Editorial Ethics

General guidelines

The activity of the editorial board of the journal is based on respect for the author's personal rights and the right to intellectual property. The editorial board of the journal guarantees an independent and conscientious consideration of all submitted manuscripts of articles regardless of the departmental, national or religious affiliation of authors, their official position, commercial interests and relations with the founders of the journal. All published materials in the journal are royalty-free. Also, the fee for publication is not withdrawn from the authors. The Editorial Board of the journal “Vestnik SPbGU. Earth Sciences” is guided by the ethical principles set forth below, which follow the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). https://publicationethics.org/

Ethical guidelines for editors

The editorial board are guided by international norms of publishing ethics in the selection (including review), preparation (editing) and publication of articles in the journal.

  • Editors’ decisions to accept or reject the manuscript should be based on the validity and academic importance of the study. In making this decision the editor is guided by editorial policy of the journal, editorial board decisions and constrained by such legal requirements in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
  • Editors should evaluate the intellectual content of the manuscript regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, social status or political preferences of the author.
  • The editor and the Editorial Board of the journal are obliged not to disclose information about the accepted manuscript to anyone, except for persons directly involved in the process of its consideration without the
  • The editor and the editorial board are not allowed to use in their own studies unpublished material contained in the submitted manuscript without the written consent of the author. The information obtained in the course of reviewing Confidential information or ideas, should not be divulged by the Editor and the Editorial Board or used by them for personal gain
  • In the case of a conflict of interest due to the existence of competitive relations, joint ventures or other interactions and relationships with any of the authors, the editor and/or editorial staff member should not participate in the review of manuscripts.
  • Editors should not accept manuscripts if plagiarism is established
  • The editor and the editorial board of the journal have the right to reject the manuscript without conducting an independent review in the case, if they find it low-quality, not relevant to the subject of the journal, not meeting formal requirements or for other objective reasons. In this case, the editorial board reserves the right not to indicate the cause of failure.
  • All the incoming manuscripts the editor or the responsible editorial staffs submit for review, if they are not rejected for the reasons stated above at the first stage of the review. Reviewers are selected from among the most competent specialists on the subject of the article.

Ethical guidelines for authors

  • Authors who provide manuscripts to the journal should provide reliable results of the conducted research. The work should contain enough details and bibliographic references for possible reproduction. False or knowingly erroneous statements are regarded as unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
  • Authors should ensure that the results of the study, as described in the manuscript provided, are completely original. Borrowings in the text of the manuscript should be made with the obligatory indication of authorship and the source, with appropriate bibliographic references and / or citations. Plagiarism in all forms and excessive borrowing are unacceptable.
  • The authors should not submit the manuscripts, which are currently under consideration for publication in any other journal or have already been published elsewhere. This is regarded as unethical behavior and is unacceptable.
  • All major contributors to the research should be listed as authors. It is necessary to recognize in an explicit form the contribution of all persons who have influenced the course of the study. Information obtained privately should not be used or stated without the explicit written permission of the source, as well as information that violates the interests of a third party.
  • All authors are required to disclose in their manuscripts financial or other material conflicts of interest that may be interpreted as factors that have influenced the results or conclusions presented in the work. All sources of financial support for the research project should be disclosed.

Ethical guidelines for peer reviewers

  • Peer reviewer should provide objective and sound evaluation of the conducted research. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable.
  • The manuscript submitted for peer review should be regarded as a confidential document, which cannot be transferred to third parties for review and discussion unless the permission therefor was obtained from the editorial office.
  • The reviewer, who believes that he does not have sufficient qualifications for the evaluation of the manuscript, should notify the editor of this request to exclude him from the process of reviewing this manuscript.
  • The reviewer should draw the editor's attention to finding a significant similarity or overlap between the manuscript in question and any other published work that is in the scientific competence of the reviewer.
  • In the case of a conflict of interest due to the existence of competitive relations, joint ventures or other interactions and relationships with any of the authors, the reviewer should not participate in the review of manuscripts.
  • Unpublished data obtained from submitted manuscripts should not be used by the reviewer for personal purposes without the written consent of the author.