IKBFU's Vestnik. Series: Philology, Pedagogy, Psychology

Ethical guidleines

The Editorial Board and the Editorial Council of the VESTNIK IKBFU. PHILOLOGY, PEDAGOGY, AND PSYCHOLOGY commit to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. The journal publishes scholarly works and bears responsibility for keeping high standards. The staff of the VESTNIK IKBFU. PHILOLOGY, PEDAGOGY, AND PSYCHOLOGY follow the guidelines of the Committee of Publication Ethics, as well as the practices of influential international journals and publishers.

The staff of the journal strive to uphold ethical norms of the international research community and prevent any violation of such norms.

Duties of Authors

Reporting standards

Authors of should present a detailed description of the methods employed and accurate data corroborating the results obtained. All papers should contain sufficient details and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Reviews should also be accurate and objective, and the editorial ‘opinion’ works should be clearly identified as such.

Originality and plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works and that – if the authors have used the work and/or words of others – this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Plagiarism takes many forms, from ‘passing off’ another’s paper as the author’s own paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another author’s paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Submitting the same article to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is also unacceptable.

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of their work.

The journal staff scans ALL submitted papers for plagiarism.

Authorship of the paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Provided there are others who have participated in the research project, they should also be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The  author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors have approved the final version of the paper.

All published papers are made available for public access; copyright is held by the authors.

Errors in published works

When an author discovers an error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper. If the editor or the publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a major error, it is the obligation of the author to promptly retract or correct the paper or provide evidence to the editor of the correctness of the original paper.

Duties of editors (editor-in-chief, head of the editorial board/council)

These guidelines are based on the existing journal policies and COPE’s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

The editor-in-chief of the journal is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor-in-chief works in conjunction with a relevant society (for society-owned or sponsored journals). The validation of the work in question, its importance to researchers and readers, and the results of reviewing must always drive such decisions.

Fair play

An editor should evaluate submitted articles for their content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality

The editor-in-chief of the journal  and members of the editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted paper to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

  • Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the written consent of the author.
  • Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used to personal advantage.
  • It should be ensured that the peer-review process for supplements is the same as the one used for the articles. Items in sponsored supplements should be accepted solely on the basis of their academic merit and interest to readers and should not be influenced by commercial considerations.
  • Non-peer reviewed sections of their journal should be clearly identified.

Involvement and cooperation in investigations

The editor-in-chief of the journal  and members of the editorial staff should take reasonably responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or an already published paper. Such measures will generally include contacting the author of the manuscript or paper and giving due consideration of the respective complaint or claims made, but may also include further communications to the relevant institutions and research bodies. If the complaint is upheld, the editorial staff prepares publishes a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other note, as may be relevant. Every reported act of unethical publishing behavior must be considered, even if it is discovered years after publication.

Journal Self Citation

The editorial board (council) should never conduct any practice that obliges authors to cite his or her journal either as an implied or explicit condition of acceptance for publication. Any recommendation regarding articles to be cited in a paper should be made on the basis of direct relevance to the author’s article, with the objective of improving the final published research. Editors should refer authors to relevant literature as part of the peer review process. However, this should never extend to blanket instructions to cite the journal.

Duties of reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions

Every paper is reviewed by at least two experts, who can freely express their motivational criticism regarding the level and clarity of the work, its relevance to the journal’s field, and the novelty and accuracy of the results.

Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer review assists the members of editorial council/board in making editorial decisions. The Editorial Board and the Editorial Council share the view of many that all scholars who wish to contribute to publications have an obligation to do a fair share of reviewing.

Confidentiality 

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editorial board/council.

Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of sources

Reviewers should identify a relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the head of the editorial board’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used to personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors or institutions connected to the papers..