Publishing policy: journals

In publishing, the YSU Publishing House is guided by the belief that the development of every aspect of the field is equally important, starting from book discussion and expert work to proofreading, editorial work, and publication.

The role of the YSU Publishing Council is important to implement the programs in the book-publishing sphere, which allows making deliberative, professional opinion-based decisions, avoiding individual ones. Before making decisions, the professional opinion of each member is taken into account to create an impartial and transparent atmosphere.

The programs of YSU Publishing House in the book publishing sphere are aimed at solving the following issues:

development of publishing work, publication of textbooks and manuals necessary for the educational process, preservation, development, dissemination, and popularization of literary and cultural heritage through literary products, creation of conditions for the reproduction and development of the creative potential of society, book distribution, and creation of favorable conditions for international cooperation in the field.

The prospective goal of the YSU Publishing House is to promote the creation of significant, permanent, and public works, which in turn will contribute to the development of science and civil society.

The YSU Publishing House uploads the published works on its website to satisfy the students, scientists as well as the public’s reading demands, with modern educational and scientific literature, encouraging the publication of professional, critical, and jubilee literature at the same time.

One of the priorities of the YSU Publishing House is also the solution of copyright and related issues in the Armenian book publishing market, which is aimed at moving author-publisher-reader cooperation exclusively into the legal field.

The publishing policy includes general standards for scientific and educational publications, which will help authors to delimit the type of work to be published while clarifying the accepted standard requirements for the corresponding work.

The publishing policy suggests the requirements for the structure of published works, making references, guaranteeing publication, copyright protection, and publishing ethics provisions.

The YSU Publishing House publishes exclusively important, urgent works of applied importance, which are approved by the YSU Publishing Council.

A scientific article is a current scholarly study that, based on primary sources, presents research findings both theoretically and empirically to fill gaps in collective scientific knowledge. YSU scientific journals only accept important, current articles containing scientific novelty.

The criteria for being considered an author are:

- Contribution to the design of the article, data collection, analysis, and interpretation,

- Preparing an article or editing its content,

- Research development,

- Names according to the passport or according to previously published articles.

The structure of the scientific article

Title. The title should express the essence of the issues discussed in the article, using as few words as possible.

Name of author(s). If the article is co-authored, authors' names should be listed in the article according to their contributions or in alphabetical order, (the editorial staff of the journal approves the template).

Summary (maximum 250 words). A summary is a brief description of the main points of an article. It should include the article's subject, objectives, aim, research methods, and results. The summary should answer the following questions:

• What is the article about?
• What is the purpose of the research?
• What conclusions did the author reach?
• What are the relevance and scientific novelty of the article?

Keywords (5-10). Words, phrases, terms, and concepts should be used that will help the reader find the article faster through search engines.

Introduction (research rationale, importance). The introduction should contain background information or the background of the issue that the reader needs to understand the article. It should include the aim of the research, the objectives, issues, the justification of its significance, the analysis of the literature on the issue, the author's initial hypothesis, and the methods used in the study to justify or reject the existing views, as well as the work plan, the theoretical research and practical significance.

When writing an introduction, it is necessary to consider the following:

• References should be given proportionally, that is, there should be both opinions confirming the author's point of view and opinions differing from it,
• Reference should be done to studies published within the last ten years, necessarily mentioning the work where the research issues were first raised (even if it was formulated more than ten years ago).

Theoretical foundations, methods, and materials. The article should clearly describe what work was done and what methods were used to obtain the results of the study. Subheadings should reflect the different stages of the research process.

Research results (scientific novelty). The research results are presented without comment, in a logical order, that is, according to significance, which may not coincide with the order of their presentation in the text. Subheadings should be used to reflect each item separately. Use past tense when describing results, and present tense when describing numbers and tables.

Graphs and tables. Graphs and tables should be numbered and presented properly.

Conclusions. Conclusions should be presented in order of importance. It is necessary to compare the results obtained by the author with the results of other studies. If the obtained conclusions contradict the views of other authors, the reasons should be indicated.

