Editorial Policies

WHAT DOES JOURNAL PUBLISH?
OPEN ACCESS POLICY
LICENSING and COPYRIGHT
ARCHIVING POLICY
AUTHOR'S CONTRIBUTIONS
PEER REVIEW POLICY
ETHICS POLICIES
AI USAGE POLICY
RETRACTION POLICY
CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
SUBMISSIONS

WHAT DOES JOURNAL PUBLISH?

1. Focus and Scope
Journal of scientific papers Sociological Studios publishes peer-reviewed original articles based on the results of theoretical and empirical research, and methodological developments in sociology. It does not specialize, and the journal publishes articles of broad appeal covering the major areas of contemporary sociology.

2. Parts of the journal
Sociology: current, disputable
Theoretical provisions of sociological investigations
Methodology and methods of sociological research
Social reality in empirical studies
Social work and management

OPEN ACCESS POLICY

Journal Sociological Studios provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Full-text access to scientific articles of the journal Sociological Studios is presented on the official website in the Archive section.

LICENSING and COPYRIGHT

Authors submitting articles for publication warrant that the work is not an infringement of any existing copyright and will indemnify the publisher against any breach of such warranty. Authors hold copyright immediately after publication of their works according the data publication of journal’s number and retain publishing rights without any restrictions.
All published articles are in Open Access, i.e. are easily accessible with no fee and they are distributed under the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License International CC BY-NC license, that allows others freely to read, download, copy and print submissions, disseminate articles with non-commercial purposes, and with the acknowledgment of authorship and the first publication in this journal.  

ARCHIVING POLICY

Journal Sociological Studios uses the LOCKSS system for distributed archival storage of the content of published articles in numerous libraries and information centers. This guarantees long-term storage of archives and automatic restoration of corrupted information.
Journal Sociological Studios uses the PKP Preservation Network  archiving policy, which provides free archiving services for journals created on the OJS platform.
Full-text access to scientific articles of the journal Sociological Studios is available on its official website in the Archives section and on the website of the V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, in the Scientific Ukrainika, and in the repositories eVNUIR , eKNUTSHIR, etc.
Authors may make their article public under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License International CC BY-NC.

AUTHOR'S CONTRIBUTIONS

1.1. Authorship and corresponding authors
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Principal author, or one of authors, is corresponding one and making submission of article and other documents. Without official documents the Editorial Board of Sociological Studios reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
Authorship and Author's contribution are indicated in The Author's Declaration.

POLICY OF SPECIAL ISSUES

Journal Sociological Studios accepts proposals for the preparation of Special Issues (SI) under the guidance of Guest Editors-in-Chief. SI are dedicated to specific, high-interest, and emerging topics within the journal's scope. The primary goal of an SI is to bring together leading researchers to provide an in-depth exploration of a particular research theme. Proposals must be sent to the Editorial Office's email address: socio.studii@gmail.com, sociostudios@knu.ua.
Journal Sociological Studios publishes at least one Special Issues per year. Special Issues are typically integrated into the journal’s regular numbering sequence (e.g., Vol. 10, No. 4 (Special Issue)). If an SI is published outside the regular schedule, it is designated as a «Supplement»  to the corresponding volume. Each article within an SI is assigned a unique DOI and includes a note: «This article is part of the Special Issue [Title of Issue]» .
Manuscripts must strictly align with the announced scope of the Special Issue. All submissions undergo a mandatory double-blind peer review process. The final decision regarding acceptance rests solely with the Editor-in-Chief. Guest Editor-in-Chief and Guest Co-Editor cannot serve as reviewers for articles by their immediate colleagues or co-authors. 

1.1. Role and Responsibilities of the Guest Editor
The Guest Editor-in-Chief is a recognized expert in a specific field who manages the content of a Special Issue under the supervision of the Editor-in-Chief. The Guest Editor-in-Chief  may have a Co-Guest-Editor (optional).

Their responsibilities include:

  • Conceptualization: Defining the scientific scope and objectives of the Special Issue and drafting the «Call for Papers».
  • Commissioning Content: Actively inviting leading scholars and experts to contribute high-quality manuscripts to the issue.
  • Pre-screening: Conducting an initial assessment of all submitted manuscripts to ensure they align with the theme and meet the journal's basic quality standards.
  • Managing Peer Review: Identifying and appointing qualified independent reviewers for each submission and monitoring the progress of the review process.
  • Academic Recommendations: Providing informed recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief on whether to accept, revise, or reject a manuscript based on reviewer feedback.
  • Editorial Writing: Authoring an introductory article (Editorial) that synthesizes the contributions of the issue and highlights the significance of the research topic.
  • Ethical Oversight: Ensuring all contributions adhere to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and declaring any potential conflicts of interest.

