Publication Ethics

Ethics guidelines of the Editorial Board of “History and Law Journal”

 General provisions

The ethical principles governing the activities of the Editorial Board were developed in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Standards for Editors and Authors, the Law of Ukraine “On Academic Integrity”, the Law of Ukraine “On Copyright and Related Rights”, and the Ethical Code of the Scientist of Ukraine.

The editorial policy of the Editorial Board of the journal is based on the principles of objectivity and impartiality when considering scientific articles submitted by authors for publication.

The Editorial Board maintains high standards regarding the relevance, originality, and quality of scientific research, which are clearly presented on the journal’s website in Ukrainian and English.

The Editorial Board ensures that all submitted scientific materials are checked using the anti-plagiarism system StrikePlagiarism.com without exception.

The Editorial Board of the journal applies mandatory double-blind peer review to every scientific manuscript submitted for publication and adheres to collegial decision-making regarding the publication of materials in order to ensure objectivity and impartiality in the evaluation of manuscripts submitted by authors (co-authors) and to maintain the high relevance and quality of the content of the journal.

The Editorial Board guarantees the observance of authors’ copyright and related rights to published articles on the basis of an author agreement and ensures accessibility and prompt communication with authors.

The Editorial Board considers monitoring the ethical integrity of the provisions presented in articles to be one of the key aspects of its activities and the peer review process.

The Editorial Board does not accept for publication materials containing offensive statements, manifestations of aggression or any form of discrimination, or those that incite interethnic or racial hostility, violate international legal norms, or contradict the current legislation of Ukraine.

The opinions, judgments, results, and conclusions expressed by the authors of articles published in the journal do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board.

The Editorial Board of the journal is not responsible to authors and/or third parties or organizations for any possible damage caused by the publication of an article. Responsibility for the absence of violations of academic integrity, including plagiarism or any other improper use of the intellectual property of other authors, as well as for the reliability of information in articles and the accuracy of titles, names, and citations rests with the authors.

In order to ensure transparency and provide readers with the opportunity to draw their own conclusions about the conducted research, the Editorial Board requires the disclosure of conflicts of interest by individuals involved in the publication of scientific articles in the journal. A conflict of interest may be either financial (property-related) or non-financial (personal). Individuals involved in the publication of scientific articles must declare any potential or actual conflicts of interest that may affect the content and results of the research, the peer review process, or the publication of the article in the journal. Individuals involved in the publication of scientific articles must submit a written statement to the Editorial Board disclosing any conflicts of interest.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to review and revise these ethical principles in order to improve them.

Ethical guidelines for editors

▶ editors take responsibility for everything they publish and thus, all submitted materials are subject to careful selection and peer review. Editors reserve the right to reject an article or send back for improving;

▶ editors should make fair and unbiased decisions independent from commercial consideration and ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process within a reasonable time;

▶ editors are entitled to reject a manuscript without peer-reviewing if it doesn’t meet the editorial policy, ethics and requirements for manuscripts;

▶ editors shall not provide information related to the content of a manuscript under consideration to other persons, except ones involved in the professional evaluation of this manuscript;

▶ editors are authorized to withdraw the electronic version of the article published in the printed version of the journal, if someone’s rights or generally accepted rules of scientific ethics are violated. The editors inform the author who provided the article and the organization where the work was performed about the fact of withdrawal of the article. Editors also publish a notice of the fact of withdrawal of the article in the next issue of the journal;

▶ editors allow distributing any articles or extracts from the journal in electronic social networks, but reference to the original source is mandatory. The third parties or organizations are prohibited to publish and / or distribute the journal materials in paper form and data storage devices.

Ethical guidelines for authors

▶ the research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation. Authors should mention dangerous manifestations and risks associated with the research;

▶ researchers should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.

▶ researchers should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarised, and has not been published elsewhere;

▶ a manuscript can involve scientifically grounded criticism of a paper of another researcher. The personal comments are not regarded as relevant;

▶ funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed. Authors should guarantee a lack of the contractual relations or
property considerations, which could influence the publication of information contained in a manuscript;

▶ authors should indicate the sources of cited information, which should be properly acknowledged and referenced.

Ethical guidelines for peer-reviewers

▶ if an appointed peer-reviewer is not confident that his qualification meets the level of research, he/she should give the manuscript back immediately;

▶ a reviewer should be impartial when evaluating a manuscript, its experimental and theoretical parts, interpretation and statement, as well as take into account the correspondence of the research compliance with the high scientific and literature standards. The reviewer should respect the intellectual independence of authors.

▶ a reviewer should take into account a possibility of the conflict of interests if a particular manuscript closely relates to the reviewer’s current or published paper. If there are doubts, the reviewer should refuse to review the manuscripts referring to the conflict of interests;

▶ a reviewer should assess a manuscript if he/she has personal or professional relations and if such relations can influence the impartiality;

▶ a reviewer shouldn’t show a manuscript under review others or discuss it with colleagues, only if the reviewer needs professional advice;

▶ reviewers should adequately explain and justify their judgments so that editors and authors can understand the reasons their comments are based on;

▶ a reviewer should indicate any cases of a lack of citations of the papers of other scholars, any significant similarity between the relevant manuscript and any published article or any manuscript simultaneously submitted to another journal;

▶ a reviewer should provide a review without undue delay;

▶ reviewers should not use or disclose unpublished information, arguments, or interpretations contained in the manuscript without the consent of the author.