Ethics
Regulations on the Ethics
The Editorial Board of the scientific journal Mathematical Machines and Systems, in its work, is guided by the ethics of international scientific publishing, including the principles of integrity, confidentiality, oversight of publications, prevention of potential conflicts of interest, and other relevant standards.
Editors, in turn, follow the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and rely on the experience of reputable international publishers. Compliance with publication ethics by all parties involved in the publishing process helps ensure intellectual property rights, improve publication quality, and prevent the misuse of copyrighted material.
This Regulation aligns with the journal’s policy and constitutes one of the main components of the article review and publishing process.
1. Duties of Authors
Authors are personally responsible for manuscripts submitted to the journal and must adhere to the following principles:
1. Provide accurate and reliable results of conducted research. False or fraudulent statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
2. Upon request of the Editorial Board, provide underlying data for editorial review. Authors must ensure open access to such data and retain it for a reasonable period after publication.
3. Ensure that the research results presented in the manuscript are original. When using fragments of others’ work and/or borrowing statements from other authors, proper references must be provided with mandatory citation of the author(s) and source. Excessive borrowing and plagiarism in any form, including incomplete references, paraphrasing without attribution, or appropriation of others’ research results, is unethical and unacceptable. Articles that compile material published by other authors without original analysis or contribution are not accepted by the Editorial Board.
4. Acknowledge that the author(s) is (are) responsible for the originality and reliability of the research results.
5. Recognize the contribution of all persons who have influenced the study or contributed to its design, structure, or interpretation. In particular, the article must include references to publications that were significant for the study. Information obtained privately through conversations, correspondence, or discussions with third parties may not be used without written permission from the source. All sources must be accessible. Written or illustrative materials from third parties may be used only with appropriate permission submitted to the editor.
6. Submit only original manuscripts. Do not submit articles that are under consideration elsewhere or have been previously published. Failure to comply with this principle is considered a serious violation of publication ethics and may result in rejection of the manuscript. If elements of the manuscript have been previously published, authors must reference the earlier work and clearly indicate how the new work differs significantly. Verbatim reuse or paraphrasing of one’s own previously published text is not acceptable unless it forms a basis for new conclusions.
7. Ensure correct authorship attribution. All co-authors must have made a significant intellectual contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study. Other contributors should be acknowledged. The corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission. All authors bear public responsibility for the content of the article. In multidisciplinary works, each author is responsible for their contribution, while collective responsibility applies to the overall work. It is unacceptable to include individuals who did not contribute to the research as co-authors.
8. In case of significant errors or inaccuracies discovered during review or after publication, authors must notify the journal and cooperate with the Editorial Board to correct them as soon as possible. If a published work is found to contain significant errors, the author must submit a correction or provide evidence supporting the accuracy of the published information.
9. The author should clearly indicate situations in their work where research is related to chemicals, physical and chemical processes or equipment, during which there is a risk to human or animal health. If the research involves the use of animals or humans as subjects, the author must ensure that all procedures were conducted according to the relevant laws and institutional principles, as well as the fact that the relevant government agencies have given their approval. The presented paper should include application and confirmation from the relevant authorities on consent to experiments with people. The right of the person involved in the experiment to privacy must always be followed.
10. Disclose all sources of financial support, including employer information, grants, patents, and other funding sources.
11. Declare any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the research results or their interpretation. All conflicts of interest must be disclosed at the earliest possible stage.
2. Ethical Principles for Reviewers
Reviewers provide scholarly expertise to objectively evaluate the quality of submitted manuscripts and determine their compliance with scientific, literary, and ethical standards. Reviewers must adhere to the following principles:
1. Peer review should assist authors in improving their manuscripts and support the Editor-in-Chief in making publication decisions.
2. A reviewer who does not feel qualified or is unable to complete the review in a timely manner must notify the Editor-in-Chief and decline the assignment.
3. Reviewers must not be an author or co-author of the manuscript under review. This also applies to supervisors of the author and colleagues from the same department or institution.
4. All manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents and must not be discussed with others, except as authorized by the editorial office.
5. Reviews must be objective and free of personal criticism. Opinions should be clearly justified and well-reasoned.
6. Reviewers must identify published articles related to the reviewed articles, not cited by the author. Any statement in the review that some observations, conclusions or arguments in the reviewed article have previously appeared in literature should be accompanied by an accurate bibliographic reference to the source. Reviewers should also draw the attention of the chief editor to significant overlap or similarity of a reviewed article with any other previously published.
7. If plagiarism, authorship issues, or data falsification is suspected, reviewers must inform the Editorial Board for collective consideration.
8. Reviewers should assess the adequacy and accuracy of citations used in the manuscript.
9. Reviewers must not use information obtained during the review process for personal advantage, in accordance with confidentiality principles.
10. Reviewers must decline assignments where conflicts of interest exist due to competition, collaboration, or other relationships with the authors or affiliated institutions.
3. Ethical Principles in the Work of the Editorial Board
Members of the Editorial Board are responsible for publication decisions based on the following principles:
1. When deciding on publication, the Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal is guided by the authenticity of the submitted data and the scientific significance of the reviewed work.
2. The Editor-in-Chief should not have their own interests in relation to the articles they accept or reject.
3. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for decisions regarding which of the submitted articles will be accepted for publication and which will be rejected. They are guided by the journal’s policy and adhere to legal principles, preventing copyright infringement and plagiarism.
4. The Editor-in-Chief evaluates the submitted article solely on its scientific content, regardless of the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious convictions, ethnicity, nationality (with the exception of citizenship of the aggressor country), origin, social status, or political views.
5. The Editor-in-Chief, the editorial and publishing staff, and the members of the Editorial Board should not disclose information presented in the journal article to anyone except the author(s), assigned and potential reviewers, other editorial staff, and (if necessary) the publisher.
6. Unpublished data from manuscripts submitted for consideration should not be used by the Editor-in-Chief, editorial staff, members of the editorial and publishing groups, or the Editorial Board for personal purposes or transferred to third parties without written permission.
7. The Editor-in-Chief should not allow the publication of a submitted article if there is sufficient reason to believe that it contains plagiarism.
8. The article, in case of approval for publication, is placed in open access, with copyright retained by the authors.
9. The Editor-in-Chief, together with the publisher, should not leave claims relating to reviewed manuscripts or published materials unanswered. In case of a conflict situation, they should take all necessary measures to restore infringed rights, and in case of detected errors, promote the publication of corrections or retractions.
10. The Editor-in-Chief, the editorial staff, and the publishing and editorial group must ensure the confidentiality of the names and other information relating to reviewers. If necessary, when assigning a new reviewer, the latter may be informed of the names of previous reviewers.
4. Ethical Principles in Publishing Activities
The publisher is responsible for supporting ethical publishing practices according to the following principles:
1. Facilitate the implementation of ethical responsibilities of editors, the editorial and publishing group, the Editorial Board, reviewers, and authors in accordance with these requirements.
2. Support the journal in reviewing claims related to the ethical aspects of published materials and assist in interaction with other journals and/or publishers when it facilitates the duties of the editors.
3. Uphold the principle that the journal operates on a non-commercial basis and does not aim to generate profit.
4. Facilitate the publication of corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when necessary.
5. Enable the journal to retract publications containing plagiarism or inaccurate data.
