Publication Ethics and
Editorial Integrity

General Statement

European Scientific e-Journal is committed to maintaining responsible editorial practice, academic integrity and transparency in scholarly publishing. The journal expects all participants in the publication process — authors, editors, reviewers and the publisher — to act in accordance with principles of honesty, fairness, confidentiality, accountability and respect for the scholarly record.

This policy is developed by European Scientific e-Journal and the European Institute for Innovation Development. It is informed by internationally recognised good practices in scholarly publishing, including recommendations and principles developed by organisations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics and other professional bodies concerned with publication ethics and editorial transparency.

The purpose of this policy is to prevent misconduct, support fair editorial decision-making, protect the integrity of published materials and provide clear procedures for handling ethical concerns before and after publication.

Editorial Responsibility

The Editorial Board is responsible for maintaining the academic quality, ethical standards and editorial independence of European Scientific e-Journal. Editorial decisions must be based on the scholarly quality of the manuscript, relevance to the journal scope, originality, methodological clarity, ethical compliance, peer review results and editorial standards.

Editors must evaluate manuscripts without discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, gender, political views, religious beliefs, institutional affiliation, personal characteristics or commercial considerations.

Editors must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and peer review materials. Information about submitted manuscripts may be shared only with those involved in editorial processing, peer review, ethical assessment or publication preparation.

If an editor has a conflict of interest in relation to a submitted manuscript, another qualified editor or authorised member of the Editorial Board should handle the manuscript.

Publisher Responsibility

The European Institute for Innovation Development, as the publisher of European Scientific e-Journal, supports the editorial, technical and organisational infrastructure of the journal. The publisher is responsible for maintaining the journal website, publication archive, open access infrastructure and long-term accessibility of published materials.

The publisher must respect the editorial independence of the journal. Commercial, institutional or organisational interests must not influence editorial decisions.

The publisher supports the Editorial Board in handling ethical concerns, corrections, retractions, complaints and preservation of the scholarly record.

Author Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for the content, originality, accuracy and ethical compliance of submitted manuscripts. By submitting a manuscript to European Scientific e-Journal, authors confirm that the work is original, has not been published elsewhere in the same form and is not under consideration by another journal, unless this has been clearly disclosed to the Editorial Office.

Authors must present their research honestly and accurately. Data, facts, quotations, references and conclusions must not be fabricated, falsified, manipulated or misrepresented.

Authors must properly acknowledge the work of others. All sources, quotations, data, ideas and previously published materials used in the manuscript must be cited accurately and transparently.

Authors must provide complete author information, including full names, institutional affiliations, country or region and the email address of the corresponding author. ORCID identifiers are strongly recommended where available.

Authors must disclose funding sources, institutional support and any potential conflicts of interest that may influence the research or interpretation of results.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship must be limited to individuals who have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, research, analysis, interpretation, drafting or revision of the manuscript.

All listed authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission for publication. The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the Editorial Office and for ensuring that all co-authors are properly identified and informed.

The journal does not accept guest authorship, honorary authorship, gift authorship or ghost authorship. Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria may be acknowledged in a separate acknowledgement section with their permission.

Changes to authorship after submission must be explained to the Editorial Office and approved by all affected authors. The Editorial Board may request additional information before accepting any authorship change.

Reviewer Responsibilities

Reviewers support the journal by providing independent expert assessment of submitted manuscripts. Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively, respectfully and confidentially.

Reviewers should assess the scholarly quality, originality, relevance, methodology, argumentation, references, structure and ethical aspects of the manuscript. Review comments should be constructive and focused on improving the academic quality of the work.

Reviewers must decline a review invitation if they do not have sufficient expertise, cannot complete the review within a reasonable period or have a conflict of interest.

Reviewers must not use unpublished manuscript materials for personal research, teaching, publication or any other purpose. They must not share the manuscript with third parties without permission from the Editorial Office.

Originality, Plagiarism and Duplicate Publication

European Scientific e-Journal requires submitted manuscripts to be original scholarly works. The journal does not accept plagiarism, unattributed borrowing, inappropriate paraphrasing, duplicate publication, redundant publication or self-plagiarism without disclosure.

All submitted manuscripts may be checked for text similarity and originality. Similarity reports are interpreted by the Editorial Office or responsible editor in context. The presence of text overlap does not automatically determine the editorial decision; the nature, source and extent of overlap are considered.

Properly quoted text, references, standard methodological descriptions and previously disseminated preprints or conference materials may be acceptable when they are clearly disclosed and cited. Unattributed copying, substantial overlap, recycled publication without disclosure or manipulation of sources may lead to rejection or post-publication action.

If plagiarism or duplicate publication is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction, editorial notice, expression of concern or retraction, depending on the seriousness of the case.

