Publication Ethics

The editorial board of the journal "Condensed Matter and Interphases" when choosing, preparing and publishing articles, is guided by international standards of publication ethics.

In its editorial policy, the journal follows the Principles of transparency and best practices in scholarly publishing, jointly developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).
The editorial board of the journal supports the Code of ethics for scientific publications prepared by the Committee on the Ethics of Scientific Publications (Committee on Publication Ethics, COPE).
The publication ethics of the journal are based on the traditional ethical principles of Russian scientific periodicals and standards, the Declaration of the Association of Science Editors and Publishers (ANRI) "Ethical principles of scientific publications" and takes into account the recommendations of reputable international publishers: Publishing Ethics Resource Kit (PERK)publishing company Elsevier, Springer, Council of Science Editors (CSE).
With respect to authorship, co-authorship, and intellectual property these are based on International standardsx adopted at the Second Conference on Research Integrity (Singapore, July 22-24, 2010) and the current legal requirements of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation: Norms of chapter 70 "Copyright".
The journal provides direct open access to its content, based on the following principle: free open access to research results contributes to an increase in the global exchange of knowledge.
The materials of the journal are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Worldwide.
When citing a source a reference to the journal is required. Other types of use are possible only after obtaining appropriate written agreements with the copyright holder.

The requirements for compliance with publication ethics in the preparation and publication of the journal apply to all participants in the editorial and publishing process - editors, members of the editorial board, reviewers, authors, founder, and publisher.

Editorial Responsibilities

The editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Condensed Matter and Interphases is responsible for all materials published in the journal, sharing the responsibility with the editorial board. The editor-in-chief’s decision is based on the paper’s validity and its scientific relevance.

The editor-in-chief has the exclusive right to accept the manuscript for publication or reject it.
The editor-in-chief follows the policy of the editorial board of the journal "Condensed Matter and Interphases" and acts in accordance with existing laws regulating personal responsibility for libel, plagiarism, and copyright.
The editor-in-chief provides clear guidance to members of the editorial board regarding their intended roles and responsibilities.
The editor-in-chief establishes mechanisms for resolving disagreements between the journal and the publisher.

Editors perform their activities based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors) developed by the COPE Publication Ethics Committee.

Editors must ensure that the material they publish complies with international standards of scientific and publication ethics, and support initiatives to educate researchers on publication ethics.
Editors must maintain the high quality of materials published in the journal and the integrity of their contents.
Editors must evaluate the intellectual content of manuscripts regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship or political preferences of the authors.
In order that the research materials receive an objective and unbiased assessment the editors are obliged to select qualified reviewers among the most competent experts on the subject of the article and to maintain the anonymity of the reviewers.
Editors must create and maintain databases of suitable reviewers and ensure they are kept up to date.
Editors must perform work among academic institutions to promote the recognition of peer review as part of the scientific process.
Editors must not work with articles for which they have a conflict of interest.
Editors must not disclose, without good reason, information about the accepted manuscript, communicate any information to unauthorised persons, with the exception of authors, reviewers, scientific consultants, and the publisher.
Editors must publish information about corrections, retractions, and withdrawals of articles in a timely manner.

Encouraging scientific discussion

Editors must be prepared to consider reasoned criticism of the studies published in a journal. Authors of criticised materials must be given the opportunity to respond to criticisms. The journal provides a forum for discussion about research that challenges previous studies published in the journal.

Protection of personal data

Editors must comply with privacy laws and protect personal information obtained through research.

Intellectual property

Editors must support authors whose copyrights have been infringed or who have been victims of plagiarism.

Editors must cooperate with the publisher to protect copyright and prosecute infractions (for example, requesting retraction or removal of material from websites)

Nondisclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Editors will not use unpublished material presented in submitted papers in their own research work without the prior written consent of the authors. Information obtained during the review process is confidential and will not be used for personal gain.

In case of conflict of interests resulting from the competition, cooperation, or other relations with the author or an organisation related to the submitted material, the editor-in-chief (vice editor-in-chief) must not participate in the review process and must not communicate with the members of the editorial board reviewing the manuscript.

