The journal’s editorial board is committed to ensuring transparency in the publication process and addressing any conflicts of interest.

A conflict of interest refers to circumstances arising from financial, academic, personal, or other ties that may influence research or the impartiality of the manuscript processing, including peer review and the decision to publish.

When submitting a manuscript, the author (each co-author concerned) must inform the journal’s editorial board of any conflict of interest that may have influenced the research. The conflict of interest statement should be written in any format and submitted separately from the manuscript, signed by the author (each co-author concerned).

When selecting reviewers, the possibility of a potential conflict of interest between the reviewer and the author (any of the co-authors) is taken into account. If a conflict of interest arises during the review process, the reviewer must immediately inform the editor-in-chief and withdraw from the review process; another reviewer will be assigned in their place.

A conflict of interest as such is not grounds for refusing to publish an article. If, during the peer review process, it is determined that a conflict of interest has significantly influenced the research and the reliability and/or impartiality of its results, the author(s) may be asked to make the necessary revisions to the manuscript.

If the article is published, depending on the nature of the conflict of interest and its potential impact on the research, a statement by the author (each co-author concerned) regarding the conflict of interest may be published on the article’s page on the journal’s website and/or included in the text of the article after the conclusions and before the list of references.

If a conflict of interest was not disclosed at the time of manuscript submission and came to light after the article’s publication, the editorial board reserves the right to initiate the retraction of such an article if the undisclosed conflict of interest affects the interpretation of the research results, their impartiality, and/or their reliability.

If a member of the editorial board is the author (or co-author) of an article, that member of the editorial board is completely excluded from the process of reviewing and editing the manuscript, as well as from its peer review, discussion, and the decision regarding its publication.

If the editor-in-chief is the author (or co-author) of an article, the responsibility for reviewing the article is delegated to an independent editor. The editor-in-chief is completely excluded from the process of reviewing and editing the manuscript, its peer review, discussion of the manuscript, and the decision regarding its publication. If an article authored or co-authored by the editor-in-chief is published, the article’s page on the journal’s website will include a statement from the editor-in-chief regarding the conflict of interest and a statement from the independent editor regarding the transparency and impartiality of the review process and the decision to publish the article.