The editorial board of Land Reclamation and Water Management 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 .

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 agrees, 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 authors to provide access to data and takes into account restrictions related to confidentiality, legal or ethical aspects. In case of an author's refusal, the editorial board notifies the applicant.

All requests for access to data should be sent through the official  e-mail of the journal journal.iwpim@gmail.com. We are convinced that this approach guarantees a fair and regulated process, while protecting the rights of authors and ensuring the ethical use of scientific data.

Deciding on publication

The editor decides on the publication of the submitted articles. It is guided by a journal policy based solely on academic value 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 the conflicts of interest

The editorial policy of the journal is based on the principles of academic integrity, objectivity, and transparency of the publication process. In order to prevent bias, all participants in the editorial and publishing process (authors, reviewers, and editors) are required to declare the presence or absence of a potential conflict of interest in a timely manner.
When submitting a manuscript, authors must disclose any financial and non-financial conflicts of interest that may influence the results of the study or their interpretation. The relevant information is indicated in the “Conflict of Interest” note at the end of the article. If there is no conflict of interest, the note should read: “No conflict of interest.”
Reviewers are required to inform the editorial board of any circumstances that may affect the objectivity and impartiality of the expert evaluation of the manuscript (financial, professional, or personal ties to the authors, scientific competition, other potential factors). If there is a conflict of interest, the reviewer must decline to review the manuscript.
Editors should avoid participating in the review of manuscripts in cases of potential conflict of interest, in particular if they have financial, professional, or personal ties to the authors or the institutions they represent. In such situations, the editor shall transfer the manuscript to another member of the editorial board or an independent expert.
The journal ensures transparency in the disclosure of conflicts of interest by publishing relevant declarations in each scientific article, which contributes to the principles of objectivity, integrity, and trust in scientific communication.

Policy around post-publication discussions

Journal values open and constructive discussions surrounding published research. To facilitate this, we encourage readers and authors to engage with our articles on PubPeer, a respected platform for post-publication commentary.

All articles published in our journal are automatically indexed with their DOI, enabling easy access and discussion on PubPeer. Discussions should remain professional, focused on the research content, and adhere to high ethical standards.

Any credible concerns raised about an article on PubPeer will be investigated in accordance with our journal’s ethics and retraction policies. For more information on engaging with PubPeer, visit their platform at PubPeer.com.

Our journal is committed to fostering a culture of open and respectful post-publication dialog.

ETHICS

Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research

The editorial board of the journal "Land Reclamation and Water Management" supports the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting experiments using live animals. Authors and reviewers must use the ARRIVE guidelines as a checklist. Editors reserve the right to ask for the checklist and to reject submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines, to reject submissions based on ethical or animal welfare concerns or if the procedure described does not appear to be justified by the value of the work presented.

For further guidance authors should refer to the Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Used in Scientific Procedures, American Association for Laboratory Animal Science or European Animal Research Association.

Research Involving Plants

Experimental research on plants (either cultivated or wild) including collection of plant material, must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines. We recommend that authors comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Responsibilities 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.

The principles of professional ethics in the work of the editor and publisher
In its activities, the editor is responsible for publication of author’s works that requires compliance with the following fundamental principles:
– At the time of adoption of the decision on the publication the editor of the scientific journal is guided by reliability of data presentation and scientific importance of the work.
– An editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, social status or political preferences of the authors.
– Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used for personal purposes or transferred to third parties without written consent of the author. Information or ideas obtained in the course of editing and related to possible benefits must be kept confidential and not used for personal gain.
– The editor should not allow the information to be published if there is sufficient reason to believe that it is plagiarism.
– The editor together with the publisher should not leave unanswered complaints concerning the considered manuscripts or published materials as well as for the identification of conflict situations to take all necessary measures to restore violated rights.

Ethical principles in the activities of the reviewer
Reviewer provides scientific expertise of copyright material, so his actions should be impartial, in compliance with the following principles:
– Manuscript received for review must be treated as a confidential document that cannot be transmitted for familiarization or discussion to third parties, does not have any permission from the editors.
– The reviewer must give objective and reasoned assessment of study results. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable.
– Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used for personal purposes reviewer.
The reviewer who has not, in his opinion, qualified to assess the manuscript, or cannot be objective, for example in the case of a conflict of interest with the author or organization should inform the editor with a request to exclude him from the process of reviewing this manuscript.

