Scientific journal policy

The editorial policy of the scientific journal "Scientific Bulletin of Kherson State Maritime Academy" serves in paving the way for open access publication with the further discussion of research developments by Ukrainian and foreign authors on current problems of transport technologies, automation and computer integrated technologies and materials science and engineering. Simultaneously, in the journal, the authors cover current issues for solving modern problems of reliability improvement and operational characteristics control of sea and river transport means, diagnostics of modes dynamics of power plants and ship equipment in general, as well as ways to develop modern materials in order to increase repair interval of ship and other transport means equipment.

The purpose of the journal is to expand the communication and information fields for publication, discussion and formation of expert evaluation of research outcomes and best practices in these areas of expertise.

Journal tasks:

- empowering scientific and professional communities to publish outcomes of their research;

- acquainting readers with advanced Ukrainian and world experience in the implementation of scientific developments in specified areas of expertise;

- reaching the international level of scientific publications;

- engaging eminent native and foreign authors, who are advanced practice specialists, into journal;

- ensuring exchange of ideas between researchers from different regions of Ukraine and other countries;

- extending the number of editorial board members and reviewers through well-known Ukrainian and foreign specialists involvement;

- enhancing the culture of peer-review procedure of published materials, adhering to editorial ethic standards;

- increasing the accessibility of the journal both domestically and internationally.

Peer review procedure outline

The editorial board applies double-blind peer review. This process involves the following:

- firstly, all manuscripts are being reviewed by the editors in order to evaluate their relevance to the remit of the journal and compliance with its requirements;

- after editors approval, the manuscripts are being forwarded to two subject matter experts.

The manuscript is subjected to double-blind peer review: neither authors nor reviewers know each other.

- reviewers feedbacks are being forwarded to the authors along with possible recommendations respectively manuscript revision. The editor informs the authors whether manuscripts have been accepted without revision required, or the authors are enabled to revise the manuscript and submit them again, or if the manuscripts are being rejected.

Journal standards of ethics

The editorial board of the scientific journal "Scientific Bulletin of Kherson State Maritime Academy" maintains a certain level of requirements for the selection and acceptance of articles submitted to the journal editorial board.

While developing publishing policy provisions of the scientific journal "Scientific Bulletin of Kherson State Maritime Academy", the editorial board was guided by recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, http://publicationethics.org), as well as by experience of foreign and Ukrainian professional communities, scientific organizations and editorial boards.

The key feature of the professional scientific community is the adoption of a code of conduct by scientists and specialists, which establishes basic standards of conduct and responsibilities for the community members in relation to one another and to general public. The following code of conduct is governed by willing to benefit professional community, limit the actions that may serve the personal interests of individuals and ensure authors copyrights.

Authors ethical obligations

1. It is the primary responsibility of an author to provide an accurate report of the research done, as well as an objective discussion of its significance.
2. Journal number of pages is limited, so the author is obliged to use journal pages wisely and economically.
3. The first notice of the research results should be sufficiently complete and contain the necessary references to available sources of information so that subject matter experts could follow the
4. The author should cite those publications that have had a determining influence on the nature of the research done, as well as those enabling the reader become acquainted with earlier works which are important in order to understand this research. With the exception of reviews, the references to works that are not directly related to this research, should be minimized. It is the author's responsibility to do a literary search to find and cite original publications describing researches closely related to his/her own one. The essential sources of information used in his/her research should also be properly indicated, unless obtained by the author himself/herself.
5. While preparing the manuscript to be published, the author shall inform the editor of his/her related manuscripts submitted or accepted for publication. Copies of the latter must be submitted to the editor and their relation to the manuscript submitted for publication shall be indicated.
6. The author shall not submit manuscripts describing pertinently the same results to more than one journal in the form of a primary publication, unless it is the re-submission of the journal rejected research or the one withdrawn by the author himself/herself.
7. The author should clearly indicate the sources of all information cited or presented, except for those being a matter of common knowledge.
8. Experimental or theoretical research can sometimes serve as a basis for criticizing another researcher's work. Those articles published, may, where appropriate, contain similar judgement. Personal criticism, however, cannot be considered an appropriate practice under any circumstances.
9. The co-authors of the article should be all those who have made significant scientific contributions into the research presented and consequently share responsibility for the results obtained. It is forbidden to credit fake names of authors or co-authors. The author who submits the manuscript to be published, is responsible for ensuring that the list of contributors includes all those and only those persons who meet the criteria for authorship. In an article written by several authors, the author who submits contact information, documents and is in correspondence with the editors, assumes responsibility for other authors consent for the article to be published in the journal.
10. The author (s) shall prepare the manuscript file in a format acceptable for plagiarism checking and submit the manuscript file to the technical editor for submission to the scientific journal "Scientific Bulletin of Kherson State Maritime Academy".
11. The authors should advise the editor of any potential conflicts of interest, such as consulting or financial interests of any company, which could be affected by publishing the results contained in this manuscript. The authors should ensure that no contractual or proprietary considerations exist that could affect the publication of the information contained in the submitted manuscript.

Journal editors ethic obligations

1. All materials submitted to be published are to be carefully selected and reviewed. The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject the article or to send it back to the author for further revision. The author is obliged to revise the article according to the reviewers or editorial board remarks.
2. The editor shall, without prejudice, examine all manuscripts submitted for publication, assessing each manuscript properly, regardless of race, religion, nationality, the status or place of employment of the author (s).
3. The editor should review the manuscripts submitted for publication as quickly as possible.
4. The full responsibility for the acceptance or rejection of the manuscript rests with the editor. A responsible and balanced approach to the performance of these duties usually implies that the editor takes into account the reviewer’s recommendation – relevant science matter Doctor, regarding the quality level and reliability of the manuscript submitted for publication. However, manuscripts can be rejected without peer-review carried out if the editor believes that they do not comply with the journal's specialization.
5. The editor and editorial board shall not disclose to any other person any information related to the content of the manuscript under review, other than those involved in the professional evaluation of the manuscript. After editor’s approval, the article is published in a journal and placed in appropriate electronic resources.
6. The editor should respect the intellectual independence of the authors.
7. The responsibility and rights of the journal editor in respect of any submitted manuscript, authored by the editor himself, should be delegated to any other qualified person.
8. If the editor is provided with convincing evidence that the essential content or conclusions of a work published in the journal are incorrect, the editor should facilitate the publication of a relevant message indicating this error and, if possible, correcting it. This message may be written by the person who detected the error or by an independent author.
9. The editors check the manuscripts for signs of academic plagiarism before the professional evaluation of the manuscript by the reviewers.
10. The manuscripts of articles submitted for publication into the scientific journal "Scientific Bulletin of Kherson State Maritime Academy" shall be checked by means of Internet services, the use of which is regulated by the relevant orders and contracts of the Academy.
11. The manuscripts of articles submitted for publication in the scientific journal "Scientific Bulletin of Kherson State Maritime Academy" shall be checked for free of charge. The technical editor of the journal carries out manuscripts of articles plagiarism checking procedure.
12. The technical editor of the scientific journal "Scientific Bulletin of Kherson State Maritime Academy" prepares an extended electronic report on the results of academic plagiarism checking, which is taken into account when the editorial board issues a decision on the manuscript acceptance.
13. The author may ask the editor not to engage some reviewers when performing the peer-review of the manuscript. However, the editor may, at his discretion, decide to involve those reviewers whose opinions are important for unbiased review of the manuscript. The following decision may be made, for example, when there are serious contradictions between the manuscript to be reviewed and the previous work of a potential reviewer.