Ethical oversight

The Journal follows ethical norms represented in the section “Publication ethics policy and malpractice statement”. Besides, the Journal adheres to principles described in the sections “Publishing policies” and “Editorial policies”.

They are based on the mutual trust of all participants in the publishing process who follow publishing ethical principles. The Journal focuses on the COPE definition of ethical oversight: “Ethical oversight should include, but is not limited to, policies on consent to publication, publication on vulnerable populations, ethical conduct of research using animals, ethical conduct of research using human subjects, handling confidential data and business/marketing practices”. According to this definition, the Journal works in compliance with ethical principles.

We strictly follow COPE guidelines, which encourage the implementation of good academic practice. In addition to this incentive, we make every effort to find plagiarism, negligence, or fraud.

Protection of human research participants

All phases of the research with human participants (conceptualization, planning, conducting, analysis, and reporting) should be carried out following the Helsinki Declaration. This applies to papers with information or biospecimens received through intervention or interaction with living individuals, including anonymized or non-anonymized survey data, interview data, bank data, social media data, ethnographic research, etc.

Such research should be priorly approved by a relevant review body (institutional ethics committee or review board), and a manuscript should contain the note stating “Ethical approval was obtained from NAME OF THE RELEVANT BODY” or “This study has NAME OF THE RELEVANT BODY approval”. Otherwise, the paper should contain a statement with arguments or relevant legislation on why the approval is not needed. The authors may be asked to verify the approval. The Editorial Board reserves the right to determine whether the research was conducted appropriately, even if it has a relevant review body’s approval.

Before conducting research, authors should provide human participants with full information about the purpose of using their data, how the data can be used (for scientific, educational, etc. purposes), who will have access to the data, and where and how the data will be distributed and stored. All human participants should give written informed consent for using their data and publication. If the paper includes any identifying information (individual medical histories, photographs, X-rays, genetic pedigree, etc.), researchers should show the manuscript before publishing it to receive informed consent.

Authors can use our form or create their consent form. You can find recommendations on how to create a form here. Please note that for confidentiality reasons, the Journal does not accept completed consent forms. Together with the manuscript, the authors must provide the Journal with a blank copy of the form, certifying that all subjects or their authorized representatives sign it.

When research involves potentially vulnerable populations, such as children, the elderly, or those with learning problems, consent for publication should be received from their legal representatives. In this case, researchers must take additional measures to protect participants.

The paper should contain the statement: “The authors have received and archived written informed consent from all subjects involved in the study”. You can avoid this statement if there are no human subjects involved in the research. We do not accept papers if the subject of the study refuses to consent to the use of his/her/their data.

Human participants reserve the right to withdraw consent at any moment before publication, but after publication, it is no longer possible.

The Journal will be bound to consider the appeals from the Ethics and Oversight Committee for professional and scientific activity concerning the non-observance of the ethical principles by our authors. We are also ready to consider other appeals.