Ethical norms

The editors call for adherence to the principles of the Code of Ethics for Scientific Publications developed by the Committee for the Ethics of Scientific Publications (COPE), DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Ethical Obligations of Journal Editors

The editor should review all manuscripts submitted to the publication without prejudice, evaluating each manuscript properly, regardless of race, religion, nationality, or the position or place of work of the author (s).

Information is not allowed to be published if there is sufficient reason to believe that it is plagiarism.

All materials submitted for publication are carefully selected and reviewed. The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject the article or to return it for further revision. The author is obliged to revise the article according to the comments of the reviewers or editorial board.

The decision of the editor to accept the article for publication is based on such characteristics of the article as the importance of results, originality, quality of presentation of the material and the correspondence of the journal profile. Manuscripts may be rejected without review if the editor believes that they do not fit the journal's profile. In making such decisions, the editor may consult with members of the editorial board or reviewers.

Ethical Obligations of Authors

Authors should ensure that they have written completely original articles, and that if the authors have used the work or words of others, then it has been properly framed in quotation marks or quotes.

Submitting an identical article in more than one journal is considered unethical and unacceptable.

The article should be structured, contain enough links and be designed as required.

Unfair or deliberately inaccurate statements in the article constitute unethical conduct and are inadmissible.

The author who corresponds with the editorial board must ensure that all co-authors have read and approved the final version of the article and have agreed to its publication.

The authors of the articles bear full responsibility for the content of the articles and for the very fact of their publication. The editorial board does not bear any responsibility to the authors for the possible damage caused by the publication of the article. The editorial board has the right to remove an article if it is found out that in the course of publication the article violated someone's rights or generally accepted norms of scientific ethics. The editorial board informs the author of the fact of removal of the article.

Ethical Obligations of Reviewers

The editorial staff adheres to double-blind peer review to ensure that the manuscripts are evaluated objectively

Since the review of manuscripts is an essential step in the process of publication and, therefore, in the implementation of the scientific method as such, each scientist is obliged to do some work on the review.

If the selected reviewer is not sure that his or her qualification is relevant to the level of research presented in the manuscript, he must return the manuscript immediately.

The reviewer should objectively evaluate the quality of the manuscript, the experimental and theoretical work presented, its interpretation and presentation, and the extent to which the work meets high scientific and literary standards. The reviewer should respect the intellectual independence of the authors.

Reviewers should adequately explain and reason their opinions so that editors and authors can understand what their comments are based on. Any statement that an observation, conclusion, or argument has already been published must be accompanied by a reference.

The reviewer should draw the editor's attention to any significant similarity between this manuscript and any published article or any manuscript submitted to another journal at the same time.

Reviewers should not use or disclose unpublished information, arguments, or interpretations contained in this manuscript unless the author agrees.

 

In accordance with the principles of DORA, the Journal:

• evaluates manuscripts solely on the basis of their scientific quality, originality, methodological soundness, and contribution to the advancement of knowledge;

• does not use journal-based metrics (including the Impact Factor) as a criterion for assessing individual articles or the scientific quality of an author;

• does not encourage artificial inflation of citation metrics;

• supports the responsible use of scientometric indicators.

 

Anti-Plagiarism Policy

All articles submitted to the journal are checked for plagiarism using the StrikePlagiarism.com software developed by the Polish company Plagiat.pl.

Editorial Actions in Case of Plagiarism Detection
If plagiarism is detected at the submission stage:

The manuscript is rejected, and the author(s) are notified with a written explanation.

If plagiarism is detected after publication:

The publication may be retracted, and a notice of retraction will be published on the journal’s website.

The editorial board may inform the institution(s) affiliated with the author(s) about the case of academic misconduct.

Author Responsibility. Authors bear full responsibility for adhering to the principles of academic integrity. By submitting a manuscript to the journal, the author confirms that the work is original, free of plagiarism, and has not been previously published elsewhere.

Recommendations for Authors:

Follow proper academic citation rules;

Use plagiarism detection tools before submitting a manuscript;

Clearly indicate sources of borrowed information;

Avoid duplicate publication of previously published works without appropriate referencing.

 

Retraction Policy

On rare occasions, when the scientific information in an article is substantially undermined, it may be necessary for published articles to be retracted. Journal will follow the COPE in such cases. Retraction articles are indexed and linked to the original article.
Journal provides free, immediate and permanent online access to the full text of all articles.