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.

The principles that should guide the author of scientific publications
The author (or group of authors) realizes his primary responsibility for novelty and validity of scientific research results, which implies respect for the following principles:
– The authors should provide reliable research results. Advance erroneous or falsified statements are unacceptable.
– Authors must guarantee that the results of a study described in a submitted manuscript is completely original. Borrowed fragments or statements must be furnished with the obligatory indication of the author and source. Excessive borrowing and plagiarism in any form, including unregistered quotes, appropriation of other people’s research are unethical and unacceptable.
– It is necessary to recognize the contribution of all persons somehow influenced the course of the study. In particular, this article must be submitted references to the work, which had a meaning during the research.
– Authors should not submit to the journal the manuscript that was submitted to another journal and is under consideration, as well as articles already published in another publication.
– Co-authors of the article should include all persons who have made a significant contribution to the study. Among the sponsors is unacceptable to designate persons who did not participate in the research.
– If the author finds significant errors or inaccuracies in the article at the stage of reviewer or after its publication, it must as soon as possible to inform the editorial Board.

By submitting materials for publication in the journal "Land Reclamation and Water Management", 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.

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 "Land Reclamation and Water Management", 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.

Authorship statement

The editorial board of the journal "Land Reclamation and Water Management" 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 "Land Reclamation and Water Management" 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

This journal does not accept any form of advertising. Our financial model is designed to maintain full editorial independence and uphold the highest standards of academic integrity.

Research funding policy 

The journal "Land Reclamation and Water Management" 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:
-grants from scientific institutions or foundations;
-funds received from governmental or non-governmental organisations;
-commercial or private sources of support;
-internal funding from universities, clinics or other organisations.

In case of absence of financial support, there is a need to indicate "None" in the appropriate section.

The Land Reclamation and Water Management Journal is an open access journal and supports the Diamond Open Access model, which is a scientific publication model in which articles are freely available (Open Access) to readers and without publication fees (APC) for authors.
Key features of the Diamond model:
Free for authors: No Article Processing Charges (APCs) are required.
Free for readers: Access to articles is open to everyone without a subscription.
Funding: Supported by the founder of the Journal — the Institute of Water Problems and Melioration of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine
Reviewing: Double-blind.

Land Reclamation and Water management is an open access scientific journal. This means that all of its content is freely available to users for free. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, as well as use them for other lawful purposes without the prior permission of the editorial board or the author in case of linking to them. The journal adheres to an open access policy, supporting the principles of free dissemination of scientific information and global exchange of knowledge for the sake of social progress. Full-text access to scientific articles of the journal is presented in the Archive.

The editorial board of the journal practices double-blind peer review of manuscripts: the author and reviewer are not informed of each other's names.

We recommend that all reviewers familiarize themselves with and adhere to the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers.
More information at the link: http://mivg.iwpim.com.ua/index.php/mivg/submissions

The journal ensures long-term preservation and open access to published materials. All electronic versions of the journal are stored on the publication’s official website and are freely accessible. To ensure long-term digital preservation of articles the journal stores its metadata in the NATIONAL REPOSITORY OF ACADEMIC TEXTS and at the local REPOSITORY of the Institute of Water Problems and Land Reclamation of NAAS. Additionally, the journal uses the LOCKSS system for distributed archival storage of published articles. Each article is assigned a DOI identifier.

The journal’s archive files are stored in several formats (PDF/A for long-term preservation, XML/JATS for metadata, HTML for web access). The server infrastructure includes a regular backup system (on-site and off-site). Reliable server mirroring and data integrity verification technologies (checksum verification) are used.

The journal guarantees the indexing of published materials and metadata in leading bibliographic databases and open access aggregators (Directory of Open Access Journals, Google Scholar, OpenAIRE) and the preservation of archival materials.

The journal’s archiving policy complies with the principles of the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN), DOAJ Best Practices, and the recommendations of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA).

