Editorial policy and ethics

Interdepartmental thematic scientific digest «Animal breeding and genetics» is issued twice a year and is a leading scientific printed agricultural edition. The activity of the editorial board of the scientific digest is leaded in the compliance with the publishing standards of the COPE Code of Conduct, approved by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethis), and also takes into account the experience of authoritative international journals and publishers. The editorial policy of the digest is guided by the Regulations on the Prevention and Detection of Academic Plagiarism in M.V. Zubets Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, NAAS, as well as experience of foreign and Ukrainian scientific organizations, editorial boards and editorial publications.

Editorial policy is based on the principles of impartiality in the selection of articles for publication, mandatory qualified independent review of materials submitted for publication, high level of requirements for research results, collegiality in decision-making on publishing articles, ethical standards in collaboration with authors. The editors consider it important that authors, reviewers and editors who participate in the creation of a collection of scientific papers adhere to the standards of ethics of publication.

The interdepartmental thematic scientific digest "Animal Breeding and Genetics" provides open access to viewing, reading, downloading and printing and is free for all the Internet users. The Editorial Board adheres to the principles of free dissemination of scientific information and global exchange of knowledge for the sake of general social progress. Access to the contents of the journal is possible immediately after the publication of the paper version.

The authors retain all copyrights and at the same time grant the collection the right of first publication indicating the authorship and the initial publication in this collection of scientific papers.

Review process

Articles submitted for publication in the scientific digest are subject to confidential (double "blind") review, when neither the author nor the reviewer know each other. The interaction takes place through the executive secretary of the digest. Interaction in the open mode can take place at the request of the reviewer and in agreement with the editorial board to improve the style and logic of the presented scientific material of the article.

Well-known scholars on the subject of this article are involved in the review. Each article is reviewed by two independent reviewers. If the reviewer is incompetent to consider the proposed material, he must notify the editorial board. Reviewers may not be co-authors of the presented article, supervisors or consultants of higher education students or employees of structural units where the co-authors work. It is prohibited personally criticise the authors and influence their opinion concerning the manuscript of the article. In case of disagreement of the authors with the remarks and insistence of the reviewers, the editorial board may involve a third competent external reviewer in the discussion. The final decision on acceptance of publication in such cases is made by the majority of members of the editorial board.

Each article accepted by the editorial board for review must be checked for plagiarism using the Unicheck software product. Reviewers ensure the confidentiality of the article and are required to notify the editor-in-chief of any allegations of plagiarism or copyright infringement. In the case of such a situation, the reviewer must substantiate the comments and provide appropriate references confirming plagiarism or copyright infringement.

Reviewers provide their conclusions within 10 days since the receiving peer-reviewed article in  standard form in writing, evaluating the material submitted for publication on the following aspects: importance of issues covered, novelty, logic of conclusions and compliance of material with the  objectives, clarity, adherence to scientific terminology, sufficiency and adequacy of research methods, references to the literature of recent years. The decision on the article can be presented in the form of the following options: publish the article, do not publish, publish after revision. In case of refusal or need for revision, the reviewer provides a written reasoned explanation of the reasons for such a decision.

Unpublished articles are the intellectual property of the authors. No member of the editorial board may use unpublished materials obtained from the submitted manuscripts for personal purposes or transfer them to third parties without the written permission of the authors.

When conducting experiments on animals, the principles of bioethics in accordance with the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals Used for Scientific and Experimental Purposes, International and National Regulations should be followed and referenced in the text of the article. Animal studies must be approved by the Ethics Committee for the Treatment of Animals in Research or by the institution where the studies were performed.

The editors reserve the right to reject articles in which the ethical aspects of the COPE recommendations are questionable. 

Ethical obligations of editorial board and authors

Work of editorial board and reviewers are coordinated by editor-in-chief, executive editor and executive secretary.

The editorial board of the interdepartmental thematic scientific digest "Animal Breeding and Genetics" selects the submitted articles on their compliance with the profile of the edition, organizes their external and internal review. The editorial board may reject or return articles for revision if they do not meet the profile, designed without complying with the requirements of the digest or the authors violated ethical standards.

Members of the editorial board consider all manuscripts impartially, regardless of race, nationality or religion, and ensure the confidentiality of the material presented in the article until its publication.

The editorial board monitors the occurence of falsification, plagiarism, self-plagiarism (duplication of identical information in other previously published articles by authors), excessive self-citation, attribution of authorship to persons not involved in research or manuscript preparation, prevents conflicts between authors, members, reviewers.

The co-authors of the publication can only be persons involved in research or preparation of the presented work and who share responsibility for the results obtained.

Articles submitted for publication in the collection should cover original, previously unpublished in Ukraine or abroad research results that have scientific novelty. All authors of the interdepartmental thematic scientific digest "Animal Breeding and Genetics" must adhere to the ethical norms of the journal, the rules of reviewing and publishing. They are responsible for the content of the articles, preventing plagiarism. Borrowed information must be properly cited and referenced in accordance with the requirements of the National Standard of Ukraine DSTU 8302: 2015 "Information and documentation. Bibliographic reference. General provisions and rules of compilation".

If the author finds significant errors or inaccuracies in the article at the stage of its consideration or after its publication, he must inform the editors as soon as possible. The authors are responsible for the correctness of English-language articles and the translation of the extended summary into English.