Research Integrity and Data Accuracy

Authors must present research data, evidence and analysis accurately. Fabrication, falsification, manipulation of data, selective reporting, misleading presentation of results and unsupported conclusions are not acceptable.

Where applicable, authors should retain underlying data and be prepared to provide additional information if requested by the Editorial Office for ethical or editorial assessment.

Images, tables, figures and other research materials must not be manipulated in a way that misleads readers or distorts the scholarly record.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers and editors must disclose any potential conflict of interest that may affect the objectivity, fairness or independence of the publication process.

Conflicts of interest may include financial relationships, institutional relationships, personal relationships, academic competition, political interests, professional obligations or any other circumstances that could influence the evaluation, interpretation or publication of a manuscript.

Disclosure of a conflict of interest does not automatically prevent publication or participation in the editorial process. However, undisclosed conflicts may lead to additional editorial review, correction or other action.

Funding and Acknowledgements

Authors must disclose funding sources, grants, institutional support or other forms of support related to the submitted work. If no funding was received, authors may state this in the manuscript.

Acknowledgements should identify individuals or organisations that contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from individuals named in acknowledgements.

Ethical Oversight

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research complies with applicable ethical, legal and institutional requirements. Research involving human participants, personal data, sensitive information, interviews, surveys or other ethically significant materials must be conducted in accordance with appropriate ethical standards.

Where relevant, authors should state whether ethical approval, informed consent or institutional permission was obtained. If ethical approval was not required, this should be explained where appropriate.

The Editorial Board may request additional information about ethical approval, consent, data protection or research conditions before making an editorial decision.

Use of AI-assisted Tools

AI-assisted tools may be used for language editing, technical assistance or other limited support when their use does not replace author responsibility, scholarly judgement or original research contribution.

AI tools must not be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, references, data, argumentation and ethical compliance of the manuscript.

If AI-assisted tools were used in a way that materially affected the preparation of the manuscript, authors should disclose this use in the manuscript or to the Editorial Office where appropriate.

AI-generated references, fabricated sources, unsupported claims, manipulated data or misleading content are not acceptable.

Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern

European Scientific e-Journal is committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record. If an error, ethical concern or misconduct is identified after publication, the Editorial Board will assess the case and determine the appropriate action.

Possible post-publication actions include:

• correction;
• editorial note;
• expression of concern;
• retraction;
• update of metadata or publication information.

A correction may be issued when a published article contains an error that does not invalidate the main results or conclusions. A retraction may be issued when the article contains serious errors, plagiarism, fabricated data, duplicate publication, unethical research or other problems that significantly compromise the reliability of the work.

Retraction notices and editorial notices should be linked to the original publication where technically possible and should clearly identify the reason for the action.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors, readers, reviewers or other interested parties may submit complaints or appeals to the Editorial Office. Complaints may concern editorial procedure, publication ethics, conflicts of interest, authorship, peer review, corrections or other matters related to the journal.

Complaints and appeals must be submitted in writing and should include a clear description of the issue, relevant evidence and contact information.

The Editorial Office will review the complaint and may involve the Editor-in-Chief, responsible editor, Editorial Board members or publisher where appropriate. The journal aims to handle complaints fairly, confidentially and without unnecessary delay.

An appeal does not guarantee reversal of an editorial decision. Repeated complaints or appeals without new evidence may not be considered.

Confidentiality

Editors, reviewers and editorial staff must treat submitted manuscripts, review reports, correspondence and ethical investigations as confidential materials.

Confidential information obtained during editorial work must not be used for personal advantage, research, teaching, publication or disclosure to third parties without permission.

Authors must not attempt to identify anonymous reviewers or contact reviewers directly regarding a manuscript under review.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently by the Editor-in-Chief, responsible editors and authorised members of the Editorial Board. Decisions must be based on scholarly merit, peer review, relevance to the journal scope, ethical compliance and editorial standards.

Submission fees, publication charges, institutional status, personal relationships, nationality, political views, commercial interests or publisher interests must not determine acceptance or rejection of a manuscript.

Special Issues and Conference-based Collections

Special issues, thematic collections and conference-based collections are subject to the same general ethical requirements as regular journal issues.

Guest editors, conference organisers or scientific committees may assist in preparing special collections, but final responsibility for publication ethics and editorial decisions remains with European Scientific e-Journal.

Articles published in special or conference-based collections must meet the journal’s requirements for authorship, originality, peer review, conflicts of interest, author information and publication ethics.

Ethical Concerns and Misconduct Handling

If the Editorial Office receives information about possible misconduct before or after publication, the case will be reviewed by the responsible editor, Editor-in-Chief or another authorised member of the editorial team.

The journal may request explanations, documents, data, institutional information or other evidence from authors or relevant parties. If necessary, the journal may contact institutions, funders or other journals involved in the matter.

The journal will seek to handle ethical concerns fairly, proportionately and in a way that protects the integrity of the scholarly record.