Reviewer Responsibilities

The review process helps the editor-in-chief to make a decision regarding the publication of the manuscript and to improve the quality of the material together with the author. Peer review is an essential element of scientific communication and a key part of the scientific approach.

Reviewers must be objective. Personal criticism is unacceptable. The reviewer must provide arguments to back their opinion.
The reviewer must evaluate their workload before agreeing to reviewing a manuscript and only agree to perform a peer review if there is sufficient time to perform quality work.
Should a selected peer reviewer consider themselves underqualified to review a manuscript, they must inform the editor-in-chief of the journal "Condensed Matter and Interphases" about it and refuse to review the manuscript.
The reviewer must mention any conflicts of interests, if they exist, to the editors prior the start of the work.
The reviewer must not transfer information about the article and the data to third parties.
The reviewer must identify significant published articles relevant to the topic and are not included in the bibliography of the manuscript, as well as indicate matches between the considered manuscript and any other published work within the scope of the reviewer's scientific competence.
The reviewer will not use unpublished material presented in submitted papers in their own research work without the prior written consent of the authors.
The reviewer uses only correct expressions and explanations in relation to the article.

Author Responsibilities

Manuscript Requirements

Authors present the results of their original research. The results must be valid and accompanied by an objective discussion of the importance of the study. The data presented in the manuscript must be accurate and consistent. The description of research materials and methods must be as detailed as possible to accurately reproduce it and obtain appropriate results. The manuscript must provide enough details and references. Reviews must also be accurate and objective. False or inherently wrong statements are viewed as unethical and are unacceptable. In this case, the manuscript will be rejected.

Originality, plagiarism, and self-plagiarism

The author warrants that the manuscript is original. When works or statements by other authors are used in the manuscript the author must provide sufficient references.

Plagiarism is unethical and hence unacceptable. The journal does not publish plagiarism in any form.

Plagiarism includes:

representing another person’s works as your own;

copying or rephrasing significant parts from other people’s works (without reference);

taking the credit for another person’s findings;

using images, drawings, photographs, tables, graphs, diagrams, or any other form of graphical representation of information without reference.

Inappropriate borrowings include:

references not to the first source of the borrowed text without an explicit indication of this fact (an error in determining the source);

lack of references from the text to the sources given in the references; excessive citation, including self-citation.

Self-plagiarism in the manuscript is the reuse of text without a corresponding reference in more than one of the author's publications. Self-plagiarism can be detected in submitted manuscripts by an editor or reviewer, or by using appropriate software (e.g. Antiplagiarism, CrossCheck). If self-plagiarism composes a small percentage, then the author may, at the request of the editorial board, rewrite duplicate sections or provide a reference to the previous articles. If self-plagiarism relates to research results, editors must refer it to COPE regarding multiple (duplicate) publications: More significant matches may be the reason for the rejection of the manuscript.

In case of detection of self-plagiarism in an already published article, the editor applies corrective measures in accordance with the COPE flowchart regardless of how old the article was.

Manuscripts sent to the journal "Condensed Matter and Interphases" undergo a mandatory check for plagiarism of the text through the “ANTIPLAGIAT” system. If unauthorised borrowings are detected or low coefficient of originality of the text (<80%) is revealed, as well as in the case of large amounts of borrowings not justified by the goals of the article, the manuscript is rejected.

Reviews that for objective reasons require more citations are considered by the editors on an individual basis.

Articles with content repeating the results and conclusions obtained in other scientific publications of the author (monographs, previous publications), as well as studies already described earlier in dissertations and abstracts, in the absence of the development of the provisions presented in them and new results are not accepted.

Article retractions

In case of detection of numerous borrowings in an already published article, the editorial board of the journal "Condensed Matter and Interphases" applies the Retraction procedure in accordance with the COPE guidelines on the withdrawal of articles from the press and the ANRI Ethics Council (Rules for retraction of an article from publication).

The main purpose of retraction is to correct published information and warn other authors and readers about the illegality of using the results of a retracted article in their research, to ensure the integrity of conscientious research, and to protect the reputation of the journal, which seeks to maintain the trust of authors and readers in the quality of published articles.