Note: The Guest Editor-in-Chief acts in a consultative capacity. The Editor-in-Chief retains the final authority over the acceptance of any article and the publication of the Special Issue as a whole to ensure consistency with the journal’s standards.

PEER REVIEW POLICY

1.1. Assignment of reviewers
Scientific articles submitted to the editorial office of Sociological Studios go through the institute (procedure) of reviewing. Assessment of quality of scientific articles and compliance with the requirements of journal is confidential based on double-blind peer review, which both the authors and the reviewers keep their anonymity, and only Executive Secretary and Editor-in-Chief know the identity of all parties involved, and each article is reviewed by two reviewers.
Policy of Sociological Studios is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

  • The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors;
  • The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper;
  • The reviewer isn’t experts in their fields;
  • The academic identity of the author(s) has not been established.

1.2. Peer review process
1. The Executive Secretary and Editor-in-Chief determine conformity of a paper with the journal's profile, requirements for execution and send it for reviewing to two experts in fields, a Doctor of Science (Doctor) or Doctor of Philosophy (Candidate of Sciences), who have a specialization close to the topic of an article.
2. The Executive Secretary informs a corresponding author about receiving of a paper within 5 working days.
3. Terms of reviewing in each case are determined by the executive secretary taking into account conditions for the quickest publication. Term of reviewing – 3 month from the date of message about receipt of the paper with Editorial Board.
4. The Review Form is established and filled out by reviewers in electronic format (not paper format). In the review there should be reflected the following:

  • Conformity of content of an article with its topic;
  • Conformity of an article with modern scientific and theoretical principles;
  • Simplicity of language and style understanding, clearness of tables and pictures to readers;
  • Positive sides and disadvantages of an article; which corrections should be made by an author;
  • Recommendation of the possibility of publication of an article: «Requires Minor Corrections», «Requires Moderate Revision», «Requires Major Revision», «Submit to another publication», «Reject».

5. Recommendations of «Requires Minor Corrections» and «Requires Moderate Revision» mean that the author should finalize text of an article within 3-5 working days and 5-14 respectively. Recommendation of «Requires Major Revision» – up to 3 months and can be recommended for publication in the next number of the journal. Recommendations of «Submit to another publication» and «Reject» with the substantiated explanation of refusal send to an author. Articles which is not recommended for publication in journal Sociological Studios is not accepted for the second review.
6. Final decision on suitability of an article publication is made by the Editorial Board.
7. After taking a decision by the Editorial Board on admission of an article to publication, the Executive Secretary informs an author about this and indicates the terms of publication.

ETHICS POLICIES

1.1. Publication ethics in documents
The editorial board of the journal Sociological Studios functions in accordance with the norms of the international standards, which was established by the Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE).
The Editorial Board of Sociological Studios suggests to potential contributors of the journal, reviewers and readers following the rules on academic writing and academic ethics, according to the work by Miguel Roig (2003, 2006, 2015) «Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing»

1.2.  Publishing ethics in action
The editorial board of the journal Sociological Studios takes issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism, or other unethical practices very seriously and protects the journal's reputation and the rights of our authors against such practices.
The following are not accepted for publication in the journal Sociological Studios:

  • Previously published materials;
  • Simultaneously submitted materials for other edition(s);
  • Materials with copyright infringement or insufficient recognition;
  • Materials with detected plagiarism;
  • Materials with research that requires a decision of the Ethics Commission, but there is none;
  • Materials with the academic identity of the author(s) not established.

The Editorial Board of the journal Sociological Studios considers and initiates appeals in cases of violation of publication ethics.
If the article is published in the journal Sociological Studios and:

  • used in another work without a proper reference, then the journal editorial office sends an official letter to all participants (author(s), their supervisors according to the specified affiliation, publication/publishing house in which the work was published) with an indication to take the necessary action;
  • is found to have plagiarised of another work or included copyrighted material of a third-party without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or the authorship of the article is contested, the Editorial Board of the journal reserves the right to take such actions as publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies, but not limited to them.

