Publishing Ethics

The Editorial Board of the Pedagogical Measurements journal follows ethical principles based on international standards for publishing scientific materials, including the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines).

Publication ethics establishes norms, principles, and standards of ethical behavior of editors, reviewers and authors, measures for identifying identify conflicts of interest, unethical behavior, instructions for withdrawal (retraction), correction and retraction of an article.

All participants of the publication process, namely, each author, scientific editor, reviewer, executive secretary, members of the Editorial Board of the journal are obliged to unconditionally adhere to the principles, norms and standards of publication ethics. Compliance with ethical principles is important for ensuring and maintaining the quality of the scientific journal, as well as for creating a trusting and respectful relationship between the participants of the publication process.

Unethical behavior is considered to be the actions of authors, editors or publisher, in the case of self-review of their own articles, in the case of contractual and false reviewing, in the conditions of resorting to agency services for the publication of scientific research results, false authorship, falsification and fabrication of research results, publication of unreliable pseudo-scientific texts, transfer of manuscripts of articles to other publications without the permission of the authors, transfer of authors' materials to third parties, the conditions when copyright is violated.

Principles of publication ethics of Editorial Board members

Members of the Editorial Board of the journal are responsible for the development and improvement of the publication, as well as for its promotion in international databases. In their work they should be guided by the principles of freedom of opinion, strive to meet the scientific and professional needs of authors and readers. The members of the board are obliged to exclude the influence of commercial interests of authors, reviewers and publisher on decisions on publication of materials. In addition, they should take all possible measures to improve the quality of scientific publications and ensure the confidentiality of information at all stages of the publishing process.

Equality of all authors. The members of the Editorial Board are responsible for deciding whether to publish in the journal the materials submitted by the authors. Members of the Editorial Board should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual scientific content regardless of race, gender, religious beliefs, ethnicity, citizenship, political views of the authors or commercial considerations.

Decision on publication of the manuscript. The decision on which of the articles submitted to the Editorial Board should be published is made by the Editorial Board of the journal, based on the results of the check for compliance with the requirements of design, plagiarism and the results of scientific review. When deciding on the publication of a manuscript, the Editorial Board is guided by the journal policy and publication ethics, does not allow articles with signs of plagiarism, violation of principles, standards and norms of scientific ethics and copyright infringement to be published.

Members of the Editorial Board are responsible for the publication of articles with known signs of unethical behavior, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, excessive self-citation by authors, conflict of interest. If the principles of publication and/or scientific ethics have been violated while writing an article, the scientific editor of the journal, based on the decision of the Editorial Board, should retract the publication. Articles can be withdrawn by the author (authors) or the Editorial Board of the journal. The Editorial Board carries out withdrawal (retraction) of published articles in case of violation of publication and/or scientific ethics, based on the recommendations of SORE. An article is withdrawn/retracted in the following cases:

- clear evidence that the data obtained are unreliable or were obtained as a result of misconduct, e.g., falsification of data;

- detection of the fact of publication of the manuscript in another edition before its publication in the journal;

- detection of plagiarism in the article, including the borrowing of figures, graphs, tables, etc.

- the presence of gross errors in the article that can negatively affect other scientists and their research, for example, miscalculation or experimental error;

- the appearance of copyright claims on the article or parts of it by third parties;

- if the article contains information that contradicts the principles, standards and norms of publication and/or scientific ethics.

In such aforementioned cases, the Editorial Board of the journal conducts an inspection, according to the results of which the article can be withdrawn (retracted). For this purpose, an act of retraction of the article from publication is drawn up, which is confirmed and signed by the scientific editor. A copy of the act is sent to the author of the article for correspondence.

After that, the article is marked as retracted on the journal's website, indicating the reasons. The Editorial Board publishes information about the withdrawal (retraction) of the article on the main page of the journal's website and places the information, after the procedure of withdrawal (retraction) of the article, in the next issue of the journal.

The Editorial Board of the journal “Pedagogical Measurements” responsibly, objectively and attentively considers all justified appeals about the detected violations in the published issues.

The Editorial Board considers it the responsibility and obligation of the authors and reviewers to inform the Editorial Board as promptly as possible about the errors and irregularities detected by them after the publication of the material.

Principle of confidentiality. At the stage of manuscript review (before publication), editors and Editorial Board members should not disclose information about the manuscript to anyone other than the authors, assigned reviewers, and the publisher. Any manuscript received for review should be treated as confidential material. Manuscripts should not be displayed or discussed with third parties without the permission of the scientific editor.

The members of the Editorial Board guarantee that rejected manuscripts will not be used in the Editorial Board members' own research without the written consent of the authors.

Addressing claims of unethical behavior. Members of the Editorial Board should individually consider each complaint about unethical behavior of the author(s) of the manuscript and articles published in the journal regardless of the time of its receipt. Members of the Editorial Board should take objective and adequate measures with regard to such claims. In case the arguments of the claim are confirmed, the members of the Editorial Board have the right to refuse to publish the manuscript and to stop further cooperation with the author for correspondence, to publish appropriate refutations, as well as to take other measures to further suppress unethical behavior of the author(s).

Editorial Board, duties and responsibilities of its members

The duties and responsibilities of the Editor-in-Charge of the journal “Pedagogical Measurements”, the Executive Secretary, members of the Editorial Board are specified in the job descriptions approved by the founder of the journal.

Principles of publication ethics of the author(s)

Single publication. The authors guarantee that the manuscript submitted to the Editorial Board has not been submitted for consideration to other publications. Submission of a manuscript to several journals/editions at the same time is unacceptable and is a violation of the principles, standards and norms of publication ethics.