Reasons for article retraction:

Detection of serious errors in a published article and/or the factual identification of falsification of data that cast doubt on its scientific value.
Duplication of publication in several journals.
Detection of incorrect borrowings (plagiarism) in a published article.

Retraction does not depend on date of the publication of the article in which the violations were found. The article may be retracted upon official request by the authors, who have reasonably explained the reason for their decision, as well as on the initiative of the editors of the journal on the basis of their own expertise. In the latter case, an official letter is sent to the corresponding author with information about the reasons for retracting the article.

After a retraction, the article remains on the journal's website as part of the corresponding issue and retains the DOI, but is marked as retracted. The same note is made in the table of content of the issue. The PDF version of the article is replaced with an identical version with a watermark indicating on each page that the article has been retracted.

The editorial board publishes a statement regarding the retraction of the article indicating the reasons and date of retraction on the official website of the journal. Information about the retraction of the article and its PDF version with the appropriate markings are sent to the bibliographic databases in which the journal is included. The information is also submitted to the ANRI Scientific Publication Ethics Council for inclusion in the Unified Database of Retracted Articles.

4.Resolving disputes related to plagiarism

The editorial board of “Condensed Matter and Interphases” abides by the standards of academic ethics, protects the reputation of the authors, and takes all instances of plagiarism very seriously. Accusation of plagiarism can be detrimental for a researcher’s career.

In order to be objective, the editorial board thoroughly studies each case and considers the arguments of all the parties concerned. Before taking any further steps, the editorial board gathers and carefully analyses information from the authors of the manuscript in question or the copyright owners. The decision of the editorial board is unbiased, objective, and not subject to any influence by third parties.

The editorial board reserves the right to ignore any accusations of plagiarism, when the accuser does not provide sufficient personal information (for example, the accuser does not use their real name) or acts in an unethical or threatening manner. The editorial board is not obliged to discuss the alleged instances of plagiarism with anyone other than those directly involved.

Copyright is protected by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The author (s) signs the license agreement regulating intellectual property rights need to refer to the new version

Multiple, redundant, and simultaneous publications

The author must not submit similar manuscripts for publishing to more than one journal. Submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously is unethical and unacceptable.

The author must not submit a published paper for publication in any other journal.

Reference to original sources

The author takes the necessary measures to make sure that the citations presented in the article are correct.

The author correctly cites his previous articles and avoids self-plagiarism in the manuscript.

Information obtained from confidential sources (for example, a grant for research) must not be mentioned in the manuscript without the express written permission of the author of the manuscript directly related to the relevant confidential sources.

Access to source data and data storage

The editorial board reserves the right to request from the authors the original (raw) research data, including making it available to reviewers and editors. Authors must be ready to provide this kind of information to editorial staff (according to ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), and retain this data for an adequate period of time after publication.

Authorship

Authorship is based on the following criteria: those who made a significant contribution to the formation of the concept, the development, execution and/or interpretation of the results of the presented research, as well as to the process of writing the manuscript (including those who carried out scientific and stylistic editing and registration in accordance with the requirements of the journal).

Co-authors are those who have made a significant contribution to the preparation of the text of the manuscript and the research.

According to the principles of scientific ethics in academic publications and in accordance with the model of scientific contribution, all those who have made a significant contribution to the formation of the concept of the work, its execution, or interpretation of the presented research must be credited. The editorial board recommends using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy, http://www.casrai.org/credit.html) scientific roles taxonomy to record what type of contribution a particular scientist has made to the published research.

The corresponding author notifies co-authors about all changes and proposals of the editorial board and must not make decisions regarding the article alone, without the written consent of all co-authors. The contact author correctly communicates with the reviewer through the editor and responds to comments and remarks, if any.

All co-authors must confirm that they have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to submit it for publication.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

The authors disclose all financial or other conflicts of interest that may be deemed as affecting the results and conclusions presented in the manuscript.

Examples of potential conflicts of interest to be disclosed:

Financial rewards for participating in a study or writing a manuscript.
Any association (contract, consulting, stock ownership, royalties, providing expert opinions) with organisations that have a direct interest in the subject of research or review.
Patent application or patent registration for research results (copyright, etc.).
Financial support for any of the stages of research or for writing the manuscript (including grants and other financial support).