1.3. Plagiarism policy
One of the principles of editorial policy is to combat plagiarism and self-plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the dissemination of partial or wholesale scientific and/or creative results obtained by other persons as the result of their personal research or creative work and/or the reproduction of the published texts of other authors without specific acknowledgement of the authorship.
Self-plagiarism is the presentation of one’s own previously published research findings within a manuscript as if they were newly-obtained results.
The authors of an article must provide assurance that they have written a work which is completely original, and if the authors use the work and/or the words of other authors, this should be indicated appropriately by a footnote reference or else indicated within the text itself.
All articles prepared for publication in the journal Sociological Studios will be checked for plagiarism by the StrikePlagiarism.
If plagiarism or textual borrowing is detected by editors or reviewers at any stage prior to the publication of a manuscript, the author(s) will be warned about the need to revise and correct the text or to provide a reference to the original source. If the plagiarism within an article amounts to more than 25%, the article will be rejected, and the author’s institution or employer will be informed of the fact.
Plagiarism in all forms constitutes unethical publicational behaviour and is inadmissible.
The presentation of the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time constitutes unethical publicational behaviour and is inadmissible.
If an instance of plagiarism is discovered after the publication of a manuscript, the editorial board will conduct an investigation into it. Depending on the scale of the plagiarism, the article may also be retracted.

AI USAGE POLICY

1.1. Cases of AI Use
The journal Sociological Studies welcomes the opportunities offered by large language model (LLM) tools and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), particularly in the creation and/or editing of manuscripts and peer review reports, and supports the use of LLM and GenAI tools (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, NovelAI, Jasper AI, DALL-E, Midjourney, Runway, etc.) for:

  • Enhancing idea generation and research,
  • Supporting content creation in a non-native language,
  • Creating various forms of content, including text generation, image synthesis, audio, and synthetic data, etc.

1.2. Risks of AI Use
However, the journal Sociological Studies notes the risks associated with the use of GenAI today, which must be considered by all parties in the editorial process:

  • Inaccuracy and bias. GenAI tools may introduce inaccuracies, errors, or biases that are difficult to detect, verify, and correct.
  • Lack of attribution. GenAI often incorrectly or inaccurately attributes ideas, citations, or references.
  • Violation of confidentiality and intellectual property. GenAI tools are often used on platforms that do not provide sufficient standards of confidentiality, data security, or copyright protection.
  • Misuse. GenAI providers may reuse input/output data obtained through user interactions (e.g., for AI training). This may potentially violate the rights of authors and publishers.

1.3. Responsibility
The policy of the journal Sociological Studies supports responsible and transparent use of LLM and GenAI by editors, authors, and reviewers, and therefore предусматривает:

  • compliance with COPE’s position on authorship and AI tools,
  • mandatory reading of the AI Policy for authors before submitting a manuscript and accompanying materials to the SS journal,
  • mandatory reading of the AI Policy for reviewers who have agreed to review manuscripts for the SS journal,
  • rejection of manuscripts and peer review reports prepared in violation of the AI usage policy.

1.4. AI Usage Policy for Authors
Before submitting a manuscript, we strongly recommend that authors review the Sociological Studies journal’s policy on AI use by authors and reviewers.

The journal Sociological Studies supports the responsible use of LLM and GenAI tools by authors, in compliance with high standards of data security, confidentiality, and copyright protection, in the following cases:

  • Idea generation and research,
  • Language improvement,
  • Interactive online search using LLM-enhanced search engines,
  • Literature classification,
  • Coding assistance,
  • AI-assisted visualization for creating or interpreting primary research data.

Authors must not submit manuscripts in which AI tools are used in ways that replace their responsibility, such as:

  • Generating synthetic data to replace missing data without a robust methodology. The methods or methodology section must justify the procedure used.
  • Creating any type of inaccurate content, including abstracts or supplementary materials. Uploading unpublished data increases the risks of confidentiality and intellectual property violations, as well as misuse (see 1.2. Risks of AI Use).
  • Creating or modifying images, except where the use of AI tools is part of the research design or methods (e.g., AI-assisted visualization for generating or interpreting primary research data), and is appropriately described in the methods section.
  • Generating text or code without careful review, as well as
  • Listing AI as a source of authorship or as a co-author of the manuscript. AI cannot be considered capable of initiating original research without human guidance; AI tools cannot bear responsibility for published work or research design, which is a generally accepted authorship requirement (as stated in the “For Authors” section), nor do they have legal status or the ability to hold or transfer copyright.

