Ethics
Ethical policy
The editorial board of the scientific journal "Psychological Studies" strives for broad, open, and competent scientific communication and assumes responsibility for compliance with current ethical guidelines as applied to published articles. Our standards are based on strict ethical principles, expectations of support from authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers. The main provisions of our statement are based on the Code of Conduct of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) https://publicationethics.org/about/our-organisation.
Obligations of the Editorial Board and Individual Editors
Responsibility for Decisions Made
Editors are responsible for assessing the reliability and scientific significance of the information presented in a published article. When making a publication decision, editors must proceed from the journal's policy and legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright, legality, and plagiarism. Editors must assess the content of manuscripts regardless of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, or political preferences of the authors.
Ensuring Confidentiality
Editors are responsible for assessing the reliability and scientific significance of the information presented in a published article. When making a publication decision, editors must proceed from the journal's policy and legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright, legality, and plagiarism. Editors must assess the content of manuscripts regardless of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, or political preferences of the authors.
Absence of Conflicts of Interest
An editor must not be involved in making decisions about articles written by the editor themselves, their family members, or close colleagues. Editors must recuse themselves from consideration of manuscripts in cases of conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with authors or organizations related to the manuscript. Editors must consider materials submitted by journal sponsors or materials for special issues in the same manner as other articles, based not on commercial benefit but solely on their scientific merit. An editor is not prohibited from publishing in the journal in which they serve in that capacity. However, the editor must undergo a separate procedure to avoid conflicts of interest and achieve maximally transparent and objective assessment of the manuscript submitted to the journal.
Absence of Artificial Influence on Journal Metrics
An editor must not artificially influence the journal's scientometric indicators by requiring authors to cite publications of this or any other journal in all cases except those necessitated by the logic of the scientific research. Authors must not be compelled to cite the works of the Editor or Reviewer.
Taking Adequate Measures in Response to Ethical Violations
An editor who has received convincing evidence that materials presented in a published article are erroneous must inform the scientific community for the earliest possible publication of corrections, retractions, or other appropriate statements. The editor is obliged to take adequate responsive measures in the event of ethical complaints concerning reviewed manuscripts or already published materials. Such measures typically include interaction with the manuscript's authors and thorough consideration of the relevant complaint or request, as well as interaction with the relevant organizations and research centers.
Obligations of Reviewers
Objective Assessment of Publication Quality
The reviewer must help editors and the Editorial Board make a publication decision, and may also help the author improve the quality of their work. The reviewer is obliged to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript, expressing their opinion clearly and with reasoned arguments. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable. The reviewer must point out significant published works relevant to the topic that are not included in the manuscript's bibliography, and must also ensure that materials presented in the manuscript are accompanied by the appropriate bibliographic reference.
Attention to Ethical Violations
The reviewer must draw the editor's attention to the discovery of substantial similarity or coincidence between the manuscript under consideration and any other published work within the reviewer's scientific competence.
Ensuring Confidentiality
The reviewer is obliged to maintain confidentiality regarding information or ideas that become known to them in the course of reviewing manuscripts, and must not use them for personal gain.
The reviewer must not show or discuss the manuscript under review with persons not authorized to do so by the editor. The reviewer must not use unpublished data obtained from manuscripts submitted for consideration in their own research without the written consent of the author.
Absence of Conflicts of Interest
The reviewer is obliged to maintain confidentiality regarding information or ideas that become known to them in the course of reviewing manuscripts, and must not use them for personal gain.
The reviewer must not show or discuss the manuscript under review with persons not authorized to do so by the editor. The reviewer must not use unpublished data obtained from manuscripts submitted for consideration in their own research without the written consent of the author.
Obligations of Authors
Provision of Complete and Accurate Information
Authors are obliged to provide accurate information about the research conducted. The article must contain sufficient detail and bibliographic references to allow other researchers to reproduce the research. False or knowingly erroneous statements are unacceptable and are regarded as a violation of academic ethics.
Absence of Plagiarism
Authors must ensure that they have submitted a completely original work and that all references to and/or quotations from the work of other authors are properly formatted. Plagiarism in any form (from presenting another's work as one's own to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's work without attribution and claiming rights to the results of another's research) constitutes unethical behavior and is absolutely unacceptable.
Absence of Duplicate Publications
An author should not publish works describing the same research in several journals publishing primary publications. Submitting the same manuscript simultaneously to several journals is regarded as unethical behavior and is unacceptable. An author must not submit an article that has already been previously published in another journal.
Compliance with Authorship Attribution Rules
Only those persons who have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, and interpretation of the research presented should be listed as authors of the publication. An author must ensure both that all participants who have made a substantial contribution to the research are listed as co-authors, and that none of the co-authors are those who did not participate in the work. It is also important to ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the work and have agreed to its submission for publication.
Ensuring the Rights of Research Participants
If the work involves animals or humans as research subjects, the author must verify and state in the manuscript that all stages of the research comply with legislation and normative documents of research organizations (e.g., the Declaration of Helsinki (WMA), the regulations on the use of laboratory animals (EU, NIH)), as approved by the relevant ethics committees.
Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
The author is obliged to disclose in their manuscripts any financial or other existing conflicts of interest that could be perceived as having influenced the results or conclusions presented in the work.
Providing Access to Data
The author must be prepared to provide public access to the primary data relevant to the manuscript for consideration by editors upon reasonable request. The author must retain these data for a sufficient period following publication. The employer, funding organization, and other organizations interested in the obtained materials are permitted to retain the data for further shared use.
Ensuring the Authenticity of Photo and Video Materials
When the author provides additional photo and/or video materials, it is not permitted to alter their original content in any way.
Discovery of Errors After Publication
In the event that the author discovers significant errors or inaccuracies in a publication, they must inform the editor for retraction of the publication or correction of the errors.
