The journal does not publish materials containing plagiarism (as defined by the Law of Ukraine "On Copyright and Related Rights") or self-plagiarism (duplicate publication, as defined by the ICMJE). Upon submission, every manuscript undergoes a plagiarism and self-plagiarism check using StrikePlagiarism.com. Additionally, similarity reports are reviewed by experts during the double-blind peer review process to ensure academic integrity.

Plagiarism before publication

The editorial board thoroughly examines any suspected plagiarism. If plagiarism or improper textual borrowings are identified by editors or reviewers at any stage before publication, the author(s) will be required to revise the manuscript by properly citing sources or modifying the content.

Manuscripts with similarity index scores of K1 ≥50% and K2 ≥25% may be rejected outright before peer review, with the author(s) being notified. Manuscripts with K1 between 25 % and 50 % and K2 between 5 % and 25 % will be returned to the authors for revision, requiring proper referencing or removal of duplicated content.

Similarity coefficients are calculated using specialized software and undergo further evaluation by the editorial board.

Plagiarism after publication

If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the editorial board conducts an investigation. If confirmed, the journal contacts the author(s), and the plagiarized sections are marked in the PDF file. Depending on the severity of the violation, the article may be retracted (removed) from the journal’s database.

Authors bear full responsibility for obtaining copyright permissions when reproducing illustrations, tables, or figures from other sources. A proper citation or permission statement must accompany all borrowed elements.

Self-plagiarism (duplicate publication)

Authors must not submit the same manuscript, in any language, to multiple journals simultaneously. This practice prevents conflicts where multiple journals claim the right to publish the same material and ensures that editorial and peer-review resources are used efficiently.

The journal does not accept manuscripts that substantially overlap with previously published works. According to ICMJE, duplicate publication is publication of a paper that overlaps substantially with one already published, without clear, visible reference to the previous publication.