This section provides a guide on UBJ editorial and publishing policies. It includes ethical guidelines and code of conduct for authors, reviewers and editors. In addition to ethical publication practice and description of the peer review procedure, our open access policy is described and a copyright notice is provided.

Our journal policies have been developed to ensure that publication process for all articles in UBJ meets high ethical standards on every stage, from initial submission through peer reviews and revisions to acceptance and publication.

Open access policy

UBJ is a Diamond Open Access journal. All articles immediately upon their online publication are freely available on the journal website for everyone to read and permanently use them for any lawful purpose. There is no open access fee (or article publishing charge, APC) for the authors. The readers at no cost can access, download, print, copy, distribute and transmit or remix (adapt) the article under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), provided that use and distribution are fully attributed to the author(s) and source of publication.

Copyright notice

When the article is accepted for publication, the corresponding author signs a Copyright Assignment, in which the authors transfer copyright to the founder and publisher of the journal, and thus grant broad publishing and distribution rights to the publisher, including the right to publish the article and to make it available online. The authors also permit the publisher to apply DOIs to the articles and to increase their visibility in appropriate databases, archives and indexes.

In signing the Copyright Assignment, the authors certify that: (1) submitted manuscript is their original work; (2) the manuscript has not been published before and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; (3) the published article and any associated/supplementary published material are freely distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which allows for maximum dissemination and re-use of open access materials, with full original author attribution.

Peer review procedure

Following an initial pre-review quality check, each new submission is assigned to an Editor with relevant expertise. Having assessed the manuscript for suitability, the Editor determines which experts are needed to evaluate the manuscript, based on their qualifications and level of expertise. The corresponding author can submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of several potential referees. However, the Editor retains the sole right to decide whether the suggested reviewers are selected.

UBJ operates a single blind peer review process. All contributions are sent to two independent, anonymous expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the manuscript. Usually external peer reviewers have up to 3-4 weeks to submit their reviews. The reviewers remain anonymous unless they choose to identify themselves in the Peer Review Form (UBJ Review Forms, both in English and Ukrainian, can be downloaded from this page).

The Editor considers the feedback from peer reviewers and makes a preliminary decision on each manuscript: (1) to accept, (2) to request minor revision, (3) to request major revision, or (4) to reject. This decision is communicated to the corresponding author, along with the reviewer feedback and other requirements from the UBJ office. If the manuscript can be published after revision, the author is invited to revise it and to resubmit the revised version of the manuscript. After resubmission, the Editor takes an overall decision based on evaluation of the revised manuscript and author's response to reviewers, or, if necessary, requests additional comments from external peer reviewers.

If the Editor is finally satisfied with scientific aspects of the manuscript, he recommends to the Editor-in-Chief to accept the manuscript for publication. Once the final formatting and technical requirements are completed, the UBJ office sends a formal decision on acceptance of the manuscript. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of the manuscripts.

To maintain the integrity of our peer review process, manuscripts submitted by any Editor, including the Editor-in-Chief, are subject to a strict recusal policy. For these submissions, the selection of reviewers and all subsequent editorial decisions are managed by an alternative Editor with no competing interests. This procedure ensures a fair and objective assessment of the manuscript, grounded exclusively in its scholarly merit.

UBJ provides fast publication of taxonomic and/or nomenclatural novelties in order to ensure priority of the proposed changes. These manuscripts are also peer-reviewed by two external referees but undergo shorter publication process to accelerate valid publication of taxonomic/nomenclatural proposals. For these submissions, UBJ offers quick turn-around time ranging between 2–3 weeks for review process and about 2 weeks for publication after manuscript acceptance.

Publication ethics

UBJ endorses guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and will pursue cases of suspected research and publication malpractice (falsification, plagiarism, data fabrication, citation manipulation, multiple submissions, redundant publication and any other forms of misconduct). While a new COPE Code of Conduct, replacing the current Core Practices, is to be published in 2025, the Journal follows the fourth version of the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (jointly published by COPE, DOAJ, OASPA and WAME in September 2022) as well as COPE's guidance on Cooperation between research institutions and journals on research integrity and publication misconduct cases, among other COPE's specific guidelines.

The Editorial Board upholds the internationally approved standards of ethical behavior with all parties involved in publishing – authors, reviewers, editors and publisher.

Ethical guidelines and code of conduct for authors, reviewers and editors

All members of the publication process are committed to maintain high ethical standards. The guidelines below provide major ethical issues in publishing and outline obligations of the authors, reviewers and editors.

RESPONSIBILITY OF AUTHORS

Authorship

Authorship is limited to those who have significantly contributed to the conception/design of the work, analysis/interpretation of data, and/or drafting the manuscript/revising the article critically after peer review. The corresponding author assumes the primary role of communication with the journal, ensuring that all co-authors have approved the manuscript to submit and the final version of the article to be published. Those who have participated in certain aspects of the research should be named in Acknowledgements. All sources of financial support for the research should be also disclosed.

