Publication Ethics Policy

General Principles

The journal is committed to the principles of academic integrity, transparency, responsibility, and ethics at all stages of the editorial and publishing process.

The journal's policy is based on:

recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE);
Ukrainian legislation in the field of education, science, academic integrity, copyright, and personal data protection;
principles of responsible research and publication practice.

All participants in the publication process — authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher — share responsibility for compliance with this Policy.

Principles of Academic Integrity

The journal recognises and upholds the following core principles:

honesty in conducting research and reporting results;
originality of scholarly texts;
transparency of methods, data, and funding sources;
responsibility for the content of publications;
respect for intellectual property;
non-discrimination and impartiality.

All forms of academic misconduct are unacceptable.

Authorship and Contribution

Authorship is attributed to persons who have made a substantial intellectual contribution to:

the conception and design of the research;
data collection, analysis, or interpretation;
drafting or critically revising the manuscript;
approval of the final version of the manuscript.

Academic status, position, or supervisory role does not constitute grounds for authorship.

Artificial intelligence systems and large language models may not be listed as authors or co-authors. They may only be used as auxiliary tools, and their use must be disclosed in the appropriate section of the manuscript.

Originality of Publications

Only original manuscripts are accepted for publication. Manuscripts must:

not have been previously published;
not be under simultaneous consideration by other journals;
be free from plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication, or falsification of data.

All submissions are checked for textual similarity using specialised software. If plagiarism, self-plagiarism, incorrect citation, or data manipulation is identified, the manuscript will be rejected; if identified after publication, the article may be retracted.

Duplicate Submission and Redundant Publication

Submitting a manuscript simultaneously to multiple publications, or republishing results without adequate justification, constitutes a breach of publication ethics.

If material has been partially published previously, the author must:

provide a bibliographic reference to the prior publication;
explain the nature of changes and the novelty of the submitted text.

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest refers to any circumstances that may affect, or be perceived as affecting, the impartiality of evaluation or publication decisions. Conflicts may be personal, professional, financial, or institutional, including those arising from employment, funding sources, personal financial interests, membership in relevant organisations, or other circumstances that may introduce bias.

Obligations of Authors

All authors are required to declare conflicts of interest at the time of manuscript submission. The corresponding author declares conflicts of interest on behalf of all co-authors. Authors must disclose any financial or other material conflict of interest that could have influenced the reported results or their interpretation. Failure to declare a conflict of interest may result in rejection or retraction of the article.

Obligations of Reviewers

Reviewers are required to:

conduct impartial and constructive evaluations;
maintain confidentiality of manuscript materials;
notify the editor of any conflict of interest before or during the review process;
decline to review manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with the authors or associated institutions;
refrain from using unpublished material in their own research;
adhere to review deadlines.

The editorial board will discontinue cooperation with reviewers who systematically violate ethical standards or submit poor-quality reviews.

Obligations of Editors

Editors are required to:

make decisions based solely on scholarly merit;
ensure double-blind peer review;
guarantee confidentiality of submitted materials;
prevent discrimination;
respond promptly to complaints and ethical violations;
facilitate the correction or retraction of publications where necessary.

Editors may not use unpublished materials in their own research without the written consent of the author.

Conflict of Interest Management Procedures for the Editorial Board

The Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, members of the editorial board, and editorial staff do not influence the review process for their own manuscripts.

The Editor-in-Chief does not participate in the editorial process when their own manuscript is under consideration. The editorial board appoints another editor to handle such manuscripts. The Editor-in-Chief's manuscript undergoes the standard double-blind peer review procedure.

The Deputy Editor-in-Chief recuses themselves from consideration of their own manuscript. The Deputy Editor-in-Chief's manuscript undergoes the standard double-blind peer review procedure.

Members of the editorial board who submit manuscripts withdraw from participation in the editorial process regarding their own texts. The manuscript is handled by an editor with no conflict of interest and no affiliation with the author. Manuscripts submitted by editorial board members undergo the standard double-blind peer review procedure. Publication statistics of editorial board members are regularly monitored to prevent excessive representation in the journal.

Editorial staff adhere to the same principles of independence and conflict-of-interest management as members of the editorial board.

Handling Declarations of Conflict of Interest

Any declarations of conflict of interest made by authors, reviewers, or editors are reviewed by the Deputy Editor-in-Chief and/or Editor-in-Chief of the publication. Where substantiated claims of a conflict of interest with the Editor-in-Chief are made, such declarations are reviewed by two members of the editorial board.

Data Access and Reproducibility

The journal encourages authors to:

provide open access to research data;
use data repositories;
supply supplementary materials (datasets, code, instruments).

At the request of the editorial board, authors are required to provide primary data for verification of results, subject to confidentiality requirements.

Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Discussion

The editorial board may publish corrections, expressions of concern, or retract articles in accordance with COPE recommendations.

The journal supports constructive scholarly discussion and the consideration of substantiated comments on published materials.

Final Provisions

All ethical matters not covered by this Policy shall be addressed in accordance with COPE recommendations. Submission of a manuscript to the journal constitutes the author's agreement with this Policy.