Ethics guidelines of the editorial board are based on the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics, as well as the DORA principles.

 

Publication Decisions & Accountability

The editorial board of the academic journal “Science and Education” is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal should be published, and, moreover, is accountable for everything published in the journal. In making these decisions, the editor may be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board and/or the policies of the publisher, as well as, by the legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers when making publication decisions. The editor should maintain the integrity of the academic record, preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards, and always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.

Fair play

The editorial board evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s).

Confidentiality

The editorial board does not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure, conflicts of interest, and other issues

The editor will be guided by COPE’s Guidelines for Retracting Articles when considering retracting, issuing expressions of concern about, and issuing corrections pertaining to articles that have been published in the journal.

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the explicit written consent of the author(s). Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

The editor is committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint, or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions.

The editor should seek so ensure a fair and appropriate peer-review process. The editor should require all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after publication. If needed, other appropriate action should be taken, such as the publication of a retraction or expression of concern.

 

2. Reviewer Responsibilities

Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through the editorial communication with the author, may also assist the author in improving the manuscript.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review are treated as confidential documents. They are not shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by the editor.

Standards of objectivity

Reviews are always conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author(s) is inacceptable. Referees should express their views clearly with appropriate supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the author(s). Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. Reviewers should also call to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published data of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

 

3. Author Responsibilities

Reporting standards

Authors reporting results of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the manuscript. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality and plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, redundant, or concurrent publication

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Parallel submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should also cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of a manuscript

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co- authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be named in an Acknowledgement section. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co- authors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list of the manuscript, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. All co-authors must be clearly indicated at the time of manuscript submission. Requests to add co-authors after a manuscript has been accepted will require approval of the editor.

Fundamental errors in published works

If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal’s editor or publisher and cooperate with him/her to either retract the paper or to publish an appropriate correction statement or erratum.

 

In accordance with the principles of DORA, the Journal:

• evaluates manuscripts solely on the basis of their scientific quality, originality, methodological soundness, and contribution to the advancement of knowledge;

• does not use journal-based metrics (including the Impact Factor) as a criterion for assessing individual articles or the scientific quality of an author;

• does not encourage artificial inflation of citation metrics;

• supports the responsible use of scientometric indicators.

 

Conflict of Interest

The editorial board of the journal is committed to ensuring transparency at all stages of the publication process and preventing any influence of conflicts of interest on the objectivity of scientific evaluation and editorial decisions.

A conflict of interest arises when personal, financial, professional, or other external factors may influence or appear to influence the impartiality of an author, reviewer, or editor.

Authors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could be perceived as affecting the results or interpretation of their research. These may include:

financial support;

employment or consultancy relationships;

stock ownership;

patents or patent applications;

personal or professional relationships.

Conflict of interest information must be included in a separate section of the article. If no conflicts exist, the authors should state: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

Reviewers must inform the editorial board if they have any potential conflicts of interest (e.g., personal relationships with the authors, recent co-authorship, competitive research) and decline to review if such a conflict may affect their objectivity.

Editors must not be involved in editorial decisions regarding manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest. In such cases, the responsibility is delegated to another member of the editorial board.

The editorial board reserves the right to request additional information or take appropriate action if an undisclosed conflict of interest is discovered after publication.

 

Procedure for Handling Complaints Regarding Violations of Academic Integrity and Publication Ethics

The Editorial Office of the scholarly journal adheres to the principles of academic integrity, transparency, and responsibility, and follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Submission of a complaint.

Complaints regarding possible violations of academic integrity, plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of data, conflicts of interest, duplicate or redundant publications, authorship issues, or other breaches of publication ethics should be submitted to the Editorial Office in written form (via email), clearly stating the nature of the alleged violation and providing supporting evidence or justification.

2. Preliminary assessment.

The Editorial Board conducts an initial evaluation of the complaint to determine its validity and relevance to the journal’s scope. If necessary, the Editorial Office may request explanations or additional materials from the author(s).

3. Investigation.

If the complaint is deemed well-founded, the Editorial Board initiates an internal investigation involving independent experts or Editorial Board members not associated with the handling of the manuscript in question. All parties have the right to be heard.

4. Decision-making.

Based on the results of the investigation, the Editorial Board may decide to:

close the case if no violation is found;

require corrections or clarifications;

publish a correction, expression of concern, or retraction;

reject the manuscript or impose a temporary ban on future submissions;

inform the author’s institution or other relevant bodies, if appropriate.

5. Notification of parties.

The complainant and the author(s) are informed of the outcome of the complaint review in writing within the timeframe established by the Editorial Office. All correspondence is handled confidentially.

6. Confidentiality and impartiality.

All complaints are handled confidentially, objectively, and without discrimination. The Editorial Office ensures that no conflicts of interest affect the complaint review process.

The Editorial Office reserves the right to act in accordance with international standards and COPE recommendations in cases not covered by this procedure.

 

Procedure for Retraction and Corrections of Published Articles

The editorial office of the scholarly journal “Science and Education” follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and ensures transparent, timely, and well-founded procedures for the retraction of publications, correction of errors, and informing readers in cases where problems are identified in published materials.

