Editorial ethics

General guidelines

Publishing ethics policy is the code of conduct and guidelines which should be followed by all participants of the academic publication process, including authors, peer reviewers, editors, publishers, distributors, and readers.

The Editorial Board of a peer-reviewed journal «Novitates systematicae plantarum vascularium» («Novosti sistematiki vysshikh rastenii») adheres to the rules generally accepted by the international academic community, including the editors' and publishers' ethics, the ethics of academic peer-reviewing, the authors' ethics, and also the requirements of the copyright law of the Russian Federation. We act in conformity with the following fundamental documents:

«COPE's Core Practices» (Committee on Publication Ethics, COPE);
Declaration of the Association of scientific editors and publishers «Ethical principles of scientific publications»;
Provisions of Chapter 70 «Copyright» of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Komarov Botanical Institute as publisher of «Novitates systematicae plantarum vascularium» takes its duties of guardianship over all stages of publishing extremely seriously.

Ethical guidelines for editors

Chief Editor and Editorial Board are responsible for publishing manuscripts, which means that they should adhere to the following basic guidelines:

Editors' decisions to accept or reject the manuscript should be based on the validity and academic importance of the study;
Editors should consider research characteristics of the manuscripts regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnicity, nationality, social background or political beliefs of the author;
Previously unpublished data disclosed in the manuscript should not be used for personal purposes or forwarded to third parties without written consent of the author;
Information or ideas obtained in the course of editing process, leading to any kind of benefit, should be kept confidential and should not be used for personal advantage;
Editors should not publish the information if there is reasonable ground to suspect that it was plagiarised;
Editors shall respond to every appeal concerning submitted manuscripts or published articles; in case of conflict they shall take all necessary steps to defend violated copyright.

The Chief Editor of «Novitates systematicae plantarum vascularium» is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published.
The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always drive such decisions. The Chief Editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's Editorial Board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
The Chief Editor may confer with the Editorial Board, Editorial Council or reviewers in making this decision.

Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.
Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication, and lies at the heart of the scientific method. The Editorial Board of «Novitates systematicae plantarum vascularium» shares the view of many that all scholars who wish to contribute to publications have an obligation to do a fair share of reviewing.

Impartial peer reviewing of submitted manuscripts should be guided by the following principles:

The manuscript submitted for peer review should be regarded as a confidential document, which cannot be transferred to third parties for review and discussion unless the permission therefore was obtained from the Journal;
Peer reviewer should provide objective and sound evaluation of the conducted research, refraining from making personal comments about the author;
Previously unpublished data disclosed in the manuscripts shall not be used for reviewer's personal ends;
In case the reviewer does not have the subject expertise required to carry out the review of the manuscript or if he/she feels unable to provide unbiased review (for example, because of the conflicting interests with the author or affiliated institution), or knows that a prompt review will be impossible, the reviewer should inform the editor as soon as possible and decline to review the manuscript.

Ethical guidelines for authors

Authors shall be responsible for originality and validity of research they submitted, which means they have to abide by the following guidelines:

The authors should report valid research results, refraining from fabrication or falsification of data;
The authors should guarantee that the results presented in the submitted work are original;
Each borrowed fragment and statement should be acknowledged and referenced, with the indication of its author and the source of information; citation manipulation as well as plagiarism of any kind, including hidden or disguised quotations, paraphrasing or usurpation of copyright is unethical and unacceptable;
It is compulsory to acknowledge the contribution made by all those who influenced the research in any way; the academic works that affected the author's research, should be cited in the manuscript;
The authors should not submit the manuscripts, which are currently under consideration for publication in any other journal or have already been published elsewhere;
All major contributors to the research should be listed as authors; it is not allowed to list those who did not contribute to the current research as authors;
If the author discovers an error or inaccuracy in any submitted or published work, he or she should declare that immediately to the editorial staff.