Publication ethics

The Bulletin of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Public Administration is a local open access academic journal published by the Department of Public Administration of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. At the same time, editorial board facilitates the compliance with high standards of international publication ethics, in particular the Core Practises promulgated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Editorial board also follows the local ethical principles stated in the Charter of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv  and the Ethical Code of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv adopted at the employees conference of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv on December 27, 2017 (Minutes № 2).

 

The ethical principles of the journal have been developed in a way to be valid for the broadest possible range of individuals who may be involved in the publication process. Editorial board of the journal takes into account both international ethical standards and local ethical practices, based on more than 185 years of history, goals, objectives and peculiarities of academic journals publishing at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Editorial board of the journal aims to prevent cases of academic dishonesty and violations of publication ethics such as:

  • Ideological and political prejudices

Political propaganda of any form and manifestation; lobbying of interests of a certain political actor; open or hidden sympathy for any political ideology, party or program.

  • Ghost authorship (contributorship)

Hiding the personal input of the contributor(s); an indication of the contributors who did not conduct the scientific research for any reason (senior position, scientific authority, monetary reward, etc.).

  • Censorship (including self-censorship)

Pressurizing the author to hide facts, ideas, conclusions and other information for ideological, political and other reasons. Self-censorship means the author's deliberate hiding of facts, ideas, conclusions and other information for ideological, political and other reasons.

  • Conflict of interest

Incompatibility of goals, beliefs and values that makes an unbiased assessment of research results impossible.

  • Discriminatory research practices and discriminatory statements

Any form of discrimination on racial, sexual, age, ethnic or other grounds in the course of scientific research and presentation of its results.

  • Fabrication of data

Deliberate production of information (quotations, translation, survey data, etc.), which is not obtained through relevant scientific research.

  • Not providing references to the sources

Deliberate disregard for the sources (achievements of other authors, statistical data, etc.) that were used in the research.

  • Data falsification

Making changes by adding, omitting or misrepresenting information to justify or hide errors in scientific research.

  • Intentional use of logical errors for the manipulation purposes

A conscious violation of the rules of logic to deceive readers.

  • Excite hostility by using hate speech

The use of hate speech (statements) that provoke hostility and conflict.

  • Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to several journals

Submission of the same manuscript to the editorial boards of two or more journals at the same time.

  • Providing false information about qualifications and experience by authors and individuals involved in the publication process

The intentional provision (hiding) of false information by the author(s) regarding the degree, academic rank, position, biography, workplace, work or research experience, profiles on social networks, such as ORCID, Scopus Author ID, ResearcherID, etc.

  • Academic plagiarism in any form (including self-plagiarism, "translated" plagiarism)

The use of other authors' ideas, statements, achievements, results with no references to the source. "Translated" plagiarism means misrepresentation of words, grammatical constructions, methods, results of paper written in a foreign language in order to conceal the authorship of the original text. "Translated" plagiarism is based on the manipulation of grammatical, lexical and cultural differences between two different languages.

  • Pseudonyms

The use of a false first name, surname or other data to make identification of the author impossible. 

 

Practices in handling conflicts of interest

The historical tradition of academic publishing, which has been formed over the 185-year history of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, is the Bulletin of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Public administration functions as a local journal that primarily publishes the scientific findings obtained by researchers, teachers and PhD students of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and its international and Ukrainian academic partners. At the same time, a fact that the vast majority of members of the journal's editorial board are employees of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, creates a permanent situation of conflict of interest. However, the editorial board has developed and implemented a set of the following practices, which ensure unbiased peer review of the submitted manuscripts.

  • All manuscripts are submitted directly to the journal editor-in-chief (by means of an automated manuscript submission system), who then assigns them for further peer review. Other editorial board members do not have access to the information about the authors of the submitted manuscripts.
  • Before assigning a manuscript for peer review, the editor-in-chief takes all necessary measures to remove any information from its text, which can be used to identify the author (s).
  • All manuscripts undergo a double blind peer review.
  • The submitted manuscript is necessarily reviewed by at least one peer-reviewer who is not affiliated with Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. As a rule, the peer review is carried out by invited experts from other scientific institutions and universities of Ukraine, as well as international experts.
  • Authors, editorial board and experts affiliated with Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv are ethically responsible for violating the objectivity of manuscript peer review according to sections 4.1., 4.2., 4.3. of Ethical Code of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Papers published by the editorial board members

Taking into account that the Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Public administration functions as a local journal that primarily publishes the scientific findings obtained by researchers, teachers and PhD students of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and its international and Ukrainian academic partners, editorial board members are allowed to submit their papers for publication.

However, the manuscripts submitted by the editorial board members are peer-reviewed only by those experts who are not affiliated with the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The violation of ethical rules by a member of the editorial board acting as the author of the paper will result in his resignation from the editorial board.