Clear and potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed as early as possible.

Information about conflicts of interest is published as part of the full text of the article.

Errors in the published papers

If the author finds any errors or inaccuracies in the published paper, they must inform the editorial board of the journal “Condensed Matter and Interphases” and cooperate with it in order to withdraw the paper or promptly correct the errors.

Editorial policy for post-publication corrections to articles

If the article contains inaccuracies and factual errors that do not require retraction of the article, the editorial board provides a procedure for publishing post-publication corrections. Post-publication corrections of the scientific article provide true and fair information, help to avoid illegal borrowings, and eliminate erroneous data.

Any minor errors are not accompanied by a separate post-publication correction notice. Instead, a footnote detailing to the reader that the article has been corrected will be added to the article. Minor errors do not affect the reliability or understanding of the scientific content by the reader.

Authors must notify us as soon as possible if they discover errors in their published article, especially errors that may affect the interpretation of the data or the reliability of the presented information. The corresponding author is responsible for consensus-building among all listed co-authors prior to submitting any requests for corrections or retractions of the article.

In the case of multiple typos, incorrectly formatted citations, incorrect wording, incorrectly provided facts, the need to make corrections of the members of the authors, and other cases where changes are required due to the errors affecting the interpretation and scientific integrity of the article, a reprint of the article with corrections is performed concurrently with the withdrawal of the previous publication.

The republishing of the article with corrections can be initiated by the author(s), readers, or the editors of the journal.

The procedure for correcting errors when republishing an article

If the editors received information about the need to make corrections from third parties, the editor or the editor-in-chief politely sends a notification to the authors about the need to analyse the identified errors.
After the analysis of the identified errors, the editorial staff informs the author(s) about the need to republish the article with corrections and to agree on the corrections made.
The correction noticeindicating the number/year and pages of the issue with the article in which the error was made, a description of the errors and the text with the corrected errors and the retraction of the previous version of the article containing errors is published. It is also indicated on whose initiative the procedure for withdrawal and reprinting is carried out.
In the online version of the journal, the correction notice is posted on the website page and/or PDF file with the corrected article. Readers are provided the opportunity to work with the corrected version of the article by posting it on the site next to the previous retracted version, in which the retraction is marked.
Information about the corrections made, retractions, and reprint is transmitted to the RSCI and other databases in which the journal is indexed.

Publisher's Responsibility

The publisher (Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Voronezh State University”) adheres to the COPE Core Practices, which are applicable to all participants in the publication process of scientific literature: Editors, reviewers and authors, and ethics developed by the editors of the journal.

The publisher provides financial and legal support to the journal “Condensed Matter and Interphases” when considering claims regarding the ethical aspects of the published material, and facilitates interactions with other journals and/or publishers.
If necessary, the publisher provides sufficient legal assistance (legal opinion or counselling).
The publisher supports scientific communications, finances the editorial activities and publication of the journal, supervises the review and editorial process, and bears responsibility for compliance.
The publisher controls the accuracy of the scientific data and the honesty of the research with regard to the ethical aspects described above.

Advertising policy

The editorial board adheres to ethical standards in its activities and defends the right to editorial independence. The journal does not place advertising and informational materials and does not sell advertising of specific articles. Sponsorship cannot influence editorial decisions regarding the selection of manuscripts for publication and editorial content.

Privacy Statement

Information about authors (surname, name, patronymic, name of the affiliated organisation, address of the organisation, e-mail address, phone number for readers to contact the author), provided by them for publication in the journal, become available to the public, to which the authors give written consent by signing the License Agreement. The publication of the specified information is carried out in the interests of the authors in order to fully and correctly record the publications and their citations by the relevant bibliographic organisations and ensure the possibility of contacts between the authors and the scientific community.

Personal information provided by the authors to the journal in addition to the above information, including additional email addresses and phone numbers, will be used only for contacting the authors in the process of preparing the article for publication. The editorial board is obligated not to transfer this personal information to third parties who may use it for other purposes.