Publication ethics

The publication ethics of the journal "Scientific Journal of Dragomanov Ukrainian State University. Series 22: Political Science and Methods of Teaching Socio-Political Disciplines" are aimed at adhering to ethical norms and academic integrity accepted by the international scientific community. The activities of the editorial board in this direction are based on the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the norms of the Code of Ethics of a Scientist of Ukraine. When determining the policy of publication ethics, the scientific scope of the Journal and the quality standards of scholarly work and its presentation approved by the scientific community are taken into account.
The publication ethics policy is based on the principle of shared responsibility among the authors, the Editorial Board, and the reviewers.
The ethical norms of the editorial board include:

- responsibility for the quality of the publication, ensuring careful selection and review of articles, and the right to reject materials that do not meet the profile and policy of the Journal;
- prevention of plagiarism and falsification, including the right to refuse publication and to retract an article even after publication in cases of violations of academic integrity.
The editorial board adheres to the principles of collegiality and impartiality in decision-making regarding the publication of materials; confidentiality and non-disclosure of the content of materials to third parties until publication; and transparency through the disclosure of any conflicts of interest.
The ethical obligations of the authors concern the quality, reliability, objectivity of results, and the scientific novelty of the research; originality of the text, submission of a manuscript to only one journal at a time, and the absence of duplicate publication; compliance with the rules for formatting and citing scientific sources, including the proper use of materials from other researchers.
The Editorial Board of the Journal supports responsible authorship, according to which it recommends including only those persons who have made a significant contribution to the work as co-authors. Authors must report any potential conflict of interest that could influence the publication of the results contained in the submitted manuscript.
The ethical obligations of the reviewers include: objectivity in assessing the quality of the work, respecting the intellectual independence of the author; confidentiality in working with the manuscript and the prohibition of using data from it before publication; identifying cases of plagiarism or substantial similarity with other works; and the timely provision of reviews.
In the event of an inability to provide an assessment or the presence of a conflict of interest, the reviewer must notify the editorial office. The editorial board reserves the right to appoint an additional independent reviewer.

Procedure for withdrawal (retraction) of published articles
The Editorial Board of the Scientific Journal may retract published articles in case of significant violations of academic integrity or publication ethics.
The Editorial Board recognizes as grounds for withdrawal: plagiarism; fabrication or falsification of research results; significant errors affecting the reliability of conclusions; authorship violations or undisclosed conflicts of interest; and duplicate publication without proper referencing.
The Editorial Board examines the information received, requests explanations from the authors, and, if necessary, involves independent experts. The review is carried out in compliance with the principles of objectivity and confidentiality.
The decision on withdrawal is made collectively by the Editorial Board based on the results of the review.
The retraction of published materials is made public through the publication of an official notice of withdrawal indicating the reasons; the original article remains available with the appropriate mark "Retracted"; and the article metadata are updated.
The retraction procedure is carried out in accordance with the international recommendations of COPE and the current legislation of Ukraine.
The editorial board of the Scientific Journal also provides the opportunity to make corrections to published materials in case inaccuracies are identified that do not critically affect the main results and conclusions of the study. The editorial board recognizes as grounds for making corrections: technical or editorial errors; inaccuracies in data, references, or illustrations; clarification of information about authorship or affiliation; and other errors that do not require retraction of the article.
Authors or other interested persons notify the editorial office of the detected errors. The editorial board reviews the information and, if necessary, agrees on the corrections with the author.
The form of correction may be one of the following options: publication of a correction notice; updating the electronic version of the article with an indication of the changes; ensuring transparency of changes (including the date and nature of the correction).
Corrections are made in compliance with the principles of transparency, reliability of scientific information, and COPE recommendations.

Policy on the use of AI and AI-supported technologies
The Editorial Board of the Scientific Journal allows the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies provided that the principles of academic integrity, transparency, and author responsibility are observed.
The Editorial Board considers the use of AI to be permissible for: language editing, technical text processing, translation, and auxiliary data analysis with mandatory verification of results, as well as idea generation, provided that such outputs are independently developed by the author.
The Editorial Board considers the following to be unacceptable: submission of AI-generated content without proper disclosure, fabrication or falsification of data, creation of non-existent sources, and listing AI as a co-author.
In the case of using AI, authors are required to indicate the fact of using AI, the name of the tool, and the purpose of its application in the text of the article. Authors may include this information in an appropriate section of the manuscript (for example, in the "Research Methods").
The authors are fully responsible for the content of the publication regardless of the use of AI. The use of AI does not exempt authors from the requirements of academic integrity. The editorial board is guided by the recommendations of COPE and reserves the right to request additional information regarding the use of AI.

Ethical approval policy for research involving human participants
The scientific journal complies with the requirements of the current legislation of Ukraine and international ethical standards for conducting scientific research involving human participants, the use of personal or confidential data, biological materials, or research involving animals.
If the research submitted for publication falls under the legislation of Ukraine on bioethics, personal data protection, or other regulatory legal acts, the authors are obliged to confirm receipt of the relevant approval from an authorized body, in particular an ethics (bioethics) committee or another competent institutional body.
For research involving human subjects, the authors must ensure compliance with the principles of voluntary informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity, and the prevention of harm to participants. In the case of the collection and processing of personal data, compliance with the legislation of Ukraine on personal data protection must be ensured.
The editorial board reserves the right to require additional documents from the authors confirming compliance with ethical standards and legal requirements, as well as to refuse publication of materials in case of non-compliance with these standards.