The scientific journal “US” clearly achieves all ethical standards in publishing activities and unquestioningly complies with all norms and principles of academic integrity regarding scientific publications.
The publication also ensures transparency and impartiality of the publication process, which guarantees compliance with the principles of honesty, responsibility, and equality for all participants in the scientific process.
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Ethical Obligations of the Journal and the Editorial Board
The Journal “US” strives to adhere to the highest ethical standards in the publication process and to prevent any instances of editorial misconduct. In this context, the publication adheres to the principles of publishing ethics established by leading organizations, in particular the Committee on Publication Ethics COPE.
The publication’s policy is based on the principles of mutual trust between all participants in the publication process. All parties are obliged to adhere to the provisions set out in the relevant sections on responsibilities, which ensures transparency and accountability at all stages of the preparation and publication of scientific materials.
The Editorial Board is guided by the COPE principles on ethical oversight, which include, but are not limited to, the following aspects:
- consent for publication;
- ethical conduct of research involving humans and animals;
- processing of confidential data;
Based on this, the editorial board of the journal carefully monitors compliance with ethical standards by all participants in the publication process. All content is published in good faith, and the opinions expressed by participants are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of “US”.
Authors’ Responsibilities
Authors are required to guarantee the originality of their manuscript and to refrain from submitting works that have already been published in other scientific publications.
Authors are also required to properly cite sources and obtain the necessary permissions when using materials (images, tables, drawings, etc.) belonging to other copyright holders.
They are required to ensure that the work does not contain materials that are obscene, hateful, defamatory. The work must also not violate confidentiality or other applicable laws.
Authors are required to promptly inform the editor of any material inaccuracies or misleading statements in their work after publication.
It is also important to declare any potential conflicts of interest in a timely manner.
Editors’ Responsibilities
Editors are responsible for all content published in the journal and are required to adhere to the principles of editorial independence, objectivity and academic integrity.
Editors also define clear goals and scope of the journal in accordance with its academic mission, form an international editorial board consisting of experts in relevant fields, ensure the continuous development of the journal, contributing to its indexing in international databases and enhancing its academic reputation.
They set the same requirements for permanent and guest editors working on special issues, and ensure that special issues comply with the general editorial standards and requirements of the journal.
The main responsibilities of editors include performing all editorial duties responsibly and honestly, avoiding discrimination on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, ethnic or geographical origin of the author.
They make decisions on publication of materials based on their academic value and content, avoiding commercial or political influence, guaranteeing the integrity and transparency of editorial processes, avoiding conflicts of interest.
Editors should ensure professional and courteous communication with authors, reviewers, editorial board members and other stakeholders, formulate clear and understandable invitations for submissions to avoid misunderstandings, and explain to authors and reviewers the editorial policy and expectations regarding the content and structure of articles.
Editors organize a transparent and objective review process, appointing competent reviewers according to the research topic, ensuring compliance with ethical standards of review and ensuring confidentiality of the process, taking necessary measures in case of detection of plagiarism, falsification of data or other violations of academic integrity.
They monitor the quality and accuracy of published material, avoiding material inaccuracies or misleading statements, promptly correct or withdraw materials if significant errors or ethical violations are identified, and verify the correctness of all references and compliance with the requirements for the design of materials.
Reviewers’ Responsibilities
Reviewers play a key role in ensuring the quality of scientific publications by performing expert evaluation of submitted manuscripts.
Firstly, they are obliged to evaluate manuscripts confidentially and impartially, providing constructive criticism, and also informing the editor about possible conflicts of interest.
Reviewers pay special attention to the scientific quality of the material, analyzing the validity of the research, its coherence, novelty, and contribution to the scientific field.
It is also important to assess the compliance of the article structure with academic standards, in particular the clarity of the introduction, the logic of the presentation of the results and their compliance with the research problem, as well as the correctness of the use of methods and the validity of the conclusions.
In addition to the scientific content, reviewers pay attention to the general academic quality of the text, its clarity and conciseness, and if necessary, inform the editorial office and the author about the need for linguistic corrections.
An important aspect for the reviewer is compliance with confidentiality, which includes a ban on saving or distributing review materials, as well as ethical norms, in particular the obligation to inform the editors of possible violations, such as plagiarism, fraud or unethical behavior.
