POLICY ON VIOLATIONS OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The editorial board of the Journal "Bulletin of the Chernivtsi Institute of Trade and Economics" adheres to the principles of academic integrity, responsibility, and transparency in scientific research and publications.

The editorial board supports international standards of publication ethics and adheres to the principle of zero tolerance for plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty.

The authors bear full responsibility for:

• originality & authenticity of submitted manuscripts;

• reliability of research results;

• proper citation of sources;

• compliance with ethical standards of scientific activity.

The Journal's policy is aimed at preventing violations of academic integrity and ensuring the high quality of scientific publications.

The editorial activities of the Journal are based on:

• Law of Ukraine "On Academic Integrity";

• Law of Ukraine "On Education";

• Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education";

• The Law of Ukraine "On Scientific and Scientific-Technical Activity";

• internal regulatory documents of the ChITE SUTE regarding academic integrity: “Regulations on observing academic integrity, preventing and detecting academic plagiarism in the ChITE SUTE”, “Policy on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the ChITE SUTE”;

• the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on a general approach to publication ethics for editorial boards;

• The Code of Ethics of a Scientist of Ukraine.

Violations of academic integrity that may be identified during the editorial and publishing process include the following:

• academic plagiarism – using texts, ideas, or research results of other authors without proper citation;

• self-plagiarism – reusing one's own previously published materials without proper citation;

• alienation of authorship – appropriation of research results of other persons;

• attribution of authorship – including in the list of authors persons who did not participate in the preparation of the article;

• data fabrication – fabricating research results;

• data falsification – deliberate distortion of research results;

• unethical use of artificial intelligence technologies;

• providing false information regarding research results or authorship.

The editorial board also considers other violations in accordance with the COPE guidelines.

All manuscripts submitted to the Journal are checked for text borrowings using StrikePlagiarism.com (Plagiat.pl, Poland).

The purpose of the inspection is to identify:

• incorrect text borrowings;

• lack of references to the sources used;

• reuse of previously published materials;

• possible unethical use of artificial intelligence tools.

If a significant level of incorrect borrowings (over 20%) is detected, the manuscript may be rejected.

Suspicions of violation of academic integrity may be identified by:

• Journal editors;

• reviewers;

• readers;

• by other researchers.

All reports of possible violations are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief in accordance with COPE guidelines.

The review procedure includes:

1. preliminary assessment of the information provided;

2. request for clarification from the author(s);

3. decision-making by the editorial board.

If the authors' explanations are reasonable, the editorial process may continue. If the violation is confirmed, the manuscript is rejected or the publication is withdrawn.

If a violation of academic integrity is confirmed, the editorial office may apply the following measures:

• manuscript rejection;

• retraction of a published article;

• a ban on submitting manuscripts to the journal for a specified period;

• publication of a notice of withdrawal;

• informing the institution with which the author is affiliated.

An article may be withdrawn in the following cases:

• detection of academic plagiarism;

• fabrication or falsification of data;

• identification of serious errors that affect the reliability of the research results;

• duplication of publication in another publication/edition;

• violation of ethical standards for conducting research.

The decision to retract is made by the editorial board after analyzing the relevant evidence and, if possible, explanations from the authors.

In the event of a retraction of an article, the editorial office publishes an official notice of retraction (Retraction Notice), which:

• contains the reason for the withdrawal;

• refers to the original article;

• remains available on the journal's website.

The original article is preserved in the Journal's archive, but is marked as "Retracted."

Authors have the right to appeal the editorial board's decision. Appeals are considered by the editorial board or independent experts.

The editorial office ensures the confidentiality of all materials and communications related to the consideration of possible violations of academic integrity until a final decision is made.