Editorial ethics

The "Journal of Public and Municipal Administration" adheres to the recommendations of international organizations on scientific publication ethics, including Recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, Recommendations of the European Association of Science Editors (EASE), and others.

All participants in the editorial process are required to follow ethical standards. If violations are suspected, the editorial board follows COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines).

Core Principles

  • Duty to Report Violations: Editorial board members and reviewers are obligated to inform the editors/publisher of identified violations, providing evidence.
  • Consequences of Violations: The editors/publisher reserve the right to reject publication or review and to report the violation to the author's place of work/professional associations.
  • Prohibition of Discrimination: Discrimination against authors based on any grounds (religion, politics, ethnicity, geography, etc.) and calls for discrimination [in articles] are prohibited.
  • Post-Publication Critique: Justified critique of published works is permissible unless there are compelling reasons for refusal. Authors of critiqued works are granted the right to reply.

Ethical Standards and Requirements for Publications

  • Originality: Works must be original and not under consideration by other peer-reviewed journals. Publication of previously published texts and scientific articles is prohibited, except in exceptional cases (scientific value, bibliographic rarity).
  • Preprints:
    • Publication of works previously posted in personal/institutional repositories (e.g., arXiv.org) as preprints is permissible. However, authors submitting a manuscript to the "Journal of Public and Municipal Administration" must inform the editorial office about the existence of the preprint (provide a link, license conditions, and changes made compared to the preprint).
    • After submission to the journal, posting new versions of the preprint is prohibited.
    • After publication in the journal, the author must include the DOI and link to the final published version of the article.
  • Plagiarism Check: The editorial board of the "Journal of Public and Municipal Administration" may check submitted materials using the "Antiplagiat" system. If significant plagiarism is detected, the editorial board acts in accordance with COPE and ANRI (Association of Scientific Editors and Publishers) rules. Plagiarism, excessive self-citation, and unreliable/falsified data are grounds for rejection.
  • Grounds for Article Retraction:
    • Detection of plagiarism in the publication;
    • Duplicate publication in multiple journals;
    • Detection of falsification or fabrication in the work (e.g., manipulation of experimental data);
    • Detection of serious errors in the work (e.g., incorrect interpretation of results) that undermine its scientific value;
    • Incorrect authorship (omission of deserving authors; inclusion of individuals not meeting authorship criteria);
    • Undisclosed conflict of interest (and other violations of publication ethics);
    • Republication of the article without the author's consent.

Authors' Responsibilities and Rights

  • Authorship: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution (conception/design; data collection/analysis/interpretation; drafting/substantive editing; final approval). Honorary authorship is unacceptable. Details on Authorship Policy here.
  • Consent: Submission of an article to the "Journal of Public and Municipal Administration" implies acceptance of the licensing agreement terms and that all authors are familiar with the final manuscript text and consent to its publication in this journal.
  • Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must guarantee that their work is entirely original. If the work or words of others are used, this must be appropriately cited. Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal is unethical and unacceptable. Authors should not submit already published articles.
  • Data Quality: Data must result from objective research, possess novelty, and be factually and methodologically reliable. During review, authors may be asked to provide raw data relevant to the manuscript. Authors should be prepared to provide open access to such data where feasible and must retain this data for a reasonable period after publication.
  • Correction of Errors: If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their publication, they must promptly notify the editor of the "Journal of Public and Municipal Administration" and cooperate to retract or correct the publication. If the editor or publisher learns from a third party of significant errors, the author must retract or correct the work as soon as possible. The editorial board is committed to assisting the scientific community in upholding publication ethics, especially regarding suspected duplicate submission or plagiarism.
  • Appeal: Authors have the right to appeal an editorial decision. Appeals are considered by the editorial board with the involvement of a new expert.
  • Upon manuscript submission, authors must disclose:
    • Presence/absence of conflicts of interest;
    • Sources of funding/support and their role (if any) in conducting the research or writing the manuscript.
  • The article must contain sufficient detail and references to allow replication. Knowingly presenting false facts is unethical and unacceptable.

Reviewers' Responsibilities and Rights

Each article is reviewed by at least two experts who are free to provide reasoned critical comments regarding the level and clarity of the presented material, its relevance to the journal's scope, and the novelty and reliability of results. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable.

  • Participation in Publication Decisions: The peer review process assists the Editor-in-Chief in making publication decisions and facilitates communication with the author. Reviewing is an integral element of scientific communication and the foundation of the scientific method applied by the journal.
  • Standards of Objectivity: Reviews must be objective. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable. Reviewers must clearly express their opinions and support them with appropriate arguments.
  • Conflict of Interest: Reviewers must decline to review if a conflict of interest exists (competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with authors, affiliated companies/organizations) and notify the editorial office.
  • Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work not cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument has been previously reported must be accompanied by a citation. Reviewers must also alert the Editor-in-Chief to any substantial similarity between the manuscript and any other published paper known to them.
  • Confidentiality: Confidentiality must be strictly maintained (double-blind peer review principle). It is prohibited to disclose information obtained during manuscript review or use it for personal gain, or to share it with third parties.

