PUBLICATIONS ETHICS

Ethical Obligations of the Journal Editorial Board

In formulating the publishing policy of the –“Applied Aspects Information Technology”– the editorial board was guided by the recommendations of Elsevier, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the experience of both Ukrainian and international scientific and technical journals.

Publishing in an international scientific and technical journal is a form of scholarly communication that significantly contributes to the development of the field of information technology

Preservation of the scientific archive: The editorial board plays a key role in supporting the editorial team and reviewers, as well as in maintaining the integrity of the journal’s scientific archive.

Editorial independence: The editorial board is committed to preventing any external (financial or other) influence on editorial decisions. All decisions regarding peer review, acceptance, rejection, and publication are based solely on objective criteria.

Appeals policy: Authors may appeal editorial decisions by submitting a written request within one month of receiving the decision. Appeals are considered only for peer-reviewed manuscripts and must include detailed responses to editorial and reviewer comments, supported by evidence.

Author identification: To ensure transparency in the publication process, authors are required to provide an ORCID identifier .

Ethical conduct of the editor-in-chief, reviewers, and authors is an integral part of the journal’s editorial policy. Detailed provisions are outlined below.

Ethical Obligations of the Editor-in-Chief

Publication decisions: The editor-in-chief holds full responsibility for decisions regarding the publication of submitted articles, taking into account their scientific significance, reliability, and relevance to the journal’s readership

Peer review process: Editors ensure a fair, objective, and timely peer review process by appointing reviewers with appropriate subject expertise. They also promote transparency, inclusiveness, and diversity in the editorial and publication workflow

Fair evaluation: All manuscripts are evaluated solely on the basis of their academic and practical value, regardless of the authors’ identity, affiliation, academic degree, gender, nationality, or other personal characteristics

Confidentiality: The editor-in-chief guarantees the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and related correspondence with reviewers and authors.

Conflict of interest: Any potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed and properly managed when making editorial decisions

Ethical Obligations of Reviewers

Support in editorial decision-making: Reviewers provide constructive and independent feedback that assists the editorial board in making well-informed decisions and helps authors improve the quality of their manuscripts.

Confidentiality: All materials received for review must be treated as confidential documents and must not be shared or discussed with third parties without the explicit permission of the editorial office.

Objectivity and independence: Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts impartially, based on academic and ethical standards, and must avoid personal or professional bias.

Conflicts of interest and disclosure.

Reviewers must not use information, ideas, or results obtained through peer review for personal advantage.
If a conflict of interest exists (e.g., competition, co-authorship, institutional, financial, or employment-related connections), reviewers should decline to review the manuscript.

Reviewers are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest to the editorial board prior to accepting the review assignment.

Ethical Obligations of the Authors

Responsibility and accuracy. Authors are responsible for the accuracy, reliability, and reproducibility of their research results. All data must be collected, processed, and presented honestly, without fabrication or falsification.

Data access and retention. Upon request by the editorial board, authors must provide the raw data supporting their findings and retain these data for a reasonable period after publication.

Originality and citation of sources. Manuscripts must be original. Authors must appropriately cite prior publications and avoid all forms of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism.

Authorship criteria. Only those who have made a significant scholarly contribution to the conception, execution, or interpretation of the research should be listed as co-authors.

Conflict of interest. Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that may affect the interpretation of the research results or be perceived as influencing them.

Commercial neutrality. Submitted manuscripts must not contain advertising content or promote commercial products.

Error correction. If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in a published article, they are obliged to promptly notify the editorial board and cooperate in retracting or correcting the article.

Avoidance of duplicate submission. Authors must not submit the same or substantially similar manuscripts simultaneously to more than one journal. Republishing without justification or proper reference is considered unethical.

Research and Publication Ethics

Authors must confirm that the manuscript is an original work, has not been previously published, and is not under consideration elsewhere. Simultaneous submission to another journal constitutes, a violation of the journal’s editorial policy and may result in rejection.

If the manuscript was previously submitted, to another journal, the authors must provide full disclosure of the previous submission and peer review history.

If the manuscript is based on a research project or was previously presented at a conference (either orally or in print), this information must be disclosed in a cover letter or manuscript note.

Authors affirm that the manuscript does not contain false claims or statements that violate the rights of third parties. In the event of any legal claims regarding damages, responsibility lies with the author.

Authorship

Authors must ensure that only those individuals who have made substantial contributions to the manuscript are listed as co-authors, and that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Contributions that do not meet the criteria for authorship (e.g., technical assistance, general supervision, or financial support) should be acknowledged appropriately in a footnote or in the “Acknowledgements” section.

Changes to the author list (addition or removal after submission are allowed only with written justification provided to the editorial board and the publisher.

Attempts to introduce “honorary,” or “ghost” authorship will be treated as serious violations of publishing ethics.

Access to and Storage of Data

During the peer review process, the editorial board may request original (raw) data that support the findings reported in the manuscript. Authors are expected to retain these data for the duration of the review process and for a reasonable period after publication, in order to ensure transparency and the possibility of verification.

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that the submitted manuscript is entirely original and does not contain any form of plagiarism. When using the work, ideas, or data of others, proper citation and attribution must be provided in accordance with academic standards.

Plagiarism may take various forms, including presenting another person’s work as one’s own, copying substantial parts of text, or paraphrasing without proper acknowledgment. All such practices are considered unethical and unacceptable scholarly publishing.

All submitted manuscripts are subject to similarity checks using StrikePlagiarism software to ensure academic integrity and prevent misconduct.

If clear evidence of plagiarism is found during the review, the manuscript will be rejected immediately. If plagiarism is covered after publication, the article will be retracted. Additional sanctions may be applied to the authors as deemed appropriate by the editorial board.

Funding information

If the research presented in the article was supported by governmental, academic, commercial, or other funding bodies, the authors must indicate the sources of funding in the appropriate section of the manuscript or in the acknowledgements.