General Provisions
The editorial board of the scientific peer-reviewed electronic journal “Russian Journal of Ecosystem Ecology” in its work is guided by the traditional ethical principles of scientific periodicals and ethical principles of Core Practices, developed and approved by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), requiring compliance with these rules from all participants of the publishing process.
The activities of the editorial board of the scientific journal “Russian Journal of Ecosystem Ecology” are aimed at meeting the needs of readers and authors while respecting their rights and legitimate interests.
The procedure for receiving, evaluating and publishing scientific articles is open. The editors promptly inform the authors and other concerned specialists about all the changes to the existing rules.
In accordance with the policy of the scientific journal “Russian Journal of Ecosystem Ecology” and in order to prevent violations of intellectual property legislation, all the materials submitted for review are checked for plagiarism. In case of reasonable suspicions of plagiarism or detection of techniques to hide its presence, the articles are not accepted for further consideration.
In case of detecting numerous borrowings, the editorial board act in accordance with the COPE’s guidance.
The editorial board guarantees high quality of the published material through the existence of a multi-stage peer review system, monitoring that the journal does not have articles which have not been peer reviewed, or have received a negative expert assessment. The choice of a reviewer is based on the possibility of obtaining a high-quality expert assessment of scientific material.
The editorial board provides reviewers with all the necessary information about their rights and obligations, as well as about the procedure for conducting an examination and requirements for a review. The editors strive to ensure that the expert assessment is fair, objective and timely. The editorial board reserves the right to terminate cooperation with reviewers who fail to perform their duties properly, correctly or timely.
The editors promptly respond to constructive comments from readers, authors and reviewers; take into account their wishes in order to improve their activities.
The editorial board is responsible for the quality of published scientific articles, and also supports initiatives aimed at reducing the number of incorrect actions by researchers and violations of ethics.
Principles of Professional Ethics for Editors
The editor of the scientific journal “Russian Journal of Ecosystem Ecology” is responsible for making the final decision on publication and acknowledges this responsibility, which stipulates the obligation to follow the fundamental ethical principles.
The editor bases their decision to publish the work solely on reliability of the presented data and scientific significance of the work.
The intellectual work of scientists is recognized as the highest value; all decisions of the editor are made in the interests of assisting the author in improving their scientific work.
The editor’s decision to publish an article does not depend on the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, social status or political preferences of the authors. Financial or political interests do not influence the decision to publish materials.
When deciding on publication, the editor is guided by the policy of the scientific journal “Russian Journal of Ecosystem Ecology”, and also has the right to consult with other editors and experts in the relevant field.
Unpublished data obtained from the manuscripts submitted for consideration are recognized as confidential, are not used for personal purposes and are not transferred to third parties without the written consent of the author.
Editors will not review a manuscript in respect of which they have a conflict of interest. They are excluded from the review of the manuscript by way of self-disqualification.
Editors will not allow the manuscript to be published if there are sufficient grounds to consider it plagiarism.
The editor, together with the publisher, does not leave unanswered the claims regarding the reviewed manuscripts or published materials, and if a conflict situation occurs, they take all the necessary measures to redress the violated rights. Such measures typically include contacting the author of the manuscript or article and due consideration of the complaint or claims, but they may also include further communication to the relevant institutions and investigative bodies. Any reported act of unethical conduct upon publication must be reviewed by an editor, even if it is discovered years after the publication.
The editor of the journal publishes information on corrections, refutations and reviews of articles, if necessary.
Principles of Professional Ethics for Reviewers
The reviewer of the scientific journal “Russian Journal of Ecosystem Ecology” in his activities is guided by the approved procedure for reviewing the manuscripts of the journal.
The reviewer gives an objective and reasoned assessment of the stated research outcomes. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable. A reviewer who does not have sufficient competence in his own opinion, as well as if there is a conflict of interest, declares self-disqualification and does not participate in the review process of the manuscript.
The manuscript received for review is considered as a confidential document not available to third parties.
