Editorial policy

PUBLICATION ETHICS
ANTI-PLAGIARISM POLICY
ETHICS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) TOOLS’ APPLICATION
OPEN ACCESS POLICY
ARCHIVING POLICY
POLICY OF CORRECTION AND RETRACTION OF PUBLISHED ARTICLES
SECONDARY PUBLICATION
COMPLAINTS POLICY
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
DATA PRIVACY POLICY

PUBLICATION ETHICS

The basic provisions

The editorial board of the scientific journal “Foreign Trade: Economics, Finance, Law” is guided by the legislation of Ukraine, the Ethical Code of a Scientist of Ukraine, adheres to the recommendations of Elsevier, COPE publication principles, principles of academic integrity, requirements of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for scientific publications.

By accepting scientific articles for publication, the editorial board of the scientific journal evaluates the intellectual content of manuscripts regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious preferences, origin, citizenship, social status, or political preferences of the author(s).

The journal's editorial policy is based on the principles of objectivity and impartiality in the selection of articles for publication; high-quality requirements for scientific research; mandatory peer review of manuscripts; collegiality in making decisions on publication; accessibility and efficiency in communicating with authors; and strict observance of copyright and related rights.

 Responsibilities of editors

The manuscripts accepted by the editorial board are necessarily checked for plagiarism by the StrikePlagiarism software and peer reviewed according to the established procedure.

Upon positive peer review, the manuscript undergoes internal editorial processing: scientific editing, literary editing, technical editing, and design according to editorial standards. Manuscripts rejected upon peer review are not subject to reconsideration.

Each article obtains an international digital identifier DOI (Digital Object Identifier).

Responsibilities of peer reviewers

Peer reviewers play an important role in ensuring the quality of publications by helping editors make reasonable decisions and improving submitted manuscripts.

If a peer reviewer is unable to perform a peer review for any reason or is unable to respond promptly to a request, he/she is obliged to immediately notify the editorial board and refuse to participate in the procedure.

All manuscripts submitted for peer review are treated as confidential information and may not be disclosed or discussed with third parties without the prior permission of the editor.

Reviewing should be carried out impartially and professionally. Personal criticism of authors is unacceptable. Remarks should be clearly formulated and supported by reasonable arguments.

 Responsibilities of the authors

By submitting materials for publication in the scientific journal “Foreign Trade: Economics, Finance, Law”, the authors agree that, upon receipt of a positive review and acceptance of the manuscript for publication and appropriate editorial processing, the article may be placed in electronic databases with the obligatory indication of authorship and copyright retention in full by the authors. Moreover, the author/authors grant to the journal the right of first publication, which makes it possible to disseminate this material with the indication of authorship and initial publication in the scientific journal “Foreign Trade: Economics, Finance, Law”.

The author/authors are responsible for the novelty and reliability of the results of the scientific research, as well as for compliance with the principles of academic integrity, which provides that

  • the author/authors of the article are obliged to provide reliable results of the research;
  • the author(s) must ensure that the research results presented in the manuscript are completely original. Borrowed fragments or statements must be cited with the author and the original source. Excessive borrowing, as well as plagiarism in any form, including unformatted quotes, paraphrasing, or assigning rights to the results of other people's research, is unacceptable;
  • the author(s) recognize the contribution of all persons who have influenced the research in some way. The article should contain references to all papers used in the research process;
  • the author(s) have no right to submit to the journal a manuscript or any parts of it that are under consideration in other periodicals (scientific or non-scientific), and cannot offer materials already published;
  • all researchers who have made a significant contribution to the manuscript should be listed as co-authors;
  • if the author discovers significant errors or inaccuracies in the article at the stage of its review or after its publication, he or she should notify the editorial board as soon as possible.

ANTI-PLAGIARISM POLICY

The editorial board of the open access scientific journal “Foreign Trade: Economics, Finance, Law” informs the authors that they are fully responsible for incorrect borrowing or use of the research results of others and non-compliance with the ethics of scientific citation.

Authors should ensure

  • the originality of the submitted articles, i.e., provide materials that have not been published in other periodicals in any language;
  • absence of plagiarism;
  • references to the relevant sources, if materials or texts of third parties are used.

The scientific journal “Foreign Trade: Economics, Finance, Law” applies StrikePlagiarism software to detect plagiarism.

In order to prevent plagiarism, the editorial board:

  • checks articles for borrowings from the papers of third parties without appropriate references;
  • after reviewing the article, provides an opinion on the absence or presence of plagiarism.

Plagiarism in all forms is unacceptable and is considered as a manifestation of unethical behavior. Manuscripts submitted to the editorial office are checked for originality according to the following indicators: if the originality of the text is more than 85%, the material is allowed for peer review; from 75 to 85% of the originality of the text – the author should check the correctness of citations and references to the sources used; less than 75% of the originality of the text – the material is not accepted for peer review.

