CASPIAN JOURNAL

MANAGEMENT AND HIGH TECHNOLOGIES

Publication Ethics & Misuse Absence Declaration

Publication of manuscripts in this journal shall be regarded as a field to create and accumulate intellectual resources in the corresponding science. Manuscripts shall be regarded as objects reflecting relevance and quality of their authors’ research activities, as well as that of those institutions and organizations with which they work. For efficient activities to be performed by the Editorial Board of this journal, by authors, by reviewers, and by the University that publishes this journal, it is necessary to agree the principles of their actions.
The Editorial Board of the journal “Caspian Journal: Management & High Technologies” and the Astrakhan University Publishing House shall be serious towards compliance of ethical and other obligations related to editorial processing of manuscripts, to their publishing, and to their promotion within the information space.
The Editorial Board shall arrange its activities so that decisions to publish manuscripts and to determine the terms of their publishing were made solely on the base of scientific considerations. Besides, the Editorial Board shall endeavor to assist authors in establishing links between each other, as well as with other journals and/or publishers – in those cases when it is useful and necessary.
To perform its activities, the Editorial Board shall strive to comply with the Russian copyright legislation, as well as with international treaties and agreements and with norms determined by quality management standards (ISO 9000, etc.), rigorously.

Authors’ Obligations
Manuscript Standards

Authors of manuscripts must present original materials of their researches, as well as objective assessments of the obtained results.
The layout of manuscripts must comply with the rules determined by the Editorial Board. Deviations from those rules (exceptions) shall be acceptable only upon the written consent of the Editorial Board.
A manuscript must contain all the details of a research undertaken, which would make it possible for a reader to assess the contents of the presented results objectively. Besides, a manuscript must contain all the necessary literature references to provide adequate information links with earlier published manuscripts, to observe copyright in relation to earlier published materials, and to maintain the “scientific priority” of manuscripts.
Presentation of “invented data” related to research results, as well as intentional suppression of earlier published manuscripts in the same theme, shall be absolutely unacceptable. Such actions shall be regarded as unethical; they must be eliminated.
Scientific reviews must have covered a manuscript reviewed completely; their assessment must be objective.
Should manuscripts by another author be assessed (including the main contents and the findings), ethics of official communication must be observed; it is necessary to eliminate emotional and ungrounded conclusions.
Any editorial article must indicate clearly and distinctly that it is an editorial article.
Any other category of materials must also indicate their section attribution, or it must be published within the corresponding section of this journal.

Access to Data on Which Publication of Manuscripts is Based

Should an author refer to data that are not included into texts of their manuscripts or that are not accessible via literature links specified in their manuscripts, the Editorial Board may request to provide access to such data (e.g. by publishing them in the Internet specifying the corresponding reference in a manuscript) within reasonable terms upon acceptance of that manuscript to its publication.

Originality & Plagiarism

Authors of articles to be presented to this journal shall guarantee that their manuscripts are of original character. Should materials or particular fragments of other manuscripts be applied, adequate literature references must have been provided; literal citations must have been put in inverted commas.
Plagiarism shall be regarded as unethical conduct; it must be eliminated. The following variants of reproduction of borrowings without specifying a literary reference to a borrowing source shall be regarded as plagiarism: reproduction of text fragments, formulas, and graphical illustrations; paraphrasing of a text borrowed from another manuscript without changing its meaningful contents; reproduction of a borrowed digital material (complete or partial).

Elimination of Repeated and Parallel Publication of Manuscripts

An author shall not submit their manuscripts with the same (or almost the same) contents simultaneously to different publishing houses to have their manuscripts published. An authors’ manuscript earlier published by another publishing house shall not be submitted for publication.
A limited application of particular fragments of earlier published manuscripts by the same author in a manuscript shall be acceptable provided literature references to them have been specified adequately.
Elimination of a repeated publication shall also concern publication of a manuscript in another language if compared with an earlier published manuscript. In particular, a manuscript earlier published in a foreign journal in English shall not be published in Russian in this journal.

Specification of Information Sources Applied to Write Manuscripts

Inclusion of references to sources by other authors into a presented manuscript shall be a sign of acknowledgement of their research merits in the development of the corresponding scientific discipline. Thus, an author must have provided references to all the sources that are essential scientifically, without limiting themselves with a short quantity of authors cited. A reference must contain precise information specifying the place and the time of publication of sources cited, as well as their Internet addresses. An intentional misrepresentation of data specifying the published manuscripts (e.g. changing the publication date) shall be regarded as a violation of publication ethics.
Citation of an author’s own source shall be acceptable only within a very limited scale. A presented manuscript shall not contain references to confidential and official secret information, as well as to data obtained as a result of oral communication with other researchers, or as a result of exchange of electronic letters with them, etc.
A presented manuscript shall not contain references to manuscripts that have not still been published, including references to manuscripts by an author themselves.
Any manuscript containing information that can potentially contain government secret data must have been approved with a submitted Expertise Act that provides a conclusion by a corresponding institution or organization that the verified manuscript contains no confidential information.
Any manuscript containing data on particular citizens must have depersonalized information related to those individuals (by eliminating personal data that might potentially identify an individual to whom they relate).
Usage of data borrowed from an author’s research manuscripts or from their grant applications, which were being reviewed prior to publication of a corresponding manuscript or prior to taking a positive decision concerning their grant, shall be unacceptable.