The author should indicate the practical application of the research results. If the results are inconclusive, it is appropriate to suggest what further research is needed.

Bibliography. Only scientific sources should be given in the reference list. References to statistical data, documents, reports, and Internet sources should be given in the footnotes. The bibliography should be numbered and put in alphabetical or reference order (the format is approved by the editorial staff of the journal). The bibliography includes the research scope of the article. This scope should be relevant to the research subject and at the same time should not be limited to it.

Information about the author(s).

(a) The name of the organization must be used without the mailing address. It is possible to mention several organizations in which the author works. Authors are required to list all workplaces relevant to the performance of the study. If the authors of the article are employees of different institutions, it is necessary to indicate the institution of each author using a footnote reference.

b) Name, academic degree, rank, position, place of work, postal and/or e-mail addresses must be indicated (the template is approved by the editor of the journal)

Technical requirements.

The editorial office accepts articles exclusively through the "OJS" system (journals.ysu.am).

Materials are presented in "MS Word", and "LaTex" electronic format with Unicode encoding, font size: 12, and line spacing: 1.

At the beginning of the first page, before the main text, it is necessary to present:

• The title of the article (in Armenian, Russian, and English),
• Summaries (italics): Armenian, Russian, and English (maximum: 250 words),
• Keywords (5-10 keywords: in Armenian, Russian, and English).

The following should be sent in a separate file:

- Information about the author (in Armenian, Russian, and English):

- Author’s name (full),

- Author’s position, rank, academic degree,

- The full official name and postal address of the workplace,

- Author’s email.

The editorial staff of the given magazine approves the template and then it is posted on the website.

Summary requirements

The summary should give a clear idea of what the article is about. The following summary structure is preferred:

• A clear formulation of modernity and researched problems,
• A brief description of the data and method(s);
• An explanation of the main data obtained (or arguments if the work is purely theoretical).
• All summaries must be identical in content. Each summary should be preceded by keywords in the appropriate language.

Order of references to literature sources.

Please ensure that each reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).

Yerevan State University Publishing House offers journals and authors the following internationally accepted formats of references (Numbered or Name-date style):

Harvard style

APA style,

MLA Style,

Chicago Style.

All articles sent to the editorial office and passed preliminary review are subject to mandatory review. The editorial board organizes blind peer review and/or double-blind peer review when reviewers and authors are anonymous. All reviewers are scientists and authors of publications and research related to the topic of the reviewed material. Based on the results of the reviews, the editorial staff decides on publishing the material.

The reviewer must:

• Follow the principles of scientific objectivity and etiquette,
• Provide unbiased scientific review,
• Give an objective and justified assessment of the research results, as well as make the necessary suggestions,
• Not publish the work because it is the author's intellectual property (confidentiality can be violated only when the reviewer declares the work to be unscientific or falsified);
• Inform the editor-in-chief about any significant or partial similarity of the work under discussion with other work;
• Identify relevant published works not properly cited or referenced in the work.

Based on the results of the review, the editors make one of three possible decisions:

- "Reject"

- "Send for revision, taking into account reviewers' comments",

- "Publish".

The editors will notify the author of the decision, providing a reasoned rejection if necessary. The author has no right to request the data of the reviewer and to dispute the result without valid arguments.

The review period is 1-2 months, depending on the quality of the submitted material.

All editorial changes are agreed upon with the authors through the journal's electronic platform.

Reviews are kept in the editorial office for at least 5 years.

Full-text versions of books and articles are released to the public domain immediately after publication.

All works are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC allows users to copy and distribute the work as long as it is not done for commercial purposes. Users have the opportunity to adapt the works to their requirements (reform, transform and build on the material) by making the necessary references. Full license details are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

Copyright is the author's exclusive right to his/her creation, in this case, a work. Copyright is intended to promote the creation of scientific and educational literature, and to support the creation of conditions for engaging in scientific work, ensuring the legal recognition and protection of the obtained scientific and creative results.

