PUBLICATION ETHICS

The publication ethics of the scientific journal "ABAI CHEMICAL SCIENCES" comprises a set of professional norms and rules governing the interaction of all participants involved in the preparation and publication of scientific materials: the editor-in-chief, the publisher, authors or author collectives, reviewers, and other authorized individuals.

The editorial board of the journal is guided by internationally recognized principles of publication ethics, including the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and also draws upon the practical experience of leading foreign scientific journals and publishers.

Publication ethics defines the core norms, principles, and standards of professional and ethical behavior for all participants in the editorial and publishing process: the editor-in-chief, the publisher, authors, reviewers, and other responsible parties. Furthermore, it outlines mechanisms for preventing and identifying conflicts of interest, instances of misconduct, as well as procedures for corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern regarding published materials.

All participants in the editorial and publishing process acknowledge and adhere to the stated ethical principles from the moment their collaboration with the journal commences.

Responsibilities of the Editor-in-Chief

The editor-in-chief exercises overall leadership of the publisher's and editorial board's activities in compliance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the Charter and other internal regulatory documents of the NJSC "Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University."

In their professional activities, the editor-in-chief is guided by the following principles and duties:

makes decisions regarding the publication of manuscripts submitted to the journal's editorial office;
interacts with editorial board members and reviewers when considering materials and making publication decisions;
ensures the confidentiality of information regarding the submitted manuscripts and does not disclose details to third parties, except for reviewers and editorial board members involved in the peer review process;
monitors compliance with the principles of integrity, objectivity, and transparency within the editorial and publishing process;
ensures the preservation of the integrity, quality, and reputation of the journal's editorial and publication processes.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher is responsible for organizing and facilitating the publication process of author materials, guided by the principles of legality, objectivity, confidentiality, and adherence to the norms of publication ethics.

In its operations, the publisher is obliged to:

make decisions on publishing manuscripts based on checking their compliance with formatting requirements, plagiarism screening results, and peer review outcomes;
maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts submitted by authors or author collectives, and refrain from disclosing information about them prior to official publication;
reject manuscripts or return them to authors for revision if they fail to meet the requirements specified in the Guidelines for Authors;
upon detecting substantial, grammatical, or stylistic errors, initiate the process of making corrections or withdrawing the manuscript from publication in agreement with the authors, or delegate this task to a member of the editorial board;
coordinate editorial and proofreading changes made to the text of the manuscript with the authors;
ensure the open access availability of the article once a publication decision is made, while copyrights remain with the authors or author collective;
assume no responsibility for the content of published materials; the responsibility for the accuracy of the presented data rests solely with the authors;
ensure the timely release of regular journal issues;
assist the editorial office in reviewing inquiries and claims related to violations of publication ethics, and collaborate on these matters with other scientific journals and publishers.
bears responsibility for publishing materials that exhibit signs of unethical behavior, including plagiarism, self-plagiarism, unjustified self-citation, data falsification, and concealment of conflicts of interest. If violations of publication ethics are detected, the editor-in-chief, based on the decision of the editorial board, initiates the article retraction procedure. Grounds for retraction include plagiarism and improper borrowing, duplicate publications, data falsification or fabrication, significant errors affecting the validity of findings, authorship and copyright violations, undisclosed conflicts of interest, peer review process violations, and non-compliance with the journal's editorial policy. The retraction decision is made by the editorial board in accordance with international standards of publication ethics.

Responsibilities of Authors / Collective of Authors

Authors submitting a manuscript to the journal bear personal responsibility for the scientific novelty, authenticity, and correctness of the presented research results, and commit to upholding the norms of publication ethics.

Authors and author collectives are obliged to:

guarantee that the submitted manuscript is original, has not been previously published, and is not currently under consideration by another publication, as well as take full responsibility for the content of the submitted material. The originality level of the text must meet the requirements established by the Guidelines for Authors;
indicate publications that have significantly influenced the content of the research. When utilizing results, ideas, or citations from other authors, bibliographic references must be formatted in strict accordance with editorial requirements. The use of information from unverified or questionable sources is not permitted;
ensure that the manuscript aligns with the thematic profile of the journal and exclude any falsified, fabricated, or misappropriated research results;
provide additional materials and data supporting the validity of the research results upon request from reviewers, the editor-in-chief, or editorial board members;
submit a thoroughly prepared, edited text formatted according to the established guidelines to the editorial office;
prevent duplicate publication. If specific parts of the manuscript have been previously published, authors must cite the previous works and clearly outline the differences of the new publication;
refrain from submitting manuscripts to the journal that are simultaneously under consideration elsewhere, as well as materials that have already been published;
designate the author who made the greatest contribution to the manuscript's preparation as the corresponding author, or list them first in the co-author sequence;
appoint a corresponding author for each manuscript;
objectively determine the contribution of each co-author to the research concept development, preparation, execution, or interpretation of results. All individuals who made a significant contribution to the work must be included as co-authors, approve the final version of the manuscript, and consent to its submission for publication;
make changes to the authorship list (adding, removing, or rearranging authors) only prior to the manuscript's acceptance for publication. The corresponding author must provide a justification for the changes and the written consent of all co-authors. Changes are permitted only upon approval by the publisher;
guarantee that the content of the manuscript does not infringe upon national security interests, including political, economic, demographic, informational, and other aspects;
disclose information about research funding sources, as well as the role of sponsors in the preparation of the work, data collection, and analysis of results;
cooperate with the editorial board if corrections or retractions are necessary due to the discovery of significant errors or inaccuracies;
promptly notify the editorial office of any discovered errors at any stage of the publication process and assist in their correction. If major violations cannot be resolved, the authors are obliged to withdraw the manuscript;
agree with editorial edits, provided they do not distort the scientific content and main conclusions of the article;
comply with the established limit on the number of co-authors—no more than five individuals per manuscript;
maintain ethical standards during scientific criticism, interaction with the editorial office, reviewers, and throughout the publication process. Violations of publication ethics are treated as serious misconduct and may serve as grounds for removing the manuscript from peer review or denying publication.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

A reviewer performs scientific expertise of author materials submitted to the journal and is obliged to ensure objectivity, independence, and professional correctness in their evaluation while observing the principles of publication ethics.

