The publication ethics of the journal supports the principles of ethics for the editor and the publisher, the reviewer, author of the scientific publication, which were designed and adopted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/) and can be found in the «Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors» (https://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf). 

For all research studies the journal's policy requires an approval of research protocols by an appropriate ethics committee in accordance with international agreements “WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (last updated: October 2013, Fortaleza, Brazil)” (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/), "Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals”, 8th edition, 2011 (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/guide-for-the-care-and-use-of-laboratory-animals.pdf) and/or “WMA statement on animal use in biomedical research”, 2016 (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-statement-on-animal-use-in-biomedical-research/).

Principles of professional ethics in the work of the editor

In its activities, the editor is personally and independently responsible for the content of the published materials and recognize that responsibility, guided by compliance with the following fundamental principles:
- When deciding on publication, the editor is guided by the reliability of data submitted and the scientific significance of the work under consideration providing a fair and efficient process for the independent review.
- The editor evaluates the intellectual content of manuscripts regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, origin, nationality, social status or political affiliation of the authors.
- The editors do not work with articles for which they have a conflict of interest.
- The editor resolves conflict of interest that arise during the editorial process using all available means.
- The editor must not use unpublished data obtained from submitted manuscripts for personal purposes or pass on to third parties without the written consent of the author. Information or ideas obtained during editing process remain confidential and cannot be used for the purpose of personal gain.
- The editor checks the original text and if it has an evidence of plagiarism acts in accordance with the COPE rules (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts-new/what-do-if-you-suspect-plagiarism).
- The editor does not leave unanswered claims related to reviewed manuscripts or published materials, and when a conflict occurs it takes all necessary measures to restore the infringed rights.
- The editor of the journal does not publish the final version of the article without the consent of the authors.

Ethical principles in the work of the reviewer

Reviewer carries out a scientific expertise of author’s materials, so that its action must be impartial in nature, based on the following principles:
- Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
- The reviewer is obliged to give an objective and reasoned assessment of study results. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable.
- Unpublished data from manuscripts submitted for consideration should not be used by the reviewer for personal purposes.
- The reviewer who feels unqualified to review the manuscript, or can not be objective, for example, in the case of a conflict of interest with the author or organization should inform the editor and excuse himself from the review process of this manuscript.

Principles of Ethics of Scientific Publication Author

The authors are aware that they bear primary responsibility for the novelty and valid results of scientific research, which implies observance of such principles:
- The author(s) of the article must provide reliable results of the research. Intentional submission of false or fraudulent data is unacceptable.
- The author must ensure that the results of the study, set forth in the manuscript submitted, are completely original. The borrowed data must be given with the obligatory indication of the author and the original source. Excessive borrowings, as well as plagiarism in any form, including unformed citations, rephrasing or appropriation of rights to the results of the research of others, are unethical and unacceptable.
- The contribution of all persons who have influenced the study process in one way or another should be acknowledged, in particular, reference should be made to the works that were relevant to the research.
- The authors should not submit for publishing а manuscript that has previously been submitted to another edition and is currently under consideration, as well as an article already published in another edition.
- The co-authors of the article should include all persons who have made a significant contribution to the research. Among co-authors it is unacceptable to indicate persons who did not participate in the study.
- If the author finds significant errors or inaccuracies in the article at the stage of its consideration or after its publication, he should as soon as possible inform the editorial staff.

Principles of publication ethics of the publisher of the journals

- The publisher not only supports scientific communication and invests in the process, but is also responsible for complying with all current guidelines and standards for publishing scientific work.
- The publisher does not affect the editorial policy of the journals.
- The publisher provides legal support to the journal if necessary.
- The publisher provides timely release of issues of the journals.
- The publisher publishes changes, explanations, and recalls articles that have been identified to contain violations of scientific ethics and/or critical errors.

Bioethics

For all research studies the journal's policy requires an approval of research protocols by an appropriate ethics committee in accordance with international agreements “WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (last updated: October 2013, Fortaleza, Brazil)” , "Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (8th edition, 2011)" and/or “International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals (2012)”.

When reporting research involving human data, authors should indicate whether the procedures were conducted in accordance with bioethical standards and assessed by the local ethics committee or national bioethics commission. The same applies to researcher involving laboratory animals. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether all necessary procedures were carried out in accordance with national and international standards for the care and use of laboratory animals.

