Software & Systems

Publication Ethics

The editorial staff of the Journal Software & Systems relies on traditional ethical principles of scientific periodicals and a set of principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). It requires compliance with these rules from all participants of the publishing process.

Ethical principles of editors and publishers

The publisher (Research Institute “Centerprogramsystem”) and the Editorial Board of the Journal are responsible for publishing author's materials. It causes the need to follow fundamental ethical principles.

Based on reliability of presented data and scholarly importance of the proposed work an editor makes a decision to publish an article.

An editor can consult with other editors or experts to make a decision regarding publishing an article.

An editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, social set-up or political philosophy of the authors.

Business or political interests should not affect editor's decision to publish an article.

Unpublished materials from manuscripts submitted for consideration should not be used for personal use or shared with third parties without the written consent of the author. Information obtained during editing should remain confidential.

An editor should not allow a work to be published if there are sufficient grounds to consider it plagiarized.

An editor, together with a publisher, should not leave unanswered any claims concerning reviewed manuscripts or published materials, and in case of a conflict situation, take all necessary measures to restore violated rights.

Ethical principles of reviewers

A reviewer makes a scientific investigation of copyrighted material. That is why actions of a reviewer should be unbiased.

Any manuscript received for review must be treated as confidential documents. It must not be shown to or discussed with third parties who do not have any permission from the editorial board.

A reviewer should make an objective and reasoned evaluation about the results of a research. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. A reviewer should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used for reviewer's personal advantage.

Any selected reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible (if there is a conflict of interests with an author or an organisation) should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Ethical principles of authors

Author (a group of authors) realizes that they are responsible for novelty and reliability of research results. This includes following principles:

Authors should present accurate results of performed research as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are unacceptable.

Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. Adopted fragments and statements should be appropriately cited or quoted with an indication of an author and an original source. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. 

When using text generators (for example, ChatGPT, RoboGPT, etc.), when writing an article, you should publicly declare this in the metadata. It is necessary to clarify: at what time and which chatbot was used, its version. You should also attach a separate file with all the generated elements.

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Author should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of reported work.

An author should not submit for consideration previously published paper in another journal (a covering letter should include information that a submitted manuscript will be published for the first time). If some elements of a manuscript have been already published, the author should cite to the previously published paper and indicate the differences).

Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

All those who have made a significant contribution to the research should be listed as co-authors. It is unacceptable to list parties who did not contribute to the research as co-authors.

The corresponding author should ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication (by signing a license agreement or a manuscript).

The editorial board is not responsible for a breach of warranty given by an author.

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Conflict of interest

In order to avoid ethical violations, a conflict of interest should be excluded between the parties that are involved in the process of monograph publication. A conflict of interest occurs when editors, authors, and peer reviewers have relevant financial, intellectual or personal interests which might affect their ability to present or review data objectively. An author is supposed to settle all claims by themselves without charging of another party.

When one of the involved parties misconducts publication ethics, there must be an investigation and public clarification of a conflict of interest.

If the article containing serious incorrectness has been published, it should be corrected in a form available for readers and indexing systems.