Ethical guidelines for authors

  • The authors of manuscripts must understand, acknowledge and follow the academic policy, aims, scope and ethical principles of the journal.
  • Authors must strictly comply with the manuscript requirements specified by the editorial board.
  • Authors must avoid any ideological and political prejudices while conducting scientific research and preparing the manuscript.
  • The authors must declare any conflict of interest whether it is real or suspected.
  • Authors must not use pseudonyms or other misleading data that make it impossible to identify them.
  • Authors must use reliable sources that can be verified by peer reviewers and editorial board members.
  • Authors must comply with the principles of academic honesty, avoid any form of plagiarism, censorship, fabrication or falsification of data, and declare any existing or potential conflict of interest.
  • Authors are prohibited from submitting manuscripts containing discriminatory statements (on racial, gender, age or other grounds).
  • Authors must not employ manipulative technologies of logical, rhetorical and other sorts in order to purposefully form some non-academic beliefs (political, ideological, value) in readers.
  • The authors should avoid presenting material that excites hostility, provokes aggressive actions.
  • Authors are required to provide a complete and exhaustive list of the sources they used to conduct the study, as well as reliable, complete and exhaustive information about their scientific and academic qualifications, place of work/study, and previous experience.
  • If the manuscript is a collaborative effort, each of the authors is expected to make a significant contribution to the research activities and manuscript composition. It is forbidden to manipulate the authorship by including contributors who have not made any substantial input into the study. If the scholar provided a minor organizational, technical, consulting or other similar assistance to the authors, this fact has to be noted in the manuscript text.
  • The authors undertake to provide reliable information about their profiles in scientometric electronic databases, such as ORCID, Scopus Author ID, Researcher ID and others.

Ethical guidelines for editors

  • The editor-in-chief is fully responsible for the content and quality of published materials, management of the journal, compliance with ethical principles and publishing standards.
  • Editor-in-chief has the right to make a sole decision on publication or rejection of manuscripts submitted to the journal.
  • Editor-in-chief determines the academic and editorial policy of the journal, defines its goals and objectives and presents the journal in mass media and on the Internet.
  • An editor is responsible for the high quality of the published papers as well as for journal compliance with international publication ethics standards, in particular with the Core Practisespromulgated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), in the Charter of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and the Ethical Code of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv adopted at the conference of employees of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv on December 27, 2017 (Minutes № 2).
  • An editor has the right to verify the reliability of the scientific information contained in the manuscript, as well as the reliability of the information on scientific activities, experience and qualifications of the authors. An editor has the right to contact both the authors of the manuscript for such information or to consult the other public sources of information.
  • An editor must avoid conflicts of interest and, if they occur, declare them by reporting them to the editor-in-chief of the journal.
  • An editor must be impartial and unbiased evaluating the manuscript.
  • An editor must treat all individuals involved in the publication of the journal with respect, regardless of their position, scientific experience, professional background, racial or ethnic origin, age or personal preferences.
  • If facts or reasonable suspicions of academic dishonesty and/or violations of publication ethics are detected, the editor does not have the right to decide on their own, but should contact the editor-in-chief of the journal on the matter.
  • An editor has no right to disclose information about the manuscripts received, or to use any material implicit in them for their own academic research.
  • An editor is responsible for the quality of published papers and for their compliance with publishing standards.
  • An editor has the right, with the approval of the editor-in-chief, to invite independent experts to evaluate submitted manuscripts.

Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers

  • The peer reviewers of the journal follow the Ethical guidelines for peer-reviewers, promulgated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
  • Peer reviewers must evaluate the manuscript objectively and impartially.
  • If a peer reviewer in any way has become aware of the information about the author(s) of the manuscript, he should suspend the review process and inform the editor in chief of the journal.
  • Peer reviewer has no right to take any actions to identify the authors of the manuscript.
  • Peer reviewer has no right to disclose any information about the manuscripts reviewed or to use any material implicit in them for the purpose of their own academic research.
  • A peer reviewer must not take any steps to identify other reviewers who are evaluating a similar manuscript.
  • Peer reviewer in his review must avoid judgements that are not related to the text of the manuscript, for instance, authors' qualifications, personal qualities etc.

Practices in reporting cases of academic dishonesty and violations of publication ethics after the paper has been published

If facts or reasonable suspicions of academic dishonesty and/or violations of publication ethics are detected, any interested party must contact the editor-in-chief by e-mail. Anonymous appeals are not accepted. Appeals made by the author who hides his identity by using pseudonyms are not accepted.

The standard complaint procedure includes the following steps:

  • The editorial board examines the content of the complaint and determines whether there is any academic dishonesty and/or violations of publication ethics.
  • If facts of academic dishonesty and/or violations of publication ethics are detected, the editorial board chooses the best approach to address them based on the recommendations of the Committee. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
  • The editorial board makes corrections, contradictions, changes to the published article, or withdraws the article from the journal archive and other databases where the journal is indexed.