Complaints

When considering complaints, the editorial board follows the relevant rules of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

If complaints and/or appeals regarding editorial decisions are received, an established procedure for their consideration is applied.

Any complaint or appeal is reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief responsible for the journal, and/or by the Deputy Editor-in-Chief who was directly involved in the editorial process.

Within seven working days, the Editor-in-Chief must examine the complaint on its merits and send a response to the applicant by email.

The Editor-in-Chief may involve members of the editorial board in reviewing a complaint or appeal if they have relevant experience in resolving disputes, clarifying the circumstances described in the application, and correctly applying the journal’s editorial policy and publication ethics standards.

When considering complaints and/or appeals, the following principles are recommended:

• mutual respect among all participants in the editorial process and the presumption of their proper and good-faith conduct;
• providing all interested parties with the opportunity to present their arguments in support of or in opposition to the claims made;
• proper notification of participants in the editorial process about the receipt and consideration of such appeals that concern their rights and/or interests;
• seeking compromise and mutual understanding in order to resolve any dispute.

The complaint review procedure applies in cases of:

• detection of plagiarism in a published article;
• duplicate publication;
• fictitious authorship;
• violation of research standards;
• theft of research results or fabrication of data;
• conflicts of interest;
• biased behavior on the part of a reviewer.

All materials related to complaints are treated confidentially.

Information is not disclosed except when necessary for an objective investigation.

If the applicant disagrees with the decision, they may submit an appeal to the editorial council or to the university’s ethics committee.