ETHICS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) TOOLS’ APPLICATION

The editorial policy on ethical considerations does not deny the use of AI technologies, which are rapidly developing and are increasingly used both in research and in practice, providing new opportunities for obtaining and processing information. However, it is important to adhere to the principles of responsible and ethical use of AI in academic activities.

While using AI tools, it is important to keep in mind that

  • generative AI cannot be the only source of information;
  • the content of the manuscript should be the result of the author's own original research work;
  • if the author applies any AI technologies in the course of research or during the article preparation, it should be noted in the Methodology section, indicating which AI tool was applied and describing how it was applied;
  • it is necessary to critically evaluate the results obtained from AI, always check the information with the help of alternative reliable sources.

It is strictly forbidden to misrepresent AI-generated content as your own. However, the responsible use of AI tools to organize and develop one's own ideas (and not to replace the author's intellectual activity) can improve the quality of the work.

The editorial board checks all manuscripts for the application of generative AI with the help of StrikePlagiarism software. At the same time, authors should keep in mind that AI generation is accompanied by several problems, including

  • AI-generated text, answers to questions, formulas, or calculations may look plausible but contain critical errors, may not be factually accurate, and may create fake citations and references;
  • the data on which AI models are trained may be outdated, so further generation will multiply errors;
  • the text generated by AI is likely to infringe copyright, as AI uses published thoughts and ideas of human authors in the form of texts without referring to them, which can be considered plagiarism; therefore, there are risks of copyright infringement of ideas, texts, images, and other copyrighted materials;
  • there are also always relevant issues of morality, information security, etc.: AI models can process large amounts of confidential data, including personal information, commercial, and important corporate data, upon your request, and use this information for further model training, disseminating information to the outside world.

The following ways of using AI models that violate the principles of academic integrity and research ethics are considered unacceptable, for example

  • presenting text generated by AI or paraphrased content from other sources as one's own work - using AI to automatically generate texts or paraphrase existing content without properly citing sources violates the principles of authorship and is considered plagiarism;
  • reworking the author's own article with the help of AI tools to create the appearance of a new publication violates the publication ethics and is considered self-plagiarism;
  • creating false data and presenting it as a confirmation of one's own research (data fabrication). The generation of false data by AI and its use as a basis for scientific conclusions is a serious violation of academic integrity and may have negative consequences for the quality of research and the reputation of the researcher.

OPEN ACCESS POLICY

The journal “Foreign Trade: Economics, Finance, Law” is an open access periodical - its content is open, accessible, and free for users. Users are allowed to read, download, distribute, copy, print, search for full texts of documents, or refer to them, use them for any other legal purposes without requesting prior permission from the publisher or author.

All articles are posted on the website of the scientific journal for an unlimited period of time and free of charge immediately after the publication of the current issue, and are also distributed through the system of national libraries and stored in hard copies. Full-text access to the journal's scientific articles in real time is provided on the official website of the journal in the Archives section.

The scientific journal “Foreign Trade: Economics, Finance, Law” is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International CC-BY license.

ARCHIVING POLICY

The journal develops various procedures aimed at ensuring constant access to the content hosted on its servers:

  • backup;
  • monitoring of technological aspects to prevent possible format conversions or outdated software;
  • digital preservation metadata;
  • use of digital object identifiers (DOIs).

In addition, the journal stores its metadata in a repository to ensure long-term digital preservation of articles (e.g., Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine).

POLICY OF CORRECTION AND RETRACTION OF PUBLISHED ARTICLES

The journal recognizes that despite the thoroughness of editorial and peer review control, in some exceptional cases, errors or inaccuracies may be found in publications. In order to preserve the credibility of academic discourse, the journal adheres to a clear, transparent, and fair procedure for making changes to already published materials, which meets the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Changes to publications are made as quickly as possible, and with the historical transparency of the document preserved.

Correcting a publication

Three categories of corrections can be made to already published articles:

Technical corrections are small changes that do not require a separate public notice, such as updating the style, clarifying the names of authors, and adjusting the formatting. Such changes are made directly to the e-version of the article with a corresponding note at the end of the publication.

Public correction (сorrigendum) occurs when errors are found that do not change the essence of the conclusions but may mislead readers (for example, incorrectly labelled tables, irrelevant data in graphs, errors in numbering or wording). In such cases, a separate “correction note” is published explaining the changes made to the original text of the article, and the “Corrected” mark appears in the title of the article with a link to the note.

An editorial update (addendum) takes place if broader explanations or clarifications are needed after publication, for example, due to new data that clarify the original results. The editors initiate an editorial update /addendum of the article, accompanied by an extended commentary. As in the previous case, this involves the publication of a separate “notice of editorial update/addendum” explaining the changes made to the original text of the article, and the “Corrected” mark appears in the title of the article with a reference to such a notice.

Retraction of a publication

If a published article reveals: (1) signs of violation of research ethics that are not obvious at the time of publication, (2) critical errors that undermine the reliability of the main conclusions, (3) duplication of an already published work (without appropriate reference or permission), (4) a hidden conflict of interest that affected the objectivity of the conclusions, etc.

