Regulations on the ethics of the journal "Physicochemical Mechanics of Materials"

The editorial board of the scientific journal "Physicochemical Mechanics of Materials" is guided in its work by the international ethical rules of scientific publications, which include the rules of decency, confidentiality, supervision of publications, accounting for possible conflicts of interest, etc. In particular, it is based on the recommendations of leading international scientific institutions, as well as on the experience of authoritative international publishing houses. Compliance with the rules of ethics of scientific publications by all participants in the publishing process contributes to ensuring the rights of authors to intellectual property, improving the quality of the publication, and preventing the possibility of improper use of author’s materials in the interests of individuals.

The editorial board of the journal "Physicochemical Mechanics of Materials" is guided by the following documents:

In turn, the editorial board of the journal encourages and motivates the authors to comply with the appropriate level of formal and ethical requirements for the preparation and publication of articles submitted to the editorial board of the journal.

1. Ethical obligations of the authors.

Authors are responsible for the text of the manuscript submitted to the editorial office of the journal and adhere to the following principles:

1.1. Provide reliable results of conducted research. False or falsified statements are equal to unethical behavior and are considered unacceptable. 

1.2. Guarantee that the research results presented in the manuscript are independent and original. In the case of using parts of other people’s study and/or borrowing statements of other authors, the article must contain appropriate bibliographic references with mandatory indication of the author and the original source. Cite those publications that influenced the essence of the study. Excessive use of parts of other authors’ work, as well as plagiarism in any form, including informal quotations, paraphrasing or assigning rights to the results of other people research are unethical and unacceptable actions. In cases where these facts are discovered, it is the responsibility of the authors of provided materials. Articles, which are a compilation of materials published by other authors, without their creative processing and own author’s understanding, will not be accepted.

1.3. Be aware that the author(s) are primary responsible for the novelty and reliability of the results of scientific research.

1.4. Guarantee the correct composition of the list of co-authors of the work. The author who submits a manuscript for publication is responsible for ensuring that the list of co-authors includes only those persons who made a significant intellectual contribution to its concept, structure, as well as to the carrying out or interpreting the results of the submitted study, and assumes responsibility for the consent of other authors of the article for its publication in the journal. Acknowledgments should be made to other persons (or organizations) who participated in some aspects of the work. The author must also guarantee that all co-authors are familiar with the final version of the article, approve it and agree to submit it for publication. All authors mentioned in the article must bear public responsibility for the content of the article. If the article is a multidisciplinary work, each co-author is responsible for his personal contribution, leaving the collective responsibility for the overall result. It is inadmissible to indicate persons among the co-authors who did not participate in the research.

1.5. Recognize the contribution of all persons who in one way or another had an influence on the course of the research or determined the character of the presented scientific work. In particular, the article should include references to publications which were of some importance in conducting the research. Information obtained privately through conversation, correspondence and discussion with third parties should not be used without written permission from the representative of its source. All sources should be open. Even if the written or illustrated materials of a large number of people are used, permission must be obtained and submitted to the editor.

1.6. Authors should notify the editors of any potential conflict of interest that could be affected by the publication of the results in this manuscript. All potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed at the earliest possible stage.

1.7. Submit only the original manuscript to the journal. An article that has been sent to another journal and is currently under consideration, as well as an article previously published in another journal cannot be submitted to the journal. Infrigement of this principle is considered a gross violation of the ethics of publications and gives grounds for rejecting the article from review. If the elements of the manuscript were previously published in another article, the authors are obliged to refer to their earlier work and indicate which is the essential difference between the new study and the previous one. Verbatim copying of one’s own works and their paraphrasing are unacceptable, they can only be used as a basis for new conclusions.

1.8. The author must clearly indicate in his work the situation when the research is related to chemical substances, physicochemical processes or equipment, which under research cause a risk to human or animal health. If research involves the use of animals or human subjects, the author must ensure that all procedures have been carried out in accordance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines, and that relevant government agencies have approved them.  The submitted article must include a statement and confirmation from the relevant authorities about consent to human experiments. The right of the person involved in the experiment to confidentiality must always be respected.

1.9. In manuscripts all sources of financial support for the project, information about the employer, patent applications/registrations, grants and other types of funding must be indicated. 

1.10. If the article is returned for revision, the author is obliged to revise it in accordance with the comments of the reviewers or the editorial board, otherwise the editorial board has the right to reject the article.

2. Ethical principles in the activities of reviewers 

In order to improve the quality of scientific articles published in the journal, the editorial board assigns anonymity to both the reviewer and the author. All members of the editorial board are reviewers.

