Publication Ethics

Ethics guidelines of the Editorial Board of
"Engineering, Architecture and Surveying of Land"

Ethics guidelines of the editorial board are based on the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics and the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

Ethical guidelines for editors

– editors take responsibility for everything they publish and thus, all submitted materials are subject to careful selection and peer review. Editors reserve the right to reject an article or send back for improving;

– editors should make fair and unbiased decisions independent from commercial consideration and ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process within a reasonable time;

– editors are entitled to reject a manuscript without peer-reviewing if it doesn’t meet the editorial policy, ethics and requirements for manuscripts;

– editors shall not provide information related to the content of a manuscript under consideration to other persons, except ones involved in the professional evaluation of this manuscript;

– editors are authorized to withdraw the electronic version of the article published in the printed version of the journal, if someone’s rights or generally accepted rules of scientific ethics are violated. The editors inform the author who provided the article and the organization where the work was performed about the fact of withdrawal of the article. Editors also publish a notice of the fact of withdrawal of the article in the next issue of the journal;

– editors allow distributing any articles or extracts from the journal in electronic social networks, but reference to the original source is mandatory. The third parties or organizations are prohibited to publish and / or distribute the journal materials in paper form and data storage devices.

Ethical guidelines for authors

– the research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation. Authors should mention dangerous manifestations and risks associated with the research;

– researchers should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.

– researchers should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarised, and has not been published elsewhere;

– a manuscript can involve scientifically grounded criticism of a paper of another researcher. The personal comments are not regarded as relevant;

– funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed. Authors should guarantee a lack of the contractual relations or
property considerations, which could influence the publication of information contained in a manuscript;

– authors should indicate the sources of cited information, which should be properly acknowledged and referenced.

Ethical guidelines for peer-reviewers

– if an appointed peer-reviewer is not confident that his qualification meets the level of research, he/she should give the manuscript back immediately;

– a reviewer should be impartial when evaluating a manuscript, its experimental and theoretical parts, interpretation and statement, as well as take into account the correspondence of the research compliance with the high scientific and literature standards. The reviewer should respect the intellectual independence of authors.

– a reviewer should assess a manuscript if he/she has personal or professional relations and if such relations can influence the impartiality;

– a reviewer shouldn’t show a manuscript under review others or discuss it with colleagues, only if the reviewer needs professional advice;

– reviewers should adequately explain and justify their judgments so that editors and authors can understand the reasons their comments are based on;

– a reviewer should indicate any cases of a lack of citations of the papers of other scholars, any significant similarity between the relevant manuscript and any published article or any manuscript simultaneously submitted to another journal;

– reviewers should not use or disclose unpublished information, arguments, or interpretations contained in the manuscript without the consent of the author.

Research Ethics Approval Policy

The editorial board adheres to the principles of academic integrity and ethical standards in conducting scientific research. All studies involving humans, animals, their biological materials, personal data, or other confidential information must comply with the current legislation of Ukraine and obtain mandatory approval from an ethics committee.

Key Provisions:

- All research must be approved by the relevant ethics committee or the author’s institutional research department.

- Researchers are required to obtain informed consent from study participants in cases where it is required by law or ethical standards.

- All experiments and data collection must be conducted in accordance with Ukrainian legislation and international ethical standards, particularly regarding the protection of humans, animals, and confidential information.

- When submitting a manuscript, authors must provide evidence of obtained ethical approval and, if applicable, information on informed consent from participants.

- Authors bear full responsibility for compliance with ethical requirements in their research and for the accuracy of the information provided.

DORA Compliance Policy

The journal adheres to the principle that scientific research should be evaluated primarily based on its content, scientific originality, reliability of results, and contribution to the development of the relevant field of knowledge, rather than the prestige of the journal in which it is published. In its editorial policy, the journal follows the principles of responsible research assessment, which involve the balanced and transparent use of both qualitative and quantitative indicators, as well as recognition of the diversity of research outputs, including articles, research data, software, and other forms of scholarly contribution.

The editorial board does not encourage artificial inflation of citation metrics and supports the responsible use of bibliometric indicators.

Artificial Intelligence Policy

The editorial board of the journal "Sloboda Scientific Journal. Psychology" recognizes the active introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into scientific activity and sets clear requirements for their responsible and ethical use in accordance with the principles of academic integrity and international recommendations, in particular the COPE recommendations.

Authors' use of AI

– Authors can use AI tools (including generative models for grammar, style checking, translation, or technical editing of text).

– An AI cannot be recognized as the author of an article. Authorship implies responsibility for the content of the work, which can only be borne by an individual.

– Authors are obliged to:

• clearly state the use of AI tools in the “Methodology” or “Acknowledgements” section;
• ensure that the results, data, analysis and conclusions are the result of one's own scientific work;
• verify the authenticity of information created using AI.

– Using AI to generate falsified data, fabricated sources, manipulate images, or research results is a violation of academic integrity.

Use of AI by reviewers

– Reviewers should not upload manuscripts or parts thereof to artificial intelligence systems without written permission from the editorial office.

– It is prohibited to use AI if it may violate the confidentiality of the manuscript or author data.

– The reviewer bears personal responsibility for the content of the review.

Using AI by editors

– The editorial board may use AI tools for technical verification of texts (language editing, detection of possible signs of plagiarism, duplication, stylistic errors).

– Final decisions on acceptance, revision or rejection of an article are made exclusively by the editorial board.

Failure to notify the use of AI in cases where it significantly affected the preparation of the manuscript may be considered a violation of publication ethics.

If unscrupulous use of AI is detected, the editorial board applies measures in accordance with internal procedures for violations of academic integrity (including refusal to publish or withdrawal of the article).

Procedure for Handling Complaints Regarding Breaches of Academic Integrity and Publication Ethics

The Editorial Office ensures that complaints regarding breaches of academic integrity and publication ethics are handled objectively and confidentially.

Complaints must be submitted to the Editorial Office in writing and should include a description of the alleged violation, supporting evidence where available, and the complainant’s contact details. Upon receipt of a complaint, the Editorial Office conducts a preliminary assessment and, where necessary, initiates an investigation involving the relevant parties and, if appropriate, independent experts.

Following the review, a decision is made in accordance with the journal’s policies and international ethical standards. The complainant is informed of the outcome, provided that doing so does not compromise confidentiality. If the complainant disagrees with the decision, an appeal may be submitted.

The Editorial Office strives to handle complaints within a reasonable timeframe while ensuring transparency and adherence to the principles of academic integrity.

Procedure for Retracting Published Articles

The journal may initiate the retraction of a published article if breaches of academic integrity or publication ethics are identified, including plagiarism, self-plagiarism, falsification or fabrication of data, as well as significant errors that affect the reliability or interpretation of research findings. Retraction may also be applied in cases of improper authorship or undisclosed conflicts of interest.

The decision to retract an article is made by the Editorial Board based on an internal investigation and, where necessary, with the involvement of experts, in accordance with international ethical standards, including the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Before a decision is made, authors are generally given an opportunity to provide explanations.

In the event of retraction, the journal publishes an official retraction notice stating the reasons for the retraction and adheres to the principle of transparency. The original article remains available in the journal’s archive but is clearly marked as retracted to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.