GENERAL FRAMEWORK
Ethical rules are meant to create a standard framework for ethical conduct of all participants in the process of publishing of scientific research in the “Security and Defense” Scientific Journal of Vasil Levski National Military University.
Ethical Rules are tailored with the base principles of scientific ethics: objectivity, credibility, comprehensibility, reliability, essentiality, originality, scientific value, transparency, equality, independence, impartiality, confidentiality, accessibility of the publication activity, ensuring compliance with the requirements for the integrity of scientific research.
The ethical rules have been developed in accordance with the values and generally accepted norms established by the legislative framework, international ethical standards and recommendations of the Charter and the European Code of Ethics for Research Integrity (revised edition).
The ethical rules define the procedural requirements for all participants in the publication process - authors, reviewers, publisher and the settlement of relationships between them, in order to achieve high quality of scientific publications and their significance for the scientific community.
The ethical rules for publication in the “Security and Defense” Scientific Journal are mandatory for everyone participating in the publication process, open to additions and amendments and correspond to the Code of Ethical Behavior of Military and Civilian Employees of Vasil Levski National Military University.
Pursuant to the Ethical Rules for publication in the "Security and Defense" Scientific Journal, all participants in the publication process certify the absence of conflict of interest and affiliation with a model declaration.
For arisen Ethical cases, they are referred for examination and resolution in the Ethical Commission of the journal.
PUBLISHER OBLIGATIONS
The Publisher of the "Security and Defense" Scientific Journal is the Vasil Levski National Military University Publishing Complex, which assists in the implementation of the magazine's policy.
The Publisher supports the editorial staff in the development of requirements for the publishing activity, projects for the development of the journal, the development of the electronic platform of the journal and the process of indexing and referencing in the national and international scientific networks.
The Publisher monitors the observance of the ethical publishing policy, does not allow its deliberate violation and takes action in case of detected violations to eliminate them.
The Publisher carries out pre-press preparation, final editing and proofreading of the materials subject to publication in compliance with the principle of confidentiality of information, protection of intellectual property rights and copyright.
The Publisher provides the authors with the opportunity to review the materials ready for printing and, if necessary, makes the appropriate corrections.
The Publisher publishes the journal in electronic and paper form and assists in its distribution.
The Publisher cooperates with other publishers and assists in tracking errors and publishing rebuttals.
The publisher stores, processes and archives the manuscripts for publication within the statutory deadlines.
DUTIES OF THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The Editor-in-Chief implements the editorial policy of the scientific journal in compliance with the principles of legality, objectivity, transparency, equality, impartiality, confidentiality of information, protection of intellectual property rights and copyright.
The Editor-in-Chief organizes the review process and assists for the objectiveness, timely and expert assessing and publication of scientific production with high quality and scientific value, all in accordance to the Journal’s profile.
The Editor-in-Chief affirms, with the editorial board, the defined technical requirements of the manuscripts, criteria for technical requirements of the manuscripts, the criteria for the scientific value of the publications (originality, science, clarity, relevance, relevance, contributions), the review model.
The Editor-in-Chief prepares a scientific commentary on a current issue for each issue of the scientific journal.
The Editor-in-Chief appoints a double-blinded peer review for each manuscript submitted to the publication, which has been previously checked for originality and correctness of scientific periodicals and works using the applicable software.
The Editor-in-Chief makes a decision to publish a manuscript after an objective and expert evaluation by two independent reviewers and the opinion of the editorial board, if necessary, by additional opinion of other editors-in-chief or reviewers.
The Editor-in-Chief may breach the confidentiality of a manuscript submitted for review only to its author(s), reviewers, editors, publisher, only in cases where this is necessary.
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for managing the flow of information in manuscripts from receipt, submission for review, editorial processing, publication to distribution to the journal's readers.
The Editor-in-Chief regulates the process of disclosure and prevention of conflicts of interest – editorial, by reviewers, author(s), publisher. In case of established conflict of interests and violated rights, the Editor-in-Chief is obliged to stop consideration of a manuscript submitted for publication.
The Editor-in-Chief takes the appropriate actions in cases of received complaints of an ethical nature about a manuscript or publication (notification of the author, discussion of the complaint with the editorial board, publication of a rebuttal, corrections).
