Author Guidelines

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Author Guidelines

Original research articles and scholarly communications that correspond to the journal’s scope, are written in Ukrainian or English, carefully edited, and properly formatted are accepted for publication. Articles written in English are given priority in publication.

The length of an article should be 0.5–1 author’s sheet (20,000–40,000 characters including spaces), excluding references. The length of a communication should be 0.2–0.4 author’s sheets.

The corresponding author (the contact person among co-authors) submits the manuscript via email to obraz@journ.sumdu.edu.ua or through the electronic submission system (mandatory duplicate submission via email).

All submissions undergo mandatory double-blind peer review.

Each article is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

Articles recommended for publication by the editorial board or the Editor-in-Chief are copyedited, proofread, and undergo technical layout in accordance with the journal’s publishing standards and templates.

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGE (APC)

In the case of a positive peer-review decision and recommendation for publication, the author(s) must pay an Article Processing Charge (APC) of UAH 1,200 (EUR 40 for international authors).

The APC covers part of the costs related to editorial and publishing services and journal management, supports the journal’s Open Access policy, and ensures long-term archiving.

Payment details are sent to the author via email after receiving positive reviews and confirmation of acceptance for publication.

Single-authored articles submitted by authors pursuing the third (educational and scientific) level (PhD level) are published free of charge.

AUTHORSHIP CRITERIA

The editorial board adheres to the principles and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors regarding authorship and recommends using the CRediT taxonomy to specify the contribution of each author and avoid potential authorship disputes.

An author is defined as a person who meets all of the following criteria:

  • has made a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the study, data collection, analysis, or interpretation of results;
  • has participated in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
  • has approved the final version of the manuscript to be published;
  • agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work, including the accuracy, reliability, and ethical integrity of the reported results.

Individuals who do not meet all four criteria should not be included as authors; however, their contributions may be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section. This section may also include recognition of contributions related to funding, administrative support, technical assistance, data preparation, text editing, or formatting support.


ARTIFICIAL SNTELLIGENCE USE POLICY

1. Artificial intelligence cannot be recognized as an author, as it cannot meet the criteria for authorship or assume responsibility for the submitted manuscript.

2. The editorial board does not encourage authors to use artificial intelligence tools and AI-based technologies for the comprehensive preparation of scientific publications.

3. The editorial board does not object to the use of AI technologies at certain stages of the research process, provided that their use is fully disclosed and the obtained results are verified. These stages may include:

  • searching for relevant sources;
  • processing large volumes of information;
  • improving text quality (checking grammar, punctuation, spelling, and stylistic issues);
  • creating graphical materials;
  • translating texts.

4. Any information generated using AI tools and technologies must be carefully reviewed and analyzed by the author.

5. Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and ethical integrity of the scientific publication, even if AI tools were used.

6. Improper use of AI in scientific writing constitutes a violation of research ethics, as such works may lack scientific value and may be considered a form of plagiarism.


UPON SUBMISSION TO THE JOURNAL, authors are required to confirm the following:

  • The manuscript has not been previously published and has not been submitted to another scholarly journal.
  • All authors have made a significant contribution to the work and approve the final version of the manuscript. The work complies with ethical standards.
  • All authors have assessed potential conflicts of interest and have disclosed them in the manuscript.
  • All authors take responsibility for all aspects of the manuscript and will address any questions related to its accuracy or integrity through appropriate investigation and resolution.
  • The authors have obtained all necessary permissions for the publication of figures, tables, illustrations, etc., and have provided appropriate references.
  • If the article receives positive peer-review reports and is recommended for publication, the authors agree to cover the Article Processing Charge (APC), if предусмотрено editorial policy of the journal.


ARTICLE STRUCTURE:

UDC.

Title: should contain 5-9 words; reflect the content of the manuscript and the essence of research problem. Articles titles starting in the following way: “Investigation of the issue …”, “Some problems of …”, “Revisiting …”, “Problems of …”, “Ways of …” etc. should be avoided, as they do not reflect the problem essence.

Authorship: author’s surname and name, scientific degree, academic rank, affiliation and institution address are given in the source language of article.

Abstract and keywords in English: on a line after the abstract in Ukrainian. A short summary that will allow the reader to navigate your research. In addition, the abstract is used by online databases to index works. Therefore, it should contain phrases and keywords that make it easy to search for the text of the article. According to the requirements of scientometric databases, it is submitted as a structured abstract and contains the following elements: introduction (why you started this research), relevance of the study (what you wanted to do), methodology (what methods and how were used for the research), results (what you established), conclusions (novelty, potential significance of the results). The abstract should be 1800–2300 characters long. You can use the tips on writing an abstract.

Introduction: problem statement; rationale; article connection with important scientific and practical tasks; sources review and analysis of recent research and publications, which initiated the problem solution and on which the author relies; previously not studied parts of the main problem; novelty; aim and objectives of the article. The introduction should contain about 3000 characters.

Research methods: point out methods used for research and how they were used. Research mechanism should be presented to show how the results were obtained.

Results and discussion: main material of research is given including complete grounding of obtained scientific results.

Conclusions and perspectives of further study: they must meet the requirements of specialized publications; approximately 2000 characters including spaces.

Acknowledgments (if necessary): brief thanks to institutions or researchers who assisted in preparing of this publication.

References are typed below article body with one additional space. It should contain at least 10 sources. It is typed according to citation or alphabet order, a new source is typed as a new paragraph. Full description of source is given according to ДСТУ 8302:2015 (Online reference generator according to ДСТУ 8302:2015). References must be in two versions: 1) in the source language; 2) the same list, but in Latin.