Responsibilities and Rights of the Editorial Board and Editor-in-Chief

  • Responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief: The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision on publication, guided by the opinions of authors and reviewers, and bears full responsibility. This decision is always based on verifying the work's validity and its importance to researchers and readers.
  • Absence of Conflict of Interest: The editor should have no conflict of interest regarding submitted articles. In case of a potential conflict, the editor must recuse themselves from editorial decisions.
  • Approval of Changes: Significant changes to the text cannot be made without the author's consent.
  • Protection of Authors' Rights: Authors are guaranteed the protection of their authorship and right to attribution.
  • Corrections and Retractions: The editorial board facilitates the publication of retractions/corrections if errors are discovered. Readers are promptly notified of changes or retractions.
  • Confidentiality: Reviewers' names are not disclosed to authors; authors' names remain hidden from reviewers. Unpublished data from manuscripts must not be used in personal research without the author's written consent. Information/ideas obtained during review must not be used or disclosed to third parties.
  • Editor-in-Chief's Right to Publish Controversial Material: The Editor-in-Chief may publish material whose concept/arguments they disagree with, acknowledging its scientific/discussion value.

Disclosure Policy and Conflicts of Interest

All participants must disclose relationships that could be sources of conflict of interest (financial, personal, academic, intellectual).

  • Authors must disclose (including potential) conflicts of interest upon submission (including sources of funding and their role - see section "Authors' Responsibilities and Rights").
  • Reviewers should not participate in reviewing a manuscript if a conflict of interest exists - see section "Reviewers' Responsibilities and Rights".
  • Editors/Editorial Staff must recuse themselves from decisions in case of conflict; must not use unpublished data without author consent; must maintain confidentiality during review - see section "Responsibilities and Rights of the Editorial Board and Editor-in-Chief".

Article Retraction Procedure

Retraction of text from publication (retraction) is a mechanism for correcting published scientific information and alerting readers that the publication contains serious flaws, erroneous data that cannot be trusted, cases of duplicate publication, plagiarism, or undisclosed conflicts of interest that could have influenced data interpretation or usage recommendations.

  • Grounds for Retraction: (Same as listed earlier under "Ethical Standards...")
  • Retraction is initiated by a formal request from the author(s), explaining the reason, or by decision of the journal's editorial board based on its own investigation or received information.
  • The editorial board must inform the author (lead author for collective authorship) of the retraction and justify the reasons. If the author(s) ignore communication, the editorial board informs the Council on Publication Ethics.
  • The article and its description remain on the journal's website within the relevant issue, but the electronic version is marked "RETRACTED" with the retraction date. This mark is also placed next to the article in the table of contents. A comment stating the reason for retraction is added (in case of plagiarism, sources are indicated).
  • Information about retracted articles is sent to the Council on Publication Ethics (for inclusion in a unified retracted articles database) and to the Scientific Electronic Library (elibrary.ru).

Corrections

Corrections are made to an article if it is necessary to fix an error or add missing information that does not affect the integrity and scientific significance of the article. Corrections may be made, for example, to figure captions, information on research funding may be added, or conflict of interest information clarified. Notices about correcting spelling errors, typos, or other minor changes are not published separately. The website states that corrections were made to the article (without details).

Complaints and Appeals Policy

In case of complaints or disputes, the editorial board is guided by the following rules:

  • If disputes arise concerning authorship, work on the article is suspended regardless of its stage (consideration, review, editing, preparation for print). All co-authors are notified via email.
  • The editorial board sets a specific deadline for authors to provide explanations. After this deadline, the article is subject to withdrawal.
  • If the dispute concerns an already published article, the journal may:
    a) Publish a correction;
    b) Publish a rebuttal;
    c) Retract the article with an explanation (e.g., correction or retraction).
  • If it becomes necessary to add or remove a co-author (before or after publication), the editorial board follows COPE rules:
  • To prevent authorship manipulation, the journal uses COPE flowcharts, including checks for:
    • Funding by an organization whose authors are missing from the list (requires verification of contributions);
    • Authors from another scientific field (potential guest authorship);
    • Acknowledgements without specifying contribution;
    • Unusually long/short author lists for the field/article type;
    • Incomplete description of author contributions (e.g., missing info on who drafted or analyzed data);
    • "Antiplagiat" detecting plagiarism from a thesis whose author isn't listed;
    • Similar articles published by different author groups;
    • Sudden changes in author list at publication stage without editorial discussion;
    • Unusually high publication volume inconsistent with author's position;
    • Corresponding author unable to address reviewers' comments.
  • By submitting an article, authors confirm their commitment to authorship ethics and agree to participate in authorship dispute investigations.

Complaints and Appeals

The editorial board of the "Journal of Public and Municipal Administration" is committed to carefully considering complaints regarding:

  • Breaches of confidentiality;
  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest;
  • Misuse of confidential information obtained during peer review.
    Authors have the right to disagree with editorial conclusions regarding publications or express dissatisfaction with violations of editorial procedures.
    All complaints should be sent to the editorial email. Each complaint will be reviewed in order. Review typically takes no more than 14 days. The complainant will be notified of the decision, planned actions, and timelines. The editorial board follows COPE principles when handling complaints.