Authorship of the manuscript. The person who made the greatest intellectual contribution to the preparation of the manuscript (with two or more co-authors) is indicated first in the list of authors. Each article should have a corresponding author, who is responsible for the preparation of the final version of the article, communication with the Editorial Board, should ensure the inclusion of all participants of the study (if the number of authors is more than one), who made a sufficient contribution to it, in the list of authors, as well as to obtain approval of the final version of the manuscript from all authors for submission to the Editorial Board for publication. All authors listed in the manuscript/article are responsible for the content of the paper.

Principle of originality. The authors guarantee that the results of the research presented in the manuscript represent original independent work and do not contain incorrect borrowings and plagiarism, which can be detected in the process of checking the manuscript through the plagiarism check system.

Authors are responsible for publishing articles with evidence of unethical behavior, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, self-citation, falsification, fabrication, misrepresentation, false authorship, duplication, conflict of interest, and deception.

The principle of corroboration of sources. Authors undertake to correctly cite scientific and other sources they used during the research. In case of using any parts of other authors' works and/or borrowing statements of other authors, the manuscript should contain bibliographic references with the authors of the original source. Information obtained from questionable sources should not be used in manuscript design.

In case the reviewers, scientific editor, member(s) of the Editorial Board of the journal have doubts about the authenticity and reliability of the research results, the authors should provide additional materials to confirm the results or facts presented in the manuscript.

Correcting errors in the publishing process. In case of errors and inaccuracies in the work at any stage of the publication process, the authors are obliged to promptly inform the scientific editor and provide assistance in eliminating or correcting the error to publish on the journal's website the corresponding correction (Erratum or Corrigendum) with comments. In case of gross errors that cannot be corrected, the authors should withdraw the manuscript/article.

Principle of publication ethics. Authors are obliged to observe ethical standards related to criticism or comments on the research, as well as in relation to interaction with the Editorial Board regarding review and publication. Failure to comply with ethical principles by authors is considered as a gross violation of publication ethics and provides grounds for withdrawal of the manuscript from review and/or publication.

Principles of reviewer's publication ethics

The principle of objectivity of peer review. The reviewers of the journal “Pedagogical Measurements” undertake to conduct the peer review of the manuscript objectively. Personal criticism of the author(s) manuscript is not acceptable. The reviewer should argue his/her remarks and justify his/her decision to accept or reject the manuscript.

Nationality, religious affiliation, political or other views of the author(s) should not be taken into account and should not be taken into account in the process of manuscript review by the reviewer(s).

Reviewer input to editorial decisions. Expert evaluation by the reviewer contributes to the editorial decision on publication and helps authors to improve the manuscript. The decision to accept the manuscript for publication, return the work to the author for modification or revision, or the decision to reject it from publication is made by the Editorial Board based on the results of reviewing.

The principle of timeliness of review. The reviewer is obliged to provide the review within the period determined by the Editorial Board, but not later than two months from the date of receipt of the manuscript for review. If it is impossible to review the article and prepare the review within the scheduled timeframe, the reviewer should immediately notify the scientific editor.

A reviewer who considers that his/her qualification is not appropriate or insufficient to make a decision when reviewing a submitted manuscript should immediately inform the scientific editor and refuse to review the manuscript.

Principle of confidentiality on the part of the reviewer. The manuscript submitted to the reviewer for review should be treated as confidential material. The reviewer has the right to display it and/or discuss it with others only after obtaining written permission from the scientific editor of the journal and/or the author(s).

The information and ideas of a scientific paper obtained during the review and publication process must not be used by the reviewer(s) for personal gain.

The principle of corroboration of sources. The reviewer should identify scientific papers that would have influenced the research results of the manuscript under review but were not cited by the author(s). The reviewer should also draw the attention of the scientific editor to significant similarities or overlaps between the manuscript under review and previously published work of which he/she is aware.

If the reviewer has sufficient grounds to believe that the manuscript contains plagiarism, incorrect borrowings, false and fabricated materials or research results, he/she should not allow the manuscript for publication and inform the scientific editor of the journal about the identified violations of principles, standards and norms of publication and scientific ethics.

Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest, as defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (CPE), is a conflict situation in which authors, reviewers, or Editorial Board members have an implicit interest that could influence their judgment regarding the published material. A conflict of interest arises when there are financial, personal, or professional conditions that may influence the scientific judgment of the reviewer and Editorial Board members and, as a result, the Editorial Board's decision regarding the publication of the manuscript.

The Editor-in-Charge of the journal should require all participants in the manuscript publication process to disclose conflicts of interest.

The scientific editor, Editorial Board member, and reviewers should disclose potential conflicts of interest that could somehow influence the Editorial Board's decision. Editorial Board members should recuse themselves from reviewing a manuscript if they have any competitive relationships related to the research results of the author(s) of the manuscript or if there is any other conflict of interest.

When submitting a manuscript to the journal for consideration, the author(s) declare that the content of the manuscript identifies all sources of funding for the research; also indicate any commercial, financial, personal, or professional factors that would create a conflict of interest with respect to the submitted manuscript. The author(s), in the cover letter, if a conflict of interest exists, may identify scientists who they feel would not be able to objectively evaluate their manuscript.

The reviewer should not review manuscripts that may give rise to a conflict of interest arising from competition, collaboration, or other relationships with any of the authors involved with the manuscript.

If there is a conflict of interest with the content of the manuscript, the responsible editor should notify the scientific editor, after which the scientific editor reassigns the manuscript review to another editor/reviewer.

The existence of a conflict of interest between the participants in the review process does not mean that the manuscript will be rejected.