English: UDC, article title, author’s surname and name, scientific degree, academic rank, affiliation, institution address, e-mail, abstract (600-900 characters), keywords. Abstract translation in English must be authentic (not computer-aided translation) (in case of translation problems, the editorial board can assist in solving them).

If necessary, the editorial office may assist authors in structuring the manuscript in accordance with the journal’s requirements.

At the end of the article (or after the Conclusions section), the following technical information blocks should be added. Mandatory items are marked with *.

Date of submission*: Date when the manuscript was submitted to the editorial office.

Acknowledgements: The authors express their gratitude to [Name/Institution] for technical assistance (consultations, support, etc.).

Funding* (choose the appropriate option):

  • The research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine [project No. …].
  • The study was conducted with the support of [name of the foundation/grant provider/institution] within the framework of project/grant No. …
  • The research was carried out within the framework of the research project of [Institution Name] (state registration number: [Number]).
  • This research received no external funding. The work was carried out at the authors’ own expense or within their primary employment.

Conflict of Interest*:
The authors declare no conflict of interest / the presence of a conflict of interest.
If a conflict of interest exists (for example, if an author is a member of the editorial board or editorial staff of this journal), it must be specified along with the measures taken to resolve it (e.g., the decision regarding publication was made in accordance with the journal’s editorial policy).

Ethical Approval*:

  • The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of [Institution], protocol No. … dated … .
  • The study was conducted without the involvement of human participants.

Informed Consent:
Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
(This section should be included only if the study involves human participants.)

Submission date is given at the end of article.

 

LATIN BIBLIOGRAPHY RECOMMENDATIONS:

References in Latin should be given separately, reduplicating references in national language, regardless of foreign sources in it. If there are links to foreign publications in the list, they are completely reduplicated in references given in Latin.

The list of literary sources in Latin (REFERENCES) completely corresponds to the list of literary sources in source language (ЛІТЕРАТУРА). Such translation elements can be distinguished:

  • author’s surname and initials;
  • article title;
  • book title;
  • periodical title, where article is published;
  • publishing house and also ownership form;
  • city;
  • conference;
  • explanatory words, word combinations and abbreviations.

The official website of Emerald Group Publishing (https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/how-to/authoring-editing-reviewing/use-harvard-reference-system) contains detailed recommendations how to form references according to Harvard reference system for almost all types of publications, as well as software to form them. It is recommended to use the US State Department system (BSI) among all proposed options for transliteration. The soft sign and apostrophe in Latin are not rendered.  APA citation style (http://www.apastyle.org/) is desirable to use for English references. The information must be transliterated according to Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 55, dated January 27, 2010 (http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/55-2010-%D0%BF)

 

TECHNICAL FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ARTICLE

  • Article Title: Type in standard sentence case; do not use Caps Lock.
  • Font and Spacing: Use Times New Roman, size 14 pt, with 1.5 line spacing. Page parameters: A4 (default).
  • Paragraphs: Use a 1.25 cm first-line indent. Indentation must be automatic. Do not create indents using spaces or the Tab key.
  • Alignment: Text must be justified. Do not center, left-align, or right-align any text elements. Again, do not use Caps Lock for any part of the text.
  • Punctuation: Do not substitute an em-dash (—) or en-dash (–) with a hyphen (-) and vice versa.
  • Date and Number Ranges: Use an en-dash without spaces for numerical ranges of years or centuries (e.g., 1918–2000, XI–XIII cent.). However, if text is included, use spaces: XIX – first half of XX cent.
  • Abbreviations: Abbreviate monetary units, metric units, years, and centuries within the text.
  • Citations: All quotes originally in a foreign language must be translated into the language of your article. They must include a citation of the source and specific page number. Use double quotation marks “ ” for primary quotes and single/inner quotation marks ‘ ’ (or the local equivalent specified: „ ”) for quotes within quotes.
  • Titles: Titles of periodicals and books must remain in their original language.
  • Acronyms: Provide the full term followed by the acronym in parentheses upon the first mention.
  • Non-breaking Spaces: Use a non-breaking space (Shift + Ctrl + Space) between initials and surnames (e.g., T. G. Shevchenko), all abbreviations (e.g., etc., p., pp.), and symbols (№, %, etc.).

Citations and References

Bibliographic references should be enclosed in square brackets. The first digit indicates the source number in the reference list; the second indicates the page number. Separate the source and page numbers with a comma and the abbreviation "p." (for page).

  • Use a dash without spaces for ranges of pages or sources.
  • Separate multiple pages from the same source with a comma.
  • Separate different sources with a semicolon.
  • Examples: [3, p. 23], [3, p. 45–50], [1–5], [3, p. 33, 36; 4, p. 34], [5; 7; 23].

Graphical Objects and Tables

  • Images: Graphics may be created in any editor and saved as BMP files. In Microsoft Word, use the "Insert Illustration/Shape" function; do not place images "over text." Group all components and captions into a single object anchored with "In Line with Text" wrapping. Label illustrations as "Fig." and number them sequentially (excluding appendices).
  • Tables: Create tables using the "Insert Table" function in Microsoft Word. Tables must not exceed one page (using 12 pt font) and must be in Portrait orientation. Number tables sequentially. Place the label "Table [Number]" in the top right corner above the title.
  • Captions: All figures and tables must be referenced in the text. Figures must have captions below them, and tables must have titles and sequence numbers.

Formulas and Terminology

  • Formulas: Use MS Equation 3.0 throughout the text. Font: Times, size 10 pt.
  • Terminology: Authors must adhere to correct field-specific terminology (see DSTU 3017:2015; DSTU 8302:2015; DSTU GOST 7.1:2006; DSTU GOST 7.80:2007; DSTU GOST 7.85:2003, among others; see also the Law of Ukraine “On Media” and other relevant documents). Terminology should be unified throughout the entire paper.