Authors should not list AI-assisted technologies, such as LLMs, chatbots, or image creators, as authors or co-authors. AI tools used in research or manuscript preparation must be transparently disclosed in the cover letter, acknowledgments, and methods section. Authors are responsible for accuracy, avoiding plagiarism, and guarding against AI-induced bias. Editors may reject manuscripts for inappropriate AI use, and reviewers must refrain from AI-generated reviews to maintain confidentiality.

See also: COPE position statement about authorship and AI tools 

AI-generated images and other multimedia are not allowed in our journal without explicit permission from the editors.  Exceptions may be considered for content in manuscript directly related to AI or machine learning, subject to evaluation on an individual basis.

 

Procedure for retracting published articles

Retraction of a scientific article is an official mechanism for correcting published information, aimed at ensuring the reliability, scientific integrity, and ethical standards of publishing activities.

The purpose of retraction is to inform readers and the scientific community about the presence of significant violations, errors, or unreliable data in a publication that affect its scientific value.

An article may be retracted in cases where one or more of the following violations are detected:

• plagiarism or incorrect borrowing of text or graphic material;

• duplication (republication) of the same article in different publications;

• falsification or fabrication of data, including manipulation of research results;

• significant scientific or methodological errors that distort the results or conclusions of the research;

• incorrect determination of authorship (exclusion of persons who have made a significant contribution to the work, or inclusion of persons who do not meet the criteria for authorship);

• concealment of conflicts of interest or other violations of academic ethics;

• republication of material without the author's official consent.

 

Article retraction procedure

Retraction requests may be submitted by authors, editors, or third parties. The Editorial Board conducts an investigation with the participation of the authors and, if necessary, external experts.

If the authors deem it necessary to retract the article, a written request with a detailed justification for the retraction is submitted to the Editorial Board.

After reviewing the request, the editor-in-chief of the journal or his/her deputy decides on the appropriateness of retracting the article. If the decision is positive, the Editorial Board takes all necessary organizational and technical measures to formally process the retraction.

If the decision to retract is initiated by the editorial board (based on internal expertise or information received from third parties or organizations), the lead author (corresponding author) must be notified of the reason for the retraction and receive an official notification stating the reason for the retraction.

After the decision to retract the publication has been made, the text of the article is not removed from the electronic resource of the collection, but remains in the corresponding issue.

The electronic version of the text shall be marked “WITHDRAWN / RETRACTED” with the date of retraction.

A similar note shall be made in the table of contents of the relevant issue to ensure the publicity and transparency of the process.

In databases, catalogs, and registers where the collection is indexed, the editorial board is obliged to convey information about the fact of retraction in accordance with the current requirements of scientific communication.

Retraction does not exempt authors from responsibility for the accuracy of the data provided and compliance with the norms of academic integrity.

The Editorial Board guarantees adherence to the principles of objectivity, impartiality, and confidentiality when considering issues related to the withdrawal of articles.

 

DORA & FAIR Policy

The journal upholds international standards of academic integrity, transparency, and responsible evaluation of scientific results. For more details, see file DORA and FAIR Policy_en.pdf