Journal editors should consider retracting a publication if:

• they have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (eg, data fabrication) or honest error (eg, miscalculation or experimental error)

• the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification (ie, cases of redundant publication)

• it constitutes plagiarism

• it reports unethical research

Journal editors should consider issuing an expression of concern if:

• they receive inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors

• there is evidence that the findings are unreliable but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case

• they believe that an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial or conclusive

• an investigation is under way but a judgement will not be available for a considerable time

Journal editors should consider issuing a correction if:

• a small portion of an otherwise reliable publication proves to be misleading (especially because of honest error)

• the author / contributor list is incorrect (ie, a deserving author has been omitted or somebody who does not meet authorship criteria has been included).

 

Sponsors

It is published at the expense of the authors.

 

Declaration of Informed Consent

In accordance with the rules approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), “Patients have the right to privacy, which cannot be violated without their informed consent. Definition of information, including patient names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs and ancestries if this information is not important for scientific purposes. Prior to submitting a manuscript for publication, the identified patient must give informed consent. Identification details should be hidden if they are not substantial. Complete anonymity is hard to warrant, but informed consent must still be obtained if there are any doubts.

 

Policy on Ethical Approval of Research

The journal “Health & Education” adheres to international standards of publication ethics and the requirements of the legislation of Ukraine regarding scientific research involving humans, animals, their biological materials, as well as personal or confidential data.

All studies involving human participants (patients, volunteers), the use of human biological materials, personal or confidential data must be conducted in accordance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and the applicable legislation of Ukraine. Authors are required to obtain prior approval from the relevant ethics committee (local bioethics committee) of the institution where the research was conducted. The manuscript must indicate the name of the ethics committee as well as the number and date of the approval decision.

If the study involves patients or volunteers, the authors must confirm that informed consent for participation in the study and for the use of the obtained data for scientific and publication purposes has been obtained in written form. In cases where clinical images or other information that may allow identification of a person are used, authors must ensure full anonymization of the data or obtain written consent from the patient for publication.

Research involving animals must comply with international principles of humane treatment of laboratory animals and the requirements of the applicable legislation of Ukraine. In such cases, authors must provide information confirming that the study was approved by the appropriate ethics committee.

The editorial board reserves the right to request copies of documents confirming ethical approval from the authors. Manuscripts that do not confirm compliance with ethical requirements or lack the necessary approvals will not be considered for review or may be rejected at any stage of the editorial process.

 

Conflict of Interest

The editorial board of Health & Education is committed to ensuring transparency and objectivity in the publication of scientific materials. All authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may influence the assessment or interpretation of the submitted research.

A conflict of interest is any financial, personal, professional, or other relationship that could affect (or be perceived to affect) the impartiality of the author or any participant in the editorial process. These may include:

financial support for the research;

employment or commercial relationships with organizations that may benefit from the research findings;

personal or professional relationships that may result in bias;

membership in advisory boards, shareholding, etc.

For authors: when submitting a manuscript, all authors must complete a conflict of interest disclosure form. If there is no conflict of interest, this must be clearly stated as: "The authors declare no conflict of interest."

For reviewers and editors: individuals involved in reviewing or editing a manuscript must disclose any potential conflicts of interest and, if necessary, withdraw from the editorial process for that manuscript.

This policy follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) regarding disclosure of conflicts of interest.

 

Statement on the Use of Generative AI (GenAI)

The journal Health & Education recognizes the growing role of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools, such as ChatGPT, Bard, or Claude, in academic research and scholarly writing. We support the responsible and transparent use of such tools in accordance with international ethical standards and publishing guidelines.

GenAI tools cannot be listed as authors. Only human researchers can take responsibility for the integrity, originality, and accuracy of a submitted manuscript. Authors are fully accountable for all content, including any material generated with the help of AI tools.

GenAI may be used to support language editing, improve clarity, or assist in literature reviews. However, its use must not replace critical thinking, data interpretation, or scientific reasoning, which are the foundations of scholarly research.

If GenAI tools were used at any stage of manuscript preparation, authors must explicitly disclose this in the “Acknowledgments” or a dedicated section of the manuscript. A sample disclosure:

"Portions of this manuscript were supported by the use of generative AI tools to assist with language editing and text refinement. All content was reviewed and verified by the authors."

Authors must not use GenAI to generate, fabricate, or alter data, references, or findings. Submissions found to rely on AI-generated data without verification or transparency will be rejected or retracted.

The editorial board follows COPE’s guidance on AI use in research publishing and reserves the right to request original data or explanations from authors concerning their use of GenAI. Misuse of AI tools will be treated as a potential breach of research ethics.