Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

We at the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Journal believe that ethics aspects of the publication form an important part of the editorial work and of the reviewing process itself. Avoiding inappropriate activities such as dissimulation and plagiarism is a responsibility of any of the authors, editors, reviewers, publishers and institutions taking part in a publication process.

Ukrainian hydrometeorological journal follows the Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice based on COPE's Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Editors and Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers to ensure ethics and quality in publication.

Odessa State Environmental University (OSENU) as a publisher of the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Journal takes its duties to guarantee serious approach to all stages of publishing and recognizes the responsibilities. Advertising, reprint and/or any commercial revenue have no influence on editorial decisions.

Compliance with the standards of ethical behavior is therefore expected from all parties involved in the publishing process: authors, editors, reviewers and the publisher itself.

Duties of the Editor and the Editorial Board

Publication decisions

The Editor makes a decision on publication of the submitted papers. He or she is guided by the Journal’s policy and is entirely concentrated on academic value and reviewers' conclusions. The Editor clings to the contemporary regulations regarding defamation, copyright violation and plagiarism and is entitled to carry out decision-making through consultations with reviewers or members of the Editorial Board.

The Editor should take reasonable responsive measures when an ethical complaint concerning the submitted or published paper is presented. 

The Editor evaluates papers without regard to previous merits, race, ethnic origin, gender, religion, citizenship, sexual orientation, or political philosophy of their authors.

Confidentiality

The Editor and the Editorial Board do not disclose any information about a submitted paper (author(s), subject, text etc.) to anyone other than а corresponding author, (potential) reviewers and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Unpublished texts disclosed in a submitted paper should not be used in any research of the Editor, reviewers or any other informed persons without a written consent of the authors. Privileged information or arguments obtained through peer review should be kept confidential and not used for personal or third party advantage. The Editor and any member of the Editorial Board should release themselves from the duties of reviewing the papers in case of any conflicts of interest resulting from collaborative, competitive or other relationship or connections with any of the authors, companies/institutions having relevance to such papers. The Editor should require all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests. In case of revealing the competing interests after publication the appropriate corrections should be published. A retraction or expression of concern may be published as well, as appropriate.

Ensuring the integrity: involvement and cooperation

The Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Journal will respond to all claims/doubt of research or publication misconduct raised by the readers, reviewers or others. If concerns regarding conduct or validity of a certain academic work are raised, the Editorial Board, with involvement of relevant experts, will assess cases of possible plagiarism or duplicate/redundant publication. The Editor will also ask the authors to provide their responses to such claims. The Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Journal will take this to the institutional level: the Journal may request an investigation by the institution or other appropriate bodies if the responses given are unsatisfactory.

In cases when concerns are very serious and the published paper is likely to influence the scientific knowledge or practical applications, the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Journal may consider informing readers about these concerns by issuing an “expression of concern” and then publishing explanations about the findings of the investigation. Otherwise, the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Journal may decide to retract a paper if the Editorial Board is persuaded that severe misconduct happened. Retracted papers will be retained online and conspicuously marked as a retraction for the readers’ benefit.

Duties of the Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review is an obligatory step in making editorial decisions and, if necessary, in improving the paper through the editorial communications with the authors.

Efficiency

When feeling the shortage of qualification in the research reported in the paper or knowing about the lack of time that makes it impossible to complete his/her review by the appointed time the reviewer asked to conduct peer review should notify the Editor and relieve oneself from the reviewing duties.

Confidentiality

Any papers and supplementary material received for review should be treated as confidential documents. They should not be shown to or discussed with the third parties except when that is authorized by the Editor.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is unsuitable. Reviewers should express their opinion clearly and with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify a relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any assertion that an observation, conclusion or suggestion had been previously reported should be supported by a relevant citation. Reviewers should also inform about any important similarity or overlap between the paper under consideration and any other published papers of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or arguments obtained through peer review should be kept confidential and not used for personal or third party advantage. Reviewers should release themselves from the duties of reviewing the papers having conflicts of interest resulting from collaborative, competitive or other relationship or connections with any of the authors, companies/institutions having relevance to such papers.

Reviewers' misconduct

The Editors will take reviewers' misconduct seriously and investigate any evidence of confidentiality breach, non-declaration of conflicts of interest (both financial and non-financial), inappropriate use of confidential material or delay of peer review for competitive advantage. Allegations of severe reviewers' misconduct (e.g. plagiarism) will be taken to the institutional level.

Duties of authors

Reporting standards

Authors reporting results of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in a paper. A paper should contain sufficient details and references to permit others to replicate the research. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data, if practicable. Authors should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication. Confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data still do not preclude their release.

Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that their submitted papers:

• describe entirely original research;
• are not plagiarized;
• have not been published elsewhere in any language;
• contain appropriate citation or quotation if the authors have used the work and/or text belonging to others.

Applicable copyright laws and conventions should be followed. Copyright material (e.g. tables, figures or extensive quotations) should be reproduced only with appropriate permission and acknowledgement.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

Authors should not in general publish papers describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same paper to more than one journal concurrently creates unethical publishing conduct and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Authors will submit only entirely original works and proper acknowledgment of other works should always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. If there are other persons who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research, they should be named in an acknowledgement section.

The authors should ensure that all contributing co-authors (see the definition above) and no uninvolved co-authors are included in the list of authors of the paper and that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Hazards

If a work involves chemicals handling or mentions procedures or equipment that have certain unusual hazards inherent in their use authors should clearly identify these in the paper.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All authors should disclose in their papers any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of such papers. All sources of financial support for the research should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works

When authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published research it is the authors’ obligation to notify the Journal's editor or publisher promptly and cooperate with them when retracting or correcting the paper.

Disclaimer

Neither the Editors nor the Editorial Board are responsible for authors’ expressed opinions, views and the contents of the papers published in the Journal. Ensuring originality, proofreading of papers and rectifying errors are the sole responsibility of the individual authors.

All papers submitted for review and publication in the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Journal are subject to double independent reviewing for authenticity, ethical issues and useful contributions. Opinions of the reviewers are the only tool when deciding on publication in the Journal and thus will remain final.