Policies

The journal "Journal of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University. Biology" adheres to the principles of academic integrity, transparency, and best international publishing practices. The journal’s editorial policy and publication ethics comply with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing formulated by international organizations such as COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association), and EASE (European Association of Science Editors).

The journal ensures:

  • transparency and openness of the processes of manuscript submission, peer review, and publication of scientific materials;

  • impartiality, independence, and responsibility of editors and reviewers;

  • strict adherence to the principles of academic integrity, including the prevention of plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of results, duplicate publications, and other forms of scientific misconduct;

  • clear identification of each author’s contribution to the preparation of a publication;

  • the availability of open and transparent procedures for handling complaints and appeals related to ethical issues;

  • a clearly defined and transparent procedure for article retraction, as well as for the publication of corrections and errata.

A detailed Transparent Editorial Decision-Making Procedure is published in the Peer Review Process section and forms an integral part of the journal’s editorial policy.

Open Access Policy

This journal follows a policy of immediate open access to published content, supporting the principles of free flow of scientific information and global exchange of knowledge for general social progress.

Submission and Publication fees

There are no submission or publication fees in our journal. An article submission and its processing, i.e. peer-reviewing, editing and publishing, are free of charge for authors. 

APC stability after submission
The journal does not charge any article processing charges (APCs), submission fees, or publication fees. If the journal’s fee policy is changed in the future, the conditions applicable to a manuscript are fixed at the time of submission and cannot be changed for that manuscript after submission. No new or revised APCs may be applied retroactively to manuscripts already submitted.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Compliance with DORA and FAIR Principles

The journal “Journal of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University. Biology” adheres to the principles of academic integrity, open science, and internationally recognized best publishing practices. The editorial policy of the journal is aligned with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing formulated by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association), and EASE (European Association of Science Editors).

DORA Principles (Declaration on Research Assessment)

The journal supports the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and recognizes that the quality of scholarly work should be evaluated primarily on the basis of its scientific content, rather than on journal-based metrics such as the impact factor.

Accordingly, the editorial board:

  • does not use journal impact metrics as the primary criterion for manuscript evaluation;

  • promotes high-quality, responsible, and ethically conducted research;

  • supports a diversity of research outputs, including original research articles and review papers;

  • encourages transparency in authorship contribution and responsible citation practices.

FAIR Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable)

The journal supports the FAIR principles, aimed at ensuring proper management, accessibility, and reuse of research data and outputs.

The editorial board encourages authors to:

  • ensure the findability (Findable) of research outputs through the use of persistent identifiers such as DOI and ORCID;

  • provide open access (Accessible) to publications and, where possible, to underlying research data;

  • use widely accepted formats and standards to enable interoperability (Interoperable);

  • facilitate the reuse (Reusable) of research data through appropriate documentation, licensing, and citation.

Ethical Standards and Transparency

The journal ensures:

  • transparency of manuscript submission, peer review, and publication processes;

  • impartiality and independence of editors and reviewers;

  • strict adherence to principles of academic integrity, including the prevention of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, and duplicate publication;

  • clear identification of each author’s contribution;

  • open and well-defined procedures for handling complaints and ethical appeals;

  • a transparent retraction policy, including the publication of corrections and notices of concern when necessary.

The journal’s policies regarding academic integrity, DORA, and FAIR principles are publicly available on the official website of the journal.

Conflict of Interest Policy

The journal Journal of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University. Biology is committed to transparency, integrity, and impartiality in scholarly publishing. All participants in the publication process — authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial board members — must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence the assessment, processing, or publication of a manuscript.

For authors
Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, personal, or other relationships that could be perceived as influencing the results, interpretation, or presentation of their work. Such disclosures must be included in the manuscript in the Declarations / Conflict of Interest section.
If no conflict of interest exists, authors should state: “The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.”

For reviewers
Reviewers must decline the invitation to review if they have any conflict of interest with the authors, institutions, funding bodies, or the subject matter of the manuscript. Reviewers must immediately inform the editor of any conflict that may affect their ability to provide an objective and unbiased review.

For editors and editorial board members
Editors and editorial board members must recuse themselves from handling any manuscript in which they have a conflict of interest, including but not limited to personal, professional, institutional, or collaborative relationships with the authors, or any competing interest related to the manuscript. In such cases, another editor will be assigned to ensure an impartial editorial decision.

Editorial handling of disclosed conflicts
The editorial office evaluates all disclosed conflicts of interest before peer review and, where necessary, during later stages of the editorial process. If a relevant conflict is identified, the journal may:

  • request additional disclosure or clarification;

  • replace a reviewer or editor;

  • require revision of the conflict-of-interest statement;

  • reject the manuscript if the conflict compromises the integrity of the review or publication process.

Undisclosed conflicts of interest
If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified before or after publication, the journal will act in accordance with its publication ethics policy and COPE recommendations. Depending on the severity of the case, this may include correction, publication of an editorial note, or retraction of the article.

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The journal follows the principles of academic integrity, transparency, and best practices in scholarly publishing.
This policy governs the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (e.g., large language models) during manuscript preparation and throughout the editorial and peer-review process.

1) For authors

Permitted use (assistive only):
Authors may use generative AI to improve readability, language quality, translation, and grammar, provided that the output is strictly supervised by a human and carefully verified for accuracy, completeness, bias, and fabricated references.

Mandatory disclosure (declaration):
Any use of generative AI in scientific writing must be explicitly disclosed in the manuscript (e.g., in Acknowledgments/Declarations or a dedicated “Declaration on generative AI”), including:

tool/model name;

version (if available);

purpose (language editing, translation, etc.);

which parts of the manuscript were affected.

AI cannot be an author:
AI tools must not be listed as authors/co-authors. Human authors bear full responsibility for the manuscript’s content, originality, citations, and integrity.

AI in research methods:
Using AI for data analysis, modelling, or other research methods is allowed when it is part of the study design, but it must be clearly described in Materials and Methods (model/tool, version, parameters, data, reproducibility, limitations).

Images and figures:
The use of generative AI to create or alter scientific images/figures is not allowed if it may misrepresent the underlying data. An exception may apply only when AI-based image processing is integral to the research methodology and is transparently disclosed and described.

2) For reviewers

Manuscripts and editorial correspondence are confidential. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts (or parts of them), data, or decision letters into external generative AI tools without explicit journal permission, as this may breach confidentiality and authors’ rights.

Peer review must remain a human expert task, and reviewers are accountable for the content of their reports.

3) For editors

Editors should not upload submitted manuscripts or editorial correspondence to external generative AI tools where confidentiality, authors’ rights, or data privacy could be compromised.

Editorial decisions must rely on human critical judgment.

The journal may use appropriate screening tools (e.g., plagiarism checks) as part of editorial workflow.

4) Consequences of non-compliance

Failure to disclose AI use, misrepresentation of authorship, fabrication/falsification, or other integrity violations may result in rejection, requests for clarification/corrections, or post-publication actions (corrections/retraction) in line with the journal’s policies.

Advertising Policy

Scientific journal "Journal of Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University. Biology" accepts proposals for online advertising.

Publishing schedule

The "Journal of Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University. Biology" is published annually:

once a year.