Publishing policy The Editorial team is committed to generally accepted ethical principles of publication of scientific materials and ethical principles of СОРЕ, is scrupulous about its scientific reputation, and does its best to ensure high quality of scientific publications, without changing the author's concept or violating the copyright. A decision on any article publication is made based on the peer reviews without bias, and does not depend on the authors' citizenship, nationality, or any other personal data. Peer Review Policy For the journal, a double-blind peer review system is adopted. The only person who knows the authors' and reviewers' names is the editor. The reviewer is selected based on the subject matter of the manuscript in question; he/she may not have working relationship with the manuscript author(s), i.e. act as the author's academic advisor, work in the same subdivision or be part of the same research team with the author, etc. The reviewer's assessment of the manuscript shall be unbiased. In case of any conflict of interests, the reviewer shall notify the Chief Editor of such, and withdraw from the peer review. The same is applied if the reviewer is not properly qualified for the manuscript assessment – he/she shall request that the editor exclude him/her from the manuscript peer review process. The reviewer provides objective and substantiated assessment of the research work in question, based on the following criteria: originality, topicality of the research, relevance of the research methods selected, research results interpretation, and bibliography. Any personal criticism towards the author is not acceptable. The Editor-in-Chief, the Editorial Board and International Advisory Board members and external reviewers shall treat any manuscript as a confidential document, and shall not disclose any information related to any manuscript to any third parties or use any data contained in any manuscript in their own research works (or otherwise for their own benefit) prior to the manuscript official publication. Manuscript Evaluation A decision on any article publication is made by the Editorial Board based on results of internal and external peer reviews. The Editorial team reserves the right to reject any works that do not correspond to the journal subject matter, have not passed peer review, or have been already published elsewhere. The process of any manuscript evaluation by the reviewer and Editorial Board takes two months on average. As a result, the author is informed of one of the following decisions: the article will be published "as is"; the article needs refining, following which it will be re-evaluated by the Editorial Board (with possible engagement of external reviewers); the article is rejected. The author is also provided with basic comments and remarks, and the reasoning part of the peer review. The author may only submit the article for re-evaluation as thoroughly refined based on the editor's remarks, subject to the Editorial team prior consent to evaluate the refined version. The author whose work was rejected may submit any other of his/her manuscripts for evaluation. Editing principles During preparation for publication, any manuscript shall be edited, following which the author will receive the final version for the purpose of approval of all the changes made. In case of multiple authors, the text shall be sent to the responsible author for authorization to the e-mail specified in the article submission form. The responsible author shall ensure familiarization of all the authors with the final version. Should any author reveal any material errors or inaccuracies in the article during its evaluation or following its publication, he/she shall notify the Editorial team accordingly as soon as possible. Retraction Rules The purpose of retraction: the publication contains either plagiarism or a big portion of self-plagiarism; in cases of redundant publication (i.e. when authors present the same data in several publications); in case of copyright infringement (i.e. either one or more authors are not mentioned or the findings have been published without permission); failure to disclose a major competing interest likely to influence interpretations or recommendations; the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error). Articles may be retracted by their author(s) or by the Editorial team based on their own expertise or received information from the third party. The Editorial team informs the author(s) about the retraction with justifying the reason. Retracted articles are identified on the journal website (on the table of contents of the issue and on the article page). The date and the reason of retraction is indicted on the article page. The Editorial team should inform about retracting material the Council on the Scientific Publications Ethics (Russian Association of Scientific Editors and Publishers), the National Electronic Library (NEL), and any bibliographic databases where the Journal is indexed. The retraction procedure is carried out without statute of limitations for articles. Authorship policy All parties that made substantial contribution in the research presented in the article and in the article preparation (data collection and analysis, article concept development and text creation) shall be indicated as co-authors of the article. Co-authors list may not include any parties that did not participate in the relevant work. If any individual provided assistance in the manuscript preparation in any way the extent of which is not sufficient for the purpose of indicating such individual as co-author (academic advisory services, technical editing, translation, proofreading, etc.), gratitude to such individual shall be expressed in a separate reference. Co-authors shall determine the sequence of their names by themselves. The manuscript submission to the Editorial team implies that all co-authors have been familiarized with the text version submitted and all information contained therein, and agree with such. The interests of a group of authors shall be represented by one person who shall inform the remaining authors of the results of manuscript-related work. The authors shall ensure settlement of any conflicts of interests related to the copyright to and publication of the article submitted. Submitting their any manuscript to the Editorial team, the authors guarantee that the article publication does not infringe any existing copyright. Plagiarism and unethical research activities Authors of any article shall draw upon consistent research results verified using methods recognized in sociology. Knowingly erroneous or false data and conclusions based on such are not acceptable. Authors shall guarantee the entire originality of the research results presented in the manuscript submitted by them. Third-party content fragments or statements shall be accompanied by a reference specifying the author and the primary source. Excessive third-party content and plagiarism in any form, including quotes that are not presented in a proper way or paraphrasing or usurpation of any third-party research results are unethical, and therefore are not acceptable. Authors shall recognize contributions of all parties in the research process; in particular, any article shall contain references to any works that influenced the research. The following is not acceptable: Copying a text of any other author word by word without indicating his/her authorship, reference to the source and quotation marks. Incorrect paraphrasing of a work of any other author by changing more than one sentence within a paragraph or section of the text, or by changing the sequence of the sentences without any reference to the source. Use of graphical elements of a work of any other author without indicating his/her authorship (picture, table, etc.) and reference to the source. Authors shall obtain a permission of the copyright holder for the use of any elements contained in his/her work. Self-plagiarism. If any manuscript fragments were published in any other article earlier, the authors shall reference to such earlier work, specify the difference between the new work and the previous one in material respects, and at the same time identify the connection of the new work with the research results and conclusions presented in the previous work. Self-quoting. The bibliography may contain a maximum of 20% of works by the manuscript authors. Any violation of the above conditions may form grounds for article rejection. Case-by-case decisions are based on the violation severity and deliberateness/non-deliberateness. In particular cases, the Editorial team may refuse to cooperate with the author in perpetuity. Should plagiarism or unethical research practices be revealed following an article publication, such article will be revoked from the journal with an appropriate notice on the website.