Публікаційна етика

The academic journal “Ukrainian Musicology” adheres to the principles of academic integrity and generally recognized standards of publication ethics. The collection’s editorial policy is based on the principles of scholarly responsibility, impartiality, confidentiality, respect for authorship, and protection of intellectual property.

The provisions of this policy apply to all participants in the editorial process: authors, reviewers, editors, and members of the editorial board.

General Principles

Materials submitted to the collection must comply with the following principles:

  • academic integrity;
  • reliability of research results;
  • originality of the text;
  • proper citation and referencing of sources;
  • respect for copyright and authorship;
  • impartial editorial evaluation;
  • confidentiality of the peer-review process.

Decisions regarding publication are made solely on the basis of the scholarly quality of the manuscript, its relevance to the collection’s scope, and compliance with editorial requirements.

Responsibilities of the Editorial Office

The editorial office:

  • ensures an impartial and confidential evaluation of submitted manuscripts;
  • organizes the peer review of submitted materials;
  • makes decisions regarding publication, revision, or rejection of manuscripts;
  • does not allow the publication of materials containing indications of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, generated content, authorship manipulation, or other violations of academic integrity;
  • may initiate corrections or retractions of published materials where necessary;
  • does not use unpublished materials without the author’s consent.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to:

  • provide an objective, well-reasoned, and expert assessment of the manuscript;
  • maintain confidentiality;
  • refrain from using the manuscript content for personal purposes prior to publication;
  • inform the editorial office of any detected signs of plagiarism, duplicate publication, unreliable data, or other ethical violations;
  • decline the review assignment in the event of a conflict of interest.

Responsibilities of Authors

By submitting a manuscript to the collection, the author confirms that:

  • the article is original;
  • the manuscript has not been previously published and is not under consideration elsewhere;
  • all sources and borrowed materials are properly cited;
  • all listed authors have made a substantial contribution to the preparation of the manuscript;
  • the article contains no plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, generated content, authorship manipulation, or other violations of academic integrity;
  • the use of illustrative, musical, archival, visual, or audiovisual materials is lawful;
  • if a significant error in the article is discovered, the author will notify the editorial office.

The author bears responsibility for the content of the article, the accuracy of the presented data, the correctness of references, and the proper use of cited materials.

 

Violations of Publication Ethics

Violations of publication ethics include, among others:

  • plagiarism;
  • self-plagiarism without appropriate disclosure;
  • fabrication or falsification of data;
  • generation of text or sources;
  • duplicate publication;
  • simultaneous submission of a manuscript to multiple collections;
  • authorship manipulation;
  • concealment of conflicts of interest;
  • copyright infringement;
  • unethical peer-review practices.

Citation Manipulation

The collection does not allow any forms of citation manipulation by authors, reviewers, or editors.

Unethical practices include, in particular:

  • excessive author self-citation without appropriate scholarly justification;
  • excessive citation of the collection to which the article is submitted with the aim of artificially increasing its metrics;
  • honorary citation of influential individuals, editors, or other authors without substantive relevance;
  • citation stacking — coordinated reciprocal citation among authors, groups of authors, or collections aimed at artificially increasing citation metrics;
  • coercive citation, when the addition of certain references is explicitly or implicitly made a condition for peer review, revision, or acceptance of the manuscript;
  • reviewer citation manipulation, when a reviewer requires the inclusion of references to their own publications or to a particular collection without proper scholarly justification.

All references in a manuscript must be scholarly relevant, substantively justified, and directly related to the research topic. All sources listed in the bibliography must be properly cited in the manuscript.

The editorial office reserves the right to examine anomalous citation patterns, including excessive self-citation or disproportionate citation of a particular collection, author, or group of authors.

If citation manipulation is detected, the editorial office may:

  • request revision of the reference list;
  • reject the manuscript;
  • replace the reviewer;
  • terminate consideration of the manuscript;
  • take other actions in accordance with the collection’s publication ethics policy.

Response to Ethical Violations

If indications of violations of publication ethics are identified, the editorial office has the right to:

  • suspend consideration of the manuscript;
  • request clarification from the author;
  • reject the manuscript;
  • require corrections;
  • publish a correction notice;
  • retract the published article.

Submissions by the Chief Editor, Editors, and Members of the Editorial Board

If a manuscript is submitted by the Chief Editor, an editor, a member of the editorial board, or another person involved in the management of the collection, the manuscript is considered under a separate procedure that takes into account the potential conflict of interest.

In such cases:

  • the person associated with the submission does not participate in the initial screening, selection of reviewers, editorial discussion, or decision-making;
  • the editorial office appoints an independent responsible editor who coordinates the review process;
  • the manuscript is sent to independent reviewers who are not professionally, administratively, or personally connected with the author;
  • the decision regarding publication is made without the participation of the author holding an editorial position;
  • if the article is published, the collection ensures the presence of a declaration of conflict of interest or a statement of its absence.

The systematic publication of articles by editors or members of the editorial board in their own collection must not create advantages in the evaluation of manuscripts and must not affect the independence of editorial decisions.

Final Provisions

Submission of a manuscript to the collection implies the author’s agreement with the editorial principles and rules set out in this policy. Issues related to peer review, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, the use of artificial intelligence tools, corrections, and retractions are also regulated by other editorial policies of the collection.