Publication Ethics Policy

1. General Provisions

The Editorial Office of the Scientific Works «Adult Education: Theory, Experience, Prospects» follows the principles of academic integrity, transparency, editorial independence, responsible peer review, equal treatment of all participants in the editorial process, and good scholarly publishing practice.

This Policy sets out the ethical rules for the preparation, submission, peer review, editorial assessment, decision-making, publication, and post-publication handling of materials submitted to the Journal.

In its work, the Editorial Office follows internationally recognised principles of publication ethics, COPE recommendations, principles of transparency and good publishing practice, relevant ICMJE approaches, as well as the current legislation of Ukraine and the Journal’s editorial documents.

The journal considers non-discrimination and equal treatment to be an important part of editorial integrity and proper publication practice. All participants in the editorial and publishing process must follow the principles of professional respect, impartiality, inclusiveness, and non-discrimination. Detailed provisions are set out in the Declaration on Non-Discrimination and Equal Treatment.

This Policy applies to authors, co-authors, reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief, members of the Editorial Board, guest editors, editorial staff, and the founder/publisher of the Journal within the limits of their roles.

This Policy has been developed with due regard to the recommendations of COPE, WAME, and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (COPE/DOAJ/OASPA/WAME). It defines the ethical principles for authors, reviewers, editors, and all participants in the journal’s editorial and publishing process.

2. Basic Principles of the Journal

The Journal is based on the following main principles:

  • scholarly originality, academic integrity, and reliability of published results;
  • independence of editorial decisions from personal, institutional, financial, administrative, or any other outside influence;
  • objectivity, fairness, and confidentiality of peer review;
  • transparency of editorial procedures;
  • non-discrimination on the grounds of sex, age, race, ethnic origin, nationality, language, religion, health condition, disability, political views, social status, institutional affiliation, or any other characteristic not related to the scholarly quality of the manuscript;
  • responsibility for the timely correction of serious errors, the publication of clarifications, expressions of concern, or retractions where necessary.

3. Duties and Responsibilities of Authors

3.1. Originality and Integrity

Authors must submit only original manuscripts prepared independently or in co-authorship according to the real intellectual contribution of each author. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, distortion of data, unauthorised use of texts, ideas, tables, figures, or other materials is not acceptable.

All borrowed material must be properly referenced. The Editorial Office may check manuscripts using plagiarism detection software and other editorial control tools.

3.2. Reliability of Data and Results

Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy of facts, the correctness of data, the suitability of the methodology, the link between the conclusions and the results, and the lawful use of sources, tables, figures, diagrams, and appendices.

If a serious error is found in a submitted, accepted, or already published paper, the author must immediately inform the Editorial Office and cooperate in correcting the error, preparing a clarification, retracting the paper, or taking other necessary action.

3.3. Authorship and Contribution

Authorship must reflect real scholarly contribution to the manuscript. Only persons who made a significant intellectual contribution to the concept of the study, the research design, the collection or analysis of data, the interpretation of results, the writing of the text, or its important revision, and who approved the final version of the manuscript, may be listed as authors.

Persons who do not meet the authorship criteria but helped in an organisational, technical, advisory, language, or other way should be mentioned in the acknowledgements, where appropriate and with their consent.

The Journal may ask authors to provide a separate statement on the individual contribution of each co-author, including the use of CRediT taxonomy or another standard chosen by the Journal.

The following are not acceptable:

  • guest, gift, or formal authorship;
  • hidden authorship;
  • exclusion of a person who made an important scholarly contribution;
  • changes in the list of authors without proper explanation and written consent from all relevant persons.

3.4. No Multiple or Duplicate Submission

A manuscript must not be under review in another journal at the same time. Submission of previously published material, or material that substantially repeats already published work by the author(s) without proper disclosure and explanation, is not allowed.

If a submitted paper is partly related to the author’s earlier publications, the author must openly inform the Editorial Office and clearly explain what is new in the submitted work.

