Publication ethics

The editorial board of the journal “Synopsys: Text, Context, Media” and Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, as its publisher, adhere to the standards of publication ethics and make efforts to prevent its violation. Guidelines for us are the principles developed by the Ethics Committee on Publications (COPE).

The task of the journal is to provide an academic discussion of topics, regardless of their nature (religious, gender, environmental, ethical, political or other, related to potentially controversial topics).

1 Ethical expectations

1.1 Editors' responsibilities

○ To act in a balanced, objective and fair way while carrying out their expected duties, without discrimination on grounds of religious or political beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or geographical origin of the authors.

○ Adhere to established procedures in the event of a conflict of interest or complaints of non-compliance with ethical standards. To provide authors the opportunity to respond reasonably to any complaints and comments.

1.2 Reviewers' responsibilities

○ To assist in improving the quality of the published papers, to contribute to the decision-making process.

○ Not to keep and not to copy a manuscript. To keep and maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by an editor or an author.

○ To be aware of any potential conflicts of interest and to alert the chief editor to these.

1.3 Authors' responsibilities

○ To submit the most accurate data in the accompanying documents to the manuscript.

○ To ensure that the submitted manuscript is not considered or was not accepted for publication elsewhere. 

○ To ensure that all researches in the submitted manuscript are original and to provide references to all material given in the manuscript from other sources.

○ To declare any potential conflicts of interest

○ To cooperate with the editor and publisher for the fastest possible changes, additions, and clarifications.

1.4 Authorship and AI

○ Large Language Models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, do not meet our authorship requirements. The attribution of authorship carries a responsibility for the paper that cannot be adequately applied to LLMs.

○ The use of an LLM in research should be appropriately documented in the Methods section of the manuscript, or in a suitable alternative part if a Methods section is not available.

2 Procedures for dealing with unethical behaviour

2.1 Identification of unethical behaviour

○ Unethical behaviour may be identified and brought to the attention of the editor and publisher at any time, by anyone. The informer must provide accurate information and reasonable evidence to initiate an investigation.

2.2 Investigation

○ The necessary evidence should be collected without public coverage.

○ The editorial board must decide on each application.

2.3 Outcomes (in increasing order of severity; may be applied separately or in conjunction)

○ Informing the author or  reviewer about the facts and circumstances of a misunderstanding, abuse or misuse of ethical standards.

○ Publication of a formal notice detailing the misconduct.

○ Formal retraction or withdrawal of a publication from the journal, in conjunction with informing the head of the author or reviewer's department, Abstracting & Indexing services and the readership of the publication.

○ Imposition of a formal embargo on contributions from an individual for a defined period.

○ Consideration of the case and outcome to external official and judicial instances.