Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University (VNU) publishes over 50 research journal volumes yearly. Many of them are published under the auspices of acknowledged scientific associations and societies. The Publisher is aimed at providing a forum for scholars to share, foster, and openly discuss globally various new topics and advances in different fields of modern science. However, the VNU as the Publisher follows a neutral position on topics raised and discussed in its Journals.  The VNU is committed to meeting and keeping high standards of scholarly ethical behavior at all stages of the publication process.

East European Journal of Psycholinguistics (hereinafter - Journal) maintains the utmost level of content integrity.

A Conflict of Interest policy (see below) is in place and the Journal adheres to the COPE principles for handling acts of misconduct. Consequently, allegations of misconduct will be thoroughly investigated to ensure research integrity.

Plagiarism detection software is used for screening submissions. Any instances of plagiarism will be handled in line with COPE guidelines.

To ensure high ethical standards and prevent malpractice in publishing authors' contributions the Journal strictly pursues the following ethical policy:

1. Ethical expectations

It is important to meet the standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the Author, the Journal Editor, the Publisher, the Peer Reviewer.

Authorship of the Manuscript

Only individuals who fulfill certain authorship requirements should be listed as authors in the paper, as they should be capable of taking public responsibility for the content: (1) they must have made considerable contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or interpretation/analysis of the study; (2) they must have drafted the manuscript or critically revised it for crucial intellectual content; and (3) they must have reviewed and approved the final draft of the document and consented to its submission for publication. All individuals who have significantly contributed to the research reported in this manuscript, including those who have provided technical assistance, writing and editorial support, or general guidance, but do not meet the criteria for authorship, must not be listed as an author. However, their contributions shall be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgements" section once their written consent to be recognized has been obtained. The lead author must ensure that only suitable co-authors (in accordance with the above definition) are listed and that unsuitable co-authors are excluded from the list of authors. Additionally, the lead author must confirm that all co-authors have reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript and have consented to its submission for publication.

Ethical Supervision (Risks and Human Subjects)

If the study involves human participants - children and adults, the authors must observe all relevant laws and institutional policies, and obtain approval from the relevant institutional committee(s); this approval should be indicated in the manuscript. Additionally, the authors must provide a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all participants in human experiments and this should also be included in the manuscript. The privacy rights of research participants must always be upheld. When conducting research involving human subjects, human material or human data, it is crucial to adhere to the Declaration of Helsinki and receive approval from an appropriate ethics committee from the authors' affiliated institution.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

It is recommended that authors (1) submit a disclosure form at the time of submission and include a statement in the manuscript at the earliest stage possible. (2) Authors should disclose any conflicts of interest that may be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. Examples of potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include financial ones such as honorariums, educational grants or other funding, participation in speakers' bureaus, membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interests, and paid expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements. Non-financial conflicts of interest, such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs in the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript should also be disclosed. All financial sources supporting this work must be made public, including the grant or reference number, if any.

Besides, the Author who submits an article to the journal

• must be aware of the Journal ethical policy and rules;
• should know about Journal fees and charges (see here: Publication fee) before s/he submits a manuscript to the Journal;
• is obliged to participate in peer review process by responding to the peer reviewers' comments, by providing retractions or corrections of mistakes;
• is responsible for the correct list of references, stating his/her financial support;
• is forbidden: to publish same research in more than one journal, to give others' research data, to introduce plagiarism, to provide data without due observance of the material protected by copyright; to submit a manuscript containing any explicit / verbal kind of xenophobia, or intolerance, on the grounds of age, disability, ethnicity, origin, political views, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, language, culture and  other kinds of discrimination;
• explicitly confirms that the paper presents a concise, accurate account of the research performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to public sources of information. Fabrication of data is an egregious departure from the expected norms of scholarly conduct, as is the selective reporting of data with the intent to mislead or deceive, as well as the theft of data or research results from others;
• must obtain permission for use of any previously published materials from the original publisher. Plagiarism is treated both as the unreferenced use of others’ published and unpublished ideas, including research grant applications and submission under “new” authorship of a complete paper, sometimes in a different language [Code of Conduct]. Plagiarism constitutes unethical scholarly behavior and is unacceptable;
• shall share the equal degree of responsibility for the paper s/he co-authors;
• shall be aware of the fact that submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously is unethical and unacceptable.

Large Language Models, e.g. ChatGPT, do not currently meet our authorship criteria since they bear no  accountability for the work submitted and cannot approve the version to be published. The use of any AI tool, including ChatGPT, should be appropriately mentioned in the Methods section of the manuscript.

By acknowledging these facts the authors bear personal responsibility for the accuracy, credibility, and authenticity of research results described in their papers.

The Publisher and Editor must 

• provide checking manuscripts for academic plagiarism using systems Strikeplagirism.com or Unicheck.com;
• take measures to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research ethical conduct has been violated;
• allow for retracting, correcting articles and publishing corrections, clarifications or apologies when needed;
• deal with allegations appropriately in the event of any case of research misconduct;
• timely publish journal volume numbers twice a year strictly following and in accordance with the established publishing schedule and rules - in June and in December yearly;
• follow an objective and fair evaluation of authors' contributions without any discrimination as to their gender, sex orientation, religious or political beliefs, ethnic origin;
• treat funded research articles or special issues in the same way as other contributions, so that this kind of manuscripts is reviewed and accepted for publishing solely on their academic merit and without commercial influence.
• approve and follow reasonable procedures in the event of complaints of an unethical behavior or conflict, in accordance with the Journal policies and procedures.
• provide authors with an opportunity to respond to any complaints. All complaints should be thoroughly investigated even in the event when the original manuscript was approved.
• keep any documentation associated with any such complaints.
• provide proper archiving of all published volumes at the Publisher's repository https://evnuir.vnu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/4099 and https://doaj.org/ to ensure access in the event the Journal is no longer published.

