「Russian Studies」 Principles for Research Ethics

Part Ⅰ General Provisions

Article 1 (Purpose)
The purpose of this Provision is to protect majority of researchers and to secure research ethics by clarifying research misconduct and providing criteria for impartially verifying it regarding any thesis submitted to or published in「Russian Studies」, an academic journal published by Institute for Russian, East European, and Eurasean Studies (hereinafter referred to as “IREEES”).
Article 2 (Scope of Application)
This Provision shall be applied to every researcher who is directly or indirectly related to 「Russian Studies」.

Part Ⅱ Scope of Research Misconduct

Article 3 (Definition of Research Misconduct)

Research misconduct refers to any of the following acts a researcher commits in the entire course of research when he/she proposes research, performs research, reports on research, and announces research regardless of one’s intentionality.

① “Falsification” refers to an act of forging, recording or reporting research raw data or research data, research outcomes which do not exist.
② “Alteration” refers to an act of distorting research contents or outcomes by artificially fabricating research materials, equipments, process or arbitrarily modifying, deleting research contents or outcomes.
③ “Plagiarism” refers to any act of utilizing other person’s intellectual property without clearly citing its original source.

a. An act of intactly utilizing other person’s entire research content or part of it without citing the source
b. An act of partially modifying and using words, sentence structures from other person’s work without citing the source.
c. An act of utilizing other person’s original idea without citing the source.
d. An act of translating and utilizing other person’s work without citing the source.

④ “Self-plagiarism” refers to an act of redundant publication in which a researcher uses1 his/her own entire research content or part of it in the same or different language without citing the source.
⑤ “Improper redundant publication” refers to an act of a researcher publishing research outcome which is same as or practically similar to his/her own previous research outcome without citing the source and receiving improper benefits including research funds or recognition as a separate research achievement. Or an act of granting authorship for improper reasons including respectful treatment.
⑥ “Impropriety of Authorship” refers to an act of not granting authorship to a person who contributed to research content or outcome without justifiable reasons or expressing gratitude to a person who did not contribute to research.
⑦ A researcher who submitted his/her thesis to 「Russian Studies」 cannot publish it in another journal in principle, but if there exists any unavoidable circumstances, he/she must ask for prior consent from the editorial board and specify this fact at the bottom of the first page of the thesis as follows: This thesis was published in Volume O, Issue O of 「Russian Studies」, but is published intactly (or “after revising, supplementing the original”) with prior consent of the editorial board of 「Russian Studies」.
⑧ “Act of hindering investigation of research misconduct” refers to an act of intentionally hindering investigation of his/her own or other person’s research misconduct or endangering an informant.
⑨ Other acts of violating generally accepted research practices

Article 4 (Judgement on Research Misconduct)
Research misconduct shall be judged after comprehensively considering the researcher’s intention, quantity and quality of the outcome of research misconduct, research practices and distinct characteristics of the academic field, benefits gained through research misconduct, etc.

Part Ⅲ Investigation of Research Misconduct

Article 5 (Protection of Informant's Right)

① An informant refers to a person who recognized a research misconduct and informed the relevant university, the Ministry of Education, specialized agency of the information or relevant evidence.

② An informant shall inform the chief editor of 「Russian Studies」 through oral statement, in writing, phone call or electronic mail using his/her real name. Provided, that anonymous report may be deemed and handled as real-name report by the chief editor if evidence including the title of the thesis, specific act of research misconduct was delivered in writing or electronic mail.

③ Information on the identity of the informant shall not be disclosed.

④ An informant who was aware of the fact that his/her report was false shall not be protected by this Provision.

Article 6 (Protection of Surveyee’s Right)

① “Surveyee” refers to a person who has become the subject of investigation of research misconduct due to an informant’s report or editorial board’s recognition or a person who has become the subject of investigation due to the presumption that he/she has participated in research misconduct in the course of investigation process. A reference witness or witness in investigation process shall not be included.

② IREEES shall pay attention not to damage a surveyee’s reputation or violate his/her rights, and the suspicion of research misconduct shall not be disclosed to public before the judgment is made.

Article 7 (Agent Responsible for Investigation of Research Misconduct)

① 「Russian Studies」 Research Ethics Committee shall be in charge of investigation of research misconduct.

② The chief editor shall be the chairperson of Research Ethics Committee, and the Committee shall be composed of not more than 10 members including experts from relevant field.

③ Research Ethics Committee shall organize an Investigation Committee composed of 7 members including the chairperson of Research Ethics Committee for deliberation if a suspicion of any of research misconducts regulated in Article 3 is filed against a thesis submitted to or published in 「Russian Studies」.

