Theory and Practice of Forensic Science and Criminalistics

Restoring the violated interests and rights of authors regarding published materials and addressing violations of ethical standards through timely responses to appeals (complaints, claims, comments) is one of the priority areas of activity of the editorial board of the collection of scientific papers “Theory and Practice of Forensic Science and Criminalistics” (hereinafter — the Collection). Each complaint is examined according to its nature and complexity; applicants receive prompt and constructive responses, and the final decision necessarily takes into account the recommendations provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Persons who may submit a complaint include: an author (or a group of authors); a reviewer; a member of the editorial board; a reader or any other person who has identified a potential ethical violation.

Complaints subject to consideration include those related to: plagiarism, self-plagiarism, falsification or fabrication of data; authorship violations (unjustified inclusion or exclusion of authors); undeclared conflicts of interest; unethical peer review; improper use of another author’s materials; violations of or non-compliance with the requirements for preparing materials for publication, etc.

Suggestions or complaints should be sent to the email address of the Collection: zbirnyk_nscfsi@hniise.gov.ua.

The complaint review procedure follows the steps below:

• The complaint is forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief (Co-Editor-in-Chief) or the Executive Secretary for preliminary consideration.

• If the complaint concerns the Editor-in-Chief (Co-Editor-in-Chief), it is transferred to an authorized representative from among the members of the editorial board.

• A temporary commission (composed of members of the editorial board or advisory board) is established to analyze the circumstances of the case.

• If necessary, explanations may be requested from authors, reviewers, or editors, including in cases involving ethical violations (for example, plagiarism or data falsification).

As a priority, the substantiation and constructive nature of the complaint regarding the scientific content reflected in the article are verified.

Anonymous complaints and appeals are not considered.

Appeals and complaints are reviewed within 30 days from the date of receipt, after which the results are communicated to the applicant in writing. However, depending on the complexity of the complaint, additional time may be required to complete the investigation.

All complaint materials are considered confidential. Information is not disclosed except when necessary for an objective investigation.

After completing the review, the commission makes a decision, which may include:

• rejecting the complaint as unfounded;

• making corrections or clarifications to the publication;

• publishing a retraction or withdrawal of the article;

• prohibiting further submissions from the violator;

• informing the institution where the author works about the violation of academic integrity.

Procedure for correcting identified errors and comments from authors:
If the expressed comments confirm the seriousness of the errors, the editorial board may publish on the Collection’s website a correction (erratum) to the electronic version of the article related to the technological publishing process. In cases where significant errors in the article are confirmed (unreliable data or conclusions, plagiarism, duplication of articles, etc.), the article may be withdrawn (retraction) in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The editorial board considers this an integral part of academic ethics: acknowledging mistakes and maintaining dialogue with the scholarly community for the advancement of science.