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the observance of ethical norms for the integrity of scientific research and scientific publications, for the reputation of the journal and of Vasil Levski National Military University, for indexing and referencing in national and international scientific networks.
The Editor-in-Chief does not have the right to participate in the process of reviewing and making editorial decisions for his scientific works.
OBLIGATIONS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD (EDITORS)
The Editors comply with the journal's editorial policy by accepting every manuscript submitted to the editorial office that meets the requirements for technical design and criteria for scientific value previously determined and approved by the Editor-in-Chief while respecting the dignity and authority of the authors and observing the principles of objectivity, equality, impartiality, confidentiality of information.
The Editors promptly submit the received manuscripts, after a preliminary objective assessment of compliance with the technical layout requirements and the criteria of scientific value and plagiarism check using the applicable software and the rules adopted by Vasil Levski National Military University, for a qualified and conscientious anonymous review by two independent reviewers, with a professional and expert profile corresponding to the scientific and thematic area, while observing the principle of confidentiality of information.
The Editors, if necessary, submit the manuscript for evaluation by a third reviewer in the capacity of referee.
The Editors, when corrections or withdrawals of the manuscript are necessary, maintain communication with the author(s) and assist in the peer review process.
The Editors are not allowed to disclose the confidentiality of information in a submitted manuscript, except in cases of necessity only to those directly involved in the evaluation and publication process.
The Editors may not use or provide any information to third parties about unpublished manuscripts without the written consent of the authors.
The Editors, together with the Editor-in-Chief, make the final decision to approve or reject a manuscript for publication solely on the basis of the reviewers' objective and expert assessment of the scientific value according to the predetermined criteria.
The Editors, together with the Editor-in-Chief, are responsible for the decisions taken to approve or reject a manuscript for publication, notifying the author(s) in writing (via e-mail).
The Editors, in the case of established illegal and unethical behavior and conflict of interest in relation to a submitted or published manuscript, together with the Editor-in-Chief, take appropriate actions to prevent them, if necessary, withdraw the publication.
The members of the editorial board do not have the right to participate in the process of reviewing and making editorial decisions for their scientific works.
REVIEWER OBLIGATIONS
The Reviewers with the necessary professional and expert profile, corresponding to the thematic scientific areas of the scientific journal, evaluate the received manuscripts according to pre-approved objective criteria for scientific value, publishing standards and an approved review model while observing the ethical norms for the integrity of scientific research and the principles of objectivity, credibility, impartiality, confidentiality.
A Reviewer who is unable to review a manuscript due to insufficient competence on the subject of the manuscript, or inability to review within the specified period, makes a written refusal, addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, to participate in reviewing the relevant manuscript.
The Reviewers prepare a review of the submitted manuscript within a certain period based on an objective and expert assessment of the reliability of scientific facts, relevance, originality, relevance of scientific research, literary awareness, significance of scientific contributions, correctness of citations, established duplicate parts with previous publications, self-cited, plagiarism.
The Reviewers submit to the Editor-in-Chief and the Editors the prepared reviews that contain one of the following recommendations: a positive opinion for publication of the manuscript in the form submitted for review; positive opinion for publication of the manuscript after presenting an improved version approved by the reviewers with a resolution; positive opinion for publication of the manuscript after an improved version approved by the reviewers and a report from the author to the editorial board about changes made, reflected recommendations and notes; negative opinion for non-publication of the manuscript.
The Reviewers have no right to reveal the identity of the author(s), to allow assessments of the personal and professional qualities of the author(s), to use data from manuscripts received for review and manuscripts not accepted for publication for personal purposes and own publications without the express consent of the author(s).
The Reviewers are not allowed to review and comment on manuscripts in respect of which they have a conflict of interest with the author(s).
AUTHOR OBLIGATIONS
Authors are individuals who submit research manuscripts for publication, with a scientific contribution commensurate with the achievement of defensible and demonstrable results on a scientific problem, compatible with the thematic scope of the journal and significant to the scientific community.
The Authors bear full responsibility for the integrity and personal contribution of the scientific research presented in the content of the submitted manuscripts for publication, and the scientific results and contributions should be commensurate with the participation of the individual authors therein.
