Publication Ethics and Editorial Policy (COPE, DORA, FAIR, WAME)

  1. PUBLICATION ETHICS (COPE)

1.1. General Principles

The publication ethics and editorial policy of the journal comply with the recommendations of COPE and recognized international organizations in the field of publication ethics:

The editorial board follows international ethical standards of scientific publishing, including principles of integrity, confidentiality, publication oversight, management of potential conflicts of interest, etc.

In its activities, the editorial office follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics: Elsevier’s “Publishing Ethics Resource Kit”.

The editorial board adheres to the following principles of publication ethics:

  • adherence to the fundamental principles of publishing: scientific rigor, objectivity, professionalism, and informational support of the most significant innovative research;
  • unconditional respect for all participants of the creative process involved in producing the journal;
  • application of blind peer review and involvement of objective and competent reviewers;
  • continuous advisory work with authors aimed at complying with the requirements of international databases regarding the formatting and content of submitted materials.

1.2. Decisions on Publication

The editorial board makes decisions regarding the publication of submitted articles. These decisions are based solely on the academic merit of the manuscripts and the reviewers’ conclusions, and comply with regulations concerning copyright violations and plagiarism.

All participants in the peer-review process (technical editor, editorial board, external reviewers) must not use unpublished information in their own research without the written consent of the author. The Editor-in-Chief must make appropriate decisions regarding ethical complaints related to submitted manuscripts.

Reviewers together with the editorial board must evaluate the intellectual content of manuscripts regardless of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, or political preferences of the authors.

1.3. Confidentiality

The technical editor and the editorial board do not disclose information about submitted manuscripts (authors, topics, texts, etc.). Any manuscript received for review is treated as a confidential document. The technical editor and the editorial board undertake not to disclose information about submitted manuscripts without necessity, except to the authors, reviewers, other scientific consultants, and the publisher.

1.4. Resolution of Conflicts of Interest

Unpublished materials must not be used in any research conducted by the technical editor, reviewers, or other participants of the peer-review process without the written consent of the authors.

Technical editors, reviewers, and scientific consultants must recuse themselves from reviewing manuscripts in cases of conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with the authors, companies, or organizations associated with the manuscript.

The editorial board undertakes to take appropriate measures in the event of conflict situations and claims related to manuscripts or published materials.

The editorial office may address claims or doubts regarding misconduct related to research or publications raised by readers, reviewers, or other individuals. The publisher also reserves the right to inform readers about the resolution of such conflicts.

1.5. Ethical Requirements for Research

Works involving human participants submitted for publication must comply with the principles outlined in the Helsinki Declaration “Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects”, adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland (including all subsequent amendments).

1.6. Ethical Principles of the Editorial Board

These principles were developed in accordance with the recommendations of COPE on the General Approach to Publication Ethics for Editorial Offices, the recommendations of COPE on the Ethics Toolkit for a Successful Editorial Office, as well as the Ethical Code of the Scientist of Ukraine, and include the following:

  • the editorial board considers monitoring the ethical standards of the statements presented in articles as one of the main aspects of its activities and the peer-review process;
  • the editorial board does not accept for publication materials containing offensive language, manifestations of aggression or any discrimination, or those that incite interethnic or racial hostility or violate international legal norms and the legislation of Ukraine;
  • the editorial board is not responsible for the opinions, judgments, results, or conclusions expressed by the authors of the articles published in this scientific journal. The results presented by the authors do not represent the viewpoint of the editorial board;
  • the editorial board bears no responsibility to authors and/or third parties or organizations for any damage that may result from the publication of an article;
  • authors are responsible for the absence of plagiarism or any other improper use of intellectual property of other authors, as well as for the reliability of information in the articles and the accuracy of names, titles, and citations;
  • the editorial board reserves the right to revise these ethical principles in order to improve them.

