Publication Ethics

Editorial ethics issues

The Editorial Board of the journal Social Pharmacy in Health Care adheres to international standards of publication ethics, being guided by the recommendations on the general duties of editors set forth in the COPE Code of Conduct, approved by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as well as by the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (the “Vancouver Group” recommendations), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

General principles:

The Editorial Board undertakes to:

  • maintain neutrality and objectivity in relation to all participants of the editorial process;
  • constantly improve the magazine;
  • to ensure the quality of the published material, by carrying out the review process, observing the principles of confidentiality of information, not to disclose ideas and / or information obtained during the review of the manuscripts;
  • preserve the integrity of scientific research;
  • exclude personal gain in the process of implementation of editorial activities; if necessary, publish corrections and explanations.

Policy on obtaining mandatory review for studies involving humans, animals, or their biological materials, as well as personal or confidential data, and subject to the relevant legislation of Ukraine:

All research involving human subjects (including surveys, interviews, observations, experiments, etc.), animals, or their biological materials, as well as research involving the use of personal, sensitive, or confidential data, must comply with the requirements of current Ukrainian legislation, particularly in the areas of personal data protection, bioethics, and human rights, as well as the recommendations of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Authors are required to obtain prior ethical review (approval) from the relevant authorized body (bioethics committee, institutional ethics committee, etc.), if required by law; include in the text of the article information regarding the existence of such a review, including the name of the body, the date, and the protocol number (if available); confirm the receipt of informed consent from study participants, where possible; ensure the anonymity and confidentiality of personal data.

Authors must adhere to the principles according to which the disclosure of any information about research participants must comply with the provisions of current legislation regarding the protection of confidentiality and/or security of personal information (in particular, Law of Ukraine No. 2297-VI of June 1, 2010, “On Protection of Personal Data”).

Principles of editorial ethics:

In its activities, the editorial staff of the scientific journal Social Pharmacy in Healthcare is guided by the following ethical principles:

The decision to publish an article in a journal is made by the editorial board of the journal on the basis of:

  • check the article for compliance with the requirements for registration;
  • evaluation of intellectual content, scientific and practical significance of the material;
  • the results of the review;
  • results of discussion at the meeting of the editorial board.

When making a decision on the publication of an article, the editorial board is guided by the journal’s publication ethics and does not accept articles that show signs of plagiarism, copyright infringement, slander and insult in case of sufficiency of facts to consider them as such, or that violate ethical standards.

The final decision on the publication of the article or on the refusal of publication is made by the editor-in-chief of the journal.

The editorial board evaluates the provided articles regardless of the race, gender, nationality, origin, citizenship (citizenship), occupation, place of work and residence of the author, as well as his political, philosophical, religious and other views.

The editorial board examines claims for unethical behavior of the authors of submitted manuscripts or articles already published and takes action in connection with the claims submitted.

Ethical principles (responsibility) of the editor

The editor is responsible for the publication of copyright works, which leads to the need to comply with the following basic principles:

  • the editor has the authority to accept (reject) manuscripts;
  • the editor should not have a conflict of interest in relation to articles accepted (rejected) for publication;
  • the editor accepts the article only when there is complete confidence in this decision;
  • when finding errors, the editor contributes to the publication of the corrected article;
  • the editor has no right to use the unpublished materials contained in the submitted manuscript without the written consent of the Author. Confidential information or ideas obtained during the review should not be disclosed by the editor or used by him for personal gain;
  • when making a decision on the publication of the manuscript, the editor is guided by the accuracy of the data presented and the scientific significance of the work considered
  • the editor should evaluate the intellectual content of the manuscripts regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, social status or political preferences of the authors;
  • the editor should not allow the publication of information if there are sufficient grounds to believe that it is plagiarized;
  • the editor, together with the publisher, should not leave unanswered claims regarding the reviewed manuscripts or published materials, as well as take all necessary measures to restore the violated rights when a conflict situation is discovered;
  • the editor may be guided by the editorial policy of the journal, the decisions of the editorial board of the journal, being limited by the applicable legal rules relating to libel, copyright and plagiarism;
  • the editor and the Editorial Board of the journal are obliged not to disclose without need the information about the accepted article to anyone, with the exception of those directly involved in the process of its consideration.

