Adherence to the Principles and Recommendations of COPE, WAME, DORA, etc.

Compliance with the Principles and Recommendations of COPE, WAME, DORA, etc.

The journal’s editorial board adheres to the following principles and recommendations of international organisations:

COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics, ethical standards):

  • Transparency in the submission, peer review, and publication processes.
  • Impartiality and independence of editors and reviewers.
  • Academic integrity (avoidance of plagiarism, fabrication, and duplicate publication).
  • Proper authorship (clear identification of each author’s contribution).
  • Handling of complaints (the existence of clear and transparent procedures for appeals and ethical complaints).
  • Retraction and correction of articles (clear procedures for retractions, corrections, and notices of errors).

WAME (World Association of Medical Editors, principles applicable across disciplines):

  • Editorial independence (editorial decisions are made without pressure from sponsors, institutions, or commercial interests).
  • Conflicts of interest (all authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose them).
  • Peer review (ensuring objective, fair, and timely expert evaluation).
  • Funding transparency (disclosure of grants, sponsors, and sources of research funding).
  • Support for early-career researchers (encouraging publications by researchers at the early stages of their careers).

Policy on Compliance with the Principles of DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment):

The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) establishes standards for a responsible, non-discriminatory, and objective approach to the evaluation of scientific activity.

  • Rejection of journal-based metrics as a primary evaluation criterion
    The editorial team does not use the journal impact factor or other journal-based metrics as an indicator of the quality of individual articles. Decisions regarding acceptance for publication are based solely on scientific merit, originality, methodological transparency, and the quality of argumentation.
  • Priority of content over indicators
    Manuscripts are evaluated based on their content, rather than authors’ affiliations, institutional prestige, or funding levels. The journal encourages detailed descriptions of methods, data, and analytical procedures to enable objective assessment.
  • Support for diverse research outputs
    The journal recognises the importance not only of full-text articles but also of research data, software code, methodological developments, representative materials, negative results, and replication studies. All such materials are considered for publication on equal terms, provided they meet the journal’s requirements.
  • Transparency of the evaluation process
    Editorial decisions must be clearly justified. Double-blind peer review is conducted in accordance with the journal’s policy and international COPE standards.
  • Prevention of conflicts of interest
    All decisions undergo independent expert evaluation. Members of the editorial board do not participate in decisions regarding their own manuscripts or those of individuals with whom they have financial, familial, or professional relationships.

ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, general principles applicable across disciplines):

  • Authorship criteria (only individuals who have made a substantial contribution are considered authors).
  • Research ethics (compliance with standards for working with data, human participants, and experiments).
  • Data transparency (encouraging authors to store and provide access to research data).

Other Contemporary Principles (Open Science, Plan S)

  • Open Access (promotion of open access to scientific results).
  • Plan S (support for publication policies in open-access journals and repositories).

Ethical use of AI (adherence to transparency and accountability when artificial intelligence is used in research).

Policy on Compliance with FAIR Principles

The FAIR principles are aimed at ensuring the accessibility, reusability, and interoperability of scientific data and related materials.

The editorial team supports the principles and values of Open Science and considers open research data to be an essential component of ensuring transparency and reproducibility in scientific research. In its activities, the journal adheres to the FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, Reusability), which ensure that data are findable, accessible, compatible, and reusable (“The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship”).

  1. Findability
    Authors must provide complete metadata describing the research. Data associated with published results must be deposited in repositories that assign persistent identifiers (e.g., DOI).
  2. Accessibility
    Data must be available in an open format or through a clearly defined access procedure. Access must not be restricted by artificial barriers. Where full openness is not possible (e.g., due to ethical or legal constraints), authors must provide a justified explanation.
  3. Interoperability
    Data must be presented in standardised formats compatible with international storage and analysis systems. Authors must ensure the use of widely accepted metadata structures.
  4. Reusability
    Data and materials must be provided with a clear usage licence. Authors must supply sufficient context, methods, and tools to enable reuse or replication by other researchers.

Obligations of Authors

  • All authors must adhere to the principles of DORA and FAIR when submitting materials to the journal.
  • The manuscript must include a Data Availability statement.
  • Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the submitted data and for compliance with ethical and legal requirements.

Obligations of the Editorial Team

  • The journal ensures responsible, objective, and non-discriminatory evaluation of manuscripts.
  • The processes of peer review, decision-making, and publication are independent of any commercial or institutional influence.
  • The editorial team provides the technical conditions necessary for the storage and verification of metadata and supports the proper implementation of FAIR principles.

Policy Violations

In the event of non-compliance with DORA and FAIR principles, the editorial team may request revisions, reject the manuscript, or publish appropriate corrections in accordance with international COPE recommendations.