Before submitting articles to reviewers, those are first checked for plagiarism, by the UNICHECK system.
Plagiarism is the exposing of another person’s thoughts or words as though they were your own, without permission, credit, or acknowledgment, or because of failing to cite the sources properly. Plagiarism can take diverse forms, from literal copying to paraphrasing the work of another. In order to properly judge whether an author has plagiarized, we emphasize the following possible situations:
• An author can literally copy another author’s work- by copying word by word, in whole or in part, without permission, acknowledge or citing the original source. This practice can be identified through comparing the original source and the manuscript/work who is suspected of plagiarism.
• Substantial copying implies for an author to reproduce a substantial part of another author, without permission, acknowledge or citation. The substantial term can be understood both in terms of quality as quantity, being often used in the context of Intellectual property. Quality refers to the relative value of the copied text in proportion to the work as a whole.
Paraphrasing involves taking ideas, words or phrases from a source and crafting them into new sentences within the writing. This practice becomes unethical when the author does not properly cite or does not acknowledge the original work/author. This form of plagiarism is the more difficult form to be identified.

The authors are reported by editorial that they bear full personal responsibility for the authenticity of the content of articles. In order to avoid borrowing or incorrect using of the research results of third persons parties, please comply with the authors of Ethics academic citation. We recommend that prior to submitting the text, the authors to carry out a self-test for plagiarism of the scientific articles.

Manuscripts submitted to the editorial board are verified for originality according to the following indicators: if the originality of the text is over 85%, then the material is allowed for consideration; 75-85% – the author should verify the correctness of the citations and references to the sources used; under 75% – the material is not accepted for consideration. No more than 3% plagiarism from one source is allowed. 

In case of revelation of plagiarism during the processing of the article, the article is returned to the author.

The names and e-mails introduced in this journal will be used exclusively for the aims declared by this journal and they will not be available for other purposes or to other people.

Data Privacy Policy
The data collected from registered and unregistered users of this journal are subject to the standard procedure for the operation of peer-reviewed journals. They include information that enables communication for the editorial process; and are used to inform readers about the authorship and editing of content.

Authors publishing in this journal are responsible for the data on individuals involved in the research reported here. Those involved in the editing of this journal are committed to adhering to industry standards for data privacy, including the provisions of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on "data subject rights", which include (a) notification of breaches; (b) right of access; (c) right to be forgotten; (d) data portability; (e) privacy by design. The GDPR also allows for the recognition of a "public interest in data availability," which is of particular importance to those involved in maintaining the highest possible integrity of public records of scientific publications.

Copyright Notice
Relationship between right holders and users shall be governed by the terms of the license Creative Commons Attribution – non-commercial – Distribution On Same Conditions 4.0 international (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0):https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.uk
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
• Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.
• Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
• Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

The journal intends to answer all complaints promptly and in a constructive manner. The Editorial Team and the staff of Land Reclamation and Water Management will study the particular case of the complaint in accordance with its nature and complexity and any decision reached will take into consideration the recommendations provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Suggestions or complaints are to be sent to the journal’s e-mail address journal.iwpim@gmail.com. All messages will be addressed on a period up to 30 working days. However, depending on the degree of complexity of the complaint, the complainant will be informed if additional time is required to conclude the inquiry of the case.

The complaint must be succinct, specific, and have enough data to demonstrate any possible fault to the publication ethics. If possible, complimentary documents as evidence of the particular request should also be provided.

Personal complaints against authors, editors, reviewers or the journal’s editorial board shall receive an answer that indicates the reasons why the complaint has been regarded as beyond the journal’s responsibility. In addition, the journal will refrain from undertaking the pertinent inquiry when complaints are addressed in an offensive, threatening or defamatory manner.

We stand for compliance with the COPE principles, against all possible offences. Particular attention is paid to checking works for originality and avoiding cases of plagiarism.

Multiple submission

Authors should submit manuscripts that are unique and should not be submitted to any other journal (except in some unusual circumstances and only with the approval of the reviewer). Sometimes authors may ignore this requirement by submitting the same paper to multiple journals or by submitting multiple papers based on the same research. As in the case of plagiarism, resubmission can take many forms: literal copying, partial but substantial copying, or even paraphrasing of a study. Violation of this policy will result in immediate rejection along with possible sanctions against the authors.

Manipulation with citations

Submitted manuscripts that contain citations whose main purpose is to increase the number of references to the work of a given author or articles published in a particular journal will be immediately rejected, and sanctions against the authors are possible.

Data falsification

If falsified or fabricated data of experimental results (including image manipulation) are found in the submitted article, this will lead to immediate rejection and possible sanctions against the authors.

