Prevention of manipulation

Systematic manipulation of the publishing process is when an individual or group of individuals has repeatedly used dishonest or fraudulent methods to:

  • reventing the possibility of independent evaluation of scientific work by an independent peer or inappropriately influencing such independent evaluation;
  • attribution of authorship to a scientific work;
  • publication of fabricated or plagiarized research.

THE EDITORIAL BOARD ALWAYS ADHERES TO THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES:

  • Only that manuscript is accepted for consideration for publication, which was submitted on behalf of one author of the manuscript, who in the further process of working with the manuscript will be the corresponding author.
  • For all new and potential reviewers (proposed by the authors of the manuscript) contact details are checked, if necessary, ORCID can also be checked or the scientist can be verified by contacting the institution of which he is an employee.
  • The qualifications of reviewers are checked for the proposed manuscript.
  • The presence of unusual patterns of behavior, which together may indicate manipulation of the peer review process, are checked (according to the COPE scheme «How to recognise potential manipulation of the peer review process»)

If there is a suspicion of manipulation in the peer review process, the following actions will be taken in case of contacting peer reviewers identified by the authors as potential*

Based on the COPE scheme «Peer review manipulation suspected during the peer review process»:

  • The validity of the reviewer's contact information will be re-checked by contacting the institution of which he is an employee.
  • A request will be made to the corresponding author with a request to confirm the specified data.
  • In case of clarification of manipulation according to the results of the first two points, the manuscript will be revised by other experts.
  • In case of additional comments, the manuscript will be sent for revision to the authors (in case the manuscript is at the stage of peer review) or the retraction policy will be accepted (if the monograph has already been published).

* All manuscripts submitted for consideration for publication go through the stage of double blind peer review.