The author of the work is the person who created and wrote the mentioned work. If the work created by the joint efforts of two or more persons constitutes an indivisible whole, the copyright to such work belongs to those persons jointly (co-authors). A separate part of a co-authored work is considered independent if it can be used independently of other parts of the work.

The author undertakes to cooperate with the YSU Publishing House employees, making appropriate changes and corrections in the book or article if necessary. The author must guarantee the authenticity of references and citations. All rights to the electronic and printed materials of the books belong to YSU Publishing House and authors (See Editor and author responsibilities, https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/editor_guidelines.pdf), ("Copyright and related rights on" Law of the Republic of Armenia, Article 5 ("Publication and publication of creativity"), 22 ("Free use of creativity"), 55 ("Publisher's right"), https://www.arlis.am/DocumentView.aspx?docid=25161 ).

The author is obliged to confirm that he is familiar with the edited and proofread version of the article providing his signature. The YSU Publishing House is not responsible for inaccuracies or errors in the books published after the signature.

The Publishing House can organize the above-mentioned works also remotely.

To prevent violations in publishing activities (plagiarism, false information, etc.), and to ensure high-quality scientific publications and public recognition of the author's scientific results, each member of the editorial board, publisher, author, reviewer, and institution involved in the publishing process must observe the ethical standards and rules of publishing and the prescribed procedure. Observance of ethical principles by all ensures the authors' intellectual property rights, and improves the quality of the journal, excluding the possible misuse of copyrighted materials in favor of the interests of some individuals (Ethical publishing, https://www.elsevier.com/authors/policies- and-guidelines).

The Publishing House observes the general ethical principles accepted for the publication of scientific materials, guided by the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (See https://bit.ly/3JxRKmG). Violation of copyright and moral norms is not only unacceptable but also hinders the development of scientific knowledge, undermining the reputation of journals and publications, as well as the proper organization of the publishing process. The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the data presented and the results obtained. Submitting false data is a violation of the ethical code.

When presenting work, authors (groups of authors) should be informed that they are responsible for the novelty and reliability of scientific results, which implies the observance of the principles mentioned below.

• Authors must provide reliable results of the work, or study. They must provide only accurate facts and data, provide sufficient information, not use privately obtained information without existing written consent, and not allow falsification of data.
• The submitted work must not have been published before, as well as the work cannot be submitted to different publishing houses unless they have a joint publishing agreement.
• Authors must ensure the independence of the results presented in the paper. Each borrowed passage or quotation must be accompanied by a reference to the author and source. Excessive citations and any form of plagiarism, including unreferenced citations, paraphrasing, or appropriating the results of another person's research, are unethical and unacceptable. The publisher considers citations without references to be plagiarism. Quotations from one's own publications without references are also plagiarism, which should be used as little as possible. Works containing plagiarism will not be accepted for publication.
• Authors should avoid duplicating work. If parts of the work have been previously published, the author must cite the previously published work, indicating the differences.
• Authors should not present a work submitted to another publisher for consideration. It is important to mention the contribution of all the people who in one way or another participated in the creation of the work.
• All those who contributed significantly should be considered co-authors. It is not acceptable to include in the list of authors those persons who did not participate in the creation of the book.
• Authors should respect the work of the Publishing Council and reviewers and, if any, eliminate the mentioned inaccuracies or justify them.
• Authors must present and prepare their works with the standards set by the YSU publishing house.
• If authors discover obvious errors or inaccuracies in the work during the review stage or after publication, they should immediately notify the publisher.
• The author has the option to reclaim his work after submission, as long as it is not edited.
• Content changes and corrections made in the books are agreed upon with the author. If the editors do not agree to the interventions, the parties have the right to refuse publication of the material or to come to an agreement.
• The publisher undertakes not to use the data contained in them and not to provide them to a third party, except for the reviewers, until the publication of the received material.

Duties of the Publishing Council. The Council makes unbiased decisions based solely on the professional level and quality of the materials provided.