Principles of reviewer’s ethics:

The reviewer carries out a scientific examination of copyright materials, as a result of which his actions should be objective in nature, consisting in the observance of the following principles:

  • the reviewer is obliged to provide an objective and reasoned assessment of the stated research results, guided by the principal remarks and suggestions aimed at improving the scientific level of the manuscript;
  • personal criticism of the author is unacceptable;
  • the article is reviewed, considered as a confidential document that cannot be transferred for review or discussion to third parties who do not have the authority of the editorial board of the journal;
  • unpublished data obtained from articles submitted for consideration should not be used by the reviewer for personal purposes.
  • the response to the article is confidential and is not subject to disclosure;
  • the reviewer should not have a conflict of interest regarding the research, authors or research sponsors;
  • in the event of a conflict of interest between the research results and the reviewer's personal work, or in the case of such professional or personal ties between the reviewer and the author that may affect the reviewer's judgment, he must return the manuscript indicating the conflict of interest;
  • the reviewer must indicate relevant published works that are not referenced in the manuscript;
  • an article that has been received for review must be treated as a confidential document, which cannot be transferred for review or discussion to third parties who do not have the authority of the editorial board;
  • a reviewer who does not possess, in his opinion, sufficient qualifications to evaluate the manuscript, or cannot be objective, for example, in the event of a conflict of interest with the author or organization, should inform the editorial board of this with a request to exclude him from the review process of this manuscript;
  • the reviewer's goal is to objectively assess the quality of the submitted manuscript and determine the degree of its compliance with scientific, literary and ethical standards;
  • since the reviewer should note any cases of insufficient citation by the authors of the works of other scientists working in the field of the article under review, comments about the insufficient citation of the reviewer's own research are identified as biased;
  • maintaining a constant frequency of publication of a scientific journal requires the reviewer to have a high level of his own discipline, revealed through the timeliness of providing a manuscript review and in respectful attitude to the authors of the manuscript (in case of bad manners regarding the authors or systematically providing poor quality reviews or violation of the deadlines for providing reviews of the relationship with this the reviewer is terminated)
  • if a reviewer is prohibited from using or disclosing unpublished information or the author's arguments, it is not considered contradictory to the ethical standards to discontinue some of the reviewer's own research if they in his opinion become ineffective.

Requirements to publication and authors

  • availability of high-quality references;
  • publication of data on financial support for research;
  • lack of plagiarism and fraudulent data;
  • prohibition of the publication of the same results in more than one journal

Principles of ethics of authors of scientific publications:

  • the fact that the author has provided an article for publication in a journal confirms the authorship of a scientific study;
  • in the case of co-authorship, the article is submitted by one of the authors with the consent of the co-authors;
  • among co-authors it is inadmissible to indicate persons who did not participate in the study;
  • materials presented in the publication should contain the results of original scientific research;
  • when fragments from the works of other persons are included in the article, proper registration of such inclusions (quotations) is necessary by indicating the original source in the bibliography in the article;
  • the authors are responsible for the content, originality and translation of the text of the articles, the scientific level and accuracy of the information provided, as well as the fact that the materials do not contain information with limited access;
  • the authors guarantee that the submitted article has not been published previously, and is not reviewed in another edition;
  • in case of detection of errors or inaccuracies in the submitted scientific material at any stage of the publication process, the author undertakes to inform the editorial board or the editor or editor of the journal heading about this fact;
  • aAll authors must provide refutation or correction of errors in case of their detection.
  • if significant errors or inaccuracies are found in the article at the stage of its consideration or after publication, the author should report this to the journal’s editor as soon as possible.

Ethical principles (responsibility) of the author

The author (or a group of authors) is aware that he is initially responsible for the novelty and reliability of the results of scientific research, and assumes the observance of the following principles:

  • all authors should contribute to the study, that is, the participation of all authors in the study and in the preparation of the article should be determined; co-authors of the article should indicate all persons who have made a significant contribution to the study. - it is necessary to recognize the contribution of all individuals, one way or another influenced the course of the study, in particular, the article should contain references to the works that were relevant during the study;
  • the author must provide reliable results of the research. Obviously false statements are unacceptable;
  • the author must not submit to the journal a manuscript that has been sent and / or published in another edition;
  • the author must ensure that the results of the study presented in this manuscript are completely original. Borrowed fragments or statements must be made out with the obligatory indication of the author and the original source. Excessive borrowing, as well as plagiarism in any form, including decorated quotes, paraphrasing, or the assignment of rights to the results of other people's research, are unethical and unacceptable.

Plagiarism

All manuscripts submitted for publication undergo mandatory screening to prevent instances of academic plagiarism. For the analysis of submitted documents, the National University of Pharmacy uses the anti-plagiarism software system StrikePlagiarism.com (licensor: Plagiat LLC; License Agreement No. 0309 dated June 4, 2024).

The criteria for the originality of the text in the manuscripts are defined in the Regulations on Measures for the Prevention of Academic Plagiarism (POL A 2.8-20.1-101) and have the following indicators:

  • over 90% – the text of the manuscript is original (insignificant amount of borrowing);
  • from 80 to 90% – the originality of the text is satisfactory (insignificant amount of borrowing), however, it is necessary to make sure that the quotations and references to used sources are correct;
  • from 60 to 80% – the manuscript is accepted for consideration after completion by the author (authors) and the availability and correct execution of quotes and references to used sources, since it has a significant amount of borrowing;
  • less than 60% – the manuscript for consideration is not accepted and can not be recommended for printing (protection), since it has a significant amount of borrowing, which is treated as plagiarism.