Retraction of Articles

Retraction is applied in cases where:

serious violations of academic integrity are identified (plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification);

significant errors are found that render the results unreliable;

violations of research ethics are established;

duplicate publication or other serious breaches of publication ethics are detected.

The retraction procedure includes:

conducting an editorial review involving the authors and, if necessary, institutions or ethics committees;

adopting a reasoned decision by the editorial board;

publishing an official retraction notice.

After retraction, the article remains in the journal archive with a clear indication of its retracted status. The text of the article is not removed but is marked as retracted with an appropriate explanation of the reasons.

Corrections and Clarifications

In cases where errors are identified that do not substantially affect the scientific conclusions but require clarification or correction (typographical errors, inaccuracies in data, names, tables, references, etc.), the editorial office:

publishes an official correction notice (erratum or corrigendum);

retains the original version of the article in the archive;

adds a note to the electronic version of the article indicating the changes and the date of correction.

All decisions regarding retractions and corrections are made in accordance with the principles of transparency, objectivity, fairness, and the protection of research integrity.

 

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-Assisted Technologies

The Editorial Board of the scholarly journal acknowledges the growing role of artificial intelligence and AI-assisted tools in academic writing, research, and publishing. The use of such technologies must comply with the principles of academic integrity, transparency, responsibility, and ethical standards.

AI may be used only as a supportive tool and must not be listed as an author or co-author of a scholarly work.

Authors bear full responsibility for the content of the submitted manuscript, regardless of whether AI tools were used.

All claims, interpretations, and conclusions must be based on verified scholarly data and sources.

Authors may use AI-assisted tools for:

language and stylistic editing;

improving the structure and clarity of the text;

translation;

searching for general information or ideas for formulating research questions.

The following is not permitted:

using AI to generate the core scholarly content, research results, conclusions, or interpretations;

submitting AI-generated text as original authorship without proper verification and editing;

using AI to fabricate, falsify, or manipulate data;

listing AI as an author or co-author.

Authors are required to:

disclose the use of AI-assisted tools in the relevant section of the manuscript or in the cover letter;

specify the purpose and stage at which AI was used during the preparation of the article.

Reviewers should not use AI tools to analyze manuscripts if this may compromise confidentiality.

The Editorial Office may use AI for technical checks (e.g., plagiarism detection or language screening) without interfering with the scholarly content.

Violations of this policy are considered breaches of academic integrity and publication ethics and may result in:

rejection of the manuscript;

retraction of a published article;

notification of the author’s affiliated institution.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to update this policy in accordance with technological developments and international standards in scholarly publishing.

 

Ethical Requirements for Research Involving Humans, Animals, Biomaterials, and Personal Data

The editorial board of the scientific journal "Science and Education" adheres to the principles of research ethics and academic integrity in the review and publication of research results.

In cases where submitted manuscripts present the results of research involving human participants, animals, biological materials, personal or confidential data, authors must confirm that such research was conducted in accordance with the current legislation of Ukraine, internationally recognized ethical standards, and the regulations of the institutions where the research was carried out.

If the research involved human participants (including athletes, pupils, students, coaches, or other individuals), the authors must indicate in the manuscript that:

the study was approved by the relevant institutional ethics committee or research ethics board of the educational or scientific institution;

all participants were properly informed about the purpose and conditions of the research;

voluntary informed consent was obtained from the participants for their participation in the study and for the use of the collected data for scientific purposes.

When personal or confidential data are used, authors must ensure that their processing complies with the legislation on personal data protection and must guarantee the anonymity and confidentiality of research participants.

If the research involved animals, the authors must confirm that all procedures were carried out in accordance with ethical standards for the treatment of laboratory and other animals and in compliance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements.

The editorial office may request that authors provide a copy of the ethics committee approval or other documentary evidence confirming compliance with ethical standards for conducting the research.

 

Privacy Statement and Personal Data Processing Policy

The Editorial Office of the scholarly journal “Science and Education” respects users’ right to privacy and ensures the protection of personal data in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and international standards for personal data processing.

Collection and Use of Personal Data

Names, email addresses, and other personal data provided by authors, reviewers, and website users are used exclusively for the purposes of:

supporting the editorial and publishing process;

communication regarding manuscript submission, peer review, and publication;

maintaining the operation of the journal’s website.

Such data are not disclosed to third parties or used for commercial purposes without the user’s explicit consent, except as required by law.

Personal Data Protection

The journal applies appropriate technical and organizational security measures to prevent unauthorized access, loss, alteration, or disclosure of personal data.

Users have the right:

to access their personal data;

to rectify inaccurate or outdated data;

to restrict or object to the processing of their personal data;

to request deletion of their personal data (“the right to be forgotten”) in cases covered by law;

to withdraw their consent to the processing of personal data at any time.

Personal data are retained only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes of processing or as required by law.

For questions regarding personal data processing, the exercise of user rights, or privacy-related requests, please contact the journal’s editorial office using the official contact details provided on the website.