EDITORIAL POLICY

1. General Provisions

The Problems of Economy is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal in the field of economics, published quarterly since 2009 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The journal is founded by the Research Centre for Industrial Development Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and is included in the List of Professional Scientific Publications of Ukraine (Category B) by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

The editorial office operates in accordance with the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI). All editorial decisions are made independently of commercial interests and are based solely on scholarly merit.

2. Mission of the journal

The mission of the journal is to provide a transparent and open-access platform for the publication and global dissemination of original economic research, with emphasis on the economies of Ukraine and other transition and emerging-market countries in the context of globalisation and digital transformation.

3. Principles of Editorial Activity

The editorial policy of the journal is grounded in the following principles:

• objectivity and impartiality in the selection of articles for publication;
• high standards for the quality of scientific research;
• double-blind peer review of all submitted manuscripts;
• collective, independent decision-making on publication;
• accessibility and responsiveness in communication with authors;
• strict observance of copyright and related rights;
• adherence to the journal's publication schedule;
• transparency of editorial processes and policies.

4. Authorship and Contributor Roles

4.1. Authorship Criteria

Authorship must be based on all of the following criteria (in accordance with ICMJE recommendations):

• substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
• drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content;
• approval of the final version to be published;
• agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Individuals who do not meet all of the above criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section rather than listed as authors.

4.2. Prohibited Authorship Practices

The following practices are considered violations of publication ethics and will result in rejection or retraction of the manuscript:

• Honorary (guest) authorship – inclusion of individuals who have not made a qualifying contribution;
• Ghost authorship – omission of individuals who have made substantial contributions;
• Fictitious authorship – listing non-existent persons as authors.

4.3. Contributor Roles

Authors are required to specify the contribution of each author using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) classification system. The use of CRediT is strongly recommended for all submissions.

4.4. Changes to Authorship

Any addition, deletion, or reordering of authors after manuscript submission must be approved in writing by all listed authors and by the editor-in-chief. Such changes are not permitted after acceptance of the manuscript.

5. Peer Review

5.1. Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo double-blind peer review, in which the identities of authors and reviewers remain unknown to one another throughout the review process. Manuscripts are evaluated by a minimum of two independent experts who hold a doctoral degree (Doctor of Sciences or PhD) and have publications in the field addressed by the manuscript.

5.2. Review Criteria

Reviewers assess manuscripts according to the following criteria:

• relevance of the topic to the journal's scope;
• originality and scientific novelty of the research;
• theoretical and methodological soundness;
• validity and reliability of results;
• quality and completeness of the reference list;
• clarity of presentation and language quality;
• compliance with the journal's submission requirements.

5.3. Indicative Timelines

5.4. Review Outcomes

On the basis of reviewers' reports, the editorial board may reach one of the following decisions:

• accept without revision;
• accept subject to minor revision;
• request major revision and resubmission;
• reject.

In the event of a negative decision, the author receives a reasoned written explanation. A rejected manuscript may be resubmitted after thorough revision only with the prior agreement of the editor-in-chief.

5.5. Confidentiality

All submitted manuscripts are treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not disclose or use for their own purposes any information obtained during the review process. Reviewers are required to return or destroy all copies of the manuscript after completing their review.

5.6. Reviewer Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must decline to review manuscripts in cases where a conflict of interest exists, including close collaboration, personal relationships, academic competition, or financial interests related to the manuscript's subject matter. Reviewers must notify the editorial office of any potential conflict of interest immediately upon receiving a review invitation.

6. Conflict of Interest

6.1. Authors

All authors are required to disclose any financial and non-financial interests that could have influenced the conduct or interpretation of their research. Such interests include, but are not limited to:

• research funding sources (grants, contracts, donations);
• employment or consultancy relationships with organisations that may benefit from the publication;
• shareholding or other proprietary interests in relevant organisations;
• honoraria or speaker fees;
• patents or patent applications relevant to the research;
• personal or professional relationships that could bias the research.

Conflict of interest disclosures must be provided at submission and will be published as part of the article.

6.2. Editors and Reviewers

Editors and reviewers are required to notify the editorial office of any potential conflict of interest and to recuse themselves from handling the relevant manuscript. A reviewer may not review a manuscript authored by individuals with whom they have close professional or personal ties, or with whom they are in direct academic competition.

6.3. Post-Publication Discovery

If a conflict of interest is identified after publication, the editorial office will investigate the matter and take appropriate action in accordance with COPE guidelines, which may include issuing a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction.

7. Open Access Policy

The Problems of Economy is a fully open-access journal. All content is freely available to any reader or institution immediately upon publication, at no charge. The journal supports the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI). Users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full texts of all articles without prior permission from the publisher or authors.

All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-SA 4.0). This licence permits free use, adaptation, and redistribution of the material, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original authors and source, and that any derivative works are distributed under the same licence.

