Publication Ethics

The publication ethics of the scientific journal “SOCIAL SCIENCES & DIGITAL HUMANITIES” is a system of professional rules aimed at regulating relations among all parties involved in the process of preparing materials for publication: the Editor-in-Chief, the publisher, the author(s), reviewers, and other authorized persons.

The editorial board of the journal “SOCIAL SCIENCES & DIGITAL HUMANITIES” adheres to the principles of publication ethics recognized by the international community, as reflected in particular in the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and also takes into account the valuable experience of international scientific journals and publishers.

Publication ethics establishes the norms, principles, and standards of ethical behavior for all participants in the publication process: the Editor-in-Chief, the publisher, the author(s), reviewers, and other authorized bodies. It also includes measures for identifying conflicts of interest, unethical behavior, and provides instructions for retraction, correction, and refutation of publications.

All participants in the editorial and publishing process agree to the ethical principles outlined below and are guided by them from the beginning of joint work.

1. Regulatory Documents

In the development of the publication ethics, the following regulatory documents were used:

Order of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated January 12, 2016 No. 20 “On approval of the requirements for scientific publications for inclusion in the list of publications recommended for the publication of scientific research results”;
ISO 9000:2015 Quality management systems — Fundamentals and vocabulary.
ISO 9001:2015 Quality management systems — Requirements.
ISO 37001:2016 Anti-bribery management systems — Requirements with guidance for use.
Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG – 2015)
Internal regulatory documents of NAO “D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University”.

2. Terms and Definitions. Abbreviations.

The following terms, definitions, and abbreviations are used in this Regulation:

Author / group of authors – an individual or a group of individuals involved in creating a manuscript based on the results of scientific research.
Corresponding author – one of the authors who assumes responsibility for communication with the journal during manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process, as well as ensuring compliance with all administrative requirements. The corresponding author must be available during the submission, consideration, and review period.
Editor-in-Chief – the person heading the editorial office and making final decisions regarding the publication of the journal.
Double-blind peer review – a review procedure in which neither the author(s) nor the reviewer are aware of each other's identity.
Publisher – an individual (entrepreneur) or a legal entity (organization) responsible for the preparation, production, and publication of printed or mass media products on behalf of the author(s), an intermediary, or on their own initiative.
Moderator – a university staff member who acts as an organizer of communication between all participants in the process and performs technical verification of the manuscript for compliance with the journal's requirements.
Plagiarism – submitting another person's work under one's own name or borrowing fragments without citing the source. If the official creator knowingly omits co-authors and declares sole authorship, this is also considered plagiarism.
Editorial board – the governing body that performs the full range of tasks related to the formation and publication of the journal.
Reviewer – an expert acting on behalf of the scientific journal, conducting scientific evaluation of author materials to determine the possibility of their publication. All reviewers are recognized specialists in the subject area of the reviewed materials. Reviews are stored and attached on the journal's portal.
Peer review – the process of reviewing and expert evaluation by reviewers of a manuscript proposed for publication to determine the appropriateness of its publication, identifying its strengths and weaknesses, which is important for improving the manuscript by the author(s) and the editorial team.
Manuscript – a printed or word-processed document submitted by a researcher to the publisher.
ISO – International Standard.
IMS – Integrated Management System.
MNHE RK – Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
NAO “D. Serikbayev EKTU” – Non-commercial Joint Stock Company “D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University”.

3. Responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief provides overall management of the activities of the publisher and the editorial board, in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the Charter and other regulatory documents of NAO “D. Serikbayev EKTU”.

In performing their duties, the Editor-in-Chief shall adhere to the following fundamental principles and procedures:

Make decisions regarding the publication of manuscripts submitted to the editorial office.
Consult with members of the editorial board and reviewers when deciding on the publication of an article.
Maintain confidentiality of manuscript information, not disclosing it to third parties except for reviewers and members of the editorial board.
Ensure the integrity of the journal's editorial and publication process.