Article 8 (Procedure of Investigation of Research Misconduct)

① In order to investigate research misconduct, the committee shall go through the procedure of “preliminary investigation”, “main investigation, and “judgement”.

② The committee may undertake main investigation without going through preliminary investigation if the chairperson of Research Ethics Committee has recognized sufficient suspicion of research misconduct.

Article 9 (Preliminary Investigation)

① Research Ethics Committee shall be in charge of preliminary investigation, and the investigation shall be undertaken within 10 days after the report was received and shall be completed within 30 days after undertaking.

② The chairperson of Research Ethics Committee may instantly judge without going through main investigation if the surveyee admits all suspicions of research misconduct.

③ The chairperson of Research Ethics Committee shall notify the result of preliminary investigation to the informant within 10 days after the completion of preliminary investigation in writing, and the document shall include specific reasons if the Committee decided not to undertake main investigation. Provided, that this shall not be applied to an anonymous report.

Article 10 (Main Investigation)

① Main investigation shall be undertaken within 30 days after preliminary investigation, and Investigation Committee shall be organized for the main investigation.

② Investigation Committee shall provide an opportunity to state an opinion to an informant and a surveyee, and it shall be deemed that the parties have no objection if the parties did not answer.

Article 11 (Organization of Investigation Committee)

① Investigation Committee shall be composed of at least 30% of members from the outside and at least 50% of experts from the relevant field including at least one member from different institution.

② No person shall be a member of the Investigation Committee if he/she is a directly concerned person with the informant or surveyee.

③ The chairperson of Research Ethics Committee shall notify the list of Investigation Committee members to the informant before undertaking main investigation, and shall accept the informant’s application of challenge if there are grounds for challenge.

Article 12 (Authority and Responsibility of Investigation Committee)

① Investigation Committee may ask for attendance for statement to informant, surveyee, witness and reference witness, and the surveyee must attend if asked by Investigation Committee.

② Investigation Committee shall guarantee the right and opportunity to state an opinion, to make an objection, to defense and notify the relevant procedure and schedule in advance. In this case, the Committee shall notify the surveyee of the content of report.

Article 13 (Judgment)

① “Judgment” refers to a procedure where the chairperson of Research Ethics Committee confirms the investigation result and notifies it to the informant and surveyee in writing.

② The entire investigation from preliminary investigation to judgment shall be completed within 5 months. Provided, that if it seemed difficult to complete the investigation within the above period, Investigation Committee may notify the informant and surveyee of the reasons and extend the period within 30 days.

Article 14 (Raising of an Objection)

① An informant or surveyee may raise an objection to the chief editor in writing within 30 days after he/she received the result if he/she has an objection to the result of preliminary investigation or judgment.

② The chief editor shall process the objection within 60 days after it was received.

Part Ⅳ Measures after Investigation of Research Misconduct

Article 15 (Sanctions against Research Misconduct)
Editorial Board may impose the following sanctions against the author according to the seriousness of his/her research misconduct if the deliberation ruled that it was research misconduct.
  • The author cannot submit his/her works to 「Russian Studies」 for 5 years.
  • The thesis shall be removed from 「Russian Studies」 e-journal.
  • The thesis shall be removed from the issue of 「Russian Studies」 which is published after the judgment and the relevant information shall be posted on IREEES website.
Article 16 (Submission of Investigation Result)

① The chief editor shall notify the investigation result including process of objection to the researcher’s institution and National Research Foundation of Korea in writing within 30 days after each preliminary investigation and main investigation was completed.

② The report must include the followings.

1. In case of preliminary investigation

a. Content of report
b. Result of investigation
c. Whether the main investigation would be undertaken and the grounds for the decision.
d. Statement of the informant and surveyee.

2. In case of main investigation

a. Content of report
b. Result of investigation
c. List of members of Investigation Committee
d. The role of surveyee in the relevant research and whether he/she committed any research misconduct
e. Relevant evidence and the list of witness, reference witness, and others participated in consultation
f. Statement of the informant and surveyee
g. Judgment based on the result of investigation

[Addendum]

Article 1 (Retroactivity of Effect) Matters prior to the enforcement of this Provision shall be handled according to the regulations or practices of the academic field at that time.

Article 2 (Enforcement Date) This Provision shall enter into force on May 1, 1992.

Article 3 (Enforcement Date) This Provision shall enter into force on April 1, 2014.

Article 4 (Enforcement Date) This Provision shall enter into force on September 1, 2016.

Article 5 (Enforcement Date) This Provision shall enter into force on April 14, 2017.