Publication Ethics

The editorial board of “Medical Education” is guided in its work by the international ethical rules of scientific publications, including the rules of decency, confidentiality, supervision of publications, consideration of possible conflicts of interest, etc.

In its activities, the editorial board follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics and, in particular, “Publishing Ethics Resource Kit” by Elsevier.

The editorial board of the journal adheres to the following rules for supporting publication ethics:

unconditional loyalty to all subjects of the creative process who take part in the creation of the journal;
use of double-blind peer review, the involvement of objective competent reviewers;
implementation of constant consultative work with authors aimed at meeting the requirements of international databases for the design and content of materials submitted for publication.

DATA SHARING POLICY

The journal supports the principles of transparency and openness of scientific research, while protecting the rights of authors and adhering to ethical standards.

The journal stipulates that the data underlying the published results can be accessed only upon official request through the editorial office. Data is provided only with the consent of the author(s) of the study.

To gain access to the data, the interested person should send a request to the editorial office of the journal, indicating the purpose of using the data. The editorial board forwards this request to the author(s) for consideration. If the author(s) agree(s), the editorial board notifies the applicant of further actions, including the possibility of signing a confidentiality agreement and an obligation to adhere to the ethical principles of data use.

The editorial board does not oblige author(s) to provide access to data and takes into account restrictions related to confidentiality, legal or ethical aspects. In case of refusal by the author(s), the editorial board notifies the applicant.

All requests for access to data should be sent through the official e-mail of the journal meduchnaosvita@gmail.com. This approach guarantees a fair and regulated process, while protecting the rights of author(s) and ensuring the ethical use of scientific data.

DECIDING ON PUBLICATIONS

The editor decides on the publication of the submitted articles. It is guided by a journal policy based solely on academic integrity and the conclusions of the reviewers. The editor adheres to modern rules regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

The editor should not use the published information in their research without the written consent of the author. Editors should make appropriate decisions to address ethical complaints regarding submitted manuscripts or published articles.

The journal editor evaluates the intellectual content of the manuscripts regardless of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, origin, citizenship, or political preferences of the authors.

CONFIDENTIALITY

The editor and editorial board do not disclose information about the submitted manuscripts (authors, topics, texts, etc.). Any manuscript received for review is considered a confidential document. The editor and the editorial board undertake not to disclose information about the accepted manuscripts unnecessarily, with the exception of authors, reviewers, other scientific consultants and the publisher.

RESOLUTION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Unpublished materials should not be used in any research by the editor, reviewers, or others without the written consent of the authors.

Editors, reviewers, and scientific consultants undertake to recuse themselves from consideration of manuscripts in the presence of conflicts of interest as a result of competitive, joint, and other interactions and relations with authors, companies, other organisations associated with the manuscript.

The editorial board undertakes to take retaliatory measures in case of conflict situations and claims regarding the manuscripts or published materials.

The editorial board may address claims or concerns about research or publication misconduct raised by readers, reviewers, or others. Furthermore, the journal reserves the right to inform readers about the resolution of conflict situations.

POLICY AROUND POST-PUBLICATION DISCUSSIONS

The journal values open and constructive discussions around published research. To facilitate this, the journal's editorial board encourages readers and authors to join the discussion of published articles on PubPeer, a reputable platform for post-publication comments. All articles published in the journal are automatically indexed with a DOI, which provides easy access to them and their discussion on PubPeer. Discussions should remain professional, focused on the content of the research and meet high ethical standards. Any reasonable concerns raised about an article on PubPeer will be investigated in accordance with the journal’s ethical standards and retraction policy. Journal “Medical Education” is committed to developing a culture of open and respectful dialogue after publication.

ETHICS

All research involving human subjects must be approved by the relevant ethics committees associated with the institution(s) in which it is conducted. A manuscript presenting the results of surveys or interviews should contain confirmation that the authors have ensured the voluntary participation of respondents, obtained their written informed consent (including consent to the publication of the results), and guaranteed confidentiality, anonymity and the prevention of any form of discrimination or pressure. The ethics of the research should be duly justified and, if possible, supported by references to international professional standards and codes, including: American Sociological Association’s Code of Ethics (1997), ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market, Opinion and Social Research and Data Analytics (2025), Guidance Note of the European Commission On Ethics and Data Protection (2021).

DUTIES OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD:

observe a respectful and correct attitude towards the author and his or her scientific orientation, keep editorial secrets, and prevent bad faith during processing;
not to correct the author’s text on their own, to agree with the authors the final version of the text after making an editorial revision;
do not allow materials to be published if they do not have scientific value, do not correspond to the subject of the journal, contradict its editorial policy, contain plagiarism or were previously published in other publications;
ensure the involvement of objective and competent reviewers, apply the practice of double (blind) review.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF REVIEWERS:

to consider all manuscripts submitted for publication without prejudice, evaluating each properly, regardless of race, religion, nationality, as well as the status or place of work of the author;
to observe the period of reviewing established by the editorial board;
treat the manuscript received for review as a confidential document, not to provide it to others for review; written reviews must be confidential;
not to use data from the manuscript;
to provide an objective, reasoned, and correct assessment of the stated research results.

Reviewers must notify the Editorial Board immediately if they detect any conflict of interest related to the author’s identity. If a reviewed paper is not within the reviewer’s area of expertise, they must inform the Editorial Board promptly.

The reviewers are obligated to inform the Editorial Board of any suspected scientific misconduct, as well as any other violation of ethical principles of publication referenced in these guidelines.

OBLIGATIONS OF THE AUTHORS OF ARTICLES:

to ensure the novelty, reliability, and originality of the research results;
to draw up all materials of other authors with an exact indication of the primary sources;
to avoid excessive borrowing and plagiarism in any form; to prevent auto-plagiarism;
to ensure that the article is exclusive material and has not been previously published or proposed to another publication.

By submitting materials for publication in the journal “Medical Education”, the authors agree that, if the materials are accepted for publication, the latter may be placed in electronic databases with the obligatory indication of authorship and copyright retention in full.

In the text of the work itself, sources of external information should be presented – in the form of lists of used literature (including personal previously published articles of the authors). Authors are obliged to properly draw up borrowings in the form of citations or links.

If the author discovers significant errors or inaccuracies in the publication, the author must notify the editor of the journal and interact with him/her to correct them as soon as possible.

If the editor has received information from a third party that the publication contains material errors, the author shall be obliged to remove the article or correct the errors as soon as possible.

AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT

The editorial board of the journal “Medical Education” assumes that all authors agree with the content of the article, have given explicit consent for its publication, and have obtained permission from the responsible individuals in the institution/organization where the work was carried out before the article was submitted for consideration.

All authors, whose names are listed in the submission, declare that they:

made substantial contributions to the conception or structure of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
prepared the research material or revised it critically for important intellectual content;
approved the version to be published;
agree to be responsible for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

The editorial board of the journal “Medical Education” encourages collaboration with colleagues in the locations where the research is conducted, and expect their inclusion as co-authors when they fulfill all authorship criteria described above. Contributors who do not meet all criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgements section.

SUBMISSION DECLARATION

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, or in any other language.

ADVERTISING POLICY

The journal “Medical Education” does not accept any form of advertising. The financial model is designed to maintain full editorial independence and the highest standards of academic integrity.

RESEARCH FUNDING POLICY

The journal “Medical Education” strives for maximum transparency of research funding sources. All authors are required to declare the sources of funding for the research presented in the article, including: