Ethical Guidelines for Editorial Office, Editorial Board, Editorial Collegium, Editor-in-Chief
Basic Ethical Principles
The editorial office of Forensic Examination of Belarus adheres to a unified culture of publishing scientific publications based on ethical standards, mutual respect and decency of all participants in the process. The journal encourages scientific discussions and exchange of experience and can publish article without sharing the author's point of view.
The right of priority publication of scientific articles is granted to persons engaged in postgraduate studies (postgraduate, doctoral, etc), in the year of completion of studies. The editorial office aimes not to publish works by the same author in two or more issues of the journal in a row, if there are ready-made works by other authors that satisfy all editorial requirements.
Members of the editorial board and the editorial collegium of the Forensic Examination of Belarus have the opportunity to publish therein. At the same time, the safeguards are in place to ensure that such persons cannot use their position to influence the review process, e.g. they cannot participate in the selection of the reviewer.
The fee for the publication of scientific articles is not charged.
The journal ensures interaction and collaboration between authors and reviewers to ensure the highest quality of published articles.
The editorial office periodically reviews the procedures for publishing proves, included article’s evaluation, correction, etc with a view to ensure that the information published in the journal is objective and reliable.
It necessary, the journal takes all the necessary measures to publish the necessary corrections, clarifications, clarifications, apologies and other relevant situation statements.
Requirements for manuscripts (standards for article submission)
Manuscripts should not be outside the scope of the Forensic Examination in Belarus journal, and should be formatted in accordance with the submission guidelines.
Each author signs a copy on paper on the last page and marks the date of signing.
Manuscripts should contain topical and scientifically relevant information, be new and original, do not leave doubts about the reliability of the results and the validity of the conclusions.
Materials sent to the journal are not returned to the authors.
Scientific articles can be submitted by the editorial office to domestic and foreign services that provide scientific citation indices, as well as posted materials on the journal’s website.
Peer review
Submitted manuscripts will be evaluated initially by the editor-in-chief to ensure the completeness of the submitted documents, compliance with the subject of the journal, article formatting requirements and publication ethics.
Plagiarism and other infringement of copyright, offensive statements, manifestations of aggression or national, religious, racial or other discrimination, other violations of the legislation of the Republic of Belarus are not allowed in the article. If such facts are revealed, the editorial office reserves the right to reject the material both before and after the independent review.
If the result of the initial assessment is positive, the article is sent for peer review.
The reviewer is selected by the editor-in-chief, chairman or deputy chairman of the editorial board of the journal, taking into account the requirements of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Republic of Belarus.
The reviewers are chosen among the leading experts in the relevant scientific field, preferably with a scientific degree of candidate or doctor of science. In addition, if necessary, the opinion of practitioners with qualifications in the relevant field of activity may be sought.
The editorial office sends the results of the review, comments and recommendations to the author at the e-mail address indicated by him within a period of not more than 2 months from the moment of receipt of the review.
The editorial office ensures storage of documentation containing the results of the review, other submitted materials.
Originality and plagiarism
The copyright for an article published in a journal is reserved for authors.
The editorial office in every way prevents plagiarism of the text, plagiarism of ideas and plagiarism of the data.
Self-plagiarism (also known as text recycling) is prohibited. Verbatim copying of previously published works and their paraphrasing, creation of new work by compiling earlier publications constitutes unethical behaviour and is unacceptable.
If elements of the manuscript were published earlier in another paper, the author should make reference to the earlier work and clarify the difference between the earlier and the new paper submitted to the Forensic Examination of Belarus. Such elements can be can be used only as a basis for new conclusions or for comparisons with new data.
If a previously published work is found that repeats the results of an article under consideration by more than 30% as a result of testing by the plagiarism detection software, the article can be rejected.
The editorial office strives to ensure control of accuracy and correctness of citations in the article accepted for publication.
Manuscript evaluation. Decision on publication
The manuscripts are evaluated solely for their intellectual content on the basis of confidential, independent, honest and objective review and uniform requirements for all authors, without regard to their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, social status, or political philosophy.
The decision on publication or rejection of the article in made by the editor-in-chief of the journal, taking into account the opinions of members of the editorial board, the editorial collegium and reviewers.
If necessary, the editors have the right to request from the author copies of documents confirming the theses set forth in the article.
In the case when the author presents in translation an article that has already been published in another language, it should be accompanied by the information about the translator, as well as about guarantees of respect for his copyright.
After changing of the editor-in-chief occurs, new editors should not overturn decisions to publish submissions made by the previous editor unless serious problems are identified (e.g. plagiarism, data falsification).
Confidentiality
When reviewing an article, the editors without substantial reasons do not provide information on the submitted manuscript and its content to anyone except authors, reviewers, potential reviewers, members of the editorial board and the editorial collegium. In turn, members of the editorial board and editorial collegium, as well as reviewers are not entitled to disclose information on the articles submitted to the editorial office to anyone except persons directly involved in the process of preparing the article for publication.
The editor should not disclose the names and other details of the reviewers to an author or a third party without the permission of the reviewers.
Information, ideas and other unpublished data accessed during the review of the article (including peer review) should be kept confidential and cannot be passed to third parties or used without written consent of the authors of the relevant materials by reviewers, editorial members council and editorial board in their own research or for other personal purposess. This rule continues to apply when the article is rejected from publication. After publication of the article, the use of this information is carried out by lawful borrowing and correct citation of the sources used.
Principles of making corrections to publications
The editorial board has the right to make cuts and editorial changes to the manuscripts. The editors take all possible measures to coordinate with the author the editorial proofs made in the article.
When content, grammatical, stylistic mistakes and other possible defects in the work are detected, the author is given an opportunity to make the necessary corrections as soon as possible.
When incorrect information, erroneous conclusions and other similar data are found in the published work, the editorial office takes all necessary measures to publish the necessary corrections, clarifications, clarifications, apologies and other statements relevant to the situation. The editorial office also, in cases where it is possible, takes measures to remove publications from their website, as well as from the websites of domestic and foreign organizations that manage scientific citation indices.
Measures to resolve ethical complaints
The editorial office should respond promptly and take reasonable measures when any communications, complaints, questions or suggestions are submitted regarding the ethical behavior of authors, reviewers or other persons in respect of both submitted manuscripts and already published articles.
If the facts of violation of the publications ethics are confirmed, the editorial office has the right to:
- refuse to publish the article;
- stop further cooperation with the author;
- place, if necessary, the corresponding corrections, explanations, refutations or apologies on the pages of the journal or on the website;
- take other necessary measures to further prevent unethical behavior and restore violated rights.
Conflict of interests
The editorial office takes all measures to prevent a conflict of interest situation. In particular, the authors are invited to indicate in the article the persons with whom they may have a conflict of interest.
The editor-in-chief, members of the editorial board and the editorial collegium should refuse to participate in the process of reviewing the manuscript if there is a conflict of interest. If a conflict of interest arises with the chief editor, the decision is made by the chairman or deputy chairman of the editorial board, and vice versa.
When submitting an article, the editorial office asks the editor to inform about the possible conflict of interest with the author of the article submitted (in the case when information about the article’s author is disclosed to the reviewer at his request or is obvious from the article, for example, when author is quoting his own articles).
If a reviewer has a conflict of interest with the author of the article, the manuscript is submitted to another reviewer for consideration.
If information on a conflict of interest was obtained after the publication of the article, the editors, if necessary, ensure the publication of necessary corrections and amendments to the article.
The editorial staff provides detailed and reasonable answers to all claims of the authors, making every effort to resolve conflict situations.