If the submitted manuscript does not include ethics committee approval, it will be reviewed according to COPE's guideline (Guidance for Editors: Research, Audit and Service Evaluations). If the study should have ethical approval, authors will be asked to provide ethical approval in order to proceed the review process. If they cannot provide ethical approval, their manuscript will be rejected.

If the study does not need ethics committee approval after the editorial board’s review, the authors will be asked to provide an ethics committee approval or a document given by a related independent committee that indicates the study does not need ethics committee approval according to the research integrity rules in their country. If the authors provide either an approval or a document showing that ethics approval is not needed, the review process can be continued. If the authors cannot provide either documents, the manuscript may be rejected.

Approval by a local ethics committee does not preclude editors from forming their own judgment whether the conduct of the research was appropriate.

 

Informed consent policy and confidentiality

For articles concerning experimental research on humans, a statement should be included that shows informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. The journal may request a copy of the Ethics Committee Approval received from the relevant authority. Informed consent must also be obtained for case reports.

Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that an identifiable patient be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should disclose to these patients whether any potential identifiable material might be available via the Internet as well as in print after publication.

Patient consent should be written and archived with the authors at the institution where research was conducted. The authors provide the journal with a written statement that attests that they have received and archived written patient consent. The requirement for informed consent should be included in the journal's instructions for authors. When informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the published article.

The manuscript must include in the section “Materials and methods” a statement identifying the institutional local ethics committee approving the experiments, including any relevant details For experiments involving human subjects, authors must identify the local ethics committee approving the experiments, and include with their submission of statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all subjects.

 

Plagiarism policy

The journal PAEDIATRIC SURGERY. UKRAINE strives for the highest standards of research and publication ethics, and does not allow any form of plagiarism. All submitted manuscripts are screened with plagiarism software Advego Plagiatus http://advego.ru/plagiatus/ at least two times during the evaluation process to detect instances of overlapping and similar text

The Journal defines plagiarism as a case in which a manuscript reproduces another work having with 10% and more similarity scores and without attribution. If evidence of plagiarism is found before/after acceptance or after publication of the article, the author will be offered a chance for rebuttal. If the arguments are not found to be satisfactory, the manuscript will be retracted and the author sanctioned from publishing articles for a period to be determined by the responsible Editor(s).

In any case while an ethical misconduct is suspected, the editorial of the journal will act in accordance with the relevant international rules of publication and research ethics (COPE guidelines, ICMJE Recommendations, CSE White Paper on Publication Ethics, WAME resources, WMA policies and ORI).

 

Conflict of interest policy

All participants in the peer-review and publication process (authors, referees, editors, members of editorial board)  must disclose to the editor-in-chief any conflict of interest related to personal, family, financial, political or religious issues as well as any competing  interest while fulfilling their roles in the process of article review and publication, and must disclose all relationships that could be considered as potential conflicts of interest. If editorial staff, referees or editors  have a conflict of interest and/or they are not appropriate to participate in editorial processing for a given manuscript, then they should resign from the assignment.

The Editorial Board members of the journal, who treat submissions and recommend their opinions to the Editor-in-chief may also submit their own manuscripts to the journal because  all of them are leading researchers and scientists. However, they cannot participate at any stage on the editorial decision of their manuscripts in order to minimize any possible bias. They will be treated like any other author, and if any final acceptance of such manuscripts can only be made by the positive recommendation of at least two external reviewers, then they should not be members of decision-making Editorial Board.

When authors submit a manuscript of any type or format they are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that might bias or be seen to bias their work. Authors must declare any such conflict in the cover letter accompanying the manuscript and in the acknowledgments section of the manuscript itself. The corresponding author or all authors should be asked to sign the manuscript on the last page regarding potential conflicts of interest at the time of acceptance. Where authors have no conflict of interests, the statement should read “The author(s) declare(s) that they have no conflict of interests”. This policy applies to all submitted research manuscripts and review material.

All necessary information regarding the process of a manuscript can be obtained from the editorial office. However, the names of the handling editor and the reviewers are not given to the author(s). Due to the double-blinded review principles of the PAEDIATRIC SURGERY. UKRAINE, the names of authors and reviewers are not known to the each other.