Editorial policy of the journal

It is essential that all parties involved in the act of publication (author, co-authors, journal editor, reviewer and publisher) agree with the following provisions. Our policy on publishing ethics is based on the guidelines from The European Association of Science Editors (EASE) and the Association of Science Editors and Publishers (ASEP). Authors and co-authors of scientific publications are jointly and severally responsible for the content of the published material.

The editor-in-chief of the journal decides which manuscripts can be published. The editor-in-chief is guided by the editorial policy of the journal, the recommendations of the editorial board of the journal, legislative acts, international declarations on scientific ethics, and the criteria for copyright and plagiarism.

All articles received by the journal are checked for borrowings using Antiplagiat and Antirewrite systems.

Basic principles of editorial policy

 1 Objectivity. The editor always assesses manuscripts solely for their content, without regard to race, gender, orientation, origin, citizenship or political opinions of the author.

 2 Confidentiality. The editor and the entire editorial board should not disclose information about the submitted manuscript to anyone other than the author, potential reviewers, editorial consultants and the publisher, respecting the copyright of unpublished materials.

 3 Disclosure and Conflict of Interest. Information contained in unpublished manuscripts should not be used in the editor's work without the written consent of the author.

Ethical principles

In accordance with the ethical rules and norms adopted by the leading international scientific publishing houses, the editors are committed to the ethical principles, the observance of which is mandatory for all participants in the scientific article publication process (for the authors, reviewers, editor-in-chief, editorial group and members of the editorial board).

1 Responsibility of AUTHORS

Compliance with the style of preparing the article. The authors of the article must provide a valid description of the research performed, as well as an objective assessment of its significance. Basic data must be accurately represented in the work. The article must contain factual and reference information in an amount sufficient for the presented research to be reproduced. Providing false or consciously inaccurate information is considered as unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

Ensuring access and reuse of information. For reviewing, the authors are invited to provide, together with the manuscript, the initial data, which should be ready, if possible, for open publication (in accordance with the regulations of the Association of Scientific and professional publishing societies for data and databases). Authors are encouraged to retain the original information used for their research for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and plagiarism. The authors undertake to guarantee the originality of their own works and, if the author cites other people's statements or research results, these works should be referenced.

Multiple or parallel publications. The author must not publish the result of his/ her work in more than one journal. Submitting a manuscript to two or more journals at the same time is considered as unethical behavior and is unacceptable.

Mandatory links. All borrowed materials in the manuscript must contain references to their authors. The authors undertake to provide links to the studies that have determined the direction and nature of their work.

It is unacceptable to provide links to sources that are inaccessible or limitedly available, such as newspaper articles, abstracts, dissertations.

Authorship. The list of authors should be limited to those who have made significant contributions to the concept, implementation and content of the work.

The contributors with the lowest contribution should be listed as co-authors. If there are individuals who have made a significant contribution at certain stages of the work, they should be mentioned as contributors. The representative of the group of authors undertakes to show the final version of the article to all participants involved and to obtain their consent to the assessment of their contribution to the work.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest. All authors should not reveal in the manuscript any information concerning financial or any other conflicts of interest that could influence the interpretation of the results of their research. No sources of financial support of the work should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works. If the author discovers a material error in his/her published work, he/she must promptly notify the editor or publisher of the journal and help the editor correct or delete the article.

2 Responsibility OF REVIEWERS

Contribution to the editorial decision. The peer reviewers' opinions help the editor in making decisions on the publication of a particular material. Editorial interaction with the author can also improve the quality of the manuscript content.

Efficiency. Any reviewer who feels that his / her own qualifications are insufficient to review the research presented in the manuscript, or knows that he/she will not be able to write a review in a short time, must notify the editor and disengage themselves from reviewing it.

Confidentiality. Any manuscripts received for review should be treated as confidential documents. They should only be shown to, or discussed with, outsiders with the permission of the editor.

Objectivity standards. The peer review must be objective. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable. Reviewers’ opinions should be clearly expressed and well founded.

Mandatory links. Reviewers should identify works that are similar in topic to the work under consideration, but not mentioned by the author. Any statement that some observation, conclusion, or argument mentioned in the manuscript has already been addressed in the literature should be accompanied by relevant references. The reviewer is also obliged to inform the author of any similarities or overlaps between the reviewed work and another published work known to the editor.

Disclosures and Conflicts of Interest. Non-public information or ideas obtained during the peer review process should not be disclosed or used for personal purposes. Reviewers should not review manuscripts whose content conflicts with their work as a result of competitive, partnership, or other relationships with at least one author, company, or organization related to the manuscript.

3 Responsibilities of the editor-in-chief, editorial group and editorial board members

Contribution to the editorial decision. The editorial group accepts for review previously unpublished articles, which are original scientific research or a detailed overview of a certain topic. The editorial group is responsible for making decisions regarding the articles proposed for reviewing. The editorial board is guided solely and exclusively by the scientific value of the article when making a decision to accept the article for publication or reject it.  

Confidentiality. The members of the editorial board have no right to disclose information about the articles received by the editorial board to anyone, with the exception of a narrow circle of persons directly related to the article and the process of its preparation for publication. In the process of reviewing articles, the members of the editorial board should familiarize themselves in detail with the original information contained in them; however, they under no circumstances have the right to use it in their own research or for other personal purposes. The use of such information is allowed only after the official publication of the article, with the correct citation in accordance with the widely accepted requirements.

Objectivity standards. Editors should assess scientific articles objectively for intellectual content, regardless of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, or political opinions.

Open Access Policy

The journal is committed to the Open Access policy, the essence of which is set out in the Budapest Open Access Initiative.

Open access publication provides immediate, unimpeded and open access to the full text of scientific articles, in the best interests of the scientific community.

The journal does not require a submission fee, but takes an article processing charge (APC) to support the publication of the open access journals. An article processing charge is taken only if, following the review, the article is accepted for publication.

Although authors have to pay for the processing of articles themselves, they can receive financial support from various institutions and foundations that cover this kind of costs.