General Provisions
The editorial board of the legal journal Law of Ukraine adheres to the principles of academic integrity and international standards of publication ethics, including the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the principles of the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).
The editorial office ensures an impartial, transparent, and timely consideration of complaints and appeals related to the preparation, peer review, publication, and subsequent discussion of scientific articles.
The procedure provides for a distinction between complaints regarding violations of publication ethics, appeals against editorial decisions, and complaints about the actions or omissions of persons responsible for the journal's operations.
Submission of Complaints
Complaints may be submitted by authors, reviewers, readers, scientific institutions, and other interested parties in writing to the official email address of the journal's editorial office.
A complaint must contain a description of the circumstances that served as the grounds for the appeal, the essence of the alleged violation, and, where possible, relevant evidence or references to materials confirming the stated circumstances.
The subject of a complaint may include, in particular, plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, authorship violations, undisclosed conflicts of interest, violations of research ethical standards, improper peer review, and other possible publication ethics violations.
Anonymous complaints are considered if there is sufficient information to verify the circumstances set out therein.
Consideration of Complaints Regarding Publication Ethics Violations
Upon receipt of a complaint, the Editor-in-Chief arranges for its initial review and designates a responsible person or committee free of conflicts of interest regarding the subject of the complaint.
The person concerned by the complaint is given the opportunity to provide explanations whenever possible. If necessary, the editorial office may consult independent experts, scientific institutions, or other competent organizations.
Based on the results of the consideration, the editorial office may reject the complaint as unfounded, initiate an additional investigation, publish a correction or clarification, publish a corresponding editorial notice, or decide to retract the article.
Decisions are made taking into account the nature of the violation, available evidence, explanations of the parties involved, and relevant COPE guidelines.
Appeals Against Editorial Decisions
An author has the right to submit a reasoned appeal against a decision to reject a manuscript, peer review results, or decisions regarding corrections, clarifications, or retraction of a published article.
An appeal must be submitted in writing to the official email address of the journal's editorial office within 30 calendar days from the date of receipt of the notification of the contested decision. The appeal must contain grounds for disagreement with the decision and, where possible, materials supporting the arguments presented.
Grounds for reviewing a decision may include:
Identification of factual errors or unconsidered material circumstances that could have affected the decision;
Significant violation of the established editorial review or peer review procedure;
Reasonable doubts regarding the impartiality of persons involved in making the decision;
Provision of new evidence that is of substantial importance to the case.
An author's disagreement with the scientific evaluation of the manuscript in itself does not constitute sufficient grounds for reviewing a decision.
Appeals are considered by the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized person who has no conflict of interest regarding the subject of the appeal and, where possible, did not participate in making the contested decision. If necessary, the editorial office may involve independent experts.
An appeal against a retraction decision is considered taking into account the grounds for retraction, the evidence on which the relevant decision was based, and new circumstances presented by the author. Filing an appeal does not in itself suspend the retraction decision.
Based on the results of the appeal consideration, the editorial office may leave the decision unchanged, reverse it, or refer the materials for re-evaluation or peer review.
Complaints Against Actions or Omissions of the Editor-in-Chief and Other Responsible Persons
If a complaint concerns the actions or omissions of the Editor-in-Chief, a potential conflict of interest, or their violation of publication ethics principles, its consideration is organized by the journal's founder or another authorized person who has no conflict of interest regarding the subject of the complaint.
The Editor-in-Chief whose actions or decisions are challenged does not participate in the consideration of such a complaint or in making the decision based on its results.
If a complaint concerns the journal's founder or another person authorized to consider complaints, its consideration must be ensured by another disinterested person or independent body designated in accordance with the founder's procedures.
If necessary, independent experts or competent external organizations may be involved to verify the circumstances.
Processing Timeframes and Notification of Results
The editorial office acknowledges receipt of a complaint or appeal within 5 business days from the date of its arrival.
Complaints and appeals are generally considered within 30 calendar days from the date of receipt. If an appeal requires additional verification, obtaining explanations, or involving independent experts, the timeframe may be extended. In such cases, the applicant is notified of the reasons for the extension and the estimated completion date.
Based on the results of the consideration, the applicant receives a reasoned written response stating the decision made and, if necessary, further actions of the editorial office.
Corrections and Clarifications
If errors are identified after an article has been published that do not affect the main results and conclusions of the research, the editorial office may publish a correction or clarification.
Corrections and clarifications are published in open access with a clear reference to the original article. The original article's DOI is retained, and the corresponding metadata is updated or supplemented with information about the changes made, provided it is technically feasible in the relevant systems.
Article Retraction
A decision to retract an article may be made, in particular, in cases of confirmed plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, significant violations of research ethics, unreliability of results, or other circumstances that call into question the reliability of the published work.
Retraction is carried out in accordance with COPE guidelines, with proper justification of the reasons and notification to the authors, except in cases where such notification is objectively impossible.
Retracted articles remain accessible in the journal's archive with a clear "RETRACTED" mark and a link to the retraction notice. The article's DOI is retained, and metadata is updated according to the technical requirements of registration and indexing systems.
Transparency, Confidentiality, and Accountability
All complaints and appeals are considered impartially, in compliance with confidentiality, personal data protection, and the rights of all parties involved.
Information regarding corrections, clarifications, and retractions is published on the journal's website in the cases and manner provided for by relevant procedures. Information on the results of considering other complaints may be published taking into account confidentiality requirements and the need to protect the rights of the individuals involved.
Commercial interests do not influence the consideration of complaints, appeals, or editorial decision-making.
The editorial office is guided by relevant COPE recommendations regarding the handling of publication ethics violations, corrections, and retractions of scientific publications.
Scholarly Discussion of Published Articles
The editorial board of the legal journal Law of Ukraine provides an opportunity for scholarly discussion of published articles in accordance with Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.
Researchers, readers, and other interested parties may send well-reasoned comments, critical remarks, and suggestions regarding published materials to the editorial office. Such submissions must relate to the scientific content of the publication, research methodology, data reliability, validity of conclusions, or other matters of scientific importance.
The editorial office reviews the submitted materials, evaluates their scientific validity and compliance with publication ethics principles, and decides on the feasibility of their publication. If necessary, the editorial office may involve independent experts.
Authors of articles subject to critical remarks are given the opportunity to review them and prepare a response. If a comment is published, the editorial office ensures the possibility of publishing the author's response, provided it meets the established requirements.
Comments and responses accepted for publication are posted on the journal's website with a link to the corresponding publication.
If, during scholarly discussion, substantiated signs of errors, unreliable results, or potential publication ethics violations are identified, the editorial office conducts an additional review and, based on its results, takes appropriate action in accordance with the journal's policy on corrections and article retractions.