The future of science in general and the scientific publishing sector largely depends not only on compliance with laws and regulations but also on compliance with the ethical principles of relations between members of the scientific and publishing community. This is the key to increasing the number of high-quality scientific publications, as well as the successful development of mutual cooperation between authors, publishers, and readers of scientific publications. The general experience of ethical behavior is arranged in a single document – Scientific Publications Ethic Policy (hereinafter referred to as the Policy), developed by the Committee on the Ethics of Scientific Publications.
Scientific Publications Ethic Policy combines and reveals the general principles and rules that should guide the interactions of participants in the process of scientific publications: authors, reviewers, editors, publishers, distributors, and readers.
Main terms and definitions:
Ethics of Scientific Publications is a system of norms of professional behavior in the relationship of authors, reviewers, editors, publishers, and readers in the process of creating, distributing, and using scientific publications.
An editor is a representative of a scientific journal or publishing house who prepares materials for publication, as well as maintains communication with authors and readers of scientific publications.
An author is a person or a group of persons (a team of authors) involved in the creation of the publication of the results of a scientific study.
A reviewer is an expert acting on behalf of a scientific journal or publishing house and conducting a scientific examination of copyrighted materials in order to determine the possibility of their publication.
A publisher is a legal or an individual person carrying out the publication of a scientific paper.
A reader is any person who has read published materials.
Plagiarism is the intentional appropriation of authorship of someone else's work of science or art, someone else's ideas or inventions. Plagiarism may be a violation of copyright law and patent law, and as such may cause legal liability.
Principles of Professional Ethics in the Editor and Publisher Activities
In his activities, the editor is responsible for the publication of copyrighted works, which imposes the need to conform to the following fundamental principles:
- When making a decision on publication, the editor of a scientific journal is guided by the reliability of the presented data and the scientific significance of the work.
- The editor must evaluate the intellectual content of manuscripts regardless of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, social status, or political preferences of the authors.
- Unpublished data of submitted manuscripts should not be used for personal purposes or transferred to third parties without the written consent of the author. Information or ideas obtained during editing and related to possible benefits must be kept confidential and not used for personal gain.
- The editor should not allow information to be published if there are sufficient grounds to believe that it is plagiarized.
- The editor, together with the publisher, should not leave unanswered claims regarding the reviewed manuscripts or published materials, and if a conflict situation is identified, take all necessary measures to restore violated rights.
Principles of Professional Ethics in the Reviewer Activity
The reviewer carries out a scientific examination of copyright materials, due to which his actions must be unbiased, including the implementation of the following principles:
- A manuscript received for review should be treated as a confidential document that cannot be passed on for review or discussion to third parties who do not have permission from the editors.
- A reviewer is obliged to give an objective and reasoned assessment of the stated results of the study. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable.
- Unpublished data obtained from submitted manuscripts should not be used by the reviewer for personal purposes.
- A reviewer who, in his opinion, does not have sufficient qualifications to evaluate the manuscript, or cannot be objective, for example, in case of a conflict of interest with the author or organization, should inform the editor about this with a request to exclude him from the reviewing process of the manuscript.
Principles of Professional Ethics of the Author of Scientific Publications
The author (or a team of authors) is aware that he bears the primary responsibility for the novelty and reliability of the results of scientific research, which implies compliance with the following principles:
- The authors of the article must provide reliable results of the research. Intentionally erroneous or falsified statements are unacceptable.
- Authors must ensure that the results of the study presented in the submitted manuscript are completely original. Borrowed fragments or statements must be formalized with the obligatory indication of the author and source. Excessive borrowing, as well as plagiarism in any form, including unexecuted quotations, paraphrasing, or appropriation of rights to the results of other people's research, is unethical and unacceptable.
- It is necessary to recognize the contribution of all persons who in one way or another influenced the course of the study, in particular, the article should contain references to works that were important during of the study.
- Authors should not submit to a journal a manuscript that has been submitted to another journal and is under consideration, as well as an article that has already been published in another journal.
- All persons who have made a significant contribution to the study should be indicated as co-authors of the article. Among the co-authors, it is unacceptable to indicate persons who did not participate in the study.
- If the author finds significant errors or inaccuracies in the article at the stage of its consideration or after its publication, he must inform the editors of the journal as soon as possible.