Complaints Procedure

Complaints Procedure

PROCEDURE FOR HANDLING COMPLAINTS REGARDING VIOLATIONS OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND PUBLICATION ETHICS

The Editorial Board of the scientific journal Regional Aspects of Productive Forces Development of Ukraine ensures the fair consideration of complaints concerning violations of academic integrity and publication ethics in accordance with the principles of objectivity, impartiality, and confidentiality.

Submission of Complaints

Complaints may be submitted by:

  • authors;

  • reviewers;

  • readers or other interested parties.

Complaints must be submitted in writing to the official editorial e-mail address:

rarpsu@wunu.edu.ua

A complaint should include:

  • a description of the issue;

  • justification of the complaint;

  • supporting materials (where available);

  • contact information of the complainant.

Scope of Complaints

The Editorial Board considers complaints related to:

  • plagiarism or self-plagiarism;

  • data falsification or fabrication;

  • authorship disputes or violations;

  • duplicate publication;

  • undisclosed conflicts of interest;

  • unethical conduct by reviewers or editors;

  • violations of research ethics standards.

Complaint Review Procedure

The Editorial Board:

  • acknowledges receipt of the complaint;

  • conducts a preliminary assessment of its validity;

  • engages independent experts where necessary;

  • provides the parties involved with an opportunity to submit explanations;

  • makes a decision based on the available evidence and materials.

The complaint review period is generally up to 14 days, depending on the complexity of the case.

Decisions and Corrective Actions

Following the review, the Editorial Board may:

  • dismiss the complaint as unsubstantiated;

  • require corrections or clarifications;

  • publish a correction;

  • retract a publication;

  • notify the author’s affiliated institution in cases of serious misconduct.

Principles Governing Complaint Handling

The Editorial Board adheres to the following principles:

  • confidentiality;

  • objectivity;

  • impartiality;

  • timeliness;

  • compliance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).