3.5. Citation and Referencing

Authors must include only academically relevant sources and must not enlarge the reference list artificially. Any form of citation manipulation is not acceptable, including excessive self-citation, irrelevant citation of the Journal, honorary citation, organised mutual citation, or adding references without direct academic need.

3.6. Disclosure of Funding, Support, and Other Declarations

Authors must properly state the sources of research funding, grant support, institutional support, technical support, or any other kind of support that may have influenced the preparation of the manuscript.

Information about a conflict of interest, or the absence of such a conflict, must be provided by the authors in line with the Journal’s separate Conflict of Interest (COI) Policy. By decision of the Editorial Office, the relevant declaration may be published in the final version of the article.

3.7. Ethical Aspects of Research

If a manuscript is based on research involving people, personal data, sensitive information, interviews, surveys, observation, case analysis, or other procedures with ethical risk, the authors must confirm that ethical requirements were followed. If necessary, authors must provide information about ethics committee approval, informed consent, or another proper basis for carrying out the research.

3.8. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

If authors use artificial intelligence tools in preparing a manuscript, they must act openly, responsibly, and within the Journal’s requirements. AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, reliability, originality, and correct presentation of all submitted material, regardless of the digital tools used.

The use of AI may also be regulated by a separate Journal policy and/or by the Author Guidelines.

4. Duties and Responsibilities of Reviewers

A reviewer must:

  • provide a fair, reasoned, honest, and constructive expert review of the manuscript;
  • keep all received materials confidential and not use their content for personal benefit;
  • immediately inform the Editorial Office about any conflict of interest that may prevent an objective review;
  • refuse the review if the reviewer does not have the necessary expertise or cannot complete the review on time;
  • draw the attention of the Editorial Office to serious signs of possible plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication, falsification, citation manipulation, or other misconduct;
  • not require citation of the reviewer’s own work, the Journal, or third parties without clear academic need;
  • not share the manuscript with other persons without prior permission from the Editorial Office.

The reviewer must not continue the review process if, after accepting the task, circumstances are found that raise doubts about the reviewer’s impartiality or the confidentiality of the process.

5. Duties and Responsibilities of the Editor, Editorial Board, and Editorial Office

5.1. Editorial Independence

The Editor-in-Chief, editors, and members of the Editorial Board make decisions on manuscripts only on the basis of their scholarly quality, relevance to the Journal’s scope, academic value, originality, methodological soundness, ethical acceptability, and the results of peer review.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by personal relations, administrative pressure, the author’s position, the author’s institutional affiliation, financial support, possible benefit for the Journal, or any other non-academic factor.

5.2. Confidentiality and Proper Procedure

The Editorial Office ensures the confidentiality of the editorial process and does not disclose information about submitted manuscripts to persons who are not involved in the proper review and editorial procedure.

The Editorial Office ensures appropriate initial screening of manuscripts, organisation of independent peer review, recording of the main stages of editorial work, keeping of editorial documents, and proper justification of editorial decisions.

5.3. Objectivity, Respect, and Non-discrimination

The Editorial Office guarantees equal and respectful treatment of all authors, reviewers, and readers. Any form of discrimination, bias, offensive communication, or misuse of editorial authority is not acceptable.

5.4. Control of Academic Integrity

The Editorial Office has the right to start an additional check of a submitted or published paper if there is suspicion of a breach of academic integrity. If necessary, the Editorial Office may ask the author for explanations, request supporting documents, involve additional experts, inform the author’s institution, or take other proportionate measures.

5.5. No Citation Manipulation

The Editorial Office does not allow forced, irrelevant, or artificially motivated citation practices. No editor or reviewer may demand the inclusion of references that are not directly justified by scholarly need.

5.6. Special Issues, Thematic Collections, and Guest Editing

The Editorial Office is responsible for the quality and proper ethical management of all published content, including special issues, thematic collections, invited materials, and other formats. The same standards of integrity, editorial control, and peer review apply to such content as to regular submissions.