Unpublished data obtained from the manuscript submitted for consideration are not used by the reviewer for personal purposes.
Ethical Principles for the Author of a Scientific Publication
The author is responsible for the novelty and credibility of the research results, compliance with ethical norms, when performing the experimental work described in the article. Intentionally false or misleading statements are unethical and unacceptable.
Submitting a manuscript to more than one journal at a time is considered unethical.
The author guarantees that the research results presented in the submitted manuscript are original. Borrowed fragments and statements must be provided with the obligatory indication of the author and the original source. Plagiarism in all forms is considered unethical and unacceptable.
At the request of the editorial board, the author of the manuscript in question provides the results of the main research for examination. The author is aware that any evasion from providing the editorial board with the research results is considered as an attempt to hide the researcher’s inappropriate behavior.
The author does not allow duplication of publications. If individual elements of the manuscript have already been published, the author refers to an earlier work and indicates the differences between the new work and the previous one.
If there is a possible conflict of interest, the author informs about this at the stage of submitting the manuscript. Concealing the existence of a conflict of interest by the author is unacceptable.
The author does not allow personal, critical remarks about other researchers and their scientific works.
The list of authors includes only those individuals who have made significant contribution to the research. It is unacceptable to indicate as co-authors people who are not participating in the research. In cases where research participants have made a significant contribution in a particular area of a research project, they are indicated as persons who have made a significant contribution to this research.
If the author discovers significant errors or inaccuracies in the work at the stage of its consideration or publication, they immediately notify the editorial board of the journal about it.
If there are several co-authors, all decisions on changing the text are made collectively, the final version of the manuscript being coordinated by each co-author.
Principles of Professional Ethics for Publishers
The publisher supports scientific communication, invests in the publication process and is responsible for complying with all existing ethical principles.
The publisher supports the editorial board of the journal in considering complaints about the ethical aspects of published materials, helps to interact with other publishers, if this helps to fulfill the duties of the editors.
The publisher provides the necessary legal support to the editorial board, if necessary. The publisher has no influence on the editorial policy of the journal. He has the right to publish edits, clarifications and statements about the retraction of the articles in which violations of scientific ethics or errors were revealed.
Conflict of Interest and Violation of Ethics
In order to avoid violation of publication ethics, a conflict of interests of all parties involved in the process of publishing the manuscript should be avoided. Examples of potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include employment, consulting, shareholding, royalties, paid expert testimony, patent applications / registrations, grants, or other funding. A potential conflict of interest should be disclosed as early as possible. If a situation occurs which is related to a violation of publication ethics by any of the parties involved in the editorial and publishing process, a mandatory investigation and a public explanation of the conflict of interest are carried out.
The editorial board take seriously all cases of possible misconduct of the authors. In these cases, the editorial board refuses to publish the material, requires a response from the offender and takes all the necessary actions to ensure a proper investigation of a specific offense. In dealing with such situations, the editorial board follows the COPE’s guidance, which describe how to deal with cases of alleged misconduct.
In case of proven misconduct of the author during the research or writing the manuscript, including revealing the facts of falsification and fabrication of data, the article may be retracted. Information about the retraction of the article is placed in a special section of the official website of the publisher and is duplicated in the content of the journal issue in the archive. The original article is not removed from the site, but is marked with the “Retracted article” sign. The ethics committee is notified of the fact of the article retraction; relevant information is sent to all databases that index the journal’s articles.
All research involving humans and animals must be conducted in accordance with appropriate ethical requirements. If there is a suspicion that the research was not conducted in accordance with the appropriate ethical requirements, the editorial board may reject the manuscript and may inform third parties, such as the author’s institution and ethics committee (s).
If the author does not agree with the results of the review, he has the right to file an appeal. An appeal is allowed only in cases where the author can substantiate the reviewer’s error, as well as to provide additional data indicating the possible bias of the expert. Authors willing to appeal the decision of the editorial board must submit an official letter of appeal to the journal by contacting the editorial board of the journal.