1.7. Ethical Responsibilities of the Editorial Board:

  • the editorial board bears ethical responsibility for everything published in the journal. Therefore, all materials submitted for publication undergo careful selection and peer review. The editorial board reserves the right to reject an article or return it for revision;
  • the editorial board adheres to the principles of fairness and impartiality, makes decisions independent of commercial or other interests, and ensures a fair peer-review process within a reasonable timeframe;
  • the editorial board may reject a manuscript without peer review if it considers that the work does not comply with the editorial policy, ethical principles, or manuscript requirements of the journal;
  • members of the editorial board do not disclose information related to the content of a manuscript under consideration to third parties, except to individuals involved in the professional evaluation of the manuscript;
  • the editorial board has the right to retract a published article in the event of violations of rights or generally accepted norms of scientific ethics. The editorial office will inform the author who submitted the article and the organization where the research was conducted. A notice of retraction will also be published in the next issue of the journal;
  • the editorial board allows the dissemination of any articles from the journal or extracts from them in electronic networks, provided that the original source is properly cited. The publication and/or distribution of the journal’s materials by third parties or organizations on paper or physical electronic media is prohibited;
  • the names and e-mail addresses of authors and readers provided during registration may be used by the editorial board solely for sending notifications about new issues and for communication with authors during the preparation of articles for publication. Under no circumstances does the editorial board transfer personal data to third parties or organizations.

1.8. Ethical Responsibilities of Authors developed in accordance with COPE recommendations (COPE Core Practices, Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing) include the following:

  • research published in this journal must be conducted in accordance with current legislation and ethical standards. Any hazardous aspects or risks associated with the research must be clearly indicated;
  • authors must present original research results, must not plagiarize or manipulate data. All statements, results, and conclusions must be honestly presented and accurately described;
  • only those individuals who have made a significant scientific contribution to the research, analysis, and writing of the article should be listed as authors. All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and its submission;
  • authors must disclose any financial or personal relationships that could influence the results, their interpretation, or the presentation of the work;
  • simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to several journals and/or prior publication of the same work in another journal is considered unethical;
  • authors must retain raw data for a certain period after publication and be prepared to provide them to the editorial office upon request for verification;
  • if research involves humans or animals, authors must ensure that all procedures comply with relevant ethical standards and have been approved by appropriate committees, and this must be clearly stated in the manuscript;
  • if authors discover significant errors after publication, they must inform the editor and cooperate in correcting or retracting the article;
  • scientifically justified criticism of another researcher’s work may be included in the study. Personal criticism is considered inappropriate;
  • authors must indicate the sources of the information used, including quoted materials, and provide references according to the requirements of the journal.

1.9. Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers developed in accordance with the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers include the following:

  • if selected reviewers are not confident that their qualifications match the level of the research presented in the manuscript, they must immediately return the manuscript;
  • the reviewer must objectively evaluate the quality of the manuscript, the presented experimental and/or theoretical results, their interpretation and presentation, and determine to what extent the work meets scientific and literary standards. The reviewer must respect the intellectual independence of the authors;
  • the reviewer must consider the possibility of a conflict of interest if the manuscript is closely related to the reviewer’s current or published work. If there is any doubt, the reviewer must immediately return the manuscript without review, indicating the conflict of interest;
  • reviewers must not evaluate a manuscript if they have personal or professional relationships with the author that could influence their judgment;
  • the reviewer must not show the manuscript submitted for review to others or discuss it with colleagues except when a special consultation is required;
  • reviewers must justify their judgments so that the editorial board and the authors can understand the basis of their comments;
  • the reviewer must point out any cases of insufficient citation of other researchers’ work as well as any significant similarity between the manuscript and any published article or any manuscript submitted simultaneously to another journal;
  • the reviewer must provide feedback without undue delay;
  • reviewers must not use or disclose unpublished information, arguments, or interpretations contained in the submitted manuscript without the author’s consent.

By submitting materials for publication, authors agree that, if accepted, the materials may be placed in electronic databases with mandatory indication of authorship and full preservation of copyright.

The text of the work must include references to external sources of information in the form of a list of references (including the authors’ previously published works). Authors must properly format borrowings as quotations or references.