When submitting a manuscript and accompanying documents, authors must:

  • verify AI-generated outputs for the risks outlined in section 1.2. Risks of AI Use,
  • clearly indicate any use of AI tools, including: the full name of the tool used (with version number), how it was used, and the reason for its use. This statement must be included in the Declaration and/or in the manuscript sections (e.g., Methods or Acknowledgements in the case of AI-assisted coding).

Thus, authors:

  • bear responsibility for the choice of AI tools, their reliability, and transparency of use,
  • have the right, in case of suspected violation of the journal’s AI policy by reviewers, to contact the editor with a clear description of their concern (at sociostudios@knu.ua).

1.5. AI Usage Policy for Reviewers
Upon receiving an invitation to review a manuscript, the reviewer must familiarize themselves with the Sociological Studies journal’s policy on AI use by authors and reviewers.

The peer review process is a human responsibility of a specific expert who is accountable for submitting a review report and cannot delegate this responsibility to a GenAI tool. Given the risks associated with the use of AI in reviewing original manuscripts and the journal’s commitment to the highest standards of editorial integrity and transparency, the Sociological Studies journal policy prohibits reviewers from using manuscripts in generative AI systems, as this poses risks to confidentiality, ownership rights, and data, including personal information.

Thus, reviewers:

  • must not upload files, images, or information from unpublished manuscripts into generative AI tools, but<
  • may upload quotations or individual sources to verify their accuracy,
  • may use AI to improve the language of reviews,
  • must indicate any use of AI during the creation and editing of the review report within the text of the report itself,
  • in case of suspected violation of the journal’s AI policy by authors, must contact the editor with a clear description of their concern (at sociostudios@knu.ua).

RETRACTION POLICY

In accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (COPE Council. COPE Guidelines: Retraction Guidelines), the journal Sociological Studios has established a formal procedure for the retraction of published articles.
1.1. Grounds and procedure for retraction
Retraction of a published article occurs in the following cases:

  • Identification of research errors discovered after reproduce the experiment: technical failure, calculation errors, improper interpretation of research results, analytical or experimental error, etc.;
  • Evidence of violations during the preparation of the research: violation of legal principles or legislative requirements, ethical violations, copyright infringements, etc.;
  • Research results were previously published in other editions without proper reference and/or permission;
  • Presence of inconsistent and/or fabricated data;
  • Detection of plagiarism, including graphic materials previously published in other editions without obtaining permission from the author or publisher.

Requests for retraction may be initiated by:

  • the author/co-authors of the article,
  • the editorial board,
  • readers,
  • the journal publisher,
  • academic or research institutions.

In cases where grounds for retraction are established, the initiator is advised to complete the Form to retract the article. You may also contact us via email sociostudios@knu.ua.

1.2. Editorial responsibilities
Upon receipt of a retraction request, the Editorial Board is obliged to:

  • Conduct a thorough internal investigation of all retraction requests, on the basis of which a decision to retract or not to retract the article shall be made, and communicate this decision to the author(s) of the article as well as to the initiator of the request;
  • In the event that a decision to retract the article is reached, carry out the retraction procedure and submit a formal Retraction Notice to the scientometric databases in which the article is indexed.

The retraction procedure includes the following actions:

  • Publish the Retraction Notice in both the print and online versions of the subsequent issue of the journal as a separate publication, indicated in the table of contents as follows: Retraction: Title of the Article;
  • Under the entry Retraction: Title of the Article in the journal’s table of contents, provide the Retraction Notice. This publication must contain a link redirecting to the webpage where the article remains accessible;
  • Retain the retracted article on the journal’s website, marking it clearly as retracted by placing a watermark “Retracted Article" on the text of the article.

The Retraction Notice must include:

  • Full bibliographic details of the article,
  • The date of retraction,
  • The reason for retraction,
  • The initiator(s) of the retraction,
  • The consent of the author(s).

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

1.1. What to disclose
The journal Sociological Studies adheres to the principles of transparency and academic integrity in the process of preparing, reviewing, and publishing scholarly articles. Authors, reviewers, and members of the Editorial Board must disclose any potential or actual conflicts of interest that have arisen within 5 years prior to the preparation of the article for publication and that may affect the objectivity of the research, the review process, or editorial decisions. Competing interests may arise in the presence of private (non-financial), institutional, professional, and financial relationships, namely:

  • Personal beliefs (political, religious, ideological, or other) related to the topic of the article;
  • Personal relationships (friendship, family ties, opponent, mentor);
  • Professional interactions (Editorial Board membership, research grants, co-authorship, affiliation, patent applications);
  • Relationships (paid or unpaid) with organizations and funding bodies, including non-governmental organizations, research institutions, or charitable organizations.

