Publication Ethics

Psychology. Journal of the Higher School of Economics is committed to upholding the standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures against any publication malpractices. Editorial Board of the journal behaves in accordance with the codes of conduct and international standards established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The following statement spells out the principles of ethical behavior of all parties involved in the publication process: authors, journal editors, peer reviewers, and the publisher. The editorial board reserves the right to reject any submission that does not observe the publication ethics.

 Duties of Authors

1. Authorship

• A paper can only be submitted for publication by its author or one of its co-authors.
• All authors listed on the paper are equally responsible for the content of a submitted manuscript or published paper.
• The corresponding author ensures the consent of all listed co-authors with regard to the content of the manuscript, to its publication, and to the order of authorship.
• The corresponding author ensures that all individuals who have made significant scientific contributions to the work are listed as co-authors.

2. Licensing and copyright

• The author (co-authors) guarantee that their manuscript has not been published previously and is not presently under review in any other journal. The authors are allowed to submit the draft of their manuscript to an institutional repository.
• The author (co-authors) transfers to the HSE the right to use the article under a simple (non-exclusive) license for the duration of the exclusive rights to the work. The corresponding author guarantees to hold sufficient rights to conclude such an agreement.
• The author (co-authors) guarantee that their paper does not infringe any third-party copyright. The authors who include any materials (tables, figures, images, including those used as stimuli, etc.) that constitute copyright property of a third party are required to obtain and present to the editorial office written permissions to reproduce the said materials in print and in electronic form from their respective copyright holders.
• In the event that the research described in the manuscript involves use of third-party data or instruments that were not explicitly declared to be in public domain, the authors are responsible for obtaining due permissions for the use thereof from the copyright owners.

3. Avoidance of plagiarism

• The author (co-authors) must include proper citations and references to all sources (both printed and electronic) used during preparation of the paper.
• The use of any third-party texts without appropriate citations and references acknowledging the authorship is not allowed. In case fragments of third-party texts are used verbatim, they are to be formatted as verbatim quotations.
• Whenever the author (co-authors) mention ideas, conclusions, models, or explanatory schemes proposed by others without quoting the original source verbatim, they still have to cite the respective source in the body of their paper, including the appropriate reference in the reference list.
• The authors are not permitted to re-use their own texts published earlier, either verbatim or in the form of paraphrase with essentially the same meaning.
• An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. If the manuscript involves a re-analysis of previously published data or includes some elements of previous studies, the author (co-authors) are required to acknowledge their earlier work by including proper citations.
• In exceptional cases submissions may be accepted where the author (co-authors) present(s) a substantial reexamination of their existing materials or existing findings supplemented with new data which comprise no less than 50%. In such cases the author (co-authors) must notify the editorial office of their earlier publications using the same source materials or empirical data as their new submission.

4. Protecting the rights of participants 

• Authors reporting research involving human or animal subjects should indicate whether the research protocol was approved by an institutional review board or a similar research ethics committee.
• The authors must not include any identifying information about the individuals or organizations who participated in the research, unless the information is necessary and a written informed consent is obtained.

5. Academic integrity 

• The authors are responsible for describing all the steps of their research. Malpractices, such as selective publication, modification of results or omitting observations in order to suit a hypothesis are strictly prohibited. The authors may be requested to provide their source data during the review process and are expected to retain raw data for 5 years following publication.
• In the event that the errors are discovered by the authors in their published papers, the authors are responsible for informing the editor and the publisher promptly, so that a correction notice can be published.
• The authors are responsible for acknowledging all sources of their funding and explicitly declaring any possible conflicts of interest upon submission of their manuscript.
• For a more detailed guidance concerning the ethical principles relevant to scientific publications and ways to implement them the authors may refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th Edition).

 
Duties of Editors

• The editors are responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editors make decisions to reject/accept a paper only on the basis of the paper's originality, importance, quality, and relevance to the scope of the journal.
• The editors seek to uphold academic integrity and reserve the right to reject any work from publication in case of revealing any malpractices.
• The relationship between editors and the publisher is based on the principle of editorial independence. The publisher does not play any role in editorial decisions.
• The editors are responsible for ensuring a fair, unbiased, and anonymous peer review procedure for all submitted manuscripts. The editors may confer with reviewers in making a final decision.

Duties of Reviewers

• Peer reviewers assist the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communication with the author may also assist the author(s) in improving the paper. The goal of the review procedure is to ensure that any work accepted for publication is of a high academic standard.
• Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with third parties prior to publication, unless authorized by the editor.
• Reviews must be conducted objectively and fairly. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their positions clearly and provide supporting arguments.
• Reviewers must inform editors of any conflict of interest in regard to the authors, the research topic and/or funding sources.
• Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. A reviewer should call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published work of which they have personal knowledge.

Reviewers are also responsible for providing their review within the timelines set by the editor. The reviewers are asked to inform the editor as soon as possible in case of any unforeseen events that prevent them from completing the review on time.