4. Responsibilities of the Publisher

In their activities, the publisher is responsible for the dissemination of authors’ works, which entails adherence to the following fundamental principles and procedures:

Decide which manuscripts submitted to the editorial office should be published, based on compliance with formatting requirements, plagiarism checks, and peer review results.
Ensure the confidentiality of the manuscript and any information received from the author(s) until its publication.
Reject the manuscript or request revision from the author(s) if it does not comply with the Author Guidelines.
In case of substantive, grammatical, or stylistic errors in a manuscript submitted for publication, the publisher has the right to initiate corrections or withdrawal before publication in agreement with the author(s), or to appoint a member of the editorial board to do so.
Coordinate editorial corrections made to the manuscript with the author(s).
Make the manuscript publicly available if accepted for publication, while copyright remains with the author(s).
Bear no responsibility for the content of published materials.
Not delay the publication of the next issue of the journal.
Support the journal’s editorial office in addressing claims regarding ethical aspects of published materials and assist in communication with other journals and/or publishers.
Be responsible for the publication of manuscripts with known signs of unethical conduct, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, excessive self-citation, or conflict of interest. If principles of publication ethics are violated during manuscript preparation, the Editor-in-Chief, based on the decision of the editorial board, must retract the publication. Manuscripts may be withdrawn by the author(s) or the journal's editorial office. A manuscript is subject to retraction if:
- there is clear evidence that the obtained data are unreliable or were obtained through improper practices, such as falsification or fabrication of data;
- the manuscript was published in another edition before its publication in the journal «SOCIAL SCIENCES & DIGITAL HUMANITIES»;
- plagiarism is detected in the manuscript, including borrowing of figures, graphs, tables, etc.;
- the manuscript contains gross errors that could negatively affect other researchers and their studies, e.g., calculation or experimental error;
- there are claims of copyright infringement on the manuscript or its parts by third parties;
- the manuscript contains information contradicting the principles, standards, and norms of publication ethics.
In such cases, the editorial board of the journal conducts an investigation, after which the manuscript may be retracted from the publication process. A retraction act is drawn up, confirmed, and signed by the Editor-in-Chief. A copy is sent to the author(s). The manuscript is marked as retracted on the journal's website with the reason indicated. The editorial office publishes a notice of retraction on the journal's homepage and includes this information in the next issue.
The editorial office of the «SOCIAL SCIENCES & DIGITAL HUMANITIES» journal responsibly, objectively, and carefully considers all substantiated reports of violations found in published issues.
The editorial office considers it the duty of authors and reviewers to promptly inform the editorial team about errors and violations identified after publication.

5. Responsibilities of the Author(s)

The author / group of authors, when submitting manuscripts to «SOCIAL SCIENCES & DIGITAL HUMANITIES», acknowledges personal responsibility for the novelty and reliability of the research results, which implies adherence to the following principles and procedures:

Guarantee that the manuscript submitted to the journal is original, has not been previously published, and take full responsibility for its content. The level of originality must meet the criteria outlined in the Author Guidelines.
Cite publications that have significantly influenced the nature of the work. When using the works and/or quotations of other authors, proper bibliographic references in accordance with editorial requirements are mandatory. Information from unreliable sources should not be used in the manuscript.
Ensure that the text submitted for publication corresponds to the journal’s thematic profile and does not contain falsified or fabricated data, or illegally appropriated results of other research.
Provide additional materials to confirm the results presented in the manuscript if reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief, or members of the editorial board have doubts about their authenticity.
Submit a carefully edited manuscript that meets editorial requirements.
Avoid duplicate publication. If parts of the manuscript were previously published, the author(s) must reference the earlier work and indicate the differences between the new and previous works.
Do not submit to the journal a manuscript that has been sent to another journal and is under review, or one already published elsewhere.
The person who made the greatest contribution to the manuscript (in the case of two or more co-authors) is the corresponding author and/or listed first among the authors.
Assign a corresponding author for each manuscript.
Determine the contribution of each co-author to the concept, design, execution, or interpretation of the research. All such persons should be listed as co-authors, approve the final version, and agree to its submission.
Make changes to the authorship list before the manuscript is accepted for publication. The corresponding author must explain the reasons for the change and provide written confirmation from all authors (including existing, added, and removed authors). Such changes must be approved by the publisher before implementation.
Ensure that manuscripts do not harm any aspects of national security (political, economic, demographic, informational, etc.).
Provide information about funding sources and the role of sponsors in preparing the work, collecting data, and analyzing results.
Cooperate with the editorial board to correct or withdraw the manuscript before publication if significant errors are found.
If errors are found at any stage of publication, authors must promptly notify the editorial board and assist in correcting them. If critical errors cannot be corrected, the manuscript must be withdrawn.
Agree to possible editorial corrections that do not distort the main content of the article.
The number of co-authors in one manuscript may not exceed five.
Follow ethical norms when criticizing or commenting on research, as well as when interacting with the editorial office regarding peer review and publication. Violation of ethical principles by authors is considered a serious breach and may result in manuscript rejection.
Authors may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools at various stages of preparing their work, including assistance in writing, editing, fact-checking, and data analysis. However, they must clearly indicate this in the relevant section of the article (“Notice on the use of generative AI and technologies in the preparation of the manuscript”). In the References, the source should be cited as follows: Model name. (year, month day). Description of the request or content [Large language model]. Platform name. URL