The Authors are personally responsible for complying with the requirements of the publication standards adopted by the editorial board, approved by the editor-in-chief and published on the journal's website regarding:
- volume, mandatory requisites, structure, technical parameters for the layout of the abstract, as a form for presenting the summarized content and achieved results, of the content of the manuscript, of the visualizing elements (graphs, sketches, figures, tables, references) according to the presented samples (templates) and language for publication of the abstract/contents;
- the deadlines and the way to register the participation and the thematic area of the manuscript in the electronic platform of the journal, submission of the full text, acceptance or rejection of the manuscript for publication;
- the content, which should be of justified relevance, scientific problem, research objectives and specified guidelines for scientific research, the extent of previous research on the scientific problem, the vision of the author(s), reference to primary normative acts and documents, to other literature and/or the Internet sources, with recognition of previously published developments on the researched issues and provability of ideas using appropriate methodology and tools for the purposes of scientific research, critical view and interpretation of currently existing information, analytical-result and conclusion part with a clear verifiable scientific and scientific-applied contributions;
- academic writing on style, spelling, literacy, personal contribution, logical and analytical presentation;
- the standard for citations, with correct citation of works and/or fragments of texts of other authors, accompanied by references to them, and in an unambiguous way do not allow doubts about plagiarism and self-citation;
- distinguishability of scientific contributions and reflection of authorship and co-authorship by presenting an agreement or separation protocol;
- editing and finalizing the manuscript before publication;
- source and method of financing the publication of the manuscript;
- deadlines for reflecting critical comments and recommendations of the reviewers and for providing the reviewers with a revised version and a report from the author(s) to the editorial board about the changes made;
- mailing address;
- cases of unacceptable behavior in science or violation of ethical norms, such as: presentation of fictitious, unreal and falsified data (lie, fraud); duplication of submitted manuscripts; simultaneous submission of two or more manuscripts with similar content without the necessary mutual citation; duplication of publications in different publications; inaccurate citation of similar works by other authors; self-citation and self-borrowing; identified cases of plagiarism; conflict of interest and affiliation, etc. sub.;
- permissible sanctions in cases of unacceptable behavior in science or violation of ethical norms for the integrity of scientific research.
Author(s) of submitted manuscripts for publication must comply with the ethical norms and principles of the current ethical rules guaranteeing the integrity of scientific research.
Author(s) of submitted manuscripts for publication are personally responsible for originality of scientific research, scientific results and scientific contributions and not allowing duplication of the manuscript for publication in other editions or previous publication, which they certify with a submitted declaration of originality according to the model published on the website of the magazine.
Author(s) who are members of research teams and use scientific results and data from collaborative research of the team, submit written permission from other team members for use and acknowledgment of authorship.
The Authors are obliged to participate in the anonymous review process and, in case of possible inquiries by the editorial board, to promptly participate and correct the manuscript according to the comments and notes of the reviewers by sending back the revised manuscript.
Authors of submitted manuscripts are not allowed to propose reviewers in order to avoid bias in the evaluation and to avoid conflicts of interest and affiliation. All potential conflicts of interest are disclosed promptly, at the earliest stage, to the editorial board.
Authors of submitted manuscripts are not allowed to propose reviewers in order to avoid bias in the evaluation and to avoid conflicts of interest and affiliation. All potential conflicts of interest are disclosed promptly, at the earliest stage, to the editorial board.
Author/authors, in cases of fundamental errors or inaccuracies discovered by them in their published manuscripts, promptly notify the editorial board of the journal and the publisher for assistance in withdrawing the publication or correcting it. When a third-party reports material errors or inaccuracies contained in a published text, the author(s) shall take immediate action to correct or withdraw the manuscript, or provide the editorial board with evidence of the accuracy of the information in the original manuscript.
THE ETHICS COMMISSION
The Ethics Commission observes the observance and objective application of the Ethical Rules for publication in the “Security and Defense” Scientific Journal.
The Ethics Commission consists of 3 (three) members with competences in the thematic areas of the scientific journal, independent of the participants in the publication process.
The Ethics Commission in the cases of ethical cases, including and on already published manuscripts, is self-referred, or referred by any of the participants in the publication activity or by third parties. Reports to the Ethics Commission are submitted in writing, and anonymity of reports is not allowed.
The Ethics Commission meets on each incident and report, and the meetings are open to interested parties.
If necessary, the Ethics Commission may request an independent expertise on a given case.
The decision of the Ethics Commission is taken by a simple majority in open voting and is made in writing. The decisions of the Ethics Commission are final for implementation.