The reviewer performs a scientific examination of the author’s materials with the aim of objectively assessing the quality of the submitted article and determining the level of its compliance with high scientific, literary and ethical standards. When evaluating the article, the reviewer must be impartial and adhere to the following principles:

 

2.1. Expert evaluation should help the author to improve the quality of the text of the article, and the editor-in-chief to make a decision about publication.

 2.2.  A reviewer who does not consider himself an expert in the subject of the article or knows that he will not be able to present a review of the article in a timely manner, must notify the editor-in-chief and refuse to review the article.

2.3. The author or co-author of the work submitted for review cannot be a reviewer. This also applies to academic supervisors of degree holders and/or employees of the unit in which the author works.

2.4. Any manuscript received by an expert from the editorial office for review is a confidential document. It cannot be discussed with other persons, except for the specified persons.

2.5. The reviewer must be objective. It is not permissible to make personal comments to the author in the review. The reviewer must convincingly and reasonably substantiate his own conclusions.

2.6. The reviewer must identify published articles which are relevant to the reviewed article and not cited by the author. Any statement in the review that some observation, conclusion, or argument from the reviewed article has already been found before in the literature must be accompanied by an accurate bibliographic reference to the information source. The reviewer should also draw the editor-in-chief’s attention to the significant similarity or partial coincidence of the reviewed article with any other previously published one.

2.7. If the reviewer suspects plagiarism, authorship or falsification of data, he must contact the editorial board with a proposal for a collective review of the author’s article.

 2.8. The reviewer must provide an objective conclusion regarding the sufficiency of citing articles already published in the literature on this topic.

2.9. The reviewer must not use the information and ideas from the article presented to him for review for personal gain, observing the principle of confidentiality.

2.10. A reviewer should not accept a manuscript for review if there is a conflict of interest arising from competition, collaboration, or other relationships with any authors or organizations associated with the article.

2.11. The reviewer must provide feedback on the manuscript in a timely manner.

3. Principles of professional ethics in the activities of the journal’s editorial board

The members of the editorial board and the editorial board of the journal are responsible for the publication of the submitted manuscript, guided by the following fundamental principles:

3.1. All materials submitted for publication are carefully selected and anonymously reviewed by the editorial board.

3.2. The editorial board, justifying its decision, reserves the right to reject the article or return it to the author(s) for revision.

3.3. When making a decision on publication, the editor-in-chief of a scientific journal is guided by the reliability of the submitted data and the scientific significance of the work under consideration.

3.4. The editor-in-chief must have no own interest in the articles he rejects or accepts.

3.5. The editor-in-chief of the journal is responsible for deciding which of the submitted articles will be accepted for publication and which will be rejected. At the same time, he is guided by the journal’s policy and adheres to legal principles, preventing copyright infringement and plagiarism.

3.6. The editorial board objectively and impartially examines all manuscripts that are submitted for publication, evaluating each article solely on its scientific content, regardless of the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, nationality, citizenship, origin, social status or political views.

3.7. The editor-in-chief, members of the editorial board and editorial staff of the journal must not disclose information about the article submitted to the journal to anyone except the author(s), appointed and potential reviewers, other editorial staff.

3.8. Unpublished data obtained from manuscripts submitted for review should not be used by the editor-in-chief, members of the editorial board, or editorial staff for personal purposes or disclosed to third parties (without the written consent of the authors).

 3.9. The editor-in-chief should not allow the submitted article to be published if there are sufficient grounds to believe that it is plagiarized.

 3.10. The article, if it is accepted for publication, is openly accessed, the copyright remains with the authors.

3.11. In accordance with international legislation regarding the observance of copyright on electronic information resources, the materials of the site, electronic journals or project may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form (electronic or printed) without the prior written consent of the journal editors. When using published materials in the context of other documents, a reference to the original source is required.

3.12. The editor-in-chief and editorial staff of the journal must ensure the confidentiality of names and other information related to reviewers.

4. Principles of professional ethics in the publisher’s activities

The publisher is responsible for publishing the authors’ works, observing the following basic principles and procedures:

4.1. To promote the fulfillment of ethical duties by the editorial office, editorial and publishing group, editorial board, reviewers and authors in accordance with these requirements.

 4.2. To provide support to the editorial staff of the journal in considering claims to the ethical aspects of published materials and to help cooperate with other journals and/or publishers, if this contributes to the fulfillment of the duties of the editors.

 4.3.  To adhere to the provision that the activity of the journal is not a commercial project and is not aimed at making a profit.

4.4. To promote the process of publishing corrections, clarifications, rebuttals and apologies when appropriate.

 4.5. To be always ready to issue corrections, clarifications, rebuttals and apologies when necessary.

4.64. To provide the journal editors with the opportunity to withdraw publications which contain plagiarism and inaccurate data.