1.2. Procedure for declaration by authors
Authors must declare the absence or presence (specifying the reason) of a conflict of interest when submitting the manuscript in the relevant section of the article (Conflict of Interest) in the language of the manuscript:
            UA: Автори заявляють про відсутність конфлікту інтересів.
            EN: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
It is mandatory to indicate the source of funding (if any) of the research and the grant agreement (if any) under which the study was conducted in the relevant section of the article (Funding). All additional sections of the article (Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgments, Funding) must be placed after the Conclusions and before References.
In accordance with COPE recommendations, the journal Sociological Studies allows members of the Editorial Board, including the Editor-in-Chief, to submit their own manuscripts. Such submissions undergo a Blind Handling procedure. Editorial Board members who are authors of manuscripts are denied access to managing their manuscript (selection of reviewers, organization of the review process, decision-making regarding publication). The manuscript is reviewed by two external reviewers who are not members of the Editorial Board. If such a manuscript is accepted for publication, the text of the article must include a mandatory Disclosure Statement regarding the author’s role in the journal and confirmation of independent review, in the language of the manuscript:
            UA: Автор [Ім’я] є членом редакційної колегії журналу. Він/вона не брав(ла) участі в редакційному рецензуванні або прийнятті рішення про публікацію цього рукопису.
            EN: The author [Name] is a member of the Editorial Board. They were not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this manuscript.
            Or
            UA: Автор заявляє, що він є членом редколегії журналу, проте не брав участі в редакційному оцінюванні та прийнятті рішення щодо цієї статті.
            EN: The author is a member of the journal’s Editorial Board but was not involved in the peer-review process or the decision-making for this manuscript.

1.3. Procedure for declaration by reviewers
Reviewers must decline to review a manuscript if there is a potential conflict of interest (for example, professional or personal relationships with the authors, joint projects, or competition).

1.4. Procedure for declaration by members of the Editorial Board
Members of the Editorial Board do not participate in making editorial decisions regarding manuscripts in which they have a personal or professional interest.

1.5. Resolution procedure. Complaints and appeals
The Editorial Office accepts complaints from authors, reviewers, readers, and other stakeholders regarding violations of ethical standards, non-compliance with editorial procedures, or inappropriate behavior of participants in the publication process. The Editorial Office also accepts appeals from authors in case of disagreement with an editorial decision regarding a manuscript. Complaints and appeals must be submitted in writing to the official email address of the Editorial Office (sociostudios@knu.ua), specifying the nature of the issue and providing supporting materials (if available).
All complaints and appeals are considered confidentially and as promptly as possible. The Editor-in-Chief initiates an investigation and, if necessary, involves members of the Editorial Board or independent experts. Decisions are made in accordance with the principles of impartiality, transparency, and compliance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The party submitting the complaint or appeal receives a reasoned response regarding the outcome of its consideration.

SUBMISSIONS

Before submitting an article to the journal Sociological Studios, please read the rules for preparing and submitting manuscripts in the For authors tab.
The rules of submission and review are as follows:

  1. Articles that were sent to the Editorial Board are considered within three month;
  2. The Editorial Board checks the academic identity of the author(s);
  3. The Editorial Board has the right to send an article for additional reviewing;
  4. The Editorial Board has the right to carry out literary editing of an article and in case when scientific editing is needed then an author is informed about this;
  5. The Editorial Board has the right to decline an article which does not correspond with requirements and subject–matter of a journal;
  6. In case of an article declination the Editorial Board gives to an author reasoned conclusion;
  7. Within five days an author is sent a message on receiving of an article by the Editorial Board. In a three month after its registration an author is informed about the results of reviewing;
  8. The Editorial Board gives to an author a free copy of a journal where his article is published;
  9. Submissions are accepted year-round. The editorial selection for Issue No. 1 closes on May 15, and for Issue No. 2 on November 15.

If we fail to verify author’s academic identity, the article is not sent to reviewers. We strongly encourage all authors use their institutional / university e-mail accounts in correspondence with the editorial office as an additional confirmation of your identity. We also ask you to provide ORCIDs ID data, Google Scholar links, and other profile dates to prevent bogus submissions and confirm your publication intent. An ORCID ID for all co-authors is part of the submission process for this journal.

Before submitting, make sure that you have prepared the text of the article, the declaration and other supporting documents, and either submit online through the journal's website, or send them to the journal's email addresses listed in Contacts on behalf of the corresponding author.