Conflict of Interest Policy
1. General Provisions
The Editorial Board of the scientific journal "Archive of Criminology and Forensic Sciences"
(hereinafter - the Journal) adheres to the highest standards of publication ethics and transparency.
A conflict of interest is a situation in which financial, personal, or professional
interests or connections of an individual may potentially influence the objectivity, impartiality of
decision-making, or interpretation of research results at any stage of the editorial and publishing
process.
This Policy is based on the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the transparency standards of DOAJ.
2. Responsibilities of Authors and Disclosure of Information
When submitting a manuscript, authors are obliged to declare any potential conflicts of interest.
Funding sources (grants, sponsorships, honoraria), stock ownership, patent applications.
Employment in organizations with a direct interest in the subject of the research, board memberships, consulting activities.
Family or close personal relationships with members of the editorial board or potential reviewers.
3. Special Procedure for the Editorial Board
The Journal ensures equal conditions for all authors; however, to avoid bias when manuscripts are submitted by the management or members of the Journal's editorial board, a "Firewall" mechanism is applied:
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Recusal from management
An author who is a member of the editorial board is completely denied access to the administration process of their own manuscript in Open Journal Systems (OJS). They cannot see the names of reviewers, their reports, and have no right to influence the final decision.
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Appointment of an independent editor (Handling Editor)
The management of the peer-review process of such an article is assigned to another member of the editorial board who has no administrative subordination to the author and has no joint scientific projects with them.
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Mandatory external audit
Such articles undergo exclusively external double-blind peer review by independent experts.
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Transparent labeling
In the event of publication, the article must state the author's status as a member of the editorial board and confirm that they were excluded from the editorial process regarding this work.
4. Criteria for the Independence of Experts (Reviewers)
The Journal involves exclusively independent experts in the peer review process. The term "independent expert" refers to a specialist who meets three criteria of autonomy:
The reviewer is not an employee of the same institution where the author(s) of the manuscript work.
The reviewer has no joint publications (co-authorships) with the authors within the last 3 (three) years.
The reviewer is not in a relationship of direct subordination (supervisor, department head, etc.) with the authors.
Before accepting a manuscript for review, the expert must confirm the absence of a conflict of interest. If a hidden conflict of interest is discovered after the peer review begins, the expert must immediately notify the editorial office to replace the reviewer.
5. Responsibilities of the Editorial Board & Dispute Resolution
Responsibilities of the Editorial Board
Editors are obliged to recuse themselves from managing a manuscript in the presence of a conflict of interest (for example, if the author is their former graduate student, close colleague, or competitor in a specific scientific topic). The decision to publish is based solely on the scientific value of the work and the conclusions of independent reviewers.
6. Dispute Resolution and Violations
If an undeclared conflict of interest is discovered after an article is published, the Journal acts in accordance with COPE algorithms:
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An internal investigation is conducted.
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A statement of correction is published, or, in the case of a serious impact on the research results, the article may be retracted.
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The editorial office reserves the right to inform the author's institution of the identified ethical violation.