8. Copyright and Licensing

The economic copyright (proprietary rights) in each published article remains with the author(s). By submitting a manuscript for publication, the author(s) grant the journal a non-exclusive licence for the first publication of the article and for its inclusion in international repositories, scientometric databases, and open-access platforms, in accordance with the terms of the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

The journal does not claim ownership of the intellectual content of published articles. Authors may subsequently republish their work in other venues provided that the original publication in this journal is clearly cited and acknowledged.

9. Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

9.1. Zero-Tolerance Policy

The editorial board categorically condemns all forms of academic misconduct, including:

• Plagiarism – verbatim or paraphrased reproduction of another's text, ideas, or data without appropriate attribution, regardless of extent;
• Self-plagiarism (duplicate publication) – submitting previously published work, in whole or in substantial part, without disclosure;
• Data falsification or fabrication – manipulation or invention of research data or results;
• Improper citation – misrepresenting or omitting sources;
• Salami slicing – fragmenting a single study into multiple minimal publications.

9.2. Screening

All submitted manuscripts are screened for originality using specialised plagiarism-detection software prior to peer review. Manuscripts exceeding this threshold or showing evidence of intentional plagiarism are rejected without review.

9.3. Post-Publication Detection

If plagiarism, data falsification, or any other form of academic misconduct is identified in a published article, the editorial office will investigate the matter and act in accordance with COPE guidelines. Depending on the severity of the violation, the response may include: a published correction (Erratum/Corrigendum), an Expression of Concern, or a Retraction. The institution(s) of the author(s) concerned may also be notified.

10. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

10.1. Corrections

Erratum (publisher's error): issued when an error introduced during the editorial process affects the accuracy of the published article.

Corrigendum (author's error): issued when an error by the author(s) does not affect the scientific conclusions of the article but requires correction of the published record.

Correction notices are published promptly, linked to the original article, and indexed independently.

10.2. Retractions

A published article may be retracted if:

• there is clear evidence that the data or conclusions are unreliable as a result of misconduct (falsification, fabrication) or honest error;
• the findings have been published elsewhere without proper attribution (duplicate publication);
• plagiarism is detected that materially affects the reliability of the findings;
• the peer review process was compromised;
• authorship is found to be fictitious or manipulated.

Retracted articles remain accessible on the journal's website with a clearly visible RETRACTED notice. The retraction notice identifies the article by title and authors, states the reason for retraction, and is freely accessible to all readers.

10.3. Expressions of Concern

Where substantiated concerns are raised about a published article and an investigation is ongoing but has not yet been concluded, the editorial office may publish an Expression of Concern to alert readers. This notice is removed or replaced once the investigation is complete.

All decisions on corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern are taken in accordance with COPE guidelines.

11. Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the preparation of manuscripts is permitted subject to the following conditions:

• AI tools may be used to assist with grammar correction, spelling, translation support, or formatting. Such use does not require disclosure.
• AI tools may not be listed as authors, as authorship implies accountability that AI cannot fulfil.
• If generative AI (e.g. large language models) has been used to generate or substantially revise text, figures, or data, this must be disclosed in the manuscript in a dedicated AI Use Statement, specifying the tool used and the nature of its contribution.
• Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of content produced with AI assistance.

12. Research Data and Reproducibility

Authors of empirical articles are strongly encouraged to make their underlying data sets, code, and methodological details available to readers upon reasonable request, in order to support reproducibility and transparency of research. Where data sharing is not possible due to confidentiality or legal restrictions, authors should clearly state this in the manuscript and explain the restrictions.

Authors must ensure that all quantitative analyses, models, and statistical procedures are described in sufficient detail to allow their independent verification.

13. Archiving and Digital Preservation

The Problems of Economy ensures the long-term preservation of its scholarly content through indexing in leading international repositories and scientometric databases. Full-text versions of all articles are stored on the journal's official website and in external archives, guaranteeing permanent access to all published materials.

Each article is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) via Crossref, ensuring persistent identification and citability within international bibliometric systems.

14. Complaints and Appeals

Authors who disagree with an editorial decision have the right to submit an appeal by sending a reasoned written request to the editorial office. Appeals must be submitted within 30 days of the editorial decision and must specify the grounds for disagreement.

The editorial office will review appeals in accordance with COPE principles and provide a written response within a reasonable timeframe. The editorial office does not enter into discussions with authors of rejected manuscripts in the absence of substantiated grounds for appeal.

Complaints regarding the conduct of editors or reviewers should be submitted to the editor-in-chief. Unresolved complaints may be referred to COPE.

15. Review and Updates

This Editorial Policy is reviewed and updated by the editorial board as necessary, and at minimum once per year. Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to familiarise themselves with the current version of this policy prior to engaging with the journal.

Last updated: March 2026