6. Responsibilities of Reviewers

A reviewer carries out a scientific evaluation of authors’ materials, and therefore their actions must be impartial, following these principles and procedures:

Access to and discussion of the manuscript is carried out only by persons authorized by the Editor-in-Chief.
A manuscript received for review is considered a confidential document that must not be shared for reading or discussion with third parties without authorization from the editorial office, nor used for personal purposes.
Personal criticism of the author(s) of the manuscript is unacceptable.
Information and ideas obtained during the review process must not be used by the reviewer for personal benefit.
Provide an objective and reasoned assessment of the presented research results and clearly justified recommendations in the form provided by the journal’s publisher.
Evaluate the relevance of the topic, the degree of scientific novelty, and the compliance of the manuscript’s structure and style with scientific requirements. All comments and recommendations on the text should be formatted as reviews and uploaded to the journal’s portal in the language of the submitted manuscript.
Submit the review no later than one month from the date of receiving the manuscript.
The nationality, religion, political, or other views of the author(s) must not be considered in the review process.
The expert evaluation prepared by the reviewer should help the editorial office make a decision on publication and assist the author(s) in improving the manuscript.
Reviewers who consider themselves insufficiently qualified to evaluate the manuscript or unable to review it within the specified period must notify the editorial board in writing and decline the review within three working days.
The decision to accept a manuscript for publication, return it to the author(s) for revision, or reject it is made by the editorial board based on the review results. If the reviewer has reasonable grounds to believe that the manuscript contains plagiarism, improper borrowing, false or fabricated materials, or research results, they must not recommend it for publication and must inform the Editor-in-Chief about the identified violations of publication ethics principles and procedures.

7. Conflict of Interest Policy

Conflict of interest, as defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), refers to situations in which the Editor-in-Chief, members of the editorial board, author(s), or reviewers have undisclosed interests that could influence their judgment regarding the material being published.

A conflict of interest arises when there are financial, personal, or professional circumstances that may affect the scientific judgment of the reviewer or members of the editorial board and, as a result, the decision of the editorial board regarding the publication of a manuscript.

All participants in the publication process must refrain from reviewing manuscripts in which they see a conflict of interest caused by competition, collaboration, or affiliation with any of the parties involved.

When submitting a manuscript for consideration, the author(s) must declare all sources of funding for the research and disclose any commercial, financial, personal, or professional factors that may create a conflict of interest regarding the submitted manuscript.

In case of errors made by the author(s) or the editorial board towards one another, there is a procedure for publishing corrections, apologies, or retractions.

The Editor-in-Chief, publisher, and reviewers must not use unpublished data obtained from submitted manuscripts in their own research without the written consent of the author(s). Information or ideas obtained during the review process and related to potential advantages must remain confidential and not be used for personal gain.

The Editor-in-Chief, together with the publisher, takes appropriate measures in response to ethical complaints regarding reviewed manuscripts or published materials.

All parties should avoid, wherever possible, conflicts of interest in any form at all stages of the publication process. If any conflict of interest arises, the person who identified it must immediately notify the editorial office. The same applies to any other violations of the principles and procedures of publication ethics.

8. Unethical Conduct

Unethical conduct refers to actions by the Editor-in-Chief, publisher, author(s), or reviewers in the following cases:

Deliberately reviewing manuscripts in which they are the author or co-author;
Biased or improper reviewing;
False co-authorship;
Falsification and fabrication of research results;
Publication of false or pseudo-scientific texts;
Submitting a manuscript to other publications without the permission of the author(s);
Transferring the materials of the author(s) to third parties;
Creating conditions that violate copyright and the confidentiality of editorial processes;
Citation manipulation and plagiarism.

The editorial office is responsible for promptly identifying and responding to violations of publication ethics. In the event of ethical violations, the editorial board conducts an investigation and takes appropriate measures, including:

Retraction of the article;
Publication of a retraction notice or correction;
Notifying all interested parties about the identified violations.

The editorial office of the «SOCIAL SCIENCES & DIGITAL HUMANITIES» journal is committed to transparency and adherence to international standards of publication ethics, ensuring that all publications comply with established norms.