The Editorial Board of the journal “Personality and Environmental Issues” adheres to widely recognized principles of academic ethics, follows the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct, and aligns its policies with leading international organizations.

---

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Ethical Responsibilities of the Editorial Board

The Editorial Board considers all manuscripts submitted for publication without prejudice, objectively evaluating the quality of scientific articles regardless of the authors’ race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, citizenship, political views, academic position, or institutional affiliation.

The Editorial Board makes fair and impartial decisions independent of commercial or other interests and ensures a transparent and unbiased peer-review process. The Editorial Board opposes data fabrication, plagiarism, simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to multiple journals, redundant publication, and any attempt to mislead the public regarding the actual contribution of authors to a publication.

Editors and members of the Editorial Board do not disclose information related to a manuscript under consideration to any third party, except those directly involved in its professional evaluation. Upon a positive editorial decision, the article is published in the journal and made available through relevant electronic resources.

When manuscripts containing personal data of identifiable individuals are submitted, the Managing Editor may request scanned copies of written informed consent from the participants authorizing the research and publication of the relevant information.

Ethical Responsibilities of Reviewers

Peer review is an essential stage of the publication process. Every scholar who agrees to act as a reviewer is expected to perform this task conscientiously.

• Reviewers should provide an objective assessment of the quality of a manuscript and determine whether it meets high scientific and literary standards. They must respect the intellectual independence of the authors.
• Reviewers are required to substantiate their evaluations with clear arguments and submit their reviews within a reasonable timeframe.
• A manuscript received for review is a confidential document. Reviewers must not use or disclose unpublished information contained in the manuscript without the express consent of the author(s).
• If reviewers recognize a potential conflict of interest arising from relationships with institutions or organizations (political, academic, commercial, or otherwise) connected to the subject matter of the manuscript, they must inform the Editorial Board. In such cases, the manuscript will be assigned to another qualified reviewer.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

The primary responsibility of authors is to provide an accurate account of the research conducted and an objective discussion of its significance. Authors must present their results clearly and honestly, without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation. Authors bear full responsibility for the content of their articles and for the fact of their publication.

• Originality and Plagiarism: Plagiarism in any form and the submission of previously published work as original research are strictly unacceptable. In cases where such misconduct is identified, responsibility rests solely with the authors.
• Authorship of the Work: All individuals who have made a substantial scholarly contribution to the work should be listed as co-authors and share responsibility for the results presented. The corresponding author guarantees that only those who meet the criteria for authorship are included and confirms that all co-authors have approved the manuscript and agreed to its submission.
• Acknowledgments and Citations: Authors should cite publications that have significantly influenced the submitted work. Appropriate acknowledgment must be given to all sources of information and materials used in the study that were not generated by the authors themselves.
• Conflicts of Interest: Authors must disclose any financial or potential conflicts of interest that could influence the interpretation or publication of the research results.
• Notification of Errors: If authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their manuscript during the review process or after publication, they must promptly notify the Editorial Board to issue a correction or retraction.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject manuscripts that fail to comply with the journal’s ethical or technical requirements.

---

CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY

A conflict of interest arises when an author (or the institution they represent), reviewer, or editor has financial, personal, or professional relationships that could improperly influence their actions or decisions. Such conflicts may exist even when individuals believe that these relationships do not affect their judgment.

Editors are responsible for managing conflicts of interest, minimizing their impact, and ensuring complete transparency throughout the publication process.

To prevent potential conflicts of interest, the journal strictly prohibits editors from reviewing or making sole publication decisions regarding manuscripts authored by themselves, their co-authors, or their close relatives.

---

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING

Authors publishing in this journal agree to the following conditions:

Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal the right of first publication under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction of the work in any medium, provided that proper credit is given to the original author(s) and the original publication in this journal is acknowledged.

Authors retain the right, without requiring additional permission from the Editorial Board or the publisher, to:

• use the article in whole or in part for educational purposes;
• use the article in future works of their own authorship;
• use the article in conference presentations, abstracts, and oral reports;
• deposit electronic copies of the article (including the final PDF version downloaded from the journal website) on personal websites, blogs, institutional repositories, websites of the institutions where the authors are employed, and in non-commercial open-access databases.