The editorial board of the scientific journal is guided in its activities by international standards of publication ethics and best practices in scholarly publishing. The journal adheres to the principles and recommendations of leading international organizations, including the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

Ethical Responsibilities of the Journal Editorial Board

- The editorial board bears ethical responsibility for everything published in the journal; therefore, all submitted materials undergo careful selection and peer review. The editorial board reserves the right to reject a manuscript or return it for revision.

- The editorial board must make fair and unbiased decisions, free from commercial or other interests, and ensure a transparent peer-review process within a reasonable timeframe.

-  The editorial board may reject a manuscript without peer review if it is deemed not to comply with the journal’s editorial policy, ethical standards, or manuscript requirements.

-  Members of the editorial board must not disclose any information related to the content of manuscripts under review to third parties, except for individuals directly involved in the professional evaluation of the manuscript.

- The editorial board has the right to withdraw the electronic version of an article published in the printed edition of the journal if a violation of rights or generally accepted standards of research ethics is identified. In such cases, the editorial office informs the author and the institution where the research was conducted. A notice of retraction is also published in a subsequent issue of the journal.

- The editorial board allows the distribution of journal articles or excerpts in electronic networks, provided that a reference to the original source is mandatory. The publication and/or distribution of journal materials by third parties or organizations on paper or physical electronic media is prohibited.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

- Research published in the journal must be conducted in accordance with applicable legislation and ethical standards. Any hazardous aspects and risks associated with the conducted research must be clearly indicated.

- Authors must present their results clearly and unambiguously to ensure that the research can be verified by other scholars, without falsification of data or inappropriate manipulation.

- Authors bear full responsibility for the content of their articles and for the fact of their publication; plagiarism as well as submission of previously published work is strictly unacceptable.

- Scientific research may include academically justified criticism of other researchers’ work. Personal criticism is not considered appropriate.

- Sources of funding and any potential conflicts of interest must be fully disclosed. Authors must guarantee the absence of contractual obligations or proprietary considerations that could influence the publication of information contained in the manuscript.

- Authors must clearly indicate the sources of all cited or presented information and properly format references in accordance with the manuscript requirements.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

- If the selected reviewer is not confident that their qualifications match the level of the research presented in the manuscript, they should immediately decline the review and return the manuscript.

- The reviewer must objectively evaluate the quality of the manuscript, including the presented experimental and theoretical work, its interpretation and presentation, and consider the extent to which it meets high 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 their current or previously published work. If in doubt, the reviewer should immediately return the manuscript without review, indicating the conflict of interest.

- The reviewer must not evaluate manuscripts with authors to whom they have personal or professional relationships that could influence their judgment.- The reviewer must not share the manuscript under review with others or discuss it with colleagues, except when specialized consultation is necessary.

- Reviewers must provide clear and well-reasoned feedback so that editors and authors can understand the basis of their comments.

- The reviewer should point out any instances of insufficient citation of relevant literature, as well as any substantial similarity between the manuscript and any published article or any manuscript submitted simultaneously to another journal.

- The reviewer must submit their review without unjustified delay.

- Reviewers must not use or disclose any unpublished information, arguments, or interpretations contained in the manuscript without the author’s consent.

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.

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

Complaints may relate to cases of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data falsification or fabrication, copyright infringement, inappropriate authorship, conflicts of interest, as well as breaches of ethical standards in the peer-review or editorial process. Complaints may be submitted by authors, reviewers, readers, or other interested parties by sending a formal message to the journal’s editorial office.

Upon receiving a complaint, the editorial office conducts a preliminary assessment to determine its validity and the sufficiency of the provided information. If necessary, additional materials or explanations may be requested from the complainant. Where grounds exist, the editorial board initiates a detailed investigation involving relevant experts, editorial board members, or independent reviewers.

During the review process, all parties are given the opportunity to provide their explanations. The editorial board ensures confidentiality and the protection of personal data of all participants involved in the process. Decisions are made based on an analysis of all submitted materials and in accordance with the journal’s ethical standards and editorial policy.

As a result of the review, appropriate actions may be taken, including rejection of the manuscript, retraction or correction of already published materials, notification of the institutions or organizations affiliated with the authors, as well as other measures consistent with international publishing best practices.