Reviewers must adhere to deadlines, be polite and constructive in their comments, and in the case of re-review, assess whether previous comments have been taken into account.
In addition, they support the editors in identifying particularly significant articles for further dissemination in scientific circles. In this way, reviewers ensure the quality of publications, contributing to the development of science through objective, detailed and ethical evaluation of manuscripts.
Open Access and Copyright Policy
The US journal ensures openness in its content, as research in the public domain supports a more global exchange of knowledge. The journal complies with the DOAJ Open Access Statement.
This allows anyone to have access to the full texts of articles in order to take into account the interests of the scientific community. No subscriptions, etc. are required from users to gain access.
After publication, the author remains the copyright holder of the scientific article/study, and the journal receives the right of first publication.
The article and any related material published in “US” is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0). This guarantees the free use of the materials by third parties, provided that its original authors and citation details are properly indicated.
Based on CC BY 4.0, anyone is free to copy, use, distribute, publicly transmit/display the work, and distribute derivative works, as long as the authors are properly indicated.
It is important to note that the journal does not charge authors for publication.
Policy on Academic Dishonesty
“US” strives to always adhere to the highest standards of academic integrity. The journal understands the critical importance of originality in the academic environment, and therefore takes a strict stance on plagiarism and any form of academic misconduct.
To reinforce this commitment, the following anti-plagiarism policy has been implemented, which defines its obligations and expectations for authors.
When submitting a manuscript to “US”, the author must state the absence of plagiarism, however, the editorial office must conduct a plagiarism check using the resource [RESOURCE NAME] to finally ensure the originality of the materials.
The journal clearly states that texts without proper attribution or citation will be considered plagiarism. This also includes, but is not limited to, direct copying, paraphrasing without proper citation.
The editorial board strictly, and without any exceptions, follows the COPE guidelines regarding plagiarism in a submitted manuscript or plagiarism in a published article.
In case of detection of plagiarism, the editorial board will be forced to take appropriate measures against the authors.
Manuscripts will be returned to the authors for revision. However, if the violations found are serious, the manuscripts will be rejected, and the authors will receive a temporary, and sometimes even permanent, ban from publication in “US”.
Conflict of Interest and Simultaneous Submission Policy
US is committed to being scrupulous and always adhering to best practices in publication and the COPE Principles of Publication Ethics (https://publicationethics.org/).
It is important that the editorial board, authors, and all other participants in this process declare any potential conflicts of interest in order to maintain transparency and integrity in the evaluation and publication of manuscripts.
“US” will be forced to immediately stop working on a manuscript and/or publication in the event of a conflict of interest being reported, or simultaneous submission of material.
The editorial board reserves the right to conduct its own investigation, as well as to refuse further publication of a scientific article.
Artificial Intelligence Policy
US recognizes the value of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to assist authors in the research and writing process. However, the editorial office insists on minimizing its impact at all stages of work on the material, as well as other important processes, including the work of editors and reviewers.
Regarding individual cases where the use of AI is important for research or other stages, we recommend contacting the editorial office personally. [CONTACTS]
Policy on errors, corrections, retractions and appeals
In the event of significant errors by the author or editors, all necessary measures will be taken to eliminate them, or even withdraw the material as a whole.
In the event that the author inadvertently omitted important information in his manuscript, he will have the right to make changes at the stage of editing the article.
If errors made by the editors are discovered, the team will certainly take all measures to immediately correct them.
Retractions
The editorial office reserves the right to retract the article if plagiarism, conflict of interest, falsification of data, unreliable or false results, etc. have been detected in the work.
In this case, the authors will receive an official notification of the retraction of the work with a detailed explanation of the reasons for such a decision.
If the editorial board is forced to retract the material after publication, it will remain online. However, a corresponding message with clearly defined reasons for such a decision will be attached to it.
Appeals
Authors have the right to appeal to the editorial board regarding the results of the plagiarism check, the use of AI, the withdrawal of the material, etc.
If the decision of the editorial board was unfair and the arguments provided are not confirmed, the authors will receive an official apology, and the material will be re-reviewed.
Complaints
In turn, the editorial board of “US” is ready to consider any complaint about the material published in the publication or the improper behavior of participants in the process of preparing and publishing scientific materials.