6. Submission of Manuscripts by the Editor-in-Chief, Editors, and Editorial Board Members

Submission of manuscripts to the Journal by the Editor-in-Chief, editors, members of the Editorial Board, or other persons involved in editorial decision-making is allowed only if strict procedures are followed to remove conflict of interest and prevent influence on the editorial decision.

In such cases:

  • the relevant person is fully excluded from all stages of the review of their own manuscript;
  • the manuscript is transferred to an independent handling editor who is not in a relation of subordination, co-authorship, or other dependence with the author;
  • peer review is carried out by independent reviewers selected in the normal way;
  • the final decision on the manuscript is made without the participation of the editor-author;
  • the Editorial Office records the use of this special procedure;
  • if necessary, the Journal may state in the publication that an independent editorial procedure was used.

Regular publication of papers by editors or Editorial Board members in their own Journal, without proper management of possible conflicts of interest and without independent editorial handling, is not compatible with the principles of transparent editorial practice.

7. Breaches of Publication Ethics

The Journal treats the following, among others, as breaches of publication ethics:

  • plagiarism and self-plagiarism;
  • fabrication or falsification of data;
  • duplicate submission or duplicate publication;
  • hiding a significant conflict of interest;
  • false, guest, gift, or hidden authorship;
  • citation manipulation;
  • attempts to influence an editorial decision outside the proper procedure;
  • disclosure of confidential peer review materials;
  • use of fake peer review, false reviewers, or false contact details;
  • submission of false information about authorship, affiliation, funding, ethics approval, or other important matters.

8. Editorial Response to Breaches

If there is suspicion or proof of a breach of publication ethics, the Editorial Office acts according to the principles of fairness, proportionality, proper documentation, and the right of the persons involved to be heard.

Depending on the nature of the case and the stage of review, the Editorial Office may:

  • reject the manuscript;
  • stop the editorial process until explanations or documents are received;
  • require corrections, clarifications, or additional declarations;
  • arrange a second review or an additional expert assessment;
  • cancel a previous acceptance decision;
  • publish a correction, editorial warning, expression of concern, or retraction;
  • temporarily restrict future submissions from the author(s);
  • inform the institution, employer, founder, publisher, or another competent body if this is necessary and proportionate.

The Editorial Office considers each case individually, taking into account the facts, the seriousness of the breach, the explanations provided, and the possible effect on the scholarly record.

The procedure for the submission and review of reports, notices, and complaints about possible breaches of academic integrity and publication ethics is set out in the separate Policy for the Handling of Complaints on Breaches of Academic Integrity and Publication Ethics, which is applied together with this Policy.

9. Corrections, Clarifications, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

The Journal provides proper post-publication management and, where necessary, may use the following forms of action:

  • Correction (Erratum) — when a publication contains an error that does not cancel its main results but still requires an official correction;
  • Expression of Concern — when there are serious but not yet fully proven reasons to doubt the integrity, reliability, or ethical acceptability of a publication;
  • Retraction — when serious breaches are confirmed and make the results unreliable or the publication ethically unacceptable.

Any post-publication changes are made openly, with proper marking, and with respect for the integrity of the scholarly record.

10. Complaints, Reports, and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, and other interested persons have the right to contact the Editorial Office with a complaint or report about a possible breach of publication ethics, improper peer review, procedural concerns, or any other circumstances that may call into question the quality of editorial practice.

The Editorial Office considers such cases within a reasonable time, confidentially, fairly, and with proper documentation of the process. If an appeal is submitted against an editorial decision, it should be considered by a person or editorial level that was not directly involved in the original decision, as far as this is possible within the Journal’s organisational structure.

11. Final Provisions

This Policy must be applied together with other editorial documents of the Journal.

Submission of a manuscript to the Journal means that the author(s) have read this Policy and agree to follow it.