If the Editor-in-Chief receives information from a third party that a publication contains significant errors, the author must retract the work or correct the errors as soon as possible.

OTHER INTERNATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF THE JOURNAL’S EDITORIAL POLICY

The journal Visnik of the Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University supports international standards of academic integrity, transparency, and responsible evaluation of scientific results. In its activities, the editorial office is also guided by:

  1. POLICY FOR ADHERENCE TO THE DORA PRINCIPLES

The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) establishes standards for a responsible, non-discriminatory, and objective approach to evaluating scientific activity.

2.1. Rejection of Journal Metrics as the Main Evaluation Criterion

The editorial office does not use the impact factor or other journal-based metrics as indicators of the quality of individual articles.
Decisions on the acceptance of manuscripts for publication are based solely on scientific value, originality, methodological transparency, and the quality of argumentation.

2.2. Priority of Content over Indicators

Manuscripts are evaluated based on their content rather than the authors’ affiliations, the prestige of institutions, or the level of funding.
The editorial office encourages detailed descriptions of methods, data, and analytical procedures for objective research evaluation.

2.3. Support for Various Forms of Research Outputs

The journal recognizes the importance not only of full-text articles but also of research data, software code, methodological developments, representative materials, negative results, and replication studies.
All such materials are accepted for publication on equal terms provided they comply with editorial requirements.

2.4. Transparency of the Evaluation Process

Editorial decisions must be clearly justified.
Double-blind peer review is carried out in accordance with the journal’s policy and international COPE standards.

2.5. Prevention of Conflicts of Interest

All decisions undergo independent expert evaluation.
Members of the editorial board do not participate in decisions regarding their own manuscripts or manuscripts of individuals with whom they have financial, familial, or professional relationships.

  1. POLICY FOR ADHERENCE TO THE FAIR PRINCIPLES

The FAIR principles aim to ensure accessibility, reusability, and interoperability of scientific data and related materials.

3.1. Findable

Authors must provide complete metadata describing the research.
Data associated with published results should be deposited in repositories that provide persistent identifiers (e.g., DOI).

3.2. Accessible

Data should be available in an open format or through a clearly described access procedure.
Access to data should not be restricted by artificial barriers. In cases where full openness is impossible (for example due to ethical or legal restrictions), authors must provide a justified explanation.

3.3. Interoperable

Data must be presented in standardized formats compatible with international storage and analytical systems.
Authors should ensure the use of widely accepted metadata structures.

3.4. Reusable

Data and materials must be provided with a clear usage license.
Authors must provide sufficient description of the research context, methods, and tools so that other researchers can reproduce or reuse the data.

  1. POLICY FOR ADHERENCE TO THE WAME

In its activities, the editorial office follows the recommendations of WAME to ensure transparency of editorial processes, integrity of scientific publications, and responsible treatment of research results. In particular, the editorial office:

  • ensures the independence of editorial decisions regarding acceptance or rejection of manuscripts;
  • adheres to the principles of objective and unbiased peer review;
  • prevents conflicts of interest among authors, reviewers, and editorial board members;
  • supports the principles of academic integrity and zero tolerance for plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification of research results;
  • promotes transparency of editorial procedures and accountability of all participants in the publication process.

The editorial office continuously improves its editorial policy in accordance with WAME recommendations and international standards of scholarly publishing.

Authors’ Responsibilities

  • All authors must adhere to the principles of DORA and FAIR when submitting materials to the journal.
  • Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the submitted data and compliance with ethical and legal requirements.

Responsibilities of the Editorial Office

  • The journal ensures responsible, objective, and non-discriminatory evaluation of manuscripts in accordance with WAME recommendations.
  • Peer-review processes, editorial decision-making, and publication procedures are independent of any commercial or institutional influence, in accordance with WAME principles of editorial independence.
  • The editorial office provides technical conditions for the placement and verification of metadata and promotes the proper implementation of FAIR principles.