The procedure for withdrawing an article involves sending a request for withdrawal of the publication from the author, reviewer, reader, or member of the editorial board. Upon receipt of the request, the Editorial Board investigates the facts stated in the request and determines whether they are true or false and comply with the requirements of the journal's editorial policy. The decision to withdraw the article is made collectively by the editorial board of the journal at its meeting. The decision clearly indicates the reason for the withdrawal of the article. The notice of withdrawal indicates why the article was withdrawn and who initiated this process. Such a notice is linked to the article itself, which remains available in the journal's archive, but is clearly marked as “withdrawn” - the title of the article is marked ‘Withdrawn’ with a link to the relevant notice, and the watermark “Withdrawn Article” is added to the published version of the article. The entire text of a retracted article may be removed only in exceptional cases, for example, if there are legal grounds (defamation, copyright infringement, court decision). In such situations, the bibliographic information remains on the website, along with an explanation of the reasons for the removal.

SECONDARY PUBLICATION

The authors retain copyright, granting the journal the right to first publish the paper under the Creative Commons Attribution International CC-BY license. This allows others to freely distribute the material with the obligatory indication of authorship and source of publication.

Authors can also enter into additional non-exclusive agreements for the distribution of their article (for example, placement in a repository or publication in a book), provided that its initial publication in this journal is indicated.

Placing materials on the Internet (in institutional repositories or on personal websites) before or during the review of the submission is not prohibited and is even encouraged, as it promotes active knowledge sharing and increases the citation of published works.

COMPLAINTS POLICY

Recognition and resolution of any problems related to the publication of research results is an important aspect of the journal's editorial policy. Complaints help the editorial board to improve the quality of the editorial process and the journal as a whole.

The editors consider complaints on the following issues:

  • disputes regarding authorship;
  • plagiarism in published materials;
  • republishing or submitting the same articles to several journals simultaneously;
  • misappropriation of research results and falsification of data;
  • errors or fraud in the research process;
  • violation of research standards;
  • undisclosed conflicts of interest;
  • bias or misconduct of reviewers;
  • issues of publication administration policy or suggestions for its improvement.

Complaints submitted in an offensive or threatening manner will not be accepted.

The complaint should be sent to the editorial office by e-mail to zt@knute.edu.ua. The letter should clearly indicate the subject, type of complaint, the name of the complainant, the name(s) of the author(s) and title of the article to which the complaint relates, the number of the journal in which it is published (for already published articles), disclose the essence of the complaint and provide supporting materials.

The editors review complaints in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In the process of considering a complaint, the editors communicate with all parties involved, examine the correspondence history, and submit materials.

The standard term for considering a complaint is 15 working days. This period may be extended if it is necessary to receive responses on the merits of the complaint from all parties involved and to conduct a detailed investigation, which will be notified to the complainant. The editors will make every effort to consider the complaint as soon as possible.

The editors implement all necessary procedures to ensure, guarantee, and comply with ethical standards and principles of academic integrity.

If the applicant is not satisfied with the results of the complaint, he or she has the right to appeal to the Editor-in-Chief. The appeal application must be accompanied by the editorial board's decision on the results of the complaint consideration and materials that substantiate the essence of the complaint. The appeal is considered by the Editorial Board of the journal. Its decision is final.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The most easily identifiable conflicts of interest are economic relationships such as direct employment, consulting fees, company ownership, honoraria, patent authorship, or conference fees. However, there may also be conflicts of interest arising from friendship, intellectual rivalry, academic competition, or beliefs. When submitting articles for publication, all authors are responsible for declaring any financial or personal relationships with any public or private organizations that could (intentionally) influence the results of their work. Authors should similarly declare any non-financial relationships that may cause a conflict of interest in their manuscript (personal, academic, ideological, intellectual, political, or religious).

Conflicts of interest, both financial and non-financial, must be disclosed at the moment of submitting the article. This is to ensure that authors with potential conflicts of interest are not allowed to publish. Conflicts should be clearly identified so that readers can judge whether the authors were subject to a particular bias and how this might have affected the paper.

DATA PRIVACY POLICY

The names and e-mail addresses entered on the journal's website will be used solely for the purposes of this journal and will not be available for any other purpose or to any other person.

The data collected from registered and unregistered users of this journal is subject to the standard procedure for the operation of peer-reviewed journals. They contain information that provides communication for the editorial process and are used to inform readers about the authorship and editing of content.

The authors whose materials are published in the journal are responsible for the data on the persons involved in the research reported therein. Those involved in the editing of this journal are committed to adhering to industry standards for data privacy, including the provisions of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on “data subject rights”, which include: notification of breach; right of access; right to be forgotten; data portability; and privacy by design. The GDPR also recognizes the “public interest in data availability”, which is of particular importance for those involved in maintaining the highest possible integrity of public records of scientific publications.