Manuscript Authorship

The range of authors of a manuscript shall be limited with those individuals who have contributed to creative composition of that manuscript significantly. Authors of a presented manuscript shall guarantee that all such participants of such work have been listed as coauthors of that manuscript.
Creative participation within the context of this document may imply undertaking experimental researches; data processing of non-routine character; development of original schemes of devices; obtainment of mathematical models; interpretation of the obtained research results, etc.
It shall be unreasonable to include individuals, who have provided a technical aid to obtain experimental data or to perform a calculation of technical character (etc.), into the list of coauthors. Inclusion of individuals, who have participated in the work creatively, but who assume a key administrative or another position, or who have provided only financial aid (etc.), shall be regarded as a violation of ethical principles. If necessary, one may express their gratitude to such individuals at the end of a manuscript by indicating clearly what kind of aid those individuals have provided.
Coauthors of the presented manuscripts shall guarantee that all the necessary individuals have been specified as coauthors and that, on the contrary, no outside individuals (who have not contributed to the research creatively) have been specified as a coauthor. The range of coauthors of the presented final version of a manuscript must also have been approved by all of them.

Risks Related to Manuscripts Submitted

Should a manuscript include a description of procedures, processes, etc., which might be socially hazardous if reproduced for any purpose, its authors must have been fully aware of probable negative consequences of its publication; they must have been prepared to bear liability for such a manuscript. In particular, that concerns descriptions of computer technologies related to probable violation of information security of corporate information systems, to confidentiality of users’ data, etc.
Should a manuscript have been financed by an institution or by an individual completely or partially, it shall indicate its funding source to eliminate potential influence by that institution or individual upon interpretation of the obtained information, upon its conclusion and research findings, etc.

Fundamental Errors Revealed in Published Manuscripts

In case an author has revealed a fundamental error in their manuscript that has already been published (or in case another researcher has informed them of that error, and the author agrees with such critical remarks), they shall notify the Editorial Board of this journal and cooperate with it to perform the “correctional actions”.
In case a fundamental error has been revealed by the Editorial Board or by a third party, the author shall also cooperate with the Editorial Board to perform the “correctional actions” within the shortest terms. Should the author consider that claims are ungrounded, they shall submit a well-motivated opinion letter concerning the disputable issue to the Editorial Board upon its request.
An author shall also agree the list of “correctional actions” with the Editorial Board, including (probably) publication of the necessary correction in a later issue of this journal.

Fundamental Errors Revealed in Published Manuscripts
Decision to Publish

The Editorial Board, the Chief Editor personally, and the Executive Secretary personally, shall be liable for all the decisions related to acceptance of manuscripts to publication: a positive or a negative decision concerning publication; temporal terms to examine a manuscript and to publish it.
Compliance with the determined editorial policy and, in particular, with rules to examine manuscripts shall provide objectivity of the made decisions; it must eliminate any possibility of copyright violation and plagiarism on pages of this journal.
The Editor and the Executive Secretary may delegate their decision-making authorities to other members of the Editorial Board and to attract competent specialists to have the submitted manuscripts reviewed.

Manuscripts Examination Objectivity

The Editorial Board, the Chief Editor personally, and the Executive Secretary personally, shall be liable for all the decisions related to acceptance of manuscripts to publication: a positive or a negative decision concerning publication; temporal terms to examine a manuscript and to publish it.
Compliance with the determined editorial policy and, in particular, with rules to examine manuscripts shall provide objectivity of the made decisions; it must eliminate any possibility of copyright violation and plagiarism on pages of this journal.
The Editor and the Executive Secretary may delegate their decision-making authorities to other members of the Editorial Board and to attract competent specialists to have the submitted manuscripts reviewed.

Recommendations & Directions to Authors

The Editorial Board may advise an author in the following fields: whether it is reasonable to separate their submitted manuscript into parts; whether it is necessary to eliminate technical faults of the manuscript layout or changing statistics (including elimination of tautologies); whether their manuscript must include section subtitles to present its structure better; whether it is necessary to correct the list of references (to increase the percentage of “fresh sources”, to decrease the number of the author’s “self-citations”, etc.).
The Editorial Board may submit texts of critical reviews concerning a particular manuscript to its author and request to eliminate critical remarks specified in those reviews. In accordance with general rules, the reviewers’ family names shall be deleted from their reviews prior to their submission to the author of the manuscript examined. However, if a reviewer insists that their family name must be preserved, their family name may be preserved.
It is the author of a manuscript who shall make the final decision concerning all the recommendations. The final versions of their manuscripts to be published must have been agreed with them.

Submitted Manuscripts Examination Confidentiality

The Editor, the Executive Secretary, and members of the Editorial Board must not reveal information concerning the contents of a presented manuscript to outside individuals (except for potential reviewers).
This rule applies to manuscripts that are being examined to determine reasonability of their publication, to materials that have already been accepted for publication and that are undergoing technical editorial processing, and to manuscripts whose publication has been rejected.

