Ethical principles

                                                                                         PUBLICATION ETHICS

                                            Scientific Journal of International University of Tourism and Hospitality

                                                "Bulletin of the International University of Tourism and Hospitality"

     

          The Editorial Board of the scientific journal “Bulletin of the International University of Tourism and Hospitality” adheres to international publication ethics standards (COPE), Scopus (Elsevier) requirements, and the Academic Integrity Code of the International University of Tourism and Hospitality. Publication ethics define the standards of conduct for editors, reviewers, and authors, measures to identify conflicts of interest and unethical behavior, as well as procedures for article retraction, correction, and refutation.

        Rights and Responsibilities of Reviewers

         Reviewers of the “Bulletin of the International University of Tourism and Hospitality” must adhere to the principle of objectivity. Personal criticism of the authors is not allowed. The reviewer must justify their comments and explain their decision regarding acceptance or rejection of the manuscript. The nationality, religion, political, or other views of the authors must not be taken into account during the review process.

         The expert evaluation of the reviewer should support the editorial board in making a publication decision and assist the authors in improving their manuscript. The decision to accept, return for revision, or reject a manuscript is made by the editorial board based on the results of the review.

         Reviewers must submit their review within the timeframe specified by the editorial board, but no later than 2–4 weeks from receiving the manuscript. If completing the review within the deadline is not possible, the reviewer must promptly notify the scientific editor. If the reviewer lacks sufficient expertise to evaluate the manuscript, they must decline to review and inform the editorial office.

         The manuscript provided to the reviewer is confidential. Sharing or discussing it with others is only allowed with written permission from the editor or authors. Information and ideas obtained during the review process cannot be used by the reviewer for personal gain.

        The reviewer must indicate scientific works that could influence the results of the manuscript if they were not mentioned by the authors, and draw the editorial board’s attention to significant similarities with previously published materials. If plagiarism, incorrect borrowings, or falsified data are identified, the reviewer must prevent the manuscript from being published and inform the editor.

       Rights and Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must adhere to the following principles:

         Single submission. Authors guarantee that the manuscript has not been submitted to other journals. Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously violates publication ethics.

        Authorship. The person who has made the greatest intellectual contribution to the manuscript is listed first and serves as the corresponding author. Each article must have a corresponding author responsible for preparing the final version, communicating with the editorial office, including all contributors in the author list, and obtaining approval of the final version from all co-authors. All authors are responsible for the content of the work.

        Originality. Authors guarantee that the research results presented are original and independent and do not contain plagiarism or improper borrowings. Authors are responsible for publishing articles with signs of unethical behavior, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, self-citation, data fabrication, falsification, distortion of results, false authorship, duplication, conflict of interest, or deception.

        Citation and sources. Authors must correctly cite all scientific and other sources used in the work. Any borrowed content must include a bibliographic reference to the original source. Information from unreliable sources must not be used.

        Correction of errors. If errors are found at any stage of the publication process, authors must promptly notify the editorial office and assist in publishing the appropriate correction (Erratum or Corrigendum). In the case of significant errors that cannot be corrected, authors must withdraw the manuscript or article.

        Adherence to ethics. Authors must observe ethical norms when addressing criticism, comments, and interactions with the editorial board. Failure to comply with these principles is grounds for removing the manuscript from consideration and/or publication.

       Conflict of Interest

        A conflict of interest arises if personal, financial, or professional circumstances of participants may affect scientific judgment and the editorial board’s decision. The editor-in-chief, editorial board members, and reviewers must promptly report any potential conflict. If a conflict exists, the participant must abstain from reviewing the manuscript, and if necessary, the manuscript is assigned to another reviewer. The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily result in manuscript rejection.

       Unethical Behavior

Unethical behavior includes:

  • Reviewing one’s own articles;

  • Contractual or fraudulent reviewing;

  • Using agency services to publish research results;

  • False authorship, data falsification, and fabrication;

  • Publishing unreliable pseudo-scientific texts;

  • Submitting manuscripts to other journals without author permission;

  • Providing materials to third parties;

  • Violating copyright and editorial process confidentiality;

  • Manipulating citations;

  • Plagiarism.

       Use of Artificial Intelligence

         The use of generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Bard, Copilot) is allowed only as an auxiliary tool (idea generation, consultation, reference information). AI cannot be listed as an author. Responsibility for the content lies solely with the declared authors. The editorial board reserves the right to reject a manuscript without further review if there is evidence of undisclosed AI use.