The editorial board of the journal “The Culturology Ideas ” adheres to a zero-tolerance policy regarding
violations of academic integrity. We review complaints concerning plagiarism, data falsification,
authorship manipulation, and conflicts of interest in accordance with COPE protocols.

Submission of a complaint

• Complaints are accepted from authors, reviewers, readers, or third parties in written form via the
  editorial email: vchenarada.iknamu@gmail.com
• The complainant must provide specific evidence of the violation (for example, links to the source of
  plagiarism, comparative data tables, or documents confirming an undisclosed conflict of interest).
• Anonymous complaints are considered only if convincing evidence of serious violations is provided.

Preliminary review

• The Editor-in-Chief, one of their deputies, or the executive secretary of the editorial board confirms
  receipt of the complaint within 5 working days and conducts a preliminary assessment of its validity.
• If the complaint concerns an unpublished manuscript, its review and publication are suspended until
  the investigation is completed.

Formation of the Ethics Committee
For a detailed review of the complaint, a temporary working group (the Committee) is established,
consisting of:

• The Editor-in-Chief.
• At least two members of the editorial board who have no conflict of interest with any of the parties
  involved.
• If necessary, an independent expert in the relevant field of research.

Investigation process

• The editorial office formally contacts the author(s) with a request to provide explanations or original
  data. The authors must respond within 10 calendar days.
• The Committee compares the texts (in cases of suspected plagiarism).
• All information related to the investigation remains confidential until a final decision is made.

Decision-making and sanctions
Based on the results of the investigation, the editorial board adopts one of the following decisions:

• Complaint rejected: if no violations are identified (the complainant and the authors are informed).
• Correction: if minor unintentional errors are identified.
• Rejection of publication: if violations are detected in a manuscript at the peer review stage.
• Retraction: if serious violations (such as plagiarism or falsification) are identified in an already
  published article.

The editorial office officially informs about the decision:

-Bibliometric databases and repositories (in cases of retraction).

-The complainant and the authors.

-The leadership of the institution where the authors work (in cases of confirmed serious
violations).