In the case of suspected misconduct or fraud, the journal will conduct an investigation in accordance with COPE guidelines. If, after the investigation, reasonable concerns arise, the authors involved will be contacted via their email addresses and given the opportunity to resolve the issue. Depending on the situation, this may result in the journal taking the following actions, including but not limited to:

1. If the manuscript is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author.
2. If the article has already been published online, depending on the nature and severity of the violation.

Corrections

A correction may be published with the article if a fundamental error or mistake (for example, an experimental error or miscalculation) is found,

Erratum

Erratum will be used if we have made a material error in the preparation of a journal article, including errors of omission, such as failure to correct factual evidence requested by the authors within the timeframe set by the journal and within the journal's policy. A significant error is one that affects the scientific record, the scientific integrity of the article, the reputation of the authors or the journal.

Corrigendum

Corrigendum is a notification of a significant error made by the authors of the article. All corrections are approved by the editorial board.

Procedure for making corrections

1. Corrections can be initiated by authors, editors or readers.
2. The editorial team evaluates the request and, if necessary, consults with the authors.
3. After approval, the corrections are published as a separate document linked to the original article and marked ‘Corrections’.

Retraction

In some cases, the Editorial Board may decide to retract an article.

Reasons for potential retraction of a paper:

• there is clear evidence that the results are not reliable, regardless of whether they are the result of misconduct (e.g., fabricated data and image manipulation);
• the results of the study have been previously published elsewhere without proper citation, licence or justification (e.g. in cases of redundant or duplicate publication);
• the research is plagiarised;
• there is evidence of fraudulent authorship;
• the peer review process has been proven to have been compromised;
• there is evidence of unethical research and violation of professional ethical codes.

Retraction requests can be submitted by authors, editors or third parties. The editorial board conducts an investigation involving the authors and, if necessary, external experts. The decision is made by the Editorial Board.

Once the decision to retract an article has been made:

• the watermark 'Retracted article' will be added to the published version of the article’s record;
• the article’s title will be headed by 'Retracted article: [Title of the article]';
• a separate declaration of retraction will be published, titled 'Retraction: [Title of the article]'. The editors of the journal will sign this note;
• the declaration of retraction will be paginated and have a DOI assigned.

In some cases, the authors of the article considered by the journal may ask to withdraw their article. A withdrawal may be initiated only before the article is published. To withdraw an article, the authors must write a clear and concise letter with an in-depth explanation as to why the manuscript needs to be withdrawn. The letter must be signed by all authors. A withdrawn manuscript is removed from the publisher’s database altogether, and copyrights remain with the authors of the withdrawn manuscript.

Mass manipulation and paper mills

If it is determined that an article is part of a group of publications compromised by paper mills or other systematic fraudulent practices, the editorial board may decide to retract the article as part of a package. The retraction statement must indicate that the article belongs to a group of works affected by similar violations.

Use of artificial intelligence

The hidden or undeclared use of artificial intelligence systems to create text, images, or other data in a manuscript is considered a serious violation and may be grounds for retraction. Authors are required to transparently disclose the use of such tools. Concealing such facts may be considered grounds for retraction. The editorial board reserves the right to check manuscripts for the use of generative artificial intelligence systems. For this purpose, automated detection tools, expert evaluation by reviewers, and additional requests to authors may be used.

Falsification of authorship and identity theft

Manuscripts may be retracted in cases of confirmed false authorship, use of someone else's personal data (name, ORCID, etc.), as well as hidden or forced authorship.

Expression of concern

In cases where there are serious concerns about the authenticity of an article or a breach of academic integrity, but there is insufficient evidence for immediate retraction, the editorial board may publish an expression of concern. Such a statement has its own DOI, is linked to the original article, and contains a brief explanation of the reasons for publication. The expression of concern remains available until the editorial investigation is complete.

Promptness of procedures

The decision to publish corrections, expressions of concern or retractions is made by the editorial board and implemented as soon as possible after significant violations are identified. In cases where final agreement on the text with the authors is not possible, the editorial board reserves the right to publish the statement without delay in order to preserve scientific integrity.

Availability of retracted articles

Retracted articles remain openly accessible in the journal's archives and databases with a clear indication of “Retraction”. Complete removal is only possible in exceptional cases when required by applicable legal regulations (in particular, personal data protection, copyright infringement, enforcement of court decisions or security considerations).