Open Data Policy

Our journal is committed to promoting open scientific exchange and enabling authors to apply best practices in the sharing and archiving of research data. We encourage all authors of articles published in the journal to share their research data, including but not limited to protocols, analytical methods, raw data, processed data, code, software, algorithms, and educational materials.

Data should adhere to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) to ensure that other researchers can discover, access, and reuse them.

We recommend that data and code be deposited in reliable repositories that ensure long-term preservation and maximum reusability. If this is not possible, authors should make such materials available to interested researchers upon reasonable request. In addition, manuscripts should clearly indicate all research materials necessary to reproduce the reported results.

The data sharing policy applies to the minimum dataset required to validate the main findings of the published study. Generated datasets should be publicly accessible and properly cited in accordance with the journal’s guidelines.

Our policy is aligned with the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines.

In cases where ethical, legal, or confidentiality constraints exist, data should not be publicly shared. Authors must clearly indicate the status of data availability at the time of submission. Authors must ensure that any shared data comply with participant consent for the use of confidential information and do not compromise anonymity or violate applicable data protection laws.

Where access is restricted to protect confidential or proprietary information, authors may be required to provide a justification for such restrictions and supply relevant data upon request for peer-review purposes.

The journal acknowledges that some institutions and funding bodies require data retention only for a limited period after project completion or publication. However, our policy encourages long-term archiving of research data in appropriate repositories or provision of minimum datasets for verification purposes.

Authors are encouraged to cite all datasets stored in external repositories, including primary datasets underlying the study and any additional datasets used in the research. Previously published datasets must be cited both as research outputs and as standalone data resources where applicable.

Ethical Approval Policy

The journal’s policy on ethical approval for research involving humans, animals, biological materials, and sensitive data is based on the current legislation of Ukraine, including the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of Human Rights in Biomedical Research,” the Law of Ukraine “On Personal Data Protection,” and the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of Animals from Cruel Treatment,” as well as internationally recognized ethical guidelines such as the Declaration of Helsinki and ARRIVE guidelines.

The journal recognizes the primacy of ethical standards in scientific research involving human participants, animals, biological materials, and personal or other sensitive data.

Authors are required to provide evidence of approval from an appropriate ethics committee when research involves:

• human participants;
• human biological materials;
• animal experiments or biological models;
• processing of personal, sensitive, or confidential data;
• any activities regulated by national or international bioethical or biosafety standards.

Ethical approval documentation must include:

• the full name of the approving institution;
• date and reference number of approval;
• details of informed consent procedures (for human studies).

Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained voluntarily, without coercion, and in a form understandable to participants.

Publication of personal data or identifiable images without written consent is strictly prohibited.

Research involving animals must comply with the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement). Authors must provide information on housing conditions, experimental protocols, and measures taken to minimize animal suffering.

The processing of confidential and personal data must comply with the Law of Ukraine “On Personal Data Protection” and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Data must be anonymized or de-identified. Authors should describe data protection mechanisms and access control procedures.

The editorial office reserves the right to request copies of ethical approvals, informed consent forms, study protocols, or other relevant documentation to verify compliance with ethical standards. The journal may reject manuscripts if ethical requirements are not met or if supporting information is incomplete.