Publication ethics

1. General principles

The Editorial Board of the Bulletin of the Lviv State University of Life Safety follows internationally recognized standards of scholarly publishing ethics defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and is committed to maintaining integrity, transparency, and impartiality in the editorial process.

The journal ensures objective evaluation of manuscripts regardless of the authors’ race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, social status, or political views.

2. Responsibilities of the editorial team and editors

The journal is committed to:

  • ensuring high-quality peer review and editorial decisions based on academic merit;

  • maintaining confidentiality throughout the editorial process;

  • preventing plagiarism and other integrity breaches by applying screening and response procedures;

  • managing conflicts of interest and avoiding bias;

  • ensuring transparency of editorial policies and providing clear contact channels for inquiries.

3. Responsibilities of reviewers

Reviewers must:

  • provide objective, reasoned, and timely reviews;

  • disclose any conflicts of interest and decline review where such conflicts may affect impartiality;

  • not use information from the manuscript for personal purposes and not share it with third parties;

  • report any suspected plagiarism, authorship violations, data fabrication/falsification, or other misconduct.

    The peer review model and procedure are described in the “Peer Review Policy” section.

4. Responsibilities of authors

Authors must:

  • guarantee the originality and novelty of the manuscript;

  • ensure proper citation and referencing, including to their own previously published work;

  • not submit the manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously;

  • disclose funding information and conflicts of interest where applicable;

  • promptly notify the journal of significant errors discovered after publication and cooperate to correct the record.

  • submission requirements and author confirmations are provided in the “Submission Declaration” page.

5. Confidentiality

Manuscripts, author and reviewer information, and review content are treated as confidential. Unpublished data and materials must not be used for personal purposes and must not be shared with third parties without a valid basis.

6. Conflicts of interest

Editors, reviewers, and authors are required to disclose conflicts of interest (personal, professional, financial, or institutional) that could influence judgment. The disclosure and management procedure is described in the “Conflicts of Interest” policy.

7. Prevention of academic misconduct

The journal applies similarity screening and reviews each suspected case individually. Detailed rules on plagiarism, duplicate submission, citation manipulation, and data fabrication/falsification are provided in the “Academic Integrity Policy”.

8. Use of AI tools

Authors remain fully responsible for the content of their manuscripts regardless of any tools used. The use of AI tools must not result in authorship violations, confidentiality breaches, third-party rights infringements, or unreliable content.

If AI-generated content is used in a manuscript, the author(s) must disclose this in the manuscript and/or in the submission materials, including the method used and/or a reference to the relevant software/tool, in line with applicable Ukrainian academic integrity requirements (Law of Ukraine on Academic Integrity, Article 8).

Presenting AI-generated outputs as the author’s own scholarly work without disclosure is considered unethical use (Law of Ukraine on Academic Integrity, Article 29). Where such cases are identified, the journal applies measures in accordance with its internal policies and procedures.

9. Handling suspected misconduct

When misconduct is suspected, the Editorial Board conducts an assessment and investigation in line with COPE guidance, provides authors with an opportunity to respond, and may contact the authors’ institution or other competent bodies when appropriate. Possible outcomes include rejection, request for revision, or post-publication actions.

10. Post-publication discussion and corrections

The journal supports constructive discussion of published articles. Comments and concerns may be sent to [email protected]. Procedures for corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions are described in the “Post-publication Corrections and Retractions Policy”.

11. Complaints and appeals

The procedure for complaints and appeals regarding editorial decisions is described in the “Complaints Policy”.

12. Advertising policy

The journal does not accept advertising, ensuring independence and high standards of academic integrity.