1. General Provisions
The editorial board of the journal “Geology and Geochemistry of Combustible Minerals” adheres to the principles of academic integrity, scientific ethics, and international standards of publication practices. The journal’s policy aligns with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for specialized publications of category “B”, and generally accepted international practices in the field of scientific publishing.
The purpose of this policy is to ensure high-quality scientific publications, prevent violations of academic integrity, and build trust in the results of research in the field of geology and geochemistry of combustible minerals.
2. Principles of Academic Integrity
The editorial board recognizes and upholds the following key principles:
- Legality and compliance with copyright;
- Scientific objectivity and reliability of results;
- Independent execution of research;
- Proper citation of information sources;
- Transparency of authorship;
- Responsibility for the content of published materials.
Authors are responsible for the originality of submitted materials and the accuracy of the provided data.
3. Unacceptable Violations
The journal does not tolerate the following forms of academic misconduct:
- Plagiarism – use of others’ ideas, texts, or results without proper attribution;
- Self-plagiarism – republishing previously published materials without proper acknowledgment;
- Fabrication – inventing data or research results;
- Falsification – deliberate distortion or manipulation of data;
- Unjustified authorship – including individuals who did not participate in the research or excluding those who made a significant contribution;
- Duplicate submission – submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously.
In case of violations, the editorial board reserves the right to reject the manuscript, retract the publication, or notify relevant institutions.
4. Responsibilities of Authors
Authors are required to:
- Submit original scientific works;
- Ensure the reliability of experimental and analytical data;
- Properly format references according to the journal’s requirements;
- Disclose any conflicts of interest or confirm their absence;
- Indicate sources of research funding;
- Obtain approval of the final manuscript from all co-authors.
Submission of a manuscript implies automatic agreement of the authors with this policy.
5. Responsibilities of the Editorial Board and Reviewers
The editorial board ensures:
- An objective, independent, and confidential peer-review process;
- Impartiality in making publication decisions;
- Confidentiality of materials submitted for consideration;
- Prevention of conflicts of interest.
Reviewers are obliged to evaluate manuscripts solely based on scientific merit, maintain confidentiality, and notify the editorial board of any potential conflicts of interest.
6. Plagiarism Check
All manuscripts are checked for text similarity using specialized software. If the similarity exceeds an acceptable threshold, the manuscript is returned to the authors for revision or rejected.
7. Conflicts of Interest
Authors, reviewers, and editorial board members must disclose any potential conflicts of interest (financial, professional, or personal) that may affect the objectivity of evaluation or publication of materials.
8. Retractions and Corrections
If significant errors or violations of academic integrity are discovered after publication, the editorial board has the right to:
- Publish corrections;
- Retract the article with an official notice;
- Inform the institutions where the authors are employed.
9. Final Provisions
This policy is mandatory for authors, reviewers, and members of the editorial board of the journal “Geology and Geochemistry of Combustible Minerals.”