Peer Review Process

Type: Double-blind peer review (authors and reviewers are anonymous).

Stages:

Internal: Review by the managing editor for scope compliance, technical requirements, and plagiarism check (StrikePlagiarism/iThenticate).

External: Evaluation by at least two independent experts.

Timelines: The review process takes up to 3 months. No more than 2 revision rounds are permitted.

Decision options: Accept; minor revisions required (author is given 5 days); major revisions required (2 weeks); reject with the right to resubmit; reject outright.

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Publication Ethics and Integrity

The journal adheres to COPE and EASE standards, as well as FAIR principles.

• Plagiarism: Any form of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or data fabrication results in immediate rejection without the right of resubmission.

• Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) may be used solely for language improvement; AI cannot be listed as a co-author. The use of AI must be clearly declared in the manuscript (in the Methods or Acknowledgments section).

• Conflict of Interest: Authors are required to declare any financial or personal interests that may influence the research results.

• Political Neutrality: The journal does not publish research affiliated with institutions in aggressor countries or state sponsors of terrorism.

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Author Guidelines (Manuscript)

• Structure: The article must follow the IMRAD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion).

• Language: High-quality scientific English and Ukrainian.

• Originality: The manuscript must not have been previously published or be currently under consideration by other journals.

• Authorship: Each co-author must have made a substantial intellectual contribution (according to ICMJE criteria or CRediT taxonomy). Changing the author list after submission is prohibited (except in exceptional cases decided by the editorial board).

• Sources and Data: Mandatory citation of all used materials and funding sources. It is recommended to deposit raw datasets in repositories (e.g., Zenodo) and provide a DOI.

• Preprints: Submission of articles previously posted on preprint servers is permitted, provided this information is disclosed.

 

 

Open Access and Copyright

Access: The journal practices immediate Open Access in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative.

License: All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY 4.0), which permits free distribution provided that proper attribution is given.

Copyright:

Authors who submit manuscripts to the journal retain copyright over their works and grant the journal the right of first publication.

Upon acceptance of an article for publication, authors agree to the terms of its distribution under the selected open access license.

Authors:

• retain copyright over published materials;

• authorize the journal to publish, distribute, and archive the article;

• warrant that the submitted material is original and does not infringe the rights of third parties.

Authors bear full responsibility for the content of submitted materials, including compliance with the copyright of third parties.

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Article Processing Charge (APC)

The journal is non-profit and operates under an open access model. No fee is charged for peer review.

The publication fee is 800 UAH (for up to 12 pages). Each additional page is charged separately at 40 UAH.

Payment is collected only after the editorial board has made a final positive decision to publish.

The editorial board accepts for free publication sole-authored articles by third-cycle higher education students enrolled on a state-funded basis, provided the articles meet the established requirements and principles of academic integrity. Along with their article, third-cycle students (doctoral candidates/PhD students) enrolled on a state-funded basis must submit a certificate from the postgraduate studies department confirming their state-funded enrollment. The certificate must be signed by the head of the postgraduate studies department and stamped with that department's seal.

If desired, the author may order a printed copy of the journal.

The fee may be revised no more than twice per year (in January and July). The fee in effect on the date of official manuscript submission remains fixed for that author regardless of any subsequent changes.

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Archiving Policy

The journal ensures long-term preservation of all published materials through:

• hosting on the journal's official website;

• assignment of a DOI digital identifier to each article via Crossref, ensuring a permanent link to the publication, stable access, and integration with international scholarly infrastructure;

• deposit in the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv repository;

• posting of electronic versions of the journal on the website of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine;

• use of the institution's electronic archives.

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Self-Archiving

Authors are entitled to deposit published articles in:

• institutional repositories;

• subject-based archives;

• personal websites;

• other open scholarly platforms.

In all cases, the original source of publication in the journal must be acknowledged.

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FAIR Principles

The journal supports the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), aimed at ensuring the openness, accessibility, and reproducibility of research data.

Research data should be easily findable through the use of persistent identifiers and quality metadata; accessible via standard protocols or clear access conditions; presented in formats that ensure interoperability with other systems; and suitable for reuse where clear documentation and licensing terms are provided.

The journal encourages authors to deposit research data in open repositories and to provide links to such data in their publications, thereby supporting the principles of transparency and reproducibility of research.

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Post-Publication Policy

• Corrections: Minor technical errors are corrected via an Erratum notice; significant scientific errors are addressed through a separate correction publication with a new DOI.

• Retraction: An article is retracted via an official editorial statement in cases of unreliable data, plagiarism, or serious ethical violations.

• Appeals: Authors have the right to appeal a rejection decision by submitting a formal request to the Editor-in-Chief with a detailed scientific justification.