Information Revelation & Conflicts of Interests

Unpublished materials reflected in manuscripts submitted to the Editorial Board of this journal shall not be applied by the Editor, by the Executive Secretary, by members of the Editorial Board, and by reviewers for their own researches. It applies both to manuscripts that are being examined at the Editorial Board and to manuscripts whose publication has been rejected.
The Editor, the Executive Secretary, or another member of the Editorial Board shall not make a decision concerning a manuscript in whose publication they are interested or may be interested personally, whether it is reasonable or unreasonable to publish them. In such cases, the corresponding authorities shall be delegated to other individuals, who are not interested personally concerning that manuscript.

Participation & Cooperation in Investigation of Conflict Situations

The Editor, the Executive Secretary, or another member of the Editorial Board shall take prompt and adequate actions in case an author complains about too long terms of examination of their manuscript, about ungrounded conclusions and recommendations related to the publishing of their manuscripts, about requirements towards an author to correct their manuscript (which contradicts to its goal and affects its quality), about delays in the publishing of their manuscript that has already been accepted for publishing, and about “technical faults” revealed in the published manuscripts.
The Editorial Board shall examine applications by other authors (who consider that their copyright has been violated as a result of a manuscript publishing) and by organizations and institutions (who consider that their interests have been damaged because of materials published without their permission and related to their official secrets or containing negative information about their activities).
In its turn, the Editorial Board may also address other publishing houses upon its own initiative, if they have published a manuscript that violates interests of this journal or interests of authors who have published their manuscripts in this journal. First and foremost, that concerns a repeated publishing of manuscripts, absence of literature references that are necessary judging by the character of a manuscript text, etc.
The Editorial Board may take the following actions:
- exchanging letters with an author to explain the Editorial Board’s position concerning reasonability of publishing their manuscripts, concerning the current situation with the priority of their manuscripts publishing and examination;
- exchanging letters with “non-authors” concerning the materials published, including revealed plagiarism;
- additional addresses to particular researchers or to organizations to obtain a letter of opinion related to the materials presented;
- publishing corrections on behalf of authors;
- publishing technical corrections on behalf of editorial boards;
- publishing reports related to revealed plagiarism in already published manuscripts, etc. No limitation period shall be determined in relation to cases of “unethical conduct” (first and foremost, should plagiarism be revealed); the Editorial Board shall react to all such cases.

Reviewers’ Obligations
Goals of Expert Assessment

An expert assessment of materials submitted for publishing is to assist the Editor, the Executive Secretary, and other members of the Editorial Board to make an editorial decision, to enhance the quality of manuscripts to be published by interacting with their authors to improve their contents, section division, and illustration material.
An independent expert assessment of materials is an essential constituent to provide objectivity of manuscripts to be published, to maintain their proper scientific level. Simultaneously, an expert assessment is a means of “academic communications” within a scientific community, a means to provide the necessary conditions of its self-development and self-regulation.

Conditions & Terms of Reviewing

An expert assessment of materials submitted for publishing is to assist the Editor, the Executive Secretary, and other members of the Editorial Board to make an editorial decision, to enhance the quality of manuscripts to be published by interacting with their authors to improve their contents, section division, and illustration material.
An independent expert assessment of materials is an essential constituent to provide objectivity of manuscripts to be published, to maintain their proper scientific level. Simultaneously, an expert assessment is a means of “academic communications” within a scientific community, a means to provide the necessary conditions of its self-development and self-regulation.

Confidentiality

Any manuscript obtained for reviewing must be regarded as a confidential document. It shall not be displayed to other individuals or be discussed with them – expect for cases authorized by the Editor of this journal or by its Executive Secretary.

Objectivity Standards

Any manuscript obtained for reviewing must be regarded as a confidential document. It shall not be displayed to other individuals or be discussed with them – expect for cases authorized by the Editor of this journal or by its Executive Secretary.

Verification of References by Reviewers

Besides the proper verification of a manuscript text, a reviewer shall pay serious attention to references. In particular, a reviewer shall endeavor to reveal the following points and notify the Editor of them: essential manuscripts that have not been included into references; presence of fragments borrowed from sources to which no references have been provided within the text of the reviewed manuscript (i.e. plagiarism); presence of text fragments “reformulated” in comparison with its original, which is familiar to the reviewer or which they have found intentionally while reviewing the manuscript.

Information Revelation & Conflicts of Interests

Unpublished materials revealed in a reviewed manuscript shall not be applied by a reviewer for their own purposes; they shall not be submitted to a third party. However, such actions may be performed by a reviewer, provided the manuscript author has given their consent for doing that in a written form.
A reviewer shall refuse to examine and review materials concerning which they have a conflict of interests with their authors or should there be a mutual interest to have them published. In particular, conflicts of interests may arise from competitive, joint, or other relations with any author of a manuscript to be reviewed or with the institution or organization with which a manuscript author works.