Editors are the stewards of the Journal. They usually take over their journal from the previous editor(s) and always want to hand over the journal in good shape  [Code of Conduct].

Publication Policy

This journal employs a double-blind review process. The chief editor is responsible for assessing all contributions to select articles that meet the editorial goals for publication. The chief editor is responsible for assessing all contributions to select articles that meet the editorial goals for publication. The chief editor is responsible for assessing all contributions to select articles that meet the editorial goals for publication. The journal adheres to a conventional structure with consistent author and institution formatting. Clear, objective, and value-neutral language is used throughout the text to maintain objectivity and provide readers with a balanced view of the subject matter. The text is free from grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and punctuation errors. The language variants used for the text are British or American English. When an article is deemed suitable, it is sent to two independent peer reviewers who are experts in their field to assess its specific qualities. Technical terms are explained when first used, and precise word choice is employed to convey meaning. The responsibility for the final decision on whether a paper is accepted or rejected lies with the editor. The paper's relevance to researchers, practitioners, and potential readers will always determine its publication potential. The chief editor should remain impartial and make decisions independent of commercial influences. The chief editor must abide by ethical and legal guidelines, including its own publication ethics and the protection of intellectual property, to address issues such as copyright infringement and plagiarism. Editors who take ultimate responsibility for manuscripts must disengage from editorial decisions if they have any relations or interests that may influence the assessment of the articles in question. The ultimate decision regarding publication will be given to an editor with no conflicts of interest.

Conflict of Interest

Any conflict of interest concerning an author, the content of a manuscript to be evaluated, or authors, will require the chief editor, members of the editorial board and advisory board, and reviewers to withdraw. The journal shall strive to prevent conflicts of interest among authors, reviewers, and members of the editorial board.

The Peer Reviewers  are external experts chosen by editors to provide written opinions, with the aim of improving the paper under consideration [Code of Conduct].

The Peer Reviewers must

• follow the rules of peer reviewing procedure (see here); 
• judge research papers objectively;
• have no conflict of interest (financial, institutional, collaborative between the author and the referee), in case of conflict withdraw from peer reviewing;
• point out relevant published work which is not yet cited;
• treat refereed confidentially;
• not retain or copy the reviewed paper; 
• inform the Editor-in-Chief of any published or submitted content identical to the paper under peer reviewing.

2. Commonplace routine for dealing with unethical behaviour

Unethical behavior is understood as any kind of violating the scholarly norms of behavior on the part of the Author, the Reviewer, and the Editor/Publisher

• Misconduct is treated as an intention to cause others to regard as true that which is not true.
• The examination of misconduct must therefore focus, not only on the particular act or omission, but also on the intention of the researcher, author, editor, reviewer or publisher involved.
• Misconduct and unethical behavior may be identified and brought to the attention of the editor and publisher at any time, by anyone.

Investigation

• An initial decision is taken by the Editor, who should consult with and seek advice from the Publisher.
• Evidence is gathered, and avoiding spreading any allegations beyond those who need to know.
• Depending on the degree of seriousness of the breach the Editor, in consultation with the Publisher will make the decision whether or not to involve the employers of the accused person.

 Sanctions are ranked and can be applied in view of their ranking (from minor to more serious)

• Informing the author or reviewer of a possible misunderstanding or misapplication of acceptable standards.
• Writing a letter to the author or reviewer describing the misconduct.
• Publication of an editorial describing the misconduct.
• Sending a formal letter to the head of the author's or reviewer's institution/department or funding agency.
• Formal withdrawal of a publication from the journal with simultaneous informing  Abstracting & Indexing services and the readership of the publication.
• Refusal to accept papers from the author for a definite period of time.
• Informing  professional organisations or higher authority about the case and sanctions for further investigation and action.

3. Retraction Procedure

Retraction of a published scientific is a method for correcting published information and signaling to readers that a scientific article contains significant errors or inaccurate data that cannot be relied upon. These inaccuracies can arise from both unintentional mistakes and deliberate violations.
Retraction is employed to notify readers of potential instances of publication duplication (when an author submits the same data in multiple publications), plagiarism, and conflicts of interest that could impact the interpretation or recommendations derived from the data.
The primary purpose of retraction is to correct published information and maintain its integrity rather than to punish authors who committed violations.

Reasons and grounds for article recall should be clearly explained.

The article is being recalled as it violates the ethical principles of the Journal.

The reasons for this recall include

• excessive amounts of borrowed material,
• multiple instances of article duplication,
• fabrication or falsification of data,
• serious errors in the interpretation of results, which calls into question the scientific integrity of the material,
• incorrect authorship composition or lack thereof,
• concealment of conflicts of interest or other violations of publication ethics,
• republication of the article without author consent.

Other violations of journal ethical principles may result in withdrawing the article.

The author(s) may appeal for article withdrawal.
Decision of the journal editor-in-chief: The corresponding author may submit a withdrawal request to remove their paper from the journal database.

4. Other ethical statement issues