Ethical Guidelines

"Yerevan State University publishing house" in its publishing activities adheres to the principles of publication ethics accepted by the international community, as reflected in the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines ), Publishing Ethics Resource Kit published by Elsevier ( https://www.elsevier.com/editors/perk ), the Singapore Statement on the Integrity of Research Work (https://www.wcrif.org/guidance/singapore-statement).

To avoid any unfair practices in publishing activities (plagiarism, presenting false information, etc.) and to ensure a high quality of scientific publications and public recognition of the author’s scientific results, each member of the Editorial Board, publishers, authors, reviewers and institutions involved in the publishing process shall adhere to ethical standards, rules and regulations and take any reasonable steps to prevent their violations. Compliance with these ethical guidelines by all the parties ensures authors’ intellectual property rights, improves the quality of the Journal and excludes a possible misuse of copyright material in the interests of particular individuals.

To check and prevent plagiarism, the journal uses a service provided by Crossref and maintained by iThenticate.

The editor should respond promptly and take reasonable measures when an ethical complaint occurs concerning a submitted manuscript or a published paper, and the editor should immediately contact and consult with the author. In these cases, editors are obliged to publish a written formal retraction or correction when needed.

When submitting to the journal, authors (groups of authors) are aware that they bear responsibility for the novelty and validity of scientific results, which implies adhering to the following principles:

• Authors shall provide reliable research results. Deliberately false or fraudulent statements are not acceptable.
• Authors shall ensure that research results are completely original. Every borrowed fragment or statement must be accompanied by a mandatory reference to the author and the original source. Excessive borrowing and any form of plagiarism including non-documented citations, paraphrasing or appropriating another person’s research results are non-ethical and unacceptable. The Editorial Board regards borrowings without references as plagiarism.
• Authors shall only provide authentic facts and data; give enough information for other researchers to be able to verify and repeat experiments; not use information obtained privately, without an open written consent; not allow data fabrication and falsification.
• Authors shall avoid manuscript duplication. If some elements of the manuscript have been previously published, the author shall refer to the earlier work and specify the differences.
• Authors shall not submit the manuscript that has been submitted to another journal and is under consideration, as well as the manuscript already published in another journal.
• It is important to recognize the contribution of all persons who, in one way or another, participated in the research; in particular, the manuscript should contain references to works that significantly influenced the research.
• All those who have made significant contributions are to be described as co-authors. It is not acceptable to list persons who did not take part in the research.
• Authors shall respect the work of the Editorial Board and reviewers and eliminate the indicated inaccuracies or justify them.
• Authors shall submit and prepare their manuscripts in compliance with the Journal standards.
• If the author finds significant errors or inaccuracies in the manuscript under consideration or after its publication, they should immediately inform the Editorial Board.
• Authors shall prove to the Editorial Board or the Publisher that their initial manuscript is valid or correct substantial errors, if the Editorial Board has become aware of them from a third party.
• The author can request withdrawal of manuscript after submission within the time span when the manuscript is still in the peer- reviewing process. After the manuscript is accepted for publication, the withdrawal is not permitted.
• Content changes and clarifications made in the text are agreed with the author. In case of disagreement with editorial interventions, the parties have the right to refuse the publication of the material or come to a mutual agreement
• The editorial board is under the obligation not to use the information contained therein and provide it to a third party, except for the reviewers.

 The Editor-in-Chief shall evaluate the intellectual content of the manuscript regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, social status or political preferences of the author.

The Editor-in-Chief shall not allow the paper to be published if there is sufficient evidence to believe that it is plagiarism.

The Editor-in Chief shall decide on the publication of materials according to the following main criteria:

• appropriateness of the manuscript for the Journal;
• relevance, novelty and scientific significance of the submitted manuscript;
• clarity; reliability of results and completeness of conclusions.

The Editor-in-Chief shall:

• take all necessary steps to provide a high quality of the published materials and protect the confidentiality of personal information;
• consider recommendations of reviewers when making a final decision on publishing the manuscript. The Editorial Board of the Journal takes all the entire responsibility for a decision on publication or rejection of the manuscript;
• justify decisions regarding acceptance or rejection of the manuscript;
• allow the author of the reviewed material to substantiate their research viewpoint.

Manuscripts are peer-reviewed by minimum two peers of the same field. The reviewers submit their reports on the manuscripts along with their recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief. The manuscript received for reviewing shall be treated as a confidential document which cannot be passed for discussion or examination to a third party unless authorized by the Editorial Board.

The editorial board makes impartial decisions exclusively based on the professional level and quality of the materials provided,

A decision on publication is made on the basis of the quality of the research and its relevance.

Authorship of the manuscript

These authorship criteria are commonly used to determine who should be listed as an author in a manuscript. It ensures that those listed as authors have made substantial contributions to the research and are willing to take responsibility for the content. To be listed as an author, an individual should meet the following criteria:

1. Significant contributions: The individual should have made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the research. This means they have played a substantial role in the research process.
2. Drafted or revised critically: The individual should have participated in the writing process of the manuscript. They should have either drafted the paper or revised it critically for important intellectual content. This ensures that they have actively contributed to the development and improvement of the manuscript.
3. Final manuscript approval: The individual should have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript. They should also agree to its submission for publication. This indicates that they have reviewed the manuscript and are willing to take public responsibility for its content.

By adhering to these criteria, the manuscript can accurately represent the contributions and responsibilities of each author. It also helps maintain ethical standards in scholarly publications.

According to the guidelines on authorship by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and COPE, individuals who have contributed to the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgements" section of the manuscript. However, it is important to obtain their written permission before including their names in the acknowledgements.

The corresponding author plays a crucial role in ensuring the integrity of the author list. They should make sure that all individuals who have made significant contributions to the research are included as appropriate coauthors, while also ensuring that no individuals who have not contributed are included. Additionally, the corresponding author should confirm that all coauthors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript before it is submitted for publication.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

It is crucial for authors to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. This transparency helps to ensure the integrity and credibility of the research. Financial conflicts of interest, such as funding sources or stock ownership, should be disclosed, as well as non-financial conflicts, such as personal relationships or affiliations. It is also important to disclose all sources of financial support for the work, including grant numbers or reference numbers. This level of disclosure promotes transparency and allows readers to assess any potential biases that may exist.