Editorial Responsibilities. The editorial team follows the publishing requirements of the journal, guaranteeing the high scientific level of the published works. The editorial team makes unbiased decisions based solely on the professional level and quality of the materials provided.

The Editor-in-Chief evaluates the scholarly content of the work regardless of the author's race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, citizenship, social status, or political preferences.

The Editor-in-Chief decides on the publication of materials according to the following basic criteria:

• the correspondence of the work to the journal,
• the relevance, novelty, and scientific significance of the presented work,
• clarity, reliability of results, and completeness of conclusions.

Conflict of interest. A conflict of interest arises when there is a conflict between a person's interests and the responsibilities of his/her scientific and publishing activities. Objectivity can be influenced by personal, political, financial, scientific, or religious factors. In case of a conflict of interest, the author and the reviewer are obliged to inform the editor-in-chief.

a. SCIENTIFIC WORK / PUBLICATION

A monograph is a publication with a complete, detailed, and systematic statement of the main data and results of scientific research work, with the guarantee of the university, scientific research structure, scientific department, or the Academic Council of the faculty, with a volume of at least 7.5 printed press.

The monograph is a vital part of the scientific field, acting as a key vehicle for scientific research and publication. Along with the scientific journal, the monograph is the primary means of disseminating new research that can define fields of study for decades (https://bit.ly/3lAF7zj).

A scientific/scientific-methodological article is a research work on a specific issue, written in a brief but logical sequence, containing scientific novelty, with a clear conclusion, reflecting the main research results of the issue, using scientific methodology and literature references, which was published in a peer-reviewed scientific periodical. Conference reports and theses are not considered scientific articles. To increase the effectiveness of international scientific communication, scientific articles, and other publications should be complete, concise, and understandable.

A separate chapter of a book or a separate section of a collection is a scientific research work with the basic criteria of a scientific article, which has been published in a book or collection with scientific assurance.

A review article is a scientific essay containing a professional assessment and objective analysis of a scientific work or research, which was published in a peer-reviewed scientific periodical.

b. EDUCATIONAL WORK / PUBLICATION

The textbook is an educational-theoretical publication, it is a scientific research/methodical work with a comprehensive, systematic, relatively simple, and comprehensible presentation of all topics of any subject/discipline included in the curriculum, the purpose of which is to provide fundamental, key knowledge. The university textbook must have the guarantee of the Academic councils of the university and the scientific unit and be approved by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport of the Republic of Armenia (volume: at least 7.5 printed media).

The guarantee of approving the work as a textbook can be given by the Academic council of the university, scientific unit, and faculty. Once approved, the work will be designated as a textbook for use within the jurisdiction of the certifying or certifying organization.

An educational manual is an educational-theoretical publication that partially replaces a textbook or complements it by including an essay on a specialty/educational program or its separate component(s), a narrow professional, scientific-applied nature. The manual can include not only universally recognized knowledge but also an essay on problematic approaches, different points of view and propositions, didactic and practical materials, and tasks (volume: at least 5 printed media).

c. EDUCATIONAL-METHODOLOGICAL WORK / PUBLICATION

Among the educational-methodological works are educational-methodological, laboratory manuals, and program-methodological guidelines for teaching courses or modules.

An educational-methodological manual is a work containing methodological and theoretical provisions and guidelines written for studying and teaching any science or branch of science, educational subject, printed with a scientific guarantee.

A study manual is a publication intended for students and includes practical explanations, instructions, justifications, and assignments on additional topics, problems, and narrow professional questions to best master the given profession, subject, program, or course.

The laboratory manual is a publication intended for students and is intended to support, help, and guide the student to independently perform research, laboratory, and practical works. It contains a description of additional topics, problems, practical works on narrow professional issues, experiments, and a brief theoretical explanation for mastering the subject, program, or course in the best way.

The course or module teaching program-methodological guidelines specify in detail the goals of the course/module, educational outcomes, teaching and assessment methods and approaches, the forms of classes and their distribution according to hours, the content of each class, the content of teaching and student's independent work, guaranteed by the Academic Council of either YSU or educational unit.