Ethical Requirements for Research Involving Humans, Animals, and Data

Scientific research involving humans, animals, or the use of data must comply with generally accepted ethical standards, principles of academic integrity, and the current legislation of Ukraine.

Research involving human participants is conducted only on the basis of voluntary informed consent. Participants must be informed about the purpose, methods, and potential risks of the study, and confidentiality as well as the protection of personal data must be ensured.

In research involving animals, compliance with the principles of humane treatment and the “3Rs” approach (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) is mandatory, aimed at minimizing suffering and reducing the number of animals used.

The use of data must comply with requirements for confidentiality and personal data protection. Unauthorized use or disclosure of data that may identify an individual is strictly prohibited.

Where necessary, such research is subject to ethical review by relevant ethics committees or authorized bodies.

Artificial Intelligence Use Policy

The scientific journal recognizes the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools as an auxiliary instrument in the preparation of scholarly manuscripts, provided that the principles of academic integrity, transparency, and author responsibility are fully respected.

The use of AI is permitted for supportive tasks, including language editing, grammar and style correction, text structuring, data analysis, or information retrieval. However, all scientific conclusions, interpretation of results, and full responsibility for the content of the article remain solely with the authors.

The use of AI for generating falsified data, fabricated research results, or texts without proper scholarly validation and author verification is strictly prohibited. Likewise, the complete delegation of authors’ intellectual and analytical decisions to AI systems is not allowed.

Authors must transparently disclose the use of AI tools (if applicable) in an appropriate section of the manuscript or acknowledgements, including a brief description of their role.

The editorial board reserves the right to verify submitted materials for signs of improper or unethical use of AI and may reject a manuscript in cases of violations of scientific ethics principles.

Retraction Policy for Published Articles

The editorial board of the scientific journal may initiate the retraction of a previously published article in cases where significant violations of research ethics or the inaccuracy of published results are identified.

Grounds for retraction may include the detection of plagiarism or self-plagiarism, data falsification or fabrication, substantial errors that affect the validity of conclusions, as well as violations of copyright, research ethics, or peer-review procedures.

The retraction procedure may be initiated by authors, the editorial board, reviewers, or other interested parties through a substantiated request. The editorial board reviews each case, potentially involving experts or members of the editorial board.

If a decision to retract an article is made, a formal notice is published in the journal indicating the reason for retraction. The original version of the article remains in the journal’s archive, clearly marked as “retracted,” in order to ensure transparency of the scientific record.

Article Peer-Review Procedure

The journal applies a double-blind peer-review process, in which the anonymity of both authors and reviewers is mutually ensured. This approach promotes an impartial evaluation of scholarly manuscripts based solely on their content, scientific originality, and the significance of the obtained results.

Reviewers are selected from among specialists with appropriate academic qualifications, research experience, and publications in the subject area of the submitted manuscript. Selection is based on their expertise, scientific reputation, and the absence of any conflict of interest with the authors or their affiliated institutions.

The review process includes the evaluation of manuscripts according to criteria such as relevance of the topic, scientific novelty, theoretical and practical significance, soundness of methodology, reliability of results, clarity of presentation, and compliance with academic ethics and formatting requirements.

The standard review period is typically two to four weeks; however, it may vary depending on the complexity of the topic and the workload of reviewers. If revisions are required, authors are given the opportunity to address reviewers’ comments and resubmit a revised version of the manuscript.

Review outcomes are documented in written form as peer-review reports, which are stored in the journal’s editorial office in accordance with its archiving policy. Publication decisions are made by the editorial board based on the received reviews and may include acceptance, acceptance after revision, or rejection of the manuscript.

The editorial office guarantees the confidentiality of all submitted materials and ensures compliance with ethical standards throughout the review process in accordance with international guidelines for scholarly publishing.

Archiving and Long-Term Preservation Policy

The journal ensures reliable long-term preservation of all published materials in accordance with international standards of digital archiving.

Each published article:

- remains permanently and freely accessible on the journal’s website without time restrictions;

- is assigned a unique DOI (Digital Object Identifier), ensuring a stable and long-term link to the publication.

To ensure the preservation of scholarly content:

- all journal issues are deposited in the V. I. Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine for archival storage;

- articles may also be deposited in institutional repositories of universities with which the authors are affiliated.