During the peer review process, the reviewer must adhere to the following rules:

access to the manuscript and its discussion are restricted to individuals officially authorized by the journal's editor-in-chief;
the manuscript is treated as a confidential document and must not be shared with third parties who do not hold appropriate permission from the editorial office, nor can it be used for personal or other unethical gain;
personal evaluations and criticism directed at the author or author collective are impermissible; peer review must focus solely on the content of the scientific work;
information, data, and ideas obtained during the review process cannot be used by the reviewer for personal benefit or in the interests of third parties;
the reviewer is required to provide an objective, reasoned, and professionally sound evaluation of the research results, along with clear recommendations for improving the manuscript using the form prescribed by the editorial office;
it is necessary to evaluate the relevance of the topic, scientific novelty, structure, methodology, and quality of material presentation; all comments are structured as a review and uploaded to the journal portal in the original language of the manuscript;
the review must be submitted to the editorial office no later than one month from the receipt of the manuscript;
when evaluating a manuscript, personal characteristics of the author, including nationality, religious beliefs, political views, or other factors unrelated to science, must not be taken into account;
the expert opinion should facilitate editorial decision-making while simultaneously helping the authors refine their work;
if a reviewer lacks sufficient competence to evaluate the manuscript or cannot complete the task within the established deadline, they are obliged to notify the editorial office within three working days and decline the review;
the final decision regarding publication, revision, or rejection of a manuscript is made by the editorial board based on the reviews;
if there are reasonable suspicions of plagiarism, inappropriate borrowing, data falsification, or other violations of publication ethics, the reviewer must immediately report this to the editor-in-chief and prevent the publication of such materials.

Thus, the activities of reviewers are directed toward ensuring scientific integrity, publication quality, and compliance with the ethical standards of the journal.

Unethical Behavior

Unethical behavior is recognized as actions by the editor-in-chief, publisher, authors (author collectives), and reviewers that contradict the principles of scientific and publication ethics and violate established editorial standards.

Unethical behavior includes, but is not limited to:

reviewing a manuscript in the presence of personal interest, including cases where the reviewer is an author or co-author of the submitted work;
conducting unfair, superficial, or collusive reviews that distort objective scientific assessment;
indicating fictitious authorship or co-authorship;
falsifying, fabricating, or otherwise distorting the results of scientific research;
submitting and publishing unreliable, pseudoscientific, or deliberately erroneous materials;
transferring a manuscript or its parts to other publications without the consent of the author or author collective;
disclosing, transferring, or using manuscript materials by third parties without the permission of the copyright holders;
violating the confidentiality principles of the editorial and publishing process;
manipulating citations, including artificially inflating, distorting, or inappropriately using references;
any forms of plagiarism, including the appropriation of texts, ideas, results, or graphic materials without proper attribution.

Committing these actions is regarded as a violation of publication ethics and entails the application of editorial measures provided for by the journal's policy.

Borrowing and Plagiarism

The editorial board of the journal conducts mandatory screening of all incoming manuscripts for borrowing using licensed plagiarism detection systems.

Only original manuscripts with a uniqueness level of at least 75% are admitted to the peer review procedure.

Materials that do not comply with the established requirements of the journal or contain improper borrowing are returned to the authors for revision with the mandatory elimination of identified deficiencies.

Authors are responsible for the correct formatting of all borrowings, citations, and references to used sources in accordance with editorial standards.

All participants in the publication process are obliged to comply with international norms of publication ethics and prevent unfair practices, including plagiarism, falsification, fabrication of data, and distortion of scientific research results.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

The editorial board of the journal recognizes the importance of integrating modern digital technologies and permits the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and large language models in the preparation of scientific materials.

The use of AI is allowed and is considered exclusively as a supplementary tool for technical editing, stylistic improvement, translation, or text correction, and must not replace independent research and authorship activities.

Authors can find detailed conditions, criteria, restrictions, and acceptable percentage limits for AI-generated content in manuscripts within the journal's specific regulations. See the detailed rules in the section "Use of Artificial Intelligence".

In accordance with the ethical standards of scientific publications, AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of articles, and all responsibility for the originality and reliability of the material rests solely with the authors.

Conflict of Interest Policy

In accordance with the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), a conflict of interest arises in situations where authors, reviewers, or editorial board members have financial, personal, or professional ties that could influence the objectivity of the manuscript evaluation and editorial decision-making.

All participants in the publication process are obliged to disclose potential or actual conflicts of interest in a timely manner. Upon identifying such a conflict, editors and reviewers must recuse themselves from participating in the review of the corresponding manuscript.

When submitting materials to the editorial office, authors are required to declare the sources of research funding and inform about possible conflicts of interest. If necessary, they may indicate in the cover letter individuals who are potentially incapable of providing an objective evaluation of the presented work.

The disclosure of a conflict of interest in itself is not grounds for the automatic rejection of a manuscript; however, such information must be immediately brought to the attention of the editorial office to take appropriate measures.

In cases where members of the editorial board act as authors of submitted manuscripts, they are completely excluded from all stages of the editorial process, including the assignment of reviewers, organization of peer review, and making the final decision on publication. The evaluation of such materials is carried out by other members of the editorial board or invited independent editors, ensuring objectivity, transparency, and compliance with international publishing standards.