Academic Integrity and Publication Ethics Policy


The journal's editorial policy is aimed at following the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and is guided by an academic integrity policy to ensure a maximally objective assessment of the scientific article's content, determine its compliance with the requirements of a scientific journal, and provide a comprehensive analysis of its merits and shortcomings.

The editorial board accepts only original materials—articles that have not been published previously and have not been submitted for publication to other journals. The editorial office uses software to detect text borrowing in submitted manuscripts. Articles in which text borrowings are found without references to the original source are rejected by the editorial board prior to publication. All articles in the publication are checked for plagiarism using Turnitin software.


ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

Academic integrity is the foundation of the editorial board's activities, guaranteeing the quality and authority of published research. The publication declares a culture of scientific inquiry based on:

  • Intellectual honesty: results presented in the article must be the consequence of the author's independent research, free from manipulation or distortion;
  • Respect for intellectual property: by submitting an article, the author guarantees that the work does not violate existing copyrights; all illustrative materials (tables, figures, photos, etc.) have citations to the source;
  • Openness: the journal declares a policy of open access to research results, which promotes scientific discussion and the development of scientific thought;
  • Objectivity: reviewers provide unbiased expert evaluation, contributing to the improvement of the scientific level of manuscripts;
  • Equality: the editorial board ensures equal conditions for all authors, regardless of their status or titles.

The primary violation of academic integrity is academic plagiarism, which manifests as the reproduction of others' results, ideas, or text fragments without proper citation.

This also applies to self-plagiarism, where an author reuses their own previously published materials, presenting them as new scientific achievements.

Violations also include data fabrication and falsification, which involve inventing non-existent facts, manipulating archival sources, or intentionally changing research results to support a false hypothesis. A separate group of violations consists of authorship manipulation: including individuals who did not participate in the research as authors, or commissioning texts through third-party commercial services.

Given technological advancements, the undisclosed use of generative artificial intelligence is also considered a violation. Submitting text or images created by AI without a corresponding declaration and critical re-evaluation by the author is regarded as a form of academic deception. Furthermore, redundant (dual) submission of a manuscript to several publications simultaneously and the intentional concealment of a conflict of interest are unacceptable.


PUBLICATION ETHICS

Within its editorial policy, the journal consistently adheres to the publishing standards of the COPE Code of Conduct, approved by the Committee on Publication Ethics.


Editorial Ethics Principles

  • Decisions regarding publication are guided by the positive conclusion of a reviewer who is a recognized expert in the relevant field and has no conflict of interest with the author.
  • The intellectual content of manuscripts is evaluated regardless of the authors' race, gender, religious views, origin, citizenship, or political views.
  • The editorial board does not publish a manuscript if there are grounds to believe it is plagiarized: the academic integrity score must be higher than 80%.
  • The editorial office does not leave claims regarding reviewed manuscripts unanswered and, in the event of a conflict, takes all measures to restore rights.

Reviewer Ethics Principles

  • A manuscript is treated as a confidential document, which is the intellectual property of the authors.
  • Disclosure of review details violates the author's rights. A breach of confidentiality is only possible in the case of a claim regarding the falsification of materials.
  • The reviewer conducts an objective evaluation; personal criticism of the author is unacceptable.
  • The reviewer does not accept manuscripts for consideration if a conflict of interest exists.

Ethics Principles for the Author of a Scientific Article

The author(s) of the article guarantee(s) that the submitted manuscript:

  • provides reliable results of the conducted research;
  • is not plagiarized;
  • has not been published previously in any language;
  • contains references to publications used during the preparation of the article.

Authors bear responsibility for the reliability of information in the articles, the accuracy of titles, statistical data, surnames, and citations.


WAME Principles (World Association of Medical Editors)

The editorial policy also takes into account the recommendations of WAME, which are universal for editors of scientific publications across all disciplines:

  • Editorial independence – editorial decisions are made without influence from sponsors, institutions, or commercial interests.
  • Conflicts of interest – all authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose any conflicts of interest.
  • Peer review – ensuring objective, fair, and timely expert evaluation.
  • Transparency of funding – disclosure of information about grants, sponsors, and sources of research funding.
  • Support for early-career researchers – encouraging publications by researchers at the initial stages of their careers.