The editorial board and the editorial staff of the scientific and theoretical journal «Hydrometeorology and Ecology» adhere to the principles of publication ethics accepted by the international community developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and take into account the valuable experience of authoritative international journals and publishers. For ensuring the high quality of scientific papers the editorial board of the Journal makes every effort possible to comply with ethical standards, regulations and rules adopted by the international community and is ready to take all possible measures to prevent their breach in communication with all participants in the act of scientific publishing: authors, reviewers, editors, publishers and readers.

Compliance with the rules of ethics of scientific papers by all participants in this process helps to ensure the authors’ intellectual property rights, improve the quality of papers and eliminate the possibility of using copyright materials in the interests of individuals.

The editorial board reserves the right to reject publication of the article in case of breaching the rules listed below.

Ethical principles of a chief editor

The editor-in-chief is responsible for publication of copyright works. In this regard, he is obliged to:

– be guided by the policies of the editorial board of the Journal;

– review the submitted materials for compliance with data reliability and scientific significance of the paper;

– decide on the publication of materials taking into account the following criteria: compliance of the manuscript to the Journal scope; relevance, novelty and scholarly importance; clarity of presentation; reliability of results and practical significance;

– evaluate the intellectual content of manuscripts regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, social status or political preferences of the authors,

– not to use unpublished data from submitted manuscripts for personal purposes or to communicated them to third parties without the express written consent of the author,

– take measures to ensure high quality of published materials and protect the confidentiality of personal information;

– in the case of a negative review, provide the author of the article with the opportunity to substantiate his scientific position;

– take into account the recommendations of reviewers when making the final decision on the publication of the article;

– not to allow publication of information in case of plagiarism,

– not to disclose information about the accepted manuscript to anyone other than the authors, reviewers, potential reviewers,

– in the event of a conflict, respond to claims regarding the reviewed manuscripts or published materials and take the necessary response measures to restore the violated rights.

– constantly improve the Journal;

– follow the principle of freedom of opinion;

– strive to satisfy the requests of readers and authors of the Journal;

– exclude the influence of business interests or politics on decisions about publication of materials.

Ethical principles of a reviewer

The duty of a reviewer is to carry out a scientific review of copyright materials impartially based on the following principles:

– the manuscript submitted for review should be treated as a confidential document that cannot be communicated for review or discussion to third parties who are not authorized by the editors;

– the manuscript submitted for review is the intellectual property of the authors and refers to information not subject to disclosure. Breach of confidentiality is permissible only if the reviewer claims that the materials in the article are unreliable or falsified;

– the reviewer should call to the attention of the editor-in-chief the similarity of the manuscript being evaluated with any other paper, as well as to the absence of references to the results and conclusions having been published in other papers of this or other authors;

– the reviewer is obliged to give an objective and reasoned assessment of the stated research results. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable;

– unpublished data obtained from manuscripts submitted for review should not be used by the reviewer for personal purposes;

– reviewers are not allowed to make copies of manuscripts and take advantage of knowledge of the content of the paper prior to its publication in the Journal;

– the reviewers who consider themselves underqualified to evaluate the manuscript, or cannot be objective, for example, in case of a conflict of interests with the author or organization, should notify the editor and recuse themselves from considering manuscripts;

– the review to the article is confidential. The name of the reviewer is known to the executive secretary and editor-in-chief of the Journal. This information is not to be disclosed.

Ethical principles of an author

The author (the team of authors) being personally responsible for the novelty and reliability of results of a scientific research, the following principles of submitting materials to a scientific journal should be observed:

– authors of the article should provide reliable results of research. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are unacceptable;

– authors should ensure that the research results in the manuscript submitted are completely original. Copied or paraphrased fragments or statements must be drawn up with the obligatory indication of the author and the source. Plagiarism in all its forms, including copying or paraphrasing substantial parts (without attribution), ‘passing off’ another’s paper as the author’s own paper, constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable;

– authors should cite only actual facts and information in the manuscript; they should provide enough information to verify and repeat experiments by other researchers; they should not use information obtained privately without explicit, written permission from the source; they should prevent fabrication and falsification of data;

– authors should avoid duplication of publications (in a cover letter, the author must indicate that the work is published for the first time). If individual elements of the manuscript have been previously published, the author is obliged to refer to an earlier work and indicate the differences between the new paper and the previous one;

– proper acknowledgment of the work of others should always be given, in particular, the article should cite publications that have been influential in the research;

– authors should not submit to the journal a manuscript that has been sent to another journal and is under consideration, as well as an article already published in another journal;

– if the author discovers significant errors or inaccuracies in the article at the stage of its consideration or after its publication, he should promptly notify the editorial office of the journal;

– authors must comply with ethical standards when criticizing or commenting on third-party research;

– co-authors of the article should acknowledge all persons who have made a significant contribution to the study. Indicating the co-authors who have not participated in the research is unacceptable;

– authors should respect the work of the editorial board and reviewers and eliminate shortcomings pointed out or explain them reasonably;

– authors must submit and draw up the manuscript in accordance with the requirements of the journal.

Conflicts of interest

In order to exclude the events of breach of publication ethics, it is necessary to exclude a conflict of interests of all parties involved in the publication process. A conflict of interest arises if the author, reviewer, or editorial board member has financial, scientific, or personal relationships that may affect their actions. Such relationships are called dual obligations or competing interests.

To avoid conflicts of interest, the chief editor must:

– forward the article for consideration to another member of the editorial board or reviewer if there is a conflict with the author;

– decide on the publication of information if the information about the conflict of interest is not confidential and may affect the evaluation of the published work by a reader or a scientific community.

The author must:

– list all known and potential sources of conflict of interest in a cover letter;

– indicate his place of work and source of financial support for the project;

The editorial board of the «Hydrometeorology and Ecology» journal confirms compliance with publication ethics and the prevention of abuse of power in accordance with the Association of Science Editors and Publishers (ASEP) “Ethical Principles of Scientific Publications” Declaration (M., 2016). Electronic resource. Available at: https://rasep.ru/sovet-po-etike/deklaratsiya