Reporting standards

Authors reporting results of the original research are expected to present an accurate account of the performed study and objective discussion of its significance. All underlying data should be accurately represented. Intentional fabrication or manipulation of data is a severe form of scientific misconduct. For promoting transparency, the raw data can be made publicly available upon publication as a Supplementary Material on the UBJ website, or by depositing it in a public repository.

Originality

A fundamental expectation is that the submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere. Simultaneous submission to more than one journal is considered unethical and inappropriate. Authors should not publish the same, or essentially unchanged, material in more than one (duplicate or multiple) publication. If the manuscript contains material that is someone else's copyright, a permission of the copyright owner to use the material must be obtained and the material should be clearly identified and acknowledged in the text.

Avoidance of plagiarism

Authors must ensure they have written entirely original works, and if the work or text of others have been used, this must be appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism, in all its forms (copying text, ideas, images, or data from other sources without credit), including self-plagiarism (reusing text from the author's own previous publications without attribution), constitute unethical behaviour. The manuscripts submitted to UBJ are screened using StrikePlagiarism.com software (access provided by the Publisher, Akademperiodyka PH). If plagiarism is detected, the manuscript will not be considered for publication in UBJ.

Disclosure of conflicts of interest

Transparency extends to the disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest that could be perceived as influencing the research. Authors must notify the editors of any competing interests with other people or organisations (associated with sources of funding, or non-financial). All potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed at the earliest possible stage to avoid serious consequences.

Post-publication corrections

The responsibility of an author does not end with publication. If any errors or inaccuracies are discovered in a published article, authors have an obligation to promptly notify the journal and cooperate in issuing corrections (or retractions) as soon as possible.

RESPONSIBILITY OF REVIEWERS

Ethical issues

Peer reviewers should conduct their reviews in ethical and accountable manner. They are expected to follow the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers to uphold the quality and validity of individual manuscripts through the peer review process.

Standards of objectivity

Peer reviewers are asked to focus on scientific value, quality and overall style of the manuscript. They should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. Personal criticism of the author is not acceptable. Reviewers are supposed to decline reviewing if they feel unable to provide a fair and unbiased review in a reasonable time frame.

Confidentiality

All information regarding submitted manuscript and all aspects of its review should be kept strictly confidential and not allowed to be shown to or discussed with anyone other than the Editors. Reviewers are expected not to make use of any material or take advantage of any information they gain through the peer review process.

Alertness to unethical practice

Reviewers should declare any cases of plagiarism and notify the editors of any substantial similarity between the reviewed manuscript and any other published article of which they have personal knowledge. They should alert the editors, if a manuscript contains or appears to contain any falsified or manipulated data and any published material without appropriate attribution.

Declaration of competing interests

Reviewers are asked to declare any potential competing interests related to the research (of financial, non-financial, professional, or personal nature). Reviewers should not consider manuscripts, in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships and/or connections with any of the authors, or their institutions. After manuscripts are assigned for review, referees are asked to inform the Editor of any conflicts of interest that may exist.

RESPONSIBILITY OF EDITORS

Editors hold the primary responsibilities for ensuring the quality of published articles and maintaining the overall integrity of the journal's content. Their duties require a combination of scientific expertise, sound judgment and commitment to ethical principles.

Upholding ethical standards

Editors follow the internationally approved standards of ethical behavior according to COPE guidelines with all parties involved in publishing process. The principal ethical duties include:

Fairness and impartiality. Editors should evaluate submissions based on the manuscripts intellectual content alone, irrespective of the author's background or affiliations. All editorial decisions, from selecting peer reviewers to the final acceptance or rejection of a manuscript, must be based solely on the work's scientific merit, quality, importance, originality, clarity and relevance to UBJ scope.

Confidentiality. Editors should not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers or Editorial Board members. Any information or ideas obtained through peer review process must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Editors are committed to preserve the anonymity of reviewers, unless the latter decide to disclose their identities.

Misconduct investigation. Editors have a duty to investigate any allegations of research or publication misconduct, such as plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, etc. In handling suspected or proven malpractice, editors should promptly address any unethical issues and take appropriate actions.

Managing conflicts of interest

Editors must take into account any financial, non-financial, professional or personal relationships between authors and reviewers. They should take action in accordance with COPE guidance to disclose any potential conflict of interests.

Editors are also required to declare their own competing interests. For submissions authored by the Editors, a clear process is in place to prevent any potential conflict of interest. This policy extends to submissions authored by the Editor-in-Chief. If one or more members of the Editorial Board have a competing interest concerning the submitted manuscript, they must recuse themselves from the selection of reviewers and abstain from participating in any decision-making related to the manuscript. The selection of reviewers and all subsequent editorial decisions regarding the manuscript should be reassigned to an alternative member of the Editorial Board who has no such conflict of interest. The designated Editor will assume full responsibility for overseeing the peer-review process and making all editorial decisions to guarantee an unbiased evaluation based solely on the work's scholarly merit.

Responding to post-publication issues

Editors are responsible for addressing errors and handling corrections in a transparent and timely manner. If any significant errors, omissions and ethical issues are discovered in published articles, editors are committed to correct the record through errata or retractions.