Procedure for considering complaints regarding violations of academic integrity and publication ethics

The editorial board of the scientific journal acts in accordance with the principles of academic integrity, follows the recommendations of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) and ensures transparent, impartial and confidential consideration of all reports of possible violations. Articles may be withdrawn by decision of the editorial board in the event of proven violations of academic integrity requirements (in particular, issues related to plagiarism, unauthorised borrowing of materials, conflict of interest, data manipulation, etc.).

Submitting a complaint
Complaints about violations of academic integrity or publication ethics should be submitted in writing to the official email address of the journal ([email protected]).
The complaint must include:
the applicant's full name and contact details;
a link to the publication;
a description of the nature and character of the violation;
materials or links confirming the suspicion.
Anonymous complaints will not be considered.

Consideration of complaints
The editor-in-chief or an authorised member of the editorial board shall, within five working days, verify the accuracy of the information received; determine whether the issue falls within the competence of the editorial board; and decide whether to initiate a formal investigation or reject the complaint with appropriate justification.
A commission of three independent experts shall be established to consider the complaint.
The commission has the right to:
inform the authors of the manuscript about the complaint received and request their explanation;
involve independent reviewers or experts;
analyse the text using plagiarism detection software;
verify research data, ethical permissions, citations, conflicts of interest, etc.;
consult with all interested parties.
The complaint review period shall not exceed 30 calendar days.
All review materials shall remain confidential until a decision is made.

Decision
The editorial board, taking into account the recommendations of the commission and the explanations of the parties, shall make one of the following decisions:
the complaint is rejected – the violation is not confirmed;
minor violations are found – the authors are sent comments with a request to eliminate them;
violation confirmed: rejection of the manuscript; publication of a correction (corrigendum); retraction of the article with a corresponding editorial statement; temporary or permanent restriction of authors in submitting materials to the journal; informing the institution where the authors work or other interested bodies.

Notification of the parties
The applicant and author(s) shall receive official notification of the results of the review and the decision taken.
The editorial board shall provide only information that does not violate the confidentiality of reviewers and internal procedures of the journal.

Transparency and data retention
All materials related to the consideration of the complaint shall be stored by the editorial board for at least 3 years.
The author(s) have the right to appeal the commission's decision to the editor-in-chief within 14 days of receiving official notification of the results of the review and the decision made. The editor-in-chief shall consider the appeal within 10 working days. The editor-in-chief's decision is final.
The editor-in-chief or managing editor must adhere to the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the European Association of Science Editors (EASE) and the journal's principles of publication ethics.
In the event of a retraction or correction of an article, the journal will publish the relevant notices in open access.