Publication Ethics and Reviewers Rules

The Journal’s Publication Ethics defines the standards of conduct for all participants in the publication process (the editorial board, authors, reviewers, and the publisher), outlines unethical behavior, establishes measures for identifying and resolving conflicts of interest, and provides instructions for article retraction and correction, as well as for publishing corrections and retractions. The editorial board, reviewers, and authors must adhere to the principles, norms, and standards of publication ethics. The editorial board of the Journal is responsible for all published manuscripts, including their high quality and reliability. The editorial board must be guided by the Journal’s policies regarding defamation, copyright, legality, and plagiarism.

The editorial board must uphold the principles of independence and integrity and evaluate the intellectual content of manuscripts regardless of the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, or political preferences.

Only individuals who have made a significant contribution to the research and the preparation of the manuscript may be listed as authors. All individuals who have made a significant contribution must be identified as co-authors. The authors of the manuscript must ensure that all individuals who meet the authorship criteria are included in the list of authors and that no such authors are excluded. Any changes to the list of authors require the consent of all authors.

Authors must respond promptly to inquiries from the editorial board regarding the peer review process. Authors may appeal a reviewer’s assessment if it is non-objective or non-constructive, or if evidence of unethical behavior by the reviewer is identified. In such cases, the authors must inform the editorial board for review of the report and, if necessary, for the appointment of a new reviewer. Authors must also notify the editorial board if they wish to withdraw their manuscript from the review process.

In the event of a violation of publication ethics standards, the situation must be carefully examined, and confidentiality must be maintained when considering cases of unethical conduct by participants in the publication process.

In cases of violations of publication ethics, the following measures may be taken:

1) By Authors:

– Investigation and Inquiry: If serious allegations of ethical misconduct arise, an investigation may be conducted to clarify the circumstances and take appropriate action.

– Rejection of Publication: The editorial board may reject a manuscript if serious ethical violations by the author(s) are identified.

– Retraction of Published Articles: If it becomes known that a manuscript was published based on falsified data or other ethical violations, the Journal may retract the publication.

– Warning and/or Notice: The editorial office may contact the authors and express its concern regarding ethical violations, specifying particular issues or errors in the publication. In some cases, this may be sufficient to resolve the situation.

– Ban on Publication: In cases of serious ethical misconduct, authors may be prohibited from submitting manuscripts to the Journal for a specified period.

2) By Reviewers:

– Resubmission for Peer Review: If the editorial office determines that a reviewer has violated ethical standards, the manuscript may be reassigned to other reviewers for additional evaluation to ensure objectivity and minimize bias.

– Revision or Reversal of Decision: If serious ethical violations are identified, the editorial office has the right to revise the decision regarding publication, including full rejection of the article. Additional investigation may be conducted, and appropriate measures taken.

– Revocation of Reviewer Status: If a reviewer consistently fails to comply with ethical standards, the editorial office may revoke their reviewer status.

3) By the Editorial Board:

– Warning: A warning may be issued to a member of the editorial board who has violated ethical standards, clarifying the problematic behavior and reiterating ethical principles and publication requirements.

– Retraction of Article: If serious ethical violations by a member of the editorial board are identified, a decision may be made to retract an article published in violation of publication ethics.

– Termination of Cooperation: In cases of repeated or serious ethical violations, cooperation with the editorial board member may be terminated.

Members of the editorial board are responsible for preventing the publication of articles with known signs of unethical conduct, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, excessive self-citation by authors, or conflicts of interest. If publication and/or scientific ethics principles have been violated in the preparation of an article, the Scientific Editor of the Journal, based on the decision of the editorial board, must carry out the retraction of the publication